G'day from Australia.

[chopper]

Just dropped by to say g'day from Australia.
There's over 30 pipes in my rotation, from a Peterson Sherlock Holmes to 100yo antique briars that were NOS, to 3 MM cobs.
Tobacco is extremely expensive here. Thanks to indexed tax hikes every six months, 50 grams of tobacco will be $100 by years end.
I've been smoking a pipe for over 8 years. Thanks to plain packaging choice of blends here is extremely limited, most of which are mediocre.

After discovering the wonderful world of on-line tobacconists, I've now got over 30 blends from which to choose.

On July 1st the laws were toughened re; importing tobacco without a license.
U.S. Customs has joined the party by cracking down on on-line tobacconists. Up until July 1st my seller would declare my order as Hobby Supplies [Well, pipe smoking is my hobby]. Now U.S. Customs insist that every item be listed for what it is; tobacco.
Up until 18 months ago, I had not ever tried anything other than aromatics.

My tobacco rotation now consists of PS Navy Flake & Bullseye Flake, mild English blends such as Sutliff EMP Match, London Squire, Revelation, Carter Hall and a 50/50 mix of Holiday Match/302 Modern English.

Tinned blends such as MacBaren Plumcake, SPC Plum Pudding & Mississippi River I've got in short supply so I smoke one small bowl a day to make them last a while.
Before the new Customs laws came into effect I bought pound bags of Latakia, Perique, Oriental and Black Cavendish that I intend to blend with homegrown Virginia & Burley to make kake when my supplies start to run low.

 

[mikethompson]

Welcome to the forums! I have many happy memories of visiting Australia 12 years ago. We saw Sydney, Uluru, Cairns, and the coast around Brisbane. I proposed to my wife down there too. What part are you in?
As for customs, Australia and New Zealand might be the only places on earth with higher tax on tobacco than Canada!

 

[redglow]

Welcome aboard from Detroit! I love the Stokkebye flakes as well. They're part of my daily routine. ::

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

Best Greets to Australia, (Ps,some of My boots&hats are made in Your great country,trademarks like Akubras and R.M Williams)

 

[newportpipe]

G’day from Southern California!

 

[mso489]

Welcome aboard from central North Carolina.

 

[peregrinus]

Hello from Seattle Washington.

Sounds like you were able to get out ahead of the cut and have a great stash going! See you have some MM’s. I smoked a MM for the first time in a long, long time. I loaded with a blend of my own (Ribbon Virginia and Perique) and was reminded just how neutral a cob is to the tobacco flavor. Amazing.

Cheers

 

[alaskanpiper]

Welcome from Knik River, Alaska! Been to Oz twice, beautiful country.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Greetings and G'day!
Looks like one has to be industrious and/or rich to smoke down under.

 

[derhammer]

welcome aboard

 

[timelord]

G'Day Cobber

 

[timelord]

p.s. I think the real issue is the change in Aussie laws on 1st July. It is now illegal to purchase tobacco overseas and have it delivered via the postal service. Imports can only be made if you are registered to import tobacco and even then they must not come via the post!

 

[gamzultovah]

Greetings from Florida, USA.

 

[chopper]

Thank you for the warm welcome everyone.
Mike Thompson - I'm west of Sydney at the foot of the Blue Mountains. It's much hotter in Summer and colder at nights in Winter than the coast but as we're surrounded by semi-rural and bush reserves it's much less hectic than the city.

There's a rather large kangaroo that regularly visits the neighbourhood that I've named Bruce. He freaks the local dogs out, lol. And only last year I saw a koala on a mates 50 acres 30 minutes from here [Koalas are very hard to spot in the wild]

As we haven't been flooded with immigrants from the 3rd world [touch wood], it still reminds me of how Australia was growing up.
Paul - You've got good taste. I've been wearing R.M.Williams boots since I was a teenager. I've two pair; one pair for formal occasions and I still wear an old pair that's 30yo to knock about in.

One can't beat an Akubra hat. The unique durability is due to them being made from wild rabbit fur felt.
Peregrinus - When I first heard of the coming changes in the law, re; 'Importing commercial quantity of tobacco without a license', I realised that I had to respond. Since then I've spent every spare dollar ordering from TobaccoPipes [