Away in Maine

[Saintkas]

Hello all, I recently returned to pipe smoking after a 30 year gap. I'm finding good tobacco hard to get in Maine since I can't order online because of Maine's restrictive laws. I would welcome any suggestions for a good tobacco source in Maine around the Portland area.

When I first smoked, I bought my tobacco from a Tobacconist in New Orleans. He was the third generation in his family to fun the shop. He told me his grandfather came from Germany as a silversmith and couldn't find a job. He figured carving pipes was pretty close to carving silver. He had some of his grandfather's pipes on display, magnificent large (1'-2') meerschaums meticulously carved into hunting scenes. He blended his own and had his own line of briars. The shop exuded years of tobacco and smoking. I loved going there and chatting.

He got me into a rich, black (what he called) Toasted Cavendish. It was Virginia with a touch of vanilla, I think. My favorite pipe was a half-bent, saddle bit bulldog that he had carved.

Looking forward to being with you on the forum.

Ken

 

[mso489]

Welcome from central N.C. I've never been to Maine but its beauty is renown. I like the story of encountering an artisan pipe shop in New Orleans thirty years ago. I honeymooned there in '76, and have visited several times before and since. I always liked the sternwheeler trip on the river, and Preservation Hall for Dixieland.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Welcome! There might be a shop in NH... I wish I knew and could recommend. You get up to Boston every now and then?

 

[Gecko]

Welcome from Sweden!
Perhaps having a friend in another state order and ship it on to you in discreet package might work?
Class C felony and up to 5 grand in fines for ordering a legal product. That's insane. I thought we were supposed to be the big government types and you guys the land of the free...

 

[briarbuck]

There is a nice pipe and tobacco shop in Boston (I am told). What part of Maine? I lived in Bath for some of my youth and had family up on Vinal Haven. I'm still friends with a lot of the Orr family from Orr's Island.

 

[hauntedmyst]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[jpmcwjr]

Portland.

 

[peregrinus]

Hello and welcome from Seattle, Washington.
I have no experience buying tobacco in Maine, however this site has a state by state directory. Might be something helpful there; take a look:
Retail Directory

 

[anantaandroscoggin]

Greetings from Greene, ME.

Lisbon Street News in Lewiston carries a small variety of pouch pipe tobaccos, and has one display board with Missouri Meerschaums. He won't accept any Captain Black coupons you may have gotten in the mail, however.

The Roopers chain stores carry a lot of the roll-your-own stuff with very little of it the same brands & blends as can be found selling on the online Pipe Tobacco shops.

Some of the many "smoke shops" will have one or two varieties of pipe tobacco in pouches or tins, and sometimes may have up to four of the bagged stuff Pipe shops will carry.

Hannaford's used to carry a couple of Captain Black blends, but seems to be all cigarettes now, and some bagged stuff called "1835" (I think it was).

 

[jpmcwjr]

Damn. Not surprised, though. Are the liquor stores still state run?

 

[JMcQ]

Welcome from Florida. I've never been to Maine, but I have a dream of one day hiking the Appalachian Trail. I hope to see some of Maine then.

 

[jpberg]

I think Dads Smoke Shop in Biddeford is still open. They always had a decent selection and were happy to order stuff for you.
Other than that, head to Boston.

 

[anantaandroscoggin]

Watch out for the parking lot across the street from Dad's Smoke Shop (right next to the police station). They've got some kind of weird pay-to-park setup and aren't slow to write tickets.

 

[Reginald]

Another welcome from Florida. Your post made me homesick for my alma-mater: U Maine Orono.

GO BLACK BEARS!

 

[mikethompson]

Welcome to the forum!

I have never heard of the restrictions placed on mail order product in Maine before. How close are you to a border with another state? Maybe have a package shipped to a post office box and then pick it up?

My only two connections to Maine are that 1) I was within throwing distance of Maine when I went to the Maritimes a few years ago, and 2) I recently picked up a station on my shortwave radio from Maine telling me the end of the world was immanent.

 

[mngslvs]

Restrictions ? Say what ?
I live in Yarmouth, Maine, and I've ordered tobacco and pipes from all over hell-and-gone, including overseas. Never a problem.

 

[anantaandroscoggin]

Yeah, this Maine prohibition of shipping Pipe Tobacco, cigars where 1,000 of them weigh less than 3 lb., and Cigars with Homogenized/HTL Wrappers is of recent, and Vape-related vintage. And I mean within the past 2 months.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Newburyport has 5-6 shops, but I am sure some- many- all?— are cigar or vaping shops.

 

[mngslvs]

I just contacted Smoking Pipes and L J Peretti. Both are still shipping to Maine. I also emailed my local rep in the legislature. She is not aware of it, but says some laws are passed without debate, and she will check up on it. I can't find anything about any such prohibition on-line.

 

[mngslvs]

My local Maine House rep forwarded me the results of her inquiry to the law library in Augusta.
Near as I can tell, there is a law, but it is not currently enforced.

'Tobacco products may not be shipped to anyone other than a licensed retailer or distributor in the state. Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 22, §1555-F (2018).'