Another Italian Pipe Shipment Hit With Customs and Duties Charges.

[danimalia]

If you're receiving pipes with a value of

 

[sablebrush52]

Well, I'm expecting something like this as I put in an order to Esteval's for some HU tobaccos. It's a small order, but I won't be surprised if it's a relatively big charge. Makes me happy that I cellared when I did.
I suggest that you sit back, select a nice pipe, load it with a favored blend, and enjoy a nice relaxing smoke. Maybe a little Mozart or Vaughn-Williams in the background. ::

 

[paulfg]

My way of seeing it is

I expect to get hit with taxes if I buy a pipe from outside the EU so factor that into the price.

if I dont its a bonus,

buy a pipe for 30 Dollars from US i will get 23% taxes plus a fee for customs opening it (20 euros i think).

buy a pipe for 3000 still 23% plus fee.
ps I am in Greece

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

@PaulFg, Lordy That's sound even worse that we've gotten up north, we don't have any 'opening fees whatsoever but Added sales tax of % 24 applies to all outside of EU parcels exceeding the merchandise value of $ 35,(gifts and no commercial items are exempt to this ruling)

 

[ashdigger]

It's not just pipes and tobacco gents. Fountain pens get the same treatment.
If you want to dance, you have to pay the fiddler.

 

[mso489]

I'm glad I'm not a White Spot devotee for new pipes, since Europe has, or had, the best prices by far, along with some other brands. This is not good for business.

 

[craiginthecorn]

Jesse, I placed an HU order with Esterval’s a few months ago. It was about $200 worth of tobacco and it arrived with no further duties. I have since shared these tobaccos with several friends, a few of which have subsequently placed orders and received them without incident. I placed another order a week ago as a hedge against FDA issues importing HU tobaccos, but again kept the order in the $200 range, not wanting to poke the bear.

 

[craiginthecorn]

This is timely, but I’m sorry to hear you got hit again, Neal. Smokingpipes.eu has a 10% off sale this weekend and I just placed an order for a Peter Heeschen brandy. Not cheap, but a fair bit less than what seems to be the magic $800 limit. Phew! I’m glad to understand the parameters. Thanks for sharing that, Mike!

 

[brian64]

If you want to dance, you have to pay the fiddler.

And if he's got a fiddle of gold and expresses an interest in your soul you might want to consider dancing elsewhere.

 

[disinformatique]

Lol and people thought a Republican President would prefer less taxes on pipes and tobacco. Welcome to Customs Taxation my friend. We pay 42% in India on all things labelled tobacco pipes and pipe tobacco is straight away seized now. Guess what? we have a right wing government too. The liberal govt. before, never had this issue. The pipes and tobacco were always delivered without any duties. I have stashed all my high end pipes in the US since 2015 and I have not bought a single tin of tobacco to be shipped to India. The risk is too high.
Cheers,

Chris

 

[anantaandroscoggin]

When I placed an order for some clay pipes from MarKen pipes last week, with their location somewhere in the U.S. Eastern time zone, I was surprised to get the "it's shipped!" email stating they were being shipped from Germany.
So now I wonder if, and if so, how much, I'll get zapped by any tariffs against German imports (or anything coming from everywhere else in the world).

 

[drydock]

I'm waiting to see what may happen with an incoming order from Estervals too.

 

[npod]

Basically, the original point was that pipes (not tobacco) are starting to get noticed. This is new. That's all. Yes, I know the laws and regulations. But Italy was an oasis for a long time.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

It may have been an isolated incident or two. I just got two Rubio pipes in that were over $800 with no issue. For that matter, I just got four boxes of Cuban cigars in with no issue.

 

[disinformatique]

@npod Random sample selection most probably.

 

[drydock]

For whatever reason, I'd long assumed that it was the shipping in of Int'l tobacco that was an issue for customs, not tobacco pipes.

 

[anantaandroscoggin]

Got my MarKen clays with today's mail. Surprisingly, no federal tariffs added.

 

[sablebrush52]

Judging from prior discussions and from US Customs online guidelines, there seems to be a significant level of ambiguity, fluidity, and individual caprice involved in the whole business. Imports that flow through without incident at one port of entry get snagged and caught in bureaucratic limbo at another. The personal experiences of various people are indicative of nothing more than that. And the practices at one port of entry will change from Monday to Friday, from morning to afternoon, phases of the moon, or whether the agent is happy or pissed when your item shows up. My experience with the Port of Los Angeles is that several weeks delay while sitting in Customs isn't unusual. Other people could have a completely different experience.

 

[cachimbero]

It seems something is moving. For the first time in more than two decades I had a packet from the US fined in Spanish customs. Only four tins of tobacco and a Rattray’s pipe. Total a bit more than 200USD. Custom charge: 420€. Had to reject the shipment. Very strange, maybe they are getting more serious. I told the guys I was ready to pay 21% VAT and some fee for their “service”, but not more than 100€ (which is a 50% tax), but they wanted to charge more than 200%. I really was looking forward to trying Doblone d’oro. May be if I travel to the US....

 

[mngslvs]

I just received a beautiful Ser Jacopo from lepipe.it -- no problem, no charges.
Also expecting soon a pipe from Moretti. We shall see what happens with that one.