Danish Estate Jess Chonowitsch Smooth Pot With Mammoth

[Smoke Queen]

Hi all! I know I usually show Castellos but today I wanted to show you my Danish Estate Jess Chonowitsch smooth pot with mammoth.. I love it! It's very comfortable, smokes amazing and very light / good for travel... On another note, I don't know if it's just because I'm Canadian, you can tell me here but do you guys have to wait and pay crazy amounts for Duty / Customs to release your pipe/ tobacco (cigars too) related products? I mean, I'm talking months and thousands of dollars in Duty. Let me know because I'm seriously considering moving!! ???

 

[anotherbob]

well things always change. Not everything but everything can. Just a heads up before you pick up stakes. You might move somewhere and then they might decide to do the same thing. Honestly that would be my luck on that front.

 

[Smoke Queen]

well things always change. Not everything but everything can. Just a heads up before you pick up stakes. You might move somewhere and then they might decide to do the same thing. Honestly that would be my luck on that front.

I guess so but for sure there are definitely more tobacco friendly places than Canada, with nicer weather too ??

 

[telescopes]

Get a United States Post Office Box. You're close enough to the boarder. I have a Nevada address I can use when I need to avoid California's draconian rules regarding Rattlesnake Boots. WTF...

No, we don't have those issues.

Oh, Canada.... what are you thinking? LOL

 

[telescopes]

I guess so but for sure there are definitely more tobacco friendly places than Canada, with nicer weather too ??

Ah... that would be....California - Land of many migrating snow birds... eh, I mean Canadians. And I am not just talking about geese!

 

[smokeymo]

Move to the land of the free.

 

[Spinkle]

There are actually several types of "tax" that can be levied when you import consumer products, and tobacco has its own special category.

The most common are duty/excise tax, regular sales tax (GST or HST depending on your province) and of course the tobacco tax. (I am simplifying things a bit, the regime is very complex).

I've never had to pay duty or sales tax on a pipe that I've imported, but I've always ordered pipes separately from tobacco.

Tobacco products I've found are luck of the draw. I'd say they get caught about 35% of the time. However, about half of the time I've been caught, the CBSA has only applied the regular GST/HST amount, meaning they likely didn't actually open the package and just looked at the value on the shipping label and calculated the GST/HST.

The other 50% of the time I've been assessed for full duty/excise tax, GST/HST and the tobacco tax. Even with this large hit you are generally still saving about $10-$15 per tin compared to B&M (in Toronto, not sure about other places).

The way I justify this is by conceptualizing it as "amortizing" the savings across all orders. If say you order 100 tins in a year, and you only have to pay full taxes on 17 of those tins, you are still saving what amounts to thousands over time.

 

[Smoke Queen]

There are actually several types of "tax" that can be levied when you import consumer products, and tobacco has its own special category.

The most common are duty/excise tax, regular sales tax (GST or HST depending on your province) and of course the tobacco tax. (I am simplifying things a bit, the regime is very complex).

I've never had to pay duty or sales tax on a pipe that I've imported, but I've always ordered pipes separately from tobacco.

Tobacco products I've found are luck of the draw. I'd say they get caught about 35% of the time. However, about half of the time I've been caught, the CBSA has only applied the regular GST/HST amount, meaning they likely didn't actually open the package and just looked at the value on the shipping label and calculated the GST/HST.

The other 50% of the time I've been assessed for full duty/excise tax, GST/HST and the tobacco tax. Even with this large hit you are generally still saving about $10-$15 per tin compared to B&M (in Toronto, not sure about other places).

The way I justify this is by conceptualizing it as "amortizing" the savings across all orders. If say you order 100 tins in a year, and you only have to pay full taxes on 17 of those tins, you are still saving what amounts to thousands over time.

Ok I'm in Toronto, there was no tobacco in the package, just the pipe and the Duty was 1050$ for this pipe. I get it with the cigars, I had humidors and 48 cigars but $1900.00 in taxes ?? Wow I didn't even buy the cigars, they were being sent to me as gift lol anyway I worked out for them to reduce to $900.00 because I was able to show their prices on the website and they were on sale so I said that too but anyway, it is just a headache! They looked at the price of this pipe and they did the same thing.

 

[Smoke Queen]

Get a United States Post Office Box. You're close enough to the boarder. I have a Nevada address I can use when I need to avoid California's draconian rules regarding Rattlesnake Boots. WTF...

No, we don't have those issues.

Oh, Canada.... what are you thinking? LOL

I'm not "that" close to the border lol I'm in downtown Toronto! ?

 

[Spinkle]

Ok I'm in Toronto, there was no tobacco in the package, just the pipe and the Duty was 1050$ for this pipe. I get it with the cigars, I had humidors and 48 cigars but $1900.00 in taxes ?? Wow I didn't even buy the cigars, they were being sent to me as gift lol anyway I worked out for them to reduce to $900.00 because I was able to show their prices on the website and they were on sale so I said that too but anyway, it is just a headache! They looked at the price of this pipe and they did the same thing.

