Shane Ireland of SmokingPipes.com is going through each HU blend on the SmokingPipes YouTube channel, "Tasting Notes." He is an excellent, experienced reviewer. Here is one he did on HU Fayyum.
Estervals order response from C/S
- Thread starter spearheadbill
- Start date
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California has no jurisdiction over the mail (interstate commerce). A foreign company has no obligation to conform to US import restrictions or customs. That’s up to the importer (you).
Exactly. California doesn't have its own Customs agents.
Yeah, well, they probably do, actually. But it's not legal.
I hope that they don’t have tobacco inspected by the “produce police.” Does California still have those? They had NO sense of humor back in the day!
Not like they used to back in the 60's and 70's... there are still border check points but I haven't had one ask if I had and oranges or something.
I should have said this^^
In my post as you educated me when I had my issue a couple of months ago.
Thanks again.
I'm glad if I was of help!
Several years ago Estervals was ready to throw up their hands and quit shipping to the USA. I decided to get in touch with the owner and try to convince him to find an alternative. He sent me a "test shipment" to check the new shipping modality (I offered to pay for the three tins, but generously he wouldn't accept my money). So I feel somewhat personally invested in making sure it works out. Later, we all began having trouble with DHL with these "customs troubles" (not really Customs), which contradicted the stance on tobacco listed in the DHL Express manual. I called and spoke to countless people until I was able to come to some sort of consensus regarding what to do to "foolproof" (to the extent possible) the purchase of tobacco from overseas. It's not perfect because internally at DHL there seem to be a lot of people working independently in terms of logistics, and not everybody has the same (correct) information. But generally speaking, DHL seems compliant from a corporate perspective, small inexperienced players notwithstanding.
I really really appreciate your input. my package is now leaving Germany and scheduled for delivery this Friday. I will let you know how this transpires.
I'd love live in a country where there's aren't restrictions on the importation of tobacco products for personal...Thats real great news,,
I made a few first orders with UPS and had no issues until the last one. They tried to hit me up for tobacco import fees for $500 for a $150 worth of HU stuff and i told them to stick it and sent it back. Esterval's, upon return, also were told someone had to pay and so they let them have the package for "disposal." They emailed me and gave me a refund telling me to use DHL. I was certainly not expecting a refund, but they are an outstanding company for it. UPS recently sent a letter saying i owe an extra $50 for not paying on time to which i replied again to stick it as the product was returned and not received. This last order - currently on the way with DHL -- is a bit larger, so we'll see how it goes.
Wow… where are you located? I’m crossing my fingers for an order that was just shipped with UPS.
WA state. I had a few successful orders with them at first, so you're most likely good. If they try to pull the swindle on you just return the package and refuse the bill. Otherwise, use DHL.
Wait, so if you're in Washington you can order tobacco from Germany but not South Carolina?
I would NOT use UPS. They have a massive brokerage scam running, extorting your goods in exchange for made up brokerage fees.
So true, but i do have a nice list of fine folks that will get the job done from here and there. I have a propensity for getting problems solved. It's quite rare that there's something i can't get, save for maybe Warped products - and more recently a small sample of Winchester (though i can get it by the pound...prefer to try it first).
I placed my order on January 7th for 40 tins of Capstan Blue Flake, 6 tins of Kopp Year of the snake, a Vauen lighter and tamper and it all arrived today via UPS. I'm in PA. No hiccups. just about 1 week from time of order to delivery...I'm pretty impressed.
From past personal experience with UPS over years and years, I'll avoid using them as much as possible.
To give you an example, some years back I ordered a new supped up graphics workstation, a tower, from Apple. It was sent via UPS. I found a notice on my front door from UPS that they had tried to deliver but I couldn't because I wasn't home, which was interesting, because I'd been home all day, working at my then current workstation, which was 8 feet from the front door. So unless the delivery man did the weakest knock in the history of the known universe, there's no way I could have missed it. BTW, I had a little sign on the door that says "Please knock loudly."
I called the UPS distribution center listed on the form, which is about 15, 20 miles away in Sylmar and asked them to hold the package when it comes back in and that I'll drive over to pick it up the next day.
The following day I drive over to the distribution center, give the guy at the counter my non delivery notice and he sends someone into the warehouse to find it and bring it out. 45 minutes later the someone comes out and says he can't the box. The guy at the counter apologizes and goes back into the warehouse with his assistant to look for my workstation.
Almost an hour goes by before they return, and the manager sits down behind the counter and apologizes again, saying that he doesn't know why they can't find my workstation, but he will file a report and they will let me know.
As he's filling out the form, I notice that he's got his fat ass seated on a box, not a chair or stool. That box is about the correct size to hold a workstation. So, I interrupt the manager and politely ask him what's in the box that he's sitting on. He looks down at the box with a surprised expression, as though it hadn't occurred to him that he was sitting on a box, not a chair.
Guess what he had his fat sweaty ass sitting on. Yep, the box containing my new workstation. Two hours of waiting around while two squirrels went looking for a nut.
It's not the only issue I've had with UPS over the years, and no delivery service is faultless. But, I'd take DHL Express over UPS any day of the week.
To give you an example, some years back I ordered a new supped up graphics workstation, a tower, from Apple. It was sent via UPS. I found a notice on my front door from UPS that they had tried to deliver but I couldn't because I wasn't home, which was interesting, because I'd been home all day, working at my then current workstation, which was 8 feet from the front door. So unless the delivery man did the weakest knock in the history of the known universe, there's no way I could have missed it. BTW, I had a little sign on the door that says "Please knock loudly."
I called the UPS distribution center listed on the form, which is about 15, 20 miles away in Sylmar and asked them to hold the package when it comes back in and that I'll drive over to pick it up the next day.
The following day I drive over to the distribution center, give the guy at the counter my non delivery notice and he sends someone into the warehouse to find it and bring it out. 45 minutes later the someone comes out and says he can't the box. The guy at the counter apologizes and goes back into the warehouse with his assistant to look for my workstation.
Almost an hour goes by before they return, and the manager sits down behind the counter and apologizes again, saying that he doesn't know why they can't find my workstation, but he will file a report and they will let me know.
As he's filling out the form, I notice that he's got his fat ass seated on a box, not a chair or stool. That box is about the correct size to hold a workstation. So, I interrupt the manager and politely ask him what's in the box that he's sitting on. He looks down at the box with a surprised expression, as though it hadn't occurred to him that he was sitting on a box, not a chair.
Guess what he had his fat sweaty ass sitting on. Yep, the box containing my new workstation. Two hours of waiting around while two squirrels went looking for a nut.
It's not the only issue I've had with UPS over the years, and no delivery service is faultless. But, I'd take DHL Express over UPS any day of the week.
Well, you know, Estervals also sells nerve gas and cluster munitions, so UPS has to be very, very careful.
Looks like good news so far!
