Melbourne Australia

jazz · Jan 5, 2016

In two weeks I am going to be in said city for the best part of the month. My trouble is that Australia seems to have some utterly absurd tobacco laws and primary of these is I am only allowed to take in 50 grams of tobacco. Preposterous and not even close to how much I will need for my stay.
Does anyone know of any good tobacconists in Melbourne with a good selection of tobaccos I can purchase while I am there? This honestly has the potential to ruin a trip I have very much been looking forward to.

bulfrg · Jan 5, 2016

Jazz,

We are very limited here in Aus, I know of 1 tobacconist in Melb however i havent visited said establishment it is called Alexanders Cigar Merchant in Toorak which is not too far from the city centre and easy enough to get too via a tram. There is also another a little further out in Frankston called tobacco blends google them both. But bring your cheque book we are taxed massively. Alternatively i can help you out with a couple of oz of 1q if you get stuck.

I hope this helps

jazz · Jan 5, 2016

Thank you for your reply and kind offer bulfrg. After some searching online I found both places that you suggest. Alexanders does not have much of a selection. Nothing I would smoke to be honest. The one in Frankston does seem to have a better selection of things I would put in my pipe like Full Virginia Flake and the like. (I'm more of a Virgina guy).
Your prices there though, OUCH I mean it really stings. I thought we had it bad here in the UK. 55 AUD for 50 grams. That is £27 near as damn it. The same tin would cost about £12-13 here. It does not even come in a tin according to the website.
I suppose I will have to find out how to get from Olinda to this Frankston place when I am there and just suck it up.
I was really looking forward to long evenings sucking on some Hal O' The Wynd but it is just not going to happen. At least having a choice won't. It has really put a cloud over my trip.

Thanks again for your help bulfrg.

northernneil · Jan 5, 2016

Are you allowed 50g per visitor? If so, load up the wife and kids with extra tobacco.

jazz · Jan 5, 2016

Indeed. However, the other traveler also smokes.

fmgee · Jan 5, 2016

Are you allowed 50g per visitor? If so, load up the wife and kids with extra tobacco.

They need to be 18 to load them up. I am heading to Oz next month but two 50g tins will be enough for me. My problem is how to decide what tins to smoke in sunny Australia when it is snowing outside here in Canada. SPC Plum pudding might be overdoing it... oh and its a 2 oz tin which would send the aussies haywire and mean I would have to pay duty on everything!

fnord · Jan 6, 2016

Jazz:
This is nasty, but I always had the best luck traveling abroad with over the limit booze and smokes in a suitcase topped with well used underwear. Takes a pretty tough customs agent to dig through that mess.
Otherwise, pack a full tin in a soft pouch carried on your person, declare the one tin allowed in a duty free bag and feign ignorance for any other tins they happen to find.
If that doesn't appeal to you then I'll loan you my father. I always followed him through customs lines. Agents would try to confiscate items he carried and I watched my old man, on several occasions, crawl over a counter and take things back that were appropriated/confiscated.
He's 89 now, high maintenance as hell but you'll get a quick chalk mark on your bags with him in the lead. Promise. And he loves a road trip.
Fnord

buckaroo · Jan 6, 2016

No advice but I love that city. Cool place. Enjoy.

jessicac · Jan 6, 2016

There's one tobacconist that I'm aware of, hell, there's about 2 or 3 in the whole country.
Anyway, its about a 90 minute train ride away from Melbourne, but to be honest, unless you're out of tobacco, its a lot cheaper to bring your own, you won't see anything you can't find over there anyway.
Although I had the idea tosneak some plug tobacco past customs in chocolate boxes, never tried it so I don't know how viable it is.

timpiper · Jan 6, 2016

I'm from Melbourne. There isn't much in the way of pipe tobacco here, Cignal Frankston is your best option.

The guys at Cignal Frankston are really friendly and helpful. I would call ahead to make sure they have want you want in stock, as its a 50min drive from Olinda to Frankston. You can buy 10g samples from them which is great to try out a new blend at these prices.
Your other option is to order a couple of tins/pouches (100g) from the UK (mysmokingshop or smoke.co.uk) and post it to your Olinda address. Should get there in 7 to 10 days and unlikely to get hit by customs taxes for 100g. Or you could even post some of your tobacco to the Olinda address

Post from USA can take a lot longer anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks. -Tim
-Tim

jvnshr · Jan 6, 2016

£27 for a tin? It is around $40. For $40 I can buy at least 3 tins of tobacco from P&C, get it shipped to USA address and then from there get it shipped to my country without any taxes. Those stupid tobacco regulations/taxes/whatever. Anyway, I hope you enjoy your trip.

