Hi everyone! I recently had a quick back and forth with Ian at McChrystals when I noticed that shipping was $0 (what a boon). I realized that was likely incorrect and wanted to check on the price. He mentioned that to ship into the US he needs FDA approval? Is that the current status of the laws regarding tobacco shipments? I was under the impression that shipping in for personal use was allowed. I guess I’m not really sure of what the law covers right now as it stands. I also remember some wording that may have been meant to include chewing tobacco and snuss (oral tobacco forms) but that nasal snuff wasn’t explicitly discussed in the law? Of course this is only a single manufacturer’s product (which I happen to love) but if we can figure it out, I’d love to send word regarding what we think the rules are right now incase it can open up some mail via the UK to the US. Thanks a ton for your thoughts, sorry I’m on here so infrequently. Today’s snuff is some Toque Espresso with some added menthol crystals for kicking it up a notch. A good pinch for you, and a happy new year! -Allen
I’ll preface this by telling you I’m Canadian and not in the U.S. but I don’t think that is correct. If that were the case Toque wouldn’t be able to ship to the U.S. and other retailers like Mr. Snuff would only be able to mail you snuff that has been FDA approved.
Hi Crullers! Yes, I tend to agree with you. I’m wondering if they’re taking a very conservative approach in order to ensure they don’t run afowl of any law here. I did mention other distributors in my e-mail without pointing any fingers, and we’ll see what the word back is. I mentioned that if we know something helpful that I’ll send it along to him. I agree, though!
I don’t believe McC did a thorough investigation into this matter. Snuff cannot be mailed in the USA. Snuff can be shipped to USA customers from abroad via Royal Mail, etc.
I’m glad to hear that this appears to be the same as a few years back when I shipped some snuff in for myself. I’ve been out of it for a while here (mostly due to trying to use up my stockpile). Sounds like the law hasn’t changed in a few years here. If so, I agree with you, perique, it was a strange law to begin with- shipping inter-state was forbidden, but shipping in from external countries was allowed. I’ll have to dig back into some of the old posts and see if I can’t quote anything for Ian. Thanks for your take as well!
Please let us know how this shakes out for you because I’d like to order a tub of O&G from them sometime. It will be interesting to see if they can’t be arsed to ship overseas or if they are overly concerned with rules and regulations.
I will, crullers! That’s why I went ahead and posted here, I felt it’d help others who enjoy their product become direct purchasers as well. [Let’s just hope shipping isn’t an arm and a leg- my worry.] 
If we can hash out the law a bit here to help Ian, that’d be excellent. I know we’re not lawyers etc., but it appears that for some reason he feels it’s not possible without FDA approval. ps- I should mention I’m also hashing it out here a bit because I don’t mean to be argumentative with him at all, but helpful.
He is sorta correct. They cannot sell from a B&M in the US without FDA approval. The FDA has nothing to do with shipping. Shipping is covered by the P.A.C.T. act. Technically it PACT should stop all tobacco by mail, except cigars and pipe tobacco, but once you add international sellers into the mix it gets murky. Some companies just decided the risk wasn’t worth the gain. Some have decided to continue doing business as before. Snus and cigs are only shipped via UPS now. On top of all that some CC processing companies have banned tobacco sales using their system, which has, officially, nothing to do with any government laws. (Whether there is closed door pressure to do so is a matter for speculation.)
Hi Bigmick! Thanks for adding info to the conversation here! So, PACT should stop all tobacco? I thought these laws had missed nasal snuff in their technical descriptions and that international sales weren’t touched by either? Has there been a good legal thread on these two here on snuffhouse? Thanks so much for adding your comments!
I live in Arizona and i don’t know about the laws one way or another or pact for that matter but i’m here to tell you Mr.Snuff ships to me all the time even shipped to me when i was in Kansas for a bit. So don’t fret, order away. i believe it’s more of an issue with overseas companys not wanting to haggle with the taxes between different states. just an uneducated perspective though. mr snuff will have just about anything you want to snuff, if you haven’t found them already. Hope this was helpful and or enlightening. thanks for readin, az snuffer p.s. this was my pre christmas order.
@allen PACT stopped USPS delivery of all tobacco, excluding cigars. Pipe tobacco was not mentioned, so it is still being delivered. Whether that applies to international sale is a gray area and up to individual companies lawyers interpretation. I believe the intent was to stop all USPS tobacco delivery, but those who still use it haven’t been stopped yet. Well if you have a tobacco retailers license you can still use USPS for big deliveries. Private citizens are legally allowed only 10 ounces per package. According to the law, but then you read news articles about how many tons of marijuana gets mailed illegally and delivered one realizes sending 11 ounces of tobacco is likely not to be noticed. 
