I’m just now coming back to snuff-taking after setting aside my snuffs for a number of years (I thought it was 2, but it turns out it’s more like 5 or 6 - I guess that since I’m not a smoker, it means I’m not addicted to nicotine, LOL). Anyway, since I dropped the habit, I moved from Massachusetts to Maryland, and on getting back into it, I find that getting snuff is now so much harder. I used to get my snuff at Mars Cigar or direct from Sharrow Mills, but now neither place will sell me the stuff, and nor will any other place in the US. I’ve seen vague claims that the reason is anti-tobacco credit card rules, a new law, new FDA rules, post office mailing rules, or maybe a perfect storm of all of the above. I’m at a loss in terms of how we got to this ridiculous situation in which a product that is grown right here in Maryland cannot be sold to anyone living in Maryland unless bought from a supplier in the UK? I mean, I used to buy UK snuff before (I was born less than half a mile from Sharrow Mills), and I used to buy it direct from the manufacturer there because they had the freshest stuff, but I never “had to” buy it from there. And now even they won’t sell to me - I have to buy from a middleman supplier in the UK, which is fine by me (at least I can still get it), but why? And I don’t even “need” the tobacco snuffs - I’m happy to put non-tobacco snuffs up my nose, but Mars Cigar doesn’t even stock those anymore, except for one extremely dried out and disgusting snuff that I tried this week Molens Windmill Potpourri #1 - ugh! Heck, it was so bad that I have serious doubts that it’s even supposed to go up my nose: somehow I suspect they mixed up an actual potpourri blend (something to put in a pot and sit on the mantlepiece to make the house smell better) with a snuff. I just placed an order for a bunch of new (to me) non-tobacco snuffs from Mr. Snuff in the UK - again, these are non-tobacco products, yet I feel like I’m ordering a 25 ounce tin of Heroin or Crack. I also placed an order for a couple of my favorite tobacco snuffs, so if ordering non-tobacco snuff already made me feel like a criminal drug addict, it’s hard to imagine what ordering the tobacco-varieties made me feel like. Can anyone explain exactly what happened: 1. What are the new rules? 2. Why is no one in the US selling snuff via mail order? 3. Why is no one in the US even selling non-tobacco snuff? 4. Why are some vendors in Europe no longer selling to the US? 5. Why is Maryland in particular singled out by some vendors as not an allowed destination for mail order snuff?
Hi and welcome! There’s probably dozens of threads about the “PACT” act on this site… I don’t even remember all the details. I think it had something to do with stopping Indian reservations from selling cigs duty free over the internet via the mail… I think snuff got caught in the crossfire… I think! 
I’m sure some more knowledgeable members will chime in… Welcome tho! I grew up in Potomac Md.
Small world! I’m just a few miles away from Potomac right now - I live in Silver Spring. I did look at some of the posts about the PACT act before posting, but I couldn’t find any specifics as to what the act was aimed at - the posts I saw were mainly just railing at it (which I’m fine with, but it doesn’t really explain it).
IMO, the PACT is mainly about money. Selling cigarettes and smokeless tobacco in the US via the internet was not allowing any tax revenues to be collected. That and the concern that there were no safeguards to verify the age of the purchaser (the government needs to protect our kids after all). So since April of 2010, sellers must collect all taxes and have an age verification process. Also, the USPS was prohibited from delivering cigarettes and smokeless tobacco via the mail. Rather than put lots of costly changes in place, many online retailers simply got out of the business.
Unfortunately in my tobacco use (other than when I chewed in highschool through college) I have never known anything but Pact act with snus and now snuff
Hey @hgrissom, your avatar just gave me another “small world” moment. Back in the 1970s and '80s I used to live in Walsall, and while I was never much of a football fan, I remember when I used to go on the train to Birmingham for shopping on the weekends, the West Bromwich fans were often there in force. But why is a West Bromwich Albion fan affected by the PACT act? Are you an expat like me, or an American who likes English football?
Fortunately it is still legal to order it from other countries and the Post Office has to deliver it per international agreement. Might not be legal in some states that prohibit the import of tobacco products. Legally though it is your responsibility to declare and pay any taxes; don’t know if anyone does, but that’s the law in my state. edit: um, I’m _not_ a lawyer by the way.
I maybe way off the mark here; as I live in Great Britain not the US. My understanding of this piece of fascist legislation is similar to @spyder As far as I know the individual US federal states reserve the right to levy tax upon tobacco as they democratically agree/see fit! I.e. a pack of cigarettes can cost substantially more in New York than in Charleston for the exact same item (purely due to the tax percentage applicable in that particular state). With the advent of the internet, savvy customers had the option to pay a lot less tax by ordering out of state, additionally this was exasperated by the ‘Indian Reservation’ tax exempt argument mentioned above. To my mind this was erroneously pitched as being about those ‘evil tobacco companies’ trying to get kids hooked on cigarettes for life, when self-evidently it was largely about adult tobacco users choosing to not be penalised by being ripped off in the state they happen to by chance live in… Ironically capitalism doesn’t seem to triumph in the land of the free in this instance - Bureaucrats eh? Don’t even get me started on plain packaging in GB! X(
Ironically capitalism doesn’t seem to triumph in the land of the free in this instance - Bureaucrats eh?..
