Buying Online from New Zealand

With New Zealand's NAZI inspired Health Dictatorship, and its loony anti smoking agenda, we are seeing in New Zealand the loss of the once familiar Tobacconist shop from our streetscapes. The Tobacconist I knew of was the friendly fellow that was the man to see about all things tobacco related. Buying tobacco over the counter now is both a soulless and a harrowing experience now that we have lost the classic tobacconist and are forced to use the services of convenience stores. Whereas in the old days one could go into the tobacconist and have a friendly chat about tobacco and pipes, nowdays the shop assistant or proprietor is not allowed by law to talk his stock in trade which is absolutely over the top ridiculous. And now they have successfully achieved this in Tobacco stores, its only a matter of time before the same thing applies to books and god knows what else. What we are seeing in New Zealand is an assault on personal liberty's.

Given that the tobacconist is a dying breed in New Zealand, some of us here are facing up to the fact that if we want to get some of our favourite brew at slightly reduced prices and less hassle then buying over the counter, the thing to do is buy it online from the USA, a nation where Real Tobacconists still exist. I would recommend this method to anyone who like myself is fed up with short supply, high cost and red tape associated with trying to buy tobacco over the counter here in New Zealand. One of the benefits of online purchase is the wider range of tobaccos one can choose from when compared to the limited brands that are brought into New Zealand by the wholesalers that supply our small insignificant market. With Online purchases of tobacco, Obviously you will have to pay duties on what you import. However the end price is still slightly cheaper then buying over the counter now. And the more you buy the more you save. The other thing you can do is to push on generous relatives and friends to buy you a gift of tobacco from an overseas retailer. I believe that Gifts don't incur as severe a duty as if you were buying same for your own use.

A friend asked me what I wanted for My Birthday this year and I have given them a list of tobaccos. I will have to wait a few more months however at least I have some stuff cellared that will keep me going for a little longer. Its a crying shame that briar smokers and cigar smokers are lumped into the same category as those who partake of tailor made cigarettes. Im no elitist however I know as a briar smoker that I smoke for relaxation and to sample the taste the tobacco. Essentially pipe and cigar smokers are tobacco connoisseur's not consumers. We are no different from wine connoisseur's and should be treated no differently I believe.

I didn't think I was circumventing any laws. Information about gifts can be found on the customs website.

Sorry for appearing to have broken the rules. Im not out to defraud Government or break the law, merely to make fellow smokers aware of what is possible under the law to the extent of my knowledge. More info is available at the customs website on gifts.

In terms of importing tobaccos its worth pointing out that the margin on sales appears to be tiny. I think if you import 4 tins yourself you are saving about $10.00 total compared to a similar OTC purchase, once all the duties and taxes have been paid for. If you import less then 4 tins, you are actually worse off financially then if you had brought them over the counter. It makes you wonder how tobacconists in this little island hole of ours are able to make any money at all from selling pipe tobacco given the small market and margin.

Its worth noting that here in New Zealand the Current average price for a 50gm tin of Petersons Pipe Tobacco is around $90.00NZ OTC. This is the same for all the good brands. Davidoff I think is slightly cheaper. Erinmore at $60.00NZ is the only cheap Decent brand that's readily available. I like Erinmore, but haven't smoked it in years cause the "old's" don't like the Room Note. I started out on Borkum Riff in 2003 but as far as im concerned now, its good for Beginners and that's about it. Borkum Riff and Amphora 50gm Packets go for around $50.00NZ retail. You cant get any of the good brands over here like Dunhill. If you like good pipe tobacco like Peterson or Comoys, you need to buy as much as you can get when you find it for sale cause the Tobacconists/convenience stores sell out as soon as it comes in. And then your in for a waiting game that can be anything up to a month possibly more. So things are desperate here in the Colony of New Zealand, but as I have suggested to my friends also in the same position fear not because the Internet provides us an alternative. Whilst it would be nice to remain loyal to the old tobacconist shop, its got to the point where this is almost not viable now owing to the shortage of supply and the cost. And besides there are hardly any tobacconists left in New Zealand Nowdays. They have been forced to close because the tobacconist as we knew him, is no longer able to share his knowledge about tobacco products without fear of being fined $10,000.

Im relatively new at importing for personnel use. And although a staunch traditionalist (I prefer snail mail to email) the Internet has had one great benefit for those of us cut off from the rest of the world....the ability to peruse and purchase tabak which you never see in this Country. Its opened up an entire world to me. Prior to importing I was stuck either with costly Peterson Tobacco or with Erinmore. One brand I had never tried before 2012 was Dunhill because hardly any tobacconist if any in this Country stocked it over here. Now I am buying it direct from overseas I am not looking back. I must say that Dunhill produce some good mixtures. Being an "English" fan myself I have just sampled the delights of Dunhill London Mixture and yeah, she's bloody good. But if you want it you need to import it. Sampling this London Mixture by Dunhill reinforced my belief in the Grand Architect of the Universe. All I can say is with such beauty in a tin as with this mixture there has to be a God.