As the US government seems determined to save us from ourselves, it looks like we’re going to have to work to keep enjoying snuff (and snus, if you like that as well). As has been mentioned in this thread, the US government is apparently planning a blanket ban on all tobacco via mail into and out of the US. No exemptions of any sort, except that non-commercial shipments between individuals will still be allowed. We’re not sure if this is going to stand or not, but in the interest of being proactive, I’d like to see if we could form an international club of sorts. The purpose would be to match up US consumers of our favourite tobacco products with individuals living outside the country who would be willing to receive shipments for us and pass them on in the mail after taking out all the documents related to purchase, such as bills. If it comes to it, I’d hope that we can make such an organization work out so that everyone here can continue enjoying their snuff for many years. I’d also like to throw out a few ideas for general criticism to see how this would work. First, if anyone signs up and keeps someone’s tobacco, the must be cut out of the group. Second, to my fellow Americans I would like to point out the obvious and say that anyone abroad who signs up would only be doing us a favour. I think it’s only right that if such a scheme does take off we should make it worth their while. Of course, the US members should pay their helpers for any shipment costs necessary to get their package to them, so we’ll essentially be paying shipping twice on any order. And I think that it would be awesome if everyone throws in a couple tins for whoever’s receiving and passing on their shipment. And before anyone panics, let me reiterate, it is not certain that it will come to this, but it seems very likely such a scheme may become necessary in the near future. Further details are in the linked thread, and may be added here as necessary. So what does everyone think? A bit more of a hassle, a longer waiting time, but I believe this would be worth it to me, and if we need to, I hope that we can make something like this work.
Good idea in principle; just a couple of points: 1.Make this from the outset purely a means of snuffers helping out other snuffers, sole reason. If you try and bolt on a ‘club’ element to it it will suffer the same fate as the ISTA, which has been debated without success, for several years. Lots of reasons have stopped it, the most basic being its next to impossible to develop an infrastructure across a global, diffuse group, so to succeed it would have to be so simple it could be run from one OT thread. 2. Propsed method: We have an OT ‘Snuffers assistance Programme’ (or whatever, lol!) People like me, in the UK, just put their names on it as willing to help and we each take on as many US snuffers as we can/want to. So in effect you would get a buddy system; eg I become Xander’s, he makes his order, its shipped to me, I send it on re-packaged or re-labelled in the approprate way. I think anything more complicated would fail. Also we do have quite a high drop-out rate, liker most boards, so it would probably fall to a group of die-hards, but I think there are enough of those around the place. I would be more than happy to help and have no wish to make anything for doing it. It may well be the case that people have to change their buying habits a bit: it seems that two or three bulk buys a year would be more practical? Happy to be the first name on the list.
I’m happy to help out too and also have no desire to make anything from it. From a practical point of view, it’s going to be very difficult to ascertain in advance exactly how much transatlantic postage will be on any order. I’d suggest that two seperate payments are made (probably via PayPal as the easiest option). The buyer gets in touch with the U.K. “buying buddy” with a list of required purchases. The U.K. member gets the total cost including the U.K. postage, which the buyer transfers. When the snuff arrives, it can be repackaged and weighed and the exact cost of postage to the U.S. can then be transferred by the buyer. There’s a distinct advantage I can think of immediately - the Americans would be able to buy from any U.K. store, including any which don’t currently accept U.S. credit cards, e.g. MySmokingShop. Orders direct from Wilsons could be made much easier too and probably at very little extra cost to the buyer. Purchase of harder to obtain snuffs would be easier too, such as Frederick Tranters (at least until NicotineRush and MrSnuff complete their move and expand their stock). @shikitohno: “A bit more of a hassle, a longer waiting time”. Yes to both of course, but I can’t see the extra waiting time being any longer than 3 or 4 days.
I’m in the UK and would be happy to post snuff free of charge, in return for some US chewing tobacco (Stoker’s!), if that is possible with these new regulations. I wouldn’t expect to be paid, as we’d be posting each other gifts of the same value. Bart has been very helpful to me so far in sending chew, and I have sent snuff to him as a gift in return.
Snuffster, I meant it more as what you were saying than as a club, I just took the name from another post in the PACT thread as a joke. And bulk buys would be very easy for me, I could make three or four bulk buys a year so that the postage wouldn’t hurt as much. However, this wouldn’t be practical for those who either are just trying snuff or don’t consume enough to want to purchase say a 1lb drum at a time. And BradMajors, good point about being able to get snuff from any website. Depending on how people at SnusOn react to the news, there’s also a chance that we may be able to work with some of the members on that forum to widen up the pool of potential buddies here and help reduce the impact of members who leave the board. I suppose we’ll see how it all plays out in June/early July when PACT becomes reality.
@shikitohno “I could make three or four bulk buys a year so that the postage wouldn’t hurt as much” Actually, I just checked the price of airmail to the States and the cost doesn’t go down much by sending bulk packages. A few examples: Up to 200g $4.73 Up to 500g $10.15 Up to 1kg $18.27 Up to 2kg $34.52 So, surprisingly, several small packets isn’t going to cost much more in postage than one bulk package. EDIT: Surface mail is approximately half the cost but takes (gulp !) up to eight weeks.