Well, capitalism has a way of triumphing only when corporations want it to triumph. In this case, I suspect the PACT act would have died in committee if any major corporations were going to be adversely affected by it to any great degree. When the corporate capitalists don’t mind bureacracy and the “Nanny State”, they’ll impose it here in the Land of the Free just as readily as the Soviets used to impose it in the USSR. I wish we could be free of both the corporate capitalists and the bureaucrats. Both seem to make life harder while promising to make it better, and they happily enjoy their own brand of socialism for the wealthy while encouraging the rest of us to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. I guess I’m just lucky in that the one socialist program that does thrive in the US is not that far away for me. Just another 13 years and I’ll be eligible for social security benefit (what we used to call Old Age Pension when I lived in England). Then again, what do I know - I only live here. Like you, I’m from the UK. And I’m probably even more biased, as my first experience of adult life was in Thatcher’s Britain.
@Beery - I guess that the only compensation if that ‘they’ “will all be up against the wall when the revolution comes” 
So Che Guevara and Russell Brand reckon anyways :)) I personally consider corporations and monopolies to be the biggest risk actually, “Cash is King” as Alex Spanos said; as long as 1% of people hold 40% of global wealth, they’ll be an abundance of bootstraps. I won’t discuss socialism in the UK as I reckon we all now the state of play there… after the other week.
…I won’t discuss socialism in the UK as I reckon we all now the state of play there… after the other week.
Judging from most of my interactions here in the US, I wouldn’t be so sure that too many people even know what you’re referring to. And I think that the default for people here is to believe that politics in the UK (and just about everywhere else beyond the US border) is hopelessly mired in Marxism, if not Stalinism. The “Red Scare” legacy of the Cold War era is only recently starting to be replaced by the fear of religious extremism.
We wouldn’t be discussing politics here, would we? Let’s discuss snuff. Yes, the PACT Act and other similar crap is a pain in the ass. Yes, this is a snuff forum. Snuff is much more fun than politics.
@chefdaniel - Yes, you’re correct, snuff in indeed much more fun - My apologies.
@chefdaniel - Yes, you’re correct, snuff in indeed much more fun - My apologies.
No apologies needed sir. We’re all friends here, and often conversations that drift off topic can strain friendships. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it, no matter what my ex-wife says. =))
@chefdaniel - No, you weren’t wrong in what you said. Just to be clear I do not have a Marxism/Stalinism/Commie agenda, not at all. Hey I’ve read Ayn Rands books and everything! Its just I object to the impingement of peoples right for free choice. Being kinder, helping people out, and cooperating with different people is basic human nature, and one of the nice things about life (and Snuffhouse!) - I appreciate your comments
@MisterPaul …and I yours. I think one of the common threads that bind snuffers together is their fierce sense of independence. That unwillingness to follow the crowd, conform to social norms and become cogs in the machine is what sets us apart. I am with on liberty and freedom. Best we take care of each other than let big organizations take up the slack. When that happens, our freedom of choice is compromised (at best) or undermined (at worst). Volunteering to help is far better than being coerced to perform same. Cheers. Aviation cocktail getting ready for destruction by ingestion, with another to make sure. Creme Yvette quickly getting in short supply. So a pinch of a snuff by the same name is in order :))
Yes, I’ll drink to that! Aviation Cocktail sounds good too, as does Crème Yvette! I’ll have to PM you about getting an order in shortly, I’ve been meaning to contact you for a brace of your fine snuffs for a while
@Beery I am unfortunately not a British expat, just a young American who is an Anglophile and big football/soccer fan. Love my baggies though
@hgrissom - I did wonder actually! I don’t live too far from ‘The Hawthorns’ and pass by occasionally. I had presumed that you must have been from the UK with that avatar… Hence my previous Boing-Boing comment
@MisterPaul I got your boing boing! I chose the baggies when I got into the BPL about 4 years ago. I wanted a smaller club with ties to my family. My family is originally from the black country (with some Northern Irish relatives who are… different), with some living in Leicester. Couldn’t get into watching Leicester though, and never really got into Aston Villa or Wolves. I just fell in love with West Brom. I am supremely envious of you living near the Hawthorns though. You wouldn’t believe how many hoops I jump through to watch matches here or to get West Brom gear here. I suppose if I were a Chelsea, Man U, or Arsenal fan it would be more clear that I am indeed an American.