fordm60 · Jan 6, 2016

jazz, I do believe tinpiper has given you the answer to your problem! Mail does seem to be the answer.
I trained with 3 RAR out of Holosworthy, just outside of Sydney, and found the Aussies to be the best nation up of people I have ever meet overall. I have said more than once that I did 46 or so days and met not one asshole which is an outstanding statistic! But they have some interesting laws. Dip, read the lifeblood of the US Army Airborne Infantryman, was illegal. That may have changed not sure. But the US Army had to get a special dispensation, waiver, so that we could have Copenhagen and other dips. I found it funny 8 of the 10 of the world's most poisonous sepents, funnel web spider, platapus with poison spurs for the males rear legs, fricking huge male Red Kangaroo which will stop your butt, Salt Water Crocodiles (Salty), Bull Shark in the fresh water rivers and surrounding ocean, Great White Sharks, Blue Bottle jellies. Basically a entire contient trying to kill you everyday, and they worry about tobacco lmao!!
But by the Gods what a fun place otherwise. Good soldiers, good people, great times!!

jazz · Jan 6, 2016

Thanks for your help guys. No one has ever offered to lend me a parent before fnord. A kind and cunning ploy for sure but alas, I simply must decline.
I have decided to post myself a couple of tins before leaving. I'm hoping to bypass the bureaucrats. The cost of shipping will still be cheaper than buying there and I will be able to have what I want and it will be in tins.
It is crazy that it has come to this. I remember when travel was a much simpler affair. You could get on a plane with whatever you wished and smoke and drink yourself simple. I must go through Dubai on the way and they have had me jumping through hoops regarding my medication. I'm not even staying there. Just changing aircraft. Is a pipe tool considered a lethal weapon these days? I suppose it probably is. Better put that in my suitcase then. What about pipe cleaners? :lol: I thought about taking snuff on the plane but then thought that would be confused for something else.
Anyhow, enough silliness and stop whinging Jazz. I'm sure it will all be worth it.
Thanks again for all your input guys.

jessicac · Jan 6, 2016

Pipe tools are a definite no no, I lost a Rodgers from forgetting to remove it from my carryon.

timpiper · Jan 6, 2016

Try to avoid using the word "Tobacco" when labelling the parcel. Use "Pipe Supplies" "Hobby Supplies" or something like that. Enjoy your stay and be prepared for hot weather

New years eve got to 42c in some places.

-Tim

jpmcwjr · Jan 6, 2016

You might get by with a Czech tool in carry-on, but not anything with a blade/scraper. Besides, you'll not be needing it on the flight!
When I travel, I don't carry tins in checked baggage or in carry-on unless it's the only way. (As in I've been gifted some tins) Thick plastic bags and doubled at that, have safely locked in enough moisture for a three week trip just concluded.
Bon voyage, old cobber!

jessicac · Jan 6, 2016

just label it loose leaf tea and they'd be none the wiser.
And when you're here, watch out for drop bears, they're attracted to the tobacco scent..

jazz · Jan 6, 2016

watch out for drop bears, they're attracted to the tobacco scent.

:lol: I'm not falling for that one buddy. Though it should make for one hell of a tale.
People do seem slightly obsessed with the wildlife dangers of Aus though. At least in the uk. Wildlife has never scared me. Certainly not aggressive airbourne bears with a lust for tobacco smoke anyhow. :wink: Nutters in the shadows or tobacco police strike me as a far more dangerous and unpredictable creatures. Where I come from there seems there is an abundance of both.
Another question to those local would be what do you recommend visiting/seeing? One thing I have wanted to visit for perhaps 20 years is the William Ricketts Sanctuary. As luck would have it that is very close to where I shall be staying and so of course I shall. I know Melbourne and surrounding area has much to offer so any advice I would be grateful for. I will also be visiting Sydney but only for a few days.

fmgee · Jan 6, 2016

There are a huge number of books published with titles like "Dangerous Australians" and "Australias Deadliest Animals". I worked at a university for a long time and overseas postdocs and students would almost always turn up one of these books. You have to work pretty hard to find some of the animals in there and travel to remote places.
Drop bears are by far the worst thing you could come across... it means you have surrounded yourself with some Aussie's who think they are funny and there is no known way to end their humour.
I hope you have a good trip.

Melbourne Australia

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