Tobacco in Australia

[docgarr]

My wife and I traveled to New Zealand and Australia for the holidays. We were in Sydney for three days and I figured I could find some good tobacco shops and get some tobaccos difficult to get in the states like St. Bruno or Capstan. So I went to an internet cafe and googled tobacco shops and found three promising ones. The first one was called Chigarro's. It had been out of business for some time. Then I went to Martin's Place where the second shop, Bogart's, was. This was the tobacco shop recommended by the concierge and had a good website. The shop is in an underground shopping mall. My expectations were high.
I then learned about Australia's public health efforts to stamp out smoking. Going into Bogarts I didn't see any pipe tobacco. So I asked the salesman if he had any. He said I am glad you asked and opened some cabinet doors to reveal what little pipe tobacco he had. For you see tobacco products have to kept behind doors behind counters. You have to know what you want; there is no browsing. Then all tobacco products are repackaged to provide some grotesque message about the health effects of smoking plus an accompanying horrific picture.
What little he had, mostly Macbarens, could be found in the states. So I bought a cigar instead. The bag he put the cigar in had in big letters "CIGAR SMOKING DAMAGES YOUR TEETH AND GUMS" and of course was accompanied by a picture of some mouth of some fool who never brushed his teeth.
So then I went to the third shop, King's Cross Tobacco. They had no pipe tobacco they could see me because they hadn't received the new packaging for the tobacco. Plus it looked even less promising than Bogarts.
So Sydney was a bust. I came home empty-handed. But I did find out that a cigarette was being developed that as you smoked it a tumor would start to grow out of the cigarette.
So if there are any Aussie smokers out there, I feel sorry for you.

 

[nsfisher]

Canadian Shop rules are the exact same mate, unless it is a designated Smoke Shop.

 

[lazybugger]

Yup its the same here in New Zealand, its pretty much a waste of time and money trying to buy anything from a shop here. I am on a mission tho lol and slowly meeting more and more people who smoke pipes here, a few have quit because of tobacco prices or because the tobacco here is not really the greatest so i let them help themselves to whatever i have and point them in the direction of all the online shops you guys have helped me with ... sofar Boswells has to be my favourite place to deal with, they have great tobacco and just super fast and friendly.

Btw Docgarr when you were traveleing round did you even see another pipe smoker?

 

[tslex]

Australia -- one a bastion of rugged individualism -- seems to be in competition with its former colonial master to see how complete of a nanny state it can become.

 

[cigrmaster]

I guess I will cross off Australia and NZ from places to visit. I refuse to give my tourist money to places like this. I think that the national organization who represents tobacco mfgs need to start boycotting countries with these draconian practices. If they started to publish a list of these countries and publicize it to all the smokers in the world, we could actually put a dent in their tourist revenues. Money is the only thing these low life politicians understand, we need to hit them in the wallet to affect change.

 

[lazybugger]

TBH i do not think trying to hurt the tourist industry would have any affect at all ....not one bit...and it would deny the person a fantastic holiday in some awesome countries ...

The revenue generated by tobacco sales here was/is huge and only half of it goes to healthcare (the reason they keep raising taxes)while the other half ( hundreds of millions) goes to fund other departments , i know in NZ that kinda money is a huge chunk to lose... if the big tobacco companies just suddenly stopped supply totally sure it would suck for a short time but the goverment cannot afford to lose that money and everyone that uses tobacco being pissed off at the same time and making noise would be massive pressure.

i honestly dont think even if all the pipe smokers all banded together to say they were not coming to nz or aus that the goverments would care

 

[captainprophesy]

It's coming here if we go belly up as they have in OZ and elsewhere...
First they came for the communists,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the socialists,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Catholic.
Then they came for me,

and there was no one left to speak for me.
-- Martin Niemöller, 1892–1984

POWERFUL!

 

[twistie]

It should be also pointed out that one can only bring in 50g of tobacco. So if you bring our own and declare more than 50 grams you'll get slugged duty. Welcome to the lucky country nanny state.
Too late now and for what its worth, Sol Levy would of had a slightly better selection of pipe tobacco than Bogarts.

 

[sal57]

TBH i do not think trying to hurt the tourist industry would have any affect at all ....not one bit...and it would deny the person a fantastic holiday in some awesome countries ...

