I’ve been suffering from increasingly frequent seizures by Indonesian Customs when I order snuff. It’s happened twice before, but this time, I ordered four tins of 150 grams of White Elephant, split into two orders to avoid attracting attention. Yesterday, I received ONE tin, with a note saying that the other three had been seized because I had exceeded the 45 gram limit on tobacco imports. Not 450, 45!!! This rule seems to be very randomly applied, but it seems that I’m now in their eye. It’s quite odd that they let me keep one tin. But that’s Indonesians for you. I bet you that unlike in those no smoking prisons in the West, if you were going to face the firing squad here, they’d let you have your last cigarette and a strong cup of coffee. So what’s a man to do?!? The wolf is not quite at the door, I still have a few kilos tucked away. But one worries for the future. To soothe my nerves, I’ve just ordered 3 x 15 grams of SWS, which keeps me below the ridiculously low threshold. I really need to learn how to make my own snuff, at least to stretch out my supplies. I could get cigar filler here quite easily and cheaply. I wonder how that would go? I haven’t had much luck with my pipe tobaccos, the end product might work as a flavouring agent, but not straight. I tried using a packet of Drum, and it came a bit closer. I’ve thought about trying to make friends with the Indian grocery shop, which does sell Indian chewing tobacco, but not snuff. Maybe if I offered to buy a few kilos at a time, they’d be prepared to do a special order. I have a friend with a tobacco import license, but he’s reluctant to go through any supplier other than 4noggins. My boss has a diplomatic passport (long story) and can get stuff through the diplomatic bag. He’s been very nice about helping me with electronic equipment, but I think he’d draw the line at tobacco products. Probably a rule against it, anyway. What the hell can I do?!? Sorry, just ranting aloud.
45 grams? That is very low! I did recently read a blog on smokingpipes.com about how to make snuff. They used Cob plug and it seems like they got good results. I would think pipe tobacco would be a good candidate for making snuff but what do I know? Here is the link: http://www.smokingpipes.com/smokingpipesblog/single.cfm/post/nasal-snuff Good luck with your customs agents!
I would think pipe tobacco would be a good candidate for making snuff but what do I know?
Well, I would have thought so, too. But even with a nice, non-aromatic, Latakia forward tobacco that is great in a pipe, it didn’t seem to work. It just has too much of a strong flavor of its own. The consistency was good and it “worked”, it even went quite well mixed with a bit of Toque Quit. It’s really a matter of finding a neutral (but strong) background base tobacco. I just remember someone on this forum talking about using cigar, of which there is no shortage in this part of the world.
Sorry to hear this, I feel for you. Customs people can be work quite arbitrarily sometimes. Placing the limit so low is absurd.
Do you have land or space to grow some plants? Even if you don’t have the land tobacco grows well in 5 gallon pails. I think you’d get quite a bit of snuff from one plant, especially if you use the stalk for toast. There is legislation proposed here in Ontario, Canada to ban flavoured tobacco so the writing is on the wall for me. I grew this year and have 20 plants curing, if I can get it into usable snuff I should be set for a long time. It’s turning into a bit of a fun hobby, maybe it’s something you could try to get around that ridiculous import limit.
Sounds like fun. But Indonesia grows huge lumps of tobacco, in large variety, including lots of good cigar filler. I know a guy who blends pipe tobacco for his shop and online, he’d let me have some at a good price. I just want a good point of departure before I start ordering all sorts of stuff that doesn’t work.
Sorry for your loss. W.E. is one of my favorites. I just wonder what customs do with all that seized tobacco.
Sounds like fun. But Indonesia grows huge lumps of tobacco, in large variety, including lots of good cigar filler. I know a guy who blends pipe tobacco for his shop and online, he’d let me have some at a good price. I just want a good point of departure before I start ordering all sorts of stuff that doesn’t work.
If you can get your hands on cured tobacco easily then you should be in luck making your own if it comes down to it. The area I live in is the largest producer of black tobacco in Canada but it’s so heavily regulated that the average citizen can’t purchase it from the growers. It really sucks driving by the smoke barns in the fall when they are curing knowing I can’t just buy some whole leaf from the farmer.
Form the Indonesian import rules- Customs Rules Import regulations:: Free import (by adults only): 1. tobacco products (no limitations for diplomats): 200 cigarettes or 25 cigars or 100 grammes of tobacco; 2. 1 litre of liquor; 3. a reasonable quantity of perfume; 4. personal goods up to a value of USD 250.- per passenger or USD 1,000.- per family. (no limitations for diplomats) Not sure why your running into a wall with your snuff- from their own information it seems you could bring it in- at least as a traveler. While your diplomatic passport holding boss may be able to, I can certainly see why they may be reticent to run afoul of customs.
Pipe tobacco works great for me, grinding into snuff. Turkish Izmir is great toasted.
@Sgtjon, this is an environment where written rules mean next to nothing compared to the personal policies of whoever happens to be in charge that day. In terms of prevalence of corruption, “Southeast Asia’s largest economy was ranked 118th out of 176 countries polled, down from 100th out of 183 the year before, and tied with Madagascar, Egypt, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic” (Transparency International). The flipside of living in a very corrupt country is that officials have enormous discretionary power, and sometimes, just on a whim, they’ll decide to be nice, even without being paid. Sometimes, they make your life difficult, even when they aren’t looking for handouts. It all depends on how they feel.
@JakartaBoy I certainly appreciate the fact that written versus applied rules at the border are vastly different. Thank goodness I have usually found favor in the eyes of border forces----lets hope it continues!
Sorry for your loss. W.E. is one of my favorites. I just wonder what customs do with all that seized tobacco.
Probably save themselves a lot of money not buying tobacco.
JakartaBoy, I feel for. Here in Australia we have ridiculous tobacco laws too. Snuff is not sold in Australia but one can buy it from overseas. Like you I try not to buy to much in any one order. That said the laws against tobacco are getting stronger and stronger and…
Very sad story, @JakartaBoy. I feel your pain. I wish I knew a way around this but I just don’t know.
imho you do need to (as u suggest) learn how to make a great homeground snuff. Never will be a problem again. Experiment with different processes and tobacco. Read up on it. You can do it. It is a great pastime. Jakarta Snuff. sounds great…