Great Britain Cracking Down?

[Simmerdown☕️]

I guess I’m living under a …but recently I heard that pipe smokers are having trouble getting tobacco shipments through from Smokingpipes, etc.

I always was aware that potential duties need be paid, but I heard it’s becoming increasingly harder for our British brothers & sisters to get their externally now?

Is this a thing now or am I misinformed? ️

 

[mikethompson]

Are we supposed to put the date next to our thread titles now?

As for difficulties in getting shipments into the UK, I feel like I've read this before. Seems like it's getting more and more common.

 

[woodsroad]

It’s 2024 these days, I think.

Either way, the residents of the UK long ago traded freedom for the illusion of security. Nothing like this should come as a shock to anyone.

 

[Simmerdown☕️]

Are we supposed to put the date next to our thread titles now?

As for difficulties in getting shipments into the UK, I feel like I've read this before. Seems like it's getting more and more common.

Couldn’t remember the rules about dating & wasn’t looking for a reminder from the custodians. ️

 

[rmcnabb]

Aren't there plenty of good tobacconists in the UK? Of course they should be allowed to order from whomever they want but I would have thought they had good beer and good tobacco well sorted.

 

[Simmerdown☕️]

Aren't there plenty of good tobacconists in the UK? Of course they should be allowed to order from whomever they want but I would have thought they had good beer and good tobacco well sorted.

Definitely have their share of quality tobacco there. However, we do have quality here in the States that is sought after externally. It’d be great if we could get shipments of sent from there & vice versa without the BS involved. ️

 

[rmcnabb]

Yes indeed. I would love to be able to get Danish and German stuff sent direct.

 

[jaingorenard]

As far as I know, from my experience and others', it's been practically impossible to get anything from Smokingpipes for the past year or so without paying a lot of tax and duties (more than the value of the tobacco). Not sure about other US vendors.

We do have some great tobacconists here too, though the cost is about £20 per 50g tin (slight variation).

And yes, 'speak to your elected representatives or vote them out', I know that's always the response. But the UK has so few smokers now, and does seem to have broad majority support for the nanny state. This combined with a real lack of any good education about critical thinking, rights, freedoms and liberties means there will only be higher taxes, only more anti-smoking legislation. And what politician wants to be known for voting against that? It is what it is.

At least we don't have it as bad as the Aussies, yet.

 

[WerewolfOfLondon]

As @jaingorenard said, impossible to get anything from Smokingpipes at the moment. Before that it was straight forward enough, and I had many packages sail right through. The ones you guys have, which I personally would like to have unfettered access to, are the CD and GL Pease lines. Everything else we can more or less get, from either here of Germany (although I expect the latter to be closed down any day now). I have a cousin who goes to the States regularly, so next time he goes, he will bring me back lots of the aforementioned. For me, these blending houses are the most interesting because they are uniquely American, and not just some iteration of another global corporation. Not gonna lie, your prices are pretty darn good too, always a plus.

 

[condorlover1]

It's not getting any easier. I send stuff over on odd occasions for friends in the U.K but it is usually as part of something else so the Customs boys tend not to be too interested. If you are sending stuff to the same address and they see a pattern then you will get tugged by the revenue boys! With the way things are going in the U.K and coupled with the fact that the U.K education system has become a conveyor belt of filth I can see some genius politician trying to cancel tobacco and alcohol to appeal to a certain voter base!

 

[Professor Moriarty]

Happily, the reverse transaction is great! Ordering from smokingpipes.eu to US is . Lower prices and no tax
Ships from Dublin, which is EU as I understand it.

 

[simong]

It’s 2024 these days, I think.

Either way, the residents of the UK long ago traded freedom for the illusion of security. Nothing like this should come as a shock to anyone.

If I’m denied the opportunity to purchase such lauded blends as smokers pride cotton candy, or some over hyped special release tin of mould, then so be it. I for one, shall lose no sleep over the matter.

It’s only tobacco. Tis but a mere trifle in the grander scheme of things.
In Britain as in most western democracies, our political system is quickly becoming redundant. For too long successive governments have ‘fiddled while Rome burns’. Who knows, maybe I’ll live long enough to see a radical change, but I doubt it.

