If You're Not Located in the United States, Please...

[Perique]

Sad for me to read this thread. I spent quite a bit of time in Europe in the 80's ( including living for a few years in Germany ) and remember smoking everywhere with reckless abandon. So sad to read about how Europe has changed - in so many ways - but specific to this topic especially. And I weep for the UK, arguably the cultural homeland of pipe smoking. I lived on/off in the UK as recently as 7 years ago and was amazed by the cultural transformation over the past 20 years or so. Astonishing.
As it stands, I live in a very rural area in the American South. Still relatively tobacco-friendly, but it's changing - especially as more Yankees migrate and seek tax revenue

 

[auslander]

I'm Australian but live in Germany
Australia- like mick the butcher said, forget it. The government is so greedy that it creates a vacuum in your wallet. It's not only tobacco but alcohol and fuel as well. We just had a change of government but they are far far far worse and lean heavily to the right. It's bad times for Australia at the moment.
Germany- it's affordable to smoke and not frowned upon. Alcohol tax is also reasonable, not super, but still better than my broken homeland. I can with judicial budgeting still convince the minister of finance to allow me enough pocket money for cigars/tobacco, single malt and or rum. I don't smoke or drink throughout the week so that makes things a bit easier too. Germany is quite a free land with weird but tolerant people who, by in large, accept each other quirks and personal freedoms.

 

[auslander]

$40+ dollars for a case of generic beer, $150+ for a decent 12 year old scotch, $25+ for a pack of cigarettes. $430 for a box Romeo y julietas churchills and $50 for 50 gram Petersons Connoisseur's Choice. The pits it is.

 

[auslander]

Home distilling and growing of ones own tobacco is becoming very popular in Oz now. I wouldn't blame the yanks for laughing!

 

[drcarlo]

I live in Copenhagen, Denmark.
pipesmokingis very popular in DK. Orlik Golden Sliced you can get in every supermarket and at all gas stations. Usually you also find the two Capstan and Sweet Dublin blends also. In a typical supermarket, you will find 20-30 different blends. Of these approx. 50% of the blends are high quality tobacco. Sweet Dublin i consider an OTC tonacco.
And not to forget Danish Pipe Shop! They know what they are talking about and have 100eds of blends, either in stock or as personal blends made to order.

 

[auslander]

I was in Copenhagen recently, Christiantown had some interesting 'Tobacco' choices 8O .
I think Denmark is fairly expensive as well. Good quality product and excellent range of stuff (cigars) but expensive.

 

[waywardverve]

New member first post.
I'm an 18 year old kid from Australia... I'm really lucky in that my strongly Catholic friend group has adopted smoking pipes through the inspiration of some of the worlds greats (Tolkien particularly).
Unfortunately for us we live in Australia. Taxation on all tobacco lies around the 450AUD/kg.... I have a B&M one suburb from me which stocks a limited range consisting of Erinmore, Dunhill, Macbaren and i think I bought the only Captain black. To import tobacco (which I plan to do) I would need to be paying that full tax.

For example I was looking into JFHs middle earth sample pack... for 35g of tobacco I would be paying 10AUD + 15AUD + Postage + 10%GST. So i'd be looking at about 50AUD for that pack... not fun.
But we do what we must to carry on.
As for restrictions.... i'm kept to backyard piping. Though I was at TAFE (community college) for this year and my particular campus had really lax smoking rules due to too much resistance.

 

[fitzy]

That's interesting auslander as here in the states it's the far far far left that want to tax the crap out of us.
For example NY and California both very liberal leaning states (upstate NY not so liberal but outnumbered by the city people) have the highest gas taxes in the country and also have very high tobacco tax in the hopes of taxing people out of smoking. For example right now my gas in NY is 3.90. I just came through Maryland and NJ both were around 3.30 for gas with the difference being much higher tax rates in NY on gas.
Tobacco in NY is hit with a 75% tax so it's much cheaper for me to buy my tobacco online from out of state sources.

 

[timely]

I'm in Southwestern Ontario and I agree with hfearly.

I buy my tobacco from smokingpipes.com and I also keep the amount

at 200g. It has taken me quite awhile to get a half decent cellar going.

I have around 80 pounds so far, and intend to get as much as I can, finances allowing. LOL!!!!

Many times I have wanted to fill my cart with many pounds of tobacco, but don't. Sucks, you bet.!!!!!!

 

[numbersix]

Thanks everyone for the contributions to this thread. It's a sad state of affairs for most of our brethren overseas (sadly we will soon be in the same boat).

Side-tracking somewhat, I love your username/avatar/theme, I still remember being deeply perplexed by THE PRISONER first time around as a 10 year old. Nothing much has changed as I've got older!

Thanks Peterpiper. The show is a favorite of mine - definitely "deep" IMHO.

I bet the Yanks are laughing. As usual.

Not at all—you have our deepest sympathy, but we also know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for us in the US!

 

[drcarlo]

@auslander: Great blends at Christianstown. I like them very much. Particularly the very dark pressed plates.....

 

[lordape]

I live in New Zealand. Hamilton, specifically. Just north of the center of the north island.
What's it like to be a pipe smoker in your country? i.e. is it welcomed or spurned by others? Is pipe smoking common or uncommon in your country?

I get a really mixed response. Some are simply shocked that someone is actually smoking a pipe whilst I get a lot "Hey, can I have the next toke?" or "What are you smoking in that?" My friends have been supportive and I've managed to convert a few of them from their cancer sticks. But in general, smoking is frowned upon by most.
Do you know other pipe smokers in your area?

One. He happens to be a work colleague of mine. Found this out when he came across me breaking in my new Peterson outside work.
Is tobacco easy to obtain? Is it expensive?

There are a million and one different cigarette tobaccos available but only a few pipe tobaccos.

They're Borkum Riff Vanilla, Whiskey and Black Cavendish and Erinmore Flake and Mixture. You can expect to spend at least ~$60 for a 50g of any of these.
Are pipe smoking laws excessively restrictive where you are?

There is nothing that singles out pipe smoking in particular, just tobacco use in general. Bars and pubs are allowed covered outdoor areas for smokers but no smoking indoors.
Do you have a B&M (brick & mortar) or do you purchase from the U.S. online?

There are two B&M nearby. Both have the exact same stock as listen above.

One does have a much better selection of pipes though with several nice Petersons. I've placed one order at 4noggins which got snapped by customs. They wanted over $200 for $60 (incl shipping) worth of tobacco. It works out to just under $700/KG in tax here.

 

[spud]

YUCK! High prices, We have it here too. A package of Pall Mal cigarettes is $1.20 a pack. 5Vegas cigars, very good smokes. $8.00 for 25 big ones. Cuban cigars are about $1 each. AND ZERO PIPE TOBACCO. Woe is me.. Prices are sooo high.