Trauma at Dubai customs

[redstar]

Dubai has a fairly good selection of pipe tobacco in Duty Fee and in the many 'Smokers' Centre' outlets in the numerous malls, but getting Dunhill or Samuel Gawith or anything else exciting can be a pain. Orders sent by post tend to disappear and buying in the UK when on holiday means paying through the nose.
For this reason, when a friend was visiting the US for work in January, I had a few tins ordered through smokingpipes.com sent to his hotel. He brought them back with no issues.
Last week, I did the same again with another colleague who was in New York for work.
On Sunday he sent me a message saying he'd been detained in Dubai by customs for over an hour - the reason being the pipe tobacco he'd brought back for me.
Smokingpipes included a free sample of GL Pease Gaslight with my order, something I'd thought nothing of at the time. Of course, Dubai customs took great interest in this small brown lump in a plastic bag and took it off for testing, detaining my extremely nervous colleague, whose imagination was now running wild. Jail terms for drug trafficking are lengthy...
Fortunately, after sixty nerve wracking minutes they returned this rather stinky curiosity and sent him on his way. I'd never have accepted the sample if I'd known it'd be plug in a 'dodgy looking' plastic bag!
It seems we are still friends and will be laughing about this for some time to come. He won't be repeating the favour however. Using typical English understatement he told me he'd 'rather not transport any more pipe tobacco, in future, if you don't mind.'
I will have to savour this half ounce to the full.

 

[tuold]

I've also got a sample of Gaslight coming in this week from Smokingpipes.com. I'll be thinking of your friend's experience when I open it! Shades of "Midnight Express"!
Pipe smoking can be risky. During tech training in the military I had a pipe confiscated during room inspection for being "paraphernalia". After I explained to my First Sargent that I bought the pipe at the base exchange he let me have it back. I still have the pipe 37 years later:

 

[cmdrmcbragg]

I tried to ship back a hookah while in Bahrain and was told by the base post office that it was considered paraphernalia and it was not allowed to be shipped. Lesson learned: don't be honest about package contents.

 

[brian64]

@redstar: Wow...glad it turned out ok. It's just amazing the ever-increasing amount of hassle and expense people are going through just to obtain some tobacco.
@tuold: That's an incredible looking pipe.

 

[mso489]

Great glory. Who are they hiring a customs? One sniff would clarify things with no problem. Common sense,

once again, does not abound.

 

[warren]

A sniff only indicates what the aroma is, not what may be buried inside or hiding under an aroma. An agent certainly can't be expected to have an internal catalog of millions of aromas. Just about anything could be encased in an acrid plug of tobacco.