G'day mate,
I feel quite lucky that I have been squirreling away tobacco 5 tins at a time for the last few years before they made online imports illegal.
With my rate of smoking I essentially have enough for the rest of my life. I have a few more blends that I would love to get my hands on such as GL Pease Union Square and some Semois.
I haven't tried ordering anything online since the ban, but my last 3-4 orders were picked up by Customs, so I have a feeling I'm already on some sort of Customs list because I ordered a few too many small orders in a row.
I'm grateful to have a good supply already, but it would be nice to have the freedom to buy a few more every now and then.
A couple I've met on-line live in Brisbane, they had little luck even before the ban, so I've often wondered if it's easier to sneak baccy through certain airports than others.
Unfortunately I realised a bit late that one could order tobacco from O/S or I'd have a shit-load more.
A quick inventory shows that I've got around 35lb [for some reason thought I had 45lb - oh well]
I quickly realised that tins got intercepted way more often than bulk orders so I ended up ordering pound bags only.
A guy in Adelaide I spoke to was into snuff & chew products big time. He ordered in a big way. He told me that before the ban, one ended up on the alert list if more than 2 or 3 contraband products were intercepted in a week.
There's so many blends that I'd love to try - unfortunately I don't have any Union Square or Semois [I'm an inhaler who avoids nicotine so smoke mild, mild-medium blends with mild to lower levels of nic]
I've grown a few Burley plants this year that I'll turn into Black Cavendish. Next Spring I'll be growing Virginia & Orientals if I can get some seeds through.
It's very well known that those from lower economic backgrounds, the depressed & the mentally ill or more likely to smoke than others. The heavy taxes is a cruel attack, especially on these smokers.
It's really sad seeing pensioners & the unemployed counting their coin at my tobacconist, to then ask 'How many cigarettes do I get for .....?'
It's not unusual to see everyday people scrounging cigarette butts. I'm told that it's worse in the city.
Black market tobacco, chop-chop, is huge despite it's poor quality.
If you've got any blends you don't like or are too mild for you, shoot me a PM & we could work something out.
I've got a heap of antique NOS [unsmoked] pipes, some up to 100yo, I'm willing to trade if you're interested.
[Pics of some examples are on my Antique NOS thread in the pipe section]