The whole thing with the P.A.C.T. law and everything like it is ridiculous. I will just continue ordering from MrSnuff and Toque and hope that I can do so for many years to come. As for the direct ordering from McC’s, I would say it would be the same as with MrSnuff and Toque, that there would be no problems.
Interesting info, guys! Thanks for discussing it here. @cloudyman - I’ve ordered from Mr. Snuff before, and have been a happy customer in the past, so I agree with you in regards to shipping. I’m a bit confused about the desire to not even attempt deliveries. I see it as a possible means to just not deal with the headache of trying, I guess - or maybe just the fear of doing something unlawful. However, I’m not sure if we have info about whether it is actually unlawful. For instance- shipping in Kreteks for personal use I believe to be legal, but that it has to be imported from other companies and not for sale etc. Of course this does not work for trade-embargoed countries like Cuba (or else we’d all be having cubans- LOL). I’d like to try ordering direct from McC’s assuming their shipping costs are reasonable. I’ll see if I can’t suggest Ian comes over here and reads a bit about our impressions of the law. Wish these things were a bit clearer cut for overseas retailers/manufacturers. Hope you are all inside and warm tonight! [-30F with the windchill here tonight]
@a11en So i recently asked a snuff purveyor if they shipped to the states and this seems to clarify most everything about all the issues. Thier response was as follows: “Regarding shipping to the states, we ship every day. Pact only affects companies based in the states and as we are a UK company with FDA approval we can ship. You will see a lot of companies don’t ship to the states this is more likely down to mastercard not letting them sell tobacco in the states”. This seemed to sum it up nicely for me and solidify what Pact may or may not be doing. Hope this will be as enlightening for others as it was for me…have a nice one everybody.
Hmm… @cloudyman - that line: “as we are a UK company with FDA approval…” is interesting… that might be what McC’s was talking about- if so, that might be the worry they have. @Roderick - interesting information! Very interesting to know about the treaty and also to hear from you regarding shipments. Thanks so much for talking about it here! I’ve received some samples from you in the past, and they’ve been wonderful, also purchased some via Mr. Snuff- also excellent. Thanks so much for weighing in!! Also thanks to @bigmick for more confirmation regarding CC companies and USPS shipping! Sorry if I missed anyone in the thanks! Extremely interesting thread. I really appreciate it!
@allen bigmick has pretty much said everything. FDA has nothing to do with shipping, its all in PACT. The two laws got passed about the same time so there is a lot of confusion among people about which is which. PACT does actually specifically mention snuff, and even defines it as tobacco which can be placed either in the oral or nasal cavity. We have dozens of threads about PACT on snuffhouse if you care to read more detail. However, since the authority of the law cannot extend beyond the US, it does not affect foreign vendors at all. One reason PACT was crafted to prevent people from avoiding state and local tax by buying from another part of the country through the mail where tax was low or non-existent. McChrystals are certainly legally allowed to ship to the US. Prior to PACT MrSnuff was a US based company, but relocated to the UK to avoid dealing with PACT. Shipping costs went up of course, but at least we could still get snuff from them. Personal imports are covered by the Customs department, and that’s it. I’ve not heard of anyone’s snuff being stopped at customs or even a duty charged in this country.
@Xander thanks for the reassurance. I sometimes worry about my orders not coming through.
I don’t believe McC did a thorough investigation into this matter. Snuff cannot be mailed in the USA. Snuff can be shipped to USA customers from abroad via Royal Mail, etc.
In fact, snuff can be mailed state to state and I have just order some snuff from Washington state that is scheduled to arrive in South Carolina this Tuesday. It is my understanding that this particular tobacconist pays the taxes to the state he ships to and makes it all perfectly legal. There are some states he can’t ship to and I imagine they have different laws.
Shipped yes, mailed no.
The above place in WA state uses UPS, not USPS. Thats the deal, partially. I wanted to buy snuff from them a couple years ago and they couldn’t sell it me until they had something worked out with the government here in Colorado. I am currently wating to see if I can buy from Snuff & more", based in Germany. Their website makes no mention of not shipping to the US, so I emailed them. A nice woman wrote back, simply asking "what snuffs do you want? Maybe I can send to you as a “gift” I am waiting to hear back from her. They have some snuff nobody else seems to carry, like a few from Switzerland, and some Polish ones I’ve never heard of, and SG “Silky”, which I’ve never seen at Mr. Snuff. I am curious if I’ll be able to buy from them…