The revenue generated by tobacco sales here was/is huge and only half of it goes to healthcare (the reason they keep raising taxes)while the other half ( hundreds of millions) goes to fund other departments , i know in NZ that kinda money is a huge chunk to lose... if the big tobacco companies just suddenly stopped supply totally sure it would suck for a short time but the goverment cannot afford to lose that money and everyone that uses tobacco being pissed off at the same time and making noise would be massive pressure.

i honestly dont think even if all the pipe smokers all banded together to say they were not coming to nz or aus that the goverments would care
lazybugger that's what they said when smoking was stopped on one hour flights now look where we are.

 

[mustanggt]

The inevitable ban of all things that make people happy and life more enjoyable has motivated me to stock up on those said things. I have no doubt that we are fast approaching the ultimate nanny state. Hell let's call it what it is, "Nazi state." We have little Hitlers running around choking the living crap out of the goose that laid the golden egg and don't care a whit because it's about total and absolute power. This stuff drives me nuts. I hate someone telling me how to live my life. Whew, thanks for letting me air that out a little.

 

[Perique]

How sad. What's happening to us as a humanity? Why are we doing this to ourselves?

 

[swhipple]

For some reason I never pictured Austrailia as being a nanny state, but they obviously are. Why can't we just leave people alone to live their lives.

 

[auspipe]

If your in Australia and a pipe smoker you need to be buying online. 4noggins has never failed me, great tobacco and good prices.
Sol Levy is the only decent tobacconist in Sydney. Bogart's is good for cigars I hear, have not visited it before though. Cant afford the prices anyway which is why I buy online.

 

[docgarr]

To Lazybugger: I was on a cruise around New Zealand. On the ship there were two other pipe smokers. I saw no cigar smokers, except for an American who was smoking a cigar outside of our hotel when we here in Sydney. The cigar I bought was a Cuban Hoya de Monterey Epicure #2 for $38 AUS!

 

[rmbittner]

Somewhat ironic, isn't it, that New Zealand's most public products of late -- Peter Jackson's Tolkien movies -- celebrate the beauty of the country as well as the pleasures of pipe smoking?
Bob

 

[toby67]

Sol Levy has now closed. But if you come here to Australia bring your own tobacco (and a good supply for me, lol)
Yes unfortunately as much as I love Australia, I hate the policies and taxes on tobacco. What happened to freedom of choice. I wish we were like the USA on this regard, they would get more taxes by quantity instead of screwing future taxes by their current scheme. Screw the government taxes, it's just a way to force you to try to get it into the country and pay your taxes to another country.

 

[boilermakerandy]

Although we have our problems here in the good ole USA I am thankful for our Second Amendment and our comparatively low tobacco taxes. We too, have more than our share of insufferable health Nazi wannabe dictators, this elitist jerk comes immediately to mind.

 

[dmcmtk]

...this elitist jerk comes immediately to mind.

Andy, you've got that right!

 

[boilermakerandy]

...this elitist jerk comes immediately to mind.
Andy, you've got that right!

Dave,
I've been on this planet for almost 50 years and have never once felt the need to try to tell someone else how to live their life. I am flabbergasted as to why some people feel they need to control the lives of others. Why is it that some people aren't content to just let others live their lives in peace? This is a mystery to me.

 

[geo3rge]

Sad to hear Sol Levy's has closed. When I visited Sydney last year, the proprietor was friendly and helpful but also cautious. I found the shop to be depressingly lacking in character (no fault of the owner) - just the result of state pressures - no pipes or tobacco on display at all, everything behind shutters or in drawers. I had to ask specifically what I wanted and found the experience to be rather sad and disappointing overall. Cigarettes were abominably high in price and overall I left the country feeling that it must be very hard for smokers of any kind to find satisfaction in their activity. I just wish governments would address the sale and advertising of alcohol and its effects to the same extent. Nothing against alcohol, but abuse of it seems to create so many social problems, yet it is freely available and almost actively promoted to buy more and more. I for one will continue to smoke my pipe as and when I can but I wonder for how long even here in the UK we will have that freedom? Thankfully, at the moment, I have a great local tobacconist with everything on display and wonderful ambience to the place. I even smoke my pipe and have an occasional cigar there too. A rare place indeed in these times.

Steve