Estervals: Is The Party Over?

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paulfg

Lifer
Feb 21, 2016
1,565
2,929
Corfu Greece
I emailed them. This was the reply:

Greetings,

Yes, as customers in the USA do not understand that if you are shopping in Germany and import goods into the USA and have to pay customs duties for them, we have now stopped shipping to the USA.

Best Regards

Andreas Harm
(CEO)
dont forget they are also not writing in their native language.sometimes things are lost in translation..
I wouldnt call it rude,they used greetings and best regards in the reply
 

bullet08

Lifer
Nov 26, 2018
8,932
37,913
RTP, NC. USA
Free trade? Taxes have to be paid on free trade. And especially something as heavily regulated and taxed as tobacco. You can’t just drive to Canada and bring back cases of booze or Cuban cigars just because there is a tax advantage. You have to pay duty on it...
OK. Freely traded. Even with tax and duty and whatnot, let the products flow through the borders.
 
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sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,621
44,831
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
Due to the fickle nature of the USPS, Customs, et al, they probably realized that shipping here and not having product delivered, returned and held in Germany or whatever that it wasn’t financially viable for them to send stuff here anymore.
THIS. They finally figured out that the risks far outweighed the rewards.
You just gotta love Esterval's rude and haughty attitude.
Yep. Putting the blame on US customers unaware of US Customs duties is baloney, which is emblamatic of the experience I had with them with the last shipment. Besides, when I spoke with a US Customs agent regarding my ill-fated shipment she explained in detail why US Customs was not involved.

They must have gotten tired of having to swallow the cost of tobaccos lost to German Customs when the shipments were returned, as well as credit card companies requiring them to return the money exchanged.

It was fun while it lasted, and as much as I would have liked to try some new blends, it's just not a necessity worth the financial risk, however minor.
 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,621
44,831
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
I must express my sadness that this has occurred. Esterval's sold a magnificent, top-class product. I wonder if there are any other German internet tobacco retailers that will ship to the USA in their stead.
You can check out pheiffendepot to see if thy're still shipping. But given the current climate I would be hesitant to order anything.
 

greeneyes

Lifer
Jun 5, 2018
2,125
12,188
Anyone know who blends the Gerd Jansen blends? If it's more K&K 'house-blends' I might skip it.
 

ron123

Part of the Furniture Now
Jan 28, 2015
541
984
Park Ridge, IL
I tried to order a pipe from Ihr Fachgeschäft für Zigarren und Pfeifen - https://www.tabak-traeber.de/de/ a few weeks ago and was not able to create an account or place the order as a guest because in the dropdown of countries to select, USA wasn't there...Uzbekistan, not a problem. I sent them an email asking if there was a way to order the pipe and they replied:

Unfortunately USA is not possible.
kind regards
Michael Träber
Tabak Träber, Drubbel 4, 48143 Münster
www.tabak-traeber.de

Can't really say I blame them.
 

saltedplug

Lifer
Aug 20, 2013
5,194
5,097
What a changed climate now compared to when I did
business overseas. Ordering Condor from James Fox of Dublin in 2014 and 15 was tax free, and it arrived within 3 or 4 days of the order. Now? I wouldn't even try. The anti-tobacco environment is supported by thousands? of health organizations we who have turned the ear of almost every government that exists.

The dignity of the freedom of choice is being systematically stripped from any entity that deals with tobacco. Wait until they make it illegal to grow it, blend it, distribute it or sell it. Yeah sure, but you can still smoke it.

In this light the second-hand smoke regulations starting in the 80s signaled the twilight of tobacco. I bet that even in the years remaining to me the climate will deteriorate much more.

Tobacco is seen as a world health problem, and looking at the statistics of the health and business costs caused by it is inarguable. But as we know, the harm caused by a moderate pipe smoking is not comparable to cigarette smoking, and it is the latter that generates the statistics.
 

anotherbob

Lifer
Mar 30, 2019
15,675
29,390
45
In the semi-rural NorthEastern USA
My doctor told me that tobacco in any form and however used is harmful. I don't think the medical profession has any use for a differential analysis of harm.
well anything can be harmful and often medical professionals operate under the assumption that the general public are idiots. So they assume if they say something isn't as bad as something else that is similar people will still do the worst thing. If they say a pipe is safer then cigs they know patients will still smoke cigs and then be like why I get sick don't you have a pill to safe me?
I've pretty much had more then a few doctors tell me that after showing them data about smokeless and other forms of tobacco.
 
Oct 7, 2016
2,451
5,195
I emailed them. This was the reply:

Greetings,

Yes, as customers in the USA do not understand that if you are shopping in Germany and import goods into the USA and have to pay customs duties for them, we have now stopped shipping to the USA.

Best Regards

Andreas Harm
(CEO)
Clear confusion at best on Herr Harms part. I have yet to hear one US customer who has EVER complained about PAYING customs on an Estervals order. They never got the chance. And as @sablebrush52 has pointed out repeatedly and has been confirmed by others, including me,US Customs does not return packages to any country, any time, for any reason. The recipient gets a bill. If not paid or timely disputed, the package is seized, to be sold if duties are the only issue. The contents aren’t destroyed if it is illegal.

Say all you want in defense of Estervals, but their use of combination DHL/USPS shipping plainly started screwing up with some regularity over a year ago. If Herr Harms had gotten his arrogant kraut head out of his ass and actually tried another method of shipping, I might have some sympathy for him. There is no evidence that he did. German reputation for competence and honesty is over rated anyway. See Diesel Gate.
 

rmpeeps

Lifer
Oct 17, 2017
1,122
1,765
San Antonio, TX
I emailed them. This was the reply:

Greetings,

Yes, as customers in the USA do not understand that if you are shopping in Germany and import goods into the USA and have to pay customs duties for them, we have now stopped shipping to the USA.

Best Regards

Andreas Harm
(CEO)
Being from South Texas,....
Ich nicht comprende......
 

Worknman

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 23, 2019
968
2,819
They must have gotten tired of having to swallow the cost of tobaccos lost to German Customs when the shipments were returned, as well as credit card companies requiring them to return the money exchanged.
I always thought thats why they charged exorbitant shipping fees for the slowest, cheapest, sailboat and donkey ride in order to offset that problem.
 
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