Roderick, as far as I know, we wouldn’t be bound by the PACT act because it’s non-commercial, if Brad receives and order I made and decides to be kind and mail it to me. So, he can simply drop it to me through Royal Mail. And Brad, I was talking about it being expensive to order because USPS wants to block all commercial shipments of tobacco from abroad, so the only option for Toque or other vendors to ensure packages weren’t constantly seized by customs would be a private courier, like UPS. Their rates are much less kind, so the best strategy for those of us who can’t swim in a pool filled with money (I think that’s all of us on Snuffhouse) would be to place only a few large orders per year, getting everything in one giant order every few months or so.
It would be too unwieldly to start re-packaging etc, I would say that for those of us on this side of the pond it has to be made very simple: The US buddy orders and pays for the snuff and has it delivered to my address I put it in Royal Mail direct to the US buddy, re-labelling as ‘gift’ or whatever is required. Job done. At this point I would be out of pocket by a few quid, not a problem: a couple of packs of Redman at some stage would be more than sufficient, not the next day just whenever is convenient. But this opens up a couple of things we need to have our eyes open about; I’ll explain… Assuming like me most of us have busy lives this will work out best for two or three bulk buys a year for a couple of US snuff buddies. I wouldn’t want someone hanging on for their purchase for ages because I’ve been at work non stop for week or whatever - just all round pre-planned buying would work out best. The other issue, which has to be said, is trust. We do get from time to time some wackos here (anyone fancy being a snuff buddy with Hydrahead!!!) So do we have some kind of eligibility criteria to take part? I don’t want to put any kind of downer on this because I am more than happy to help but, as said, some thought is required. I personally have a list of people in my head who I would be happy to help in this way - maybe if it comes to it we just contact the potential snuff buddy by whisper? Thoughts?
I’d be happy to help, if this comes to fruition. Stefan
I think it is very kind of you folks to offer to do this. I am in a state of deepest anger at our government. They just have to put their stinking hands into everybody’s business. The whole thing just reeks of bad business, bad government, and alternative motives. Cannot find any objective journalism on the subject. It literally stinks!
Snuffster, I am a wacko, but I’m reliable as well 
It is a matter of trust in life. My business has always been old-style: settle on a hand shake and your word. Whether it’s with my kids or estimating a job. If your word can’t be trusted, no amount of talking can regain that original trust, no amount of emails or promises, etc… That’s the way the old folks did it. I don’t know a solution. Maybe there should be a rogue group of snuff enforcers who track down sour snuff traders in the US here. Would be nice if they drove vehicles similar to MAD MAx. Just thinkin…
I’m game.
God save the Queen!
Bart, yep me too. Just thinking ahead, not trying to make anything difficult. As I say, I’m in this to help brother/sister snuffers against this shitty law, just want it to work out for you guys; I would be in a bad place if I couldn’t get my snuff!
Thank you snuffster!
I think perhaps the best criteria for eligibility would be to either already be a well established member with a vested interest in the forum and community, and/or a recommendation from someone who has traded with you or something in the past and can vouch for you. Also, posting a list of names of who not to trust if someone manages to get through the cracks and takes someone’s snuff. The only extra step I would add the what snuffster already said is to open the box and remove anything like a packing slip or bill. It would suck to place an order and lose the snuff/have someone who’s helping me out get in trouble because customs opened it and saw a bill from NicotineRush or Toque sat in the box.
@Roderick: The prices I listed are the Royal Mail prices as apparently we can still use USPS for private packages.
I would like to partake in this (I think that it is an excellent idea). I support anything (that does not involve harming others) that makes product availability for the consumer a reality. I have purchased some snuff from two members on this site, and I believe that they would be happy to vouch for me (I can also vouch for their kindness and diligence). I thank everyone who wants to help, as I truly appreciate their actions.
Re Shikitohnos’ point about removing the slips inside to avoid getting into trouble. This plan is based on the fact that we are not doing anything illegal by forwarding the snuff on. At worst, as I understand it, we would simply be lawfully and quite properly working around a situation that is not covered by the PACT, rather than breaking a law. If that understanding is wrong then we are in a different ballgame because we would then technically be smuggling. Now some people won’t mind that, or see it as being unimportant, but others would have objections even if to just cover the miniscule chance of getting caught or purely on ethical grounds. Roderick, I am sure, would not send goods to me that had been bought by someone in the US if he knew that it was part of an illegal action - so it has to be clear that no one at the UK side breaks any law by helping, which would require some further research from our US buddies. As I hope is clear, I wouldn’t put my name up for this if I didn’t want to help but we have to cover the bases.
I think you’ve missed the point. Commercial shipments will be illegal. Private shipments will be exempt. By removing any invoices, the package becomes a private shipment.