Were you using a shipping company like UPS and not Canada Post? $900 means that was a very expensive pipe. It's no wonder they wanted to charge you, I've only ever bought Savinellis and the like. If the agents see such a high value item they are almost 100% guaranteed to assess taxes.

 

[telescopes]

I'm not "that" close to the border lol I'm in downtown Toronto! ?

By my measure, that's 82 miles to the Falls. Don't you like scenic drives? Think of it as a great place to make videos.

 

[Smoke Queen]

By my measure, that's 82 miles to the Falls. Don't you like scenic drives? Think of it as a great place to make videos.

I don't go there that often, I'd need to be going every week for shipments! I don't know... I like my solution better! I want to move somewhere hot and tobacco friendly..?

 

[Smoke Queen]

Were you using a shipping company like UPS and not Canada Post? $900 means that was a very expensive pipe. It's no wonder they wanted to charge you, I've only ever bought Savinellis and the like. If the agents see such a high value item they are almost 100% guaranteed to assess taxes.

Nooo... I don't think you understood. It was $1050 in duty for the pipe, yes it's not a cheap pipe, and it was $900 dropped from $1900 for the cigars. All in different shipments different situations. No tobacco in the pipe shipments. And yes, the senders ship to me either by UPS or USPS

 

[telescopes]

I hear they grow tobacco and make their own wine in Alabama. It’s a cosmically great place to live. Ha ha

 

[Spinkle]

Nooo... I don't think you understood. It was $1050 in duty for the pipe, yes it's not a cheap pipe, and it was $900 dropped from $1900 for the cigars. All in different shipments different situations. No tobacco in the pipe shipments. And yes, the senders ship to me either by UPS or USPS

If you ship by third-party shipping company such as UPS, FedEx, DHL etc. they are required to collect and remit the taxes on your shipment so you will always get dinged 100% of the time. The only way to try and avoid this is by shipping USPS to Canada post, as the CBSA then has the responsibility to collect the taxes. This is why I never use the courier companies for shipping (though this may not be an option from some European sellers).

I assume your cigars were shipped third-party which is how you were able to negotiate the duty amount down - if you send via post and do get dinged by CBSA and you're overcharged you can file a dispute within I believe 30 days but you have to pay the amount up front to be able to do so.

 

[Smoke Queen]

I hear they grow tobacco and make their own wine in Alabama. It’s a cosmically great place to live. Ha ha

Where do you live?

 

[telescopes]

Where do you live?

Paradise. Palm Springs, California.., the nexus of all that is shallow, beautiful, and worry free. Home of Coachellafest and easy living. We take blue skies seriously. I haven’t see a cloud for … what’s a cloud?

 

[Smoke Queen]

If you ship by third-party shipping company such as UPS, FedEx, DHL etc. they are required to collect and remit the taxes on your shipment so you will always get dinged 100% of the time. The only way to try and avoid this is by shipping USPS to Canada post, as the CBSA then has the responsibility to collect the taxes. This is why I never use the courier companies for shipping (though this may not be an option from some European sellers).

I assume your cigars were shipped third-party which is how you were able to negotiate the duty amount down - if you send via post and do get dinged by CBSA and you're overcharged you can file a dispute within I believe 30 days but you have to pay the amount up front to be able to do so.

Yes that's the dispute I filed and I got it reduced to $900 with my explanation. Now I don't think that this is all entirely accurate or makes sense to me and I'll tell you why... For cigars, If I'm home when they try to deliver I have been able to get the goods and pay nothing, no Duty. But if I'm not home that's when it gets sent to the post office and they file the paperwork and I get hit with Duty. For pipes, never really had an issue until now with this Jess Chonowitsch, had to pay $1050 Duty. I don't know what will happen to the next ones, maybe I'm now flagged with red signals all over.. I'll find out soon enough. I work for the government too so I never want to break any laws but I sure wish Duty wasnt so crazy here...

 

[Smoke Queen]

Paradise. Palm Springs, California.., the nexus of all that is shallow, beautiful, and worry free. Home of Coachellafest and easy living. We take blue skies seriously. I haven’t see a cloud for … what’s a cloud?

I have family in San Francisco and in L.A. hmmmmm ?

 

[telescopes]

Both fine places to live, but sadly, their negatives outweigh their advantages. Palm Springs is spooky clean and almost like a Hollywood set. San Diego, now that city trumps us. Possibly the beat place to live in the Northern Hemisphere. My wife and I have thought about getting a boat to live on. Much cheaper that even the cheapest home and the fees are about $750 a month or so. The weather- on any given day is 74.