Buying pipes overseas into US

[woodsroad]

In the none to distant past, I received a similar letter from the BATFE. It accused me of a felony. Several felonies, actually. As an FFL holder and owner of several NFA items, this was rather alarming. My only immediately comforting thought is that these letters usually arrive with 15 to 20 Federal agents, each armed to the tooth. My letter was delivered by the postman. I couldn't reach anyone at the ATF on the phone for several hours. After a good bit of sleuthing and google-fu-ing, as well as emailing everyone in the ATF chain of command that I could find, I finally reached an agent who knew exactly what was going on. He apologized profusely. I was not under suspicion of anything. It was a fishing expedition that cast a very wide net. So wide that the response had shut down the phones and email at the bureau. I eventually got a letter of clarification from the BATFE, a verbal apology, and a verbal promise that it wouldn't happen again.

Now, I think that I will go place an Esterval's order, just to poke the bear.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

In the none to distant past, I received a similar letter from the BATFE. It accused me of a felony. Several felonies, actually. As an FFL holder and owner of several NFA items, this was rather alarming. My only immediately comforting thought is that these letters usually arrive with 15 to 20 Federal agents, each armed to the tooth. My letter was delivered by the postman. I couldn't reach anyone at the ATF on the phone for several hours. After a good bit of sleuthing and google-fu-ing, as well as emailing everyone in the ATF chain of command that I could find, I finally reached an agent who knew exactly what was going on. He apologized profusely. I was not under suspicion of anything. It was a fishing expedition that cast a very wide net. So wide that the response had shut down the phones and email at the bureau. I eventually got a letter of clarification from the BATFE, a verbal apology, and a verbal promise that it wouldn't happen again.

Now, I think that I will go place an Esterval's order, just to poke the bear.

Coming back from Saskatchewan into US from a goose/duck hunting trip at a nothing of a crossing years ago and before 9/11 we had some amped up ATF guys make us empty every single cooler, unpack every single shotgun, check our luggage and not a smile among them. We assumed something must have been going on but boy, what a humorless bunch! No problem with them being good at their jobs but still it was weird - nothing but wildfowl hunters being pulled over.

Hate to hear of fishing expeditions - that had to be unnerving.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

Thanks. Sorry, one of the issues with this type of communication is no tone/inflection. Not ranting, just trying to make sense of a strange and concerning situation, and possibly help others out who may run into this briar patch.

As far as the letter, it is a matter of keeping my anonymity as much as possible, as no two letters are likely the same, to my knowledge, and can still be possibly traced back to me. I don't want to poke the bee hive.

I can tell you that it said "it has been been determined that you have knowingly sought to import contraband tobacco products" and the statute mentioned was the PACT act. (Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking) Was threatened with fines and imprisonment.

While pipes can be categorized as a "tobacco product", the key word would be "contraband". A lack of communication and tight lipped answers I did get, leaves allot to the imagination. A more accurate wording would have been "reason to believe" in place of "determined". That still would have not been any less stressful, lol. Either way it was an overreach.

Please just take my situation as a warning that this kind of thing can happen with any foreign purchase. Not saying avoid it, but maybe not use USPS. If you are in a small town, and know the people at your PO, then it would most likely play out a bit differently.

I have even heard of people importing pipe tobacco for personal use, and technically it is supposed to be ok, but I wouldn't try it, not after this. The only thing I would be after anyways would be HU, and I just heard the owner is shutting down, so that temptation is no longer there.

Personally, I am close to done with my collection anyways, I have enough pipes, and any further purchases will be sparse.

Looking forward to conversing with you all on happier posts.

God bless,

P.C.

Thanks and understand. Cigarettes clearly the issue and sounds like definitely someone local looking to overstep since to get local it had to have already cleared customs first which should just mean “deliver”. I still remember my postal carrier handing me the first and sizable order I’d placed with Wilke and asking me what was in the box that smelled so good. She thought it was some sort of sweets. But yep, small town.

 

[woodsroad]

Coming back from Saskatchewan into US from a goose/duck hunting trip at a nothing of a crossing years ago and before 9/11 we had some amped up ATF guys make us empty every single cooler, unpack every single shotgun, check our luggage and not a smile among them. We assumed something must have been going on but boy, what a humorless bunch! No problem with them being good at their jobs but still it was weird - nothing but wildfowl hunters being pulled over.

Hate to hear of fishing expeditions - that had to be unnerving.

With all the stories you read of misplaced raids, destroying people’s homes looking for something that was never there, killing pets etc., yeah, it was unnerving.

I mentioned all that in my email to the agency Director, how it was because of incompetent shit like that letter that nobody trusts them. I also said the every encounter I’d had with agents over the years had been positive, agents were smart, informed and considerate. So…WTF? Evidently, that got their attention.

 

[sablebrush52]

Coming back from Saskatchewan into US from a goose/duck hunting trip at a nothing of a crossing years ago and before 9/11 we had some amped up ATF guys make us empty every single cooler, unpack every single shotgun, check our luggage and not a smile among them. We assumed something must have been going on but boy, what a humorless bunch! No problem with them being good at their jobs but still it was weird - nothing but wildfowl hunters being pulled over.

Hate to hear of fishing expeditions - that had to be unnerving.

Speaking of 9/11, shortly afterwards I started working on a show at Paramount. Every time we drove on the lot we had to stop while security ransacked our cars. They even used mirrors attached to poles to check the underside of the vehicle. I got so fed up with it that I told security that the only bombs Paramount had to be concerned about were the ones they were putting out in theaters.

 

[paulfg]

People are complete idiots for even using the word "cigarette", "cigar", or "tobacco pipes" in descriptions in the mail. Don't these morons know that these words are triggers for weaker minded humans? I would say all of this is because of the moron that mailed the objects and wrote that in the description, fucking idiots?

100% this.
I had a pipe from @ssjones reach NY international distribution centre get returned to Al as not allowed,the only thing we could think of was the description.
He redid the label as used briar and it went through .
I have since bought several more from Al and had no problems using this descripion.
I beleive there is now a drop down box type of thing ,so you cant write your own description,you have to use a pre written choice.
The conclusion is obvious.