 

[Auxsender]

Definitely have their share of quality tobacco there. However, we do have quality here in the States that is sought after externally. It’d be great if we could get shipments of sent from there & vice versa without the BS involved. ️

Harumph!

 

[Simmerdown☕️]

Harumph!

Harumph! Harumph! ️

 

[Simmerdown☕️]

If I’m denied the opportunity to purchase such lauded blends as smokers pride cotton candy, or some over hyped special release tin of mould, then so be it. I for one, shall lose no sleep over the matter.

It’s only tobacco. Tis but a mere trifle in the grander scheme of things.
In Britain as in most western democracies, our political system is quickly becoming redundant. For too long successive governments have ‘fiddled while Rome burns’. Who knows, maybe I’ll live long enough to see a radical change, but I doubt it.
View attachment 291363

We’re right there with ya & not to far behind it seems. I’m cheering for ya Simon…we all have to go through hell before we get ta heaven. ️

 

[kcghost]

Well, now that you guys have explained it, it is clear as mud.

 

[woodsroad]

If I’m denied the opportunity to purchase such lauded blends as smokers pride cotton candy, or some over hyped special release tin of mould, then so be it. I for one, shall lose no sleep over the matter.

It’s only tobacco. Tis but a mere trifle in the grander scheme of things.
In Britain as in most western democracies, our political system is quickly becoming redundant. For too long successive governments have ‘fiddled while Rome burns’. Who knows, maybe I’ll live long enough to see a radical change, but I doubt it.
View attachment 291363

 

[jaingorenard]

Don't get me wrong, modern Britain definitely has it's problems, as Simon said, we've had decades of politicians who are completely unable or unwilling to address any of the key issues. But in this video he's cherry-picked places well-known as being deprived; some of them have been for decades. He also seems to be going to the worst parts of them.

The city I live in is vibrant and interesting (I know fellow Englishmen will be surprised at that description of somewhere in Norfolk, but it's true!).

(Also, I see Plymouth and Birmingham and raise you Detroit or San Francisco...).

 

[simong]

Couldn’t watch more than two minutes of that I’m afraid, fake news & photoshopped. I’ve been to Plymouth, it’s beautiful. Like Portsmouth & other naval towns that got flattened in the war. Rising resplendent like a phoenix out of the ashes, modern redevelopment has worked wonders.

If you want the real lowdown on life in the mean streets of Britain, you should study the informative & entertaining videos done by Telly Savalas. Pure gold.

I think Aberdeen up in Scotland is one of Britain’s most depressing towns. Everything is grey. The buildings all made of grey granite, the sea’s grey, skys grey, people moping about the grey streets all with grey faces. As you drive into Aberdeen, you pass by a huge cemetery. A mass of grey tombstones & huge grey crosses. Feel sorry for the Aberdonians, even in death they can’t escape the greyness of it all.

listen to old Kojak however & you’d think Aberdeen was like the swinging gardens of Babylon!

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

As far as I know, from my experience and others', it's been practically impossible to get anything from Smokingpipes for the past year or so without paying a lot of tax and duties (more than the value of the tobacco). Not sure about other US vendors.

We do have some great tobacconists here too, though the cost is about £20 per 50g tin (slight variation).

And yes, 'speak to your elected representatives or vote them out', I know that's always the response. But the UK has so few smokers now, and does seem to have broad majority support for the nanny state. This combined with a real lack of any good education about critical thinking, rights, freedoms and liberties means there will only be higher taxes, only more anti-smoking legislation. And what politician wants to be known for voting against that? It is what it is.

At least we don't have it as bad as the Aussies, yet.

Finland & Sweden are now in way worse than England in this regard, countries where standard 1.75 oz 1.Mc Baren is close to $ 40 and where the Government has declared their aim to stop consumption of tobacco products till 2035, and where Customs authorities simply confiscate commercial parcels containing tobacco and then eventually destroys them, even though such measures go against European Commission legislature about the free commerce between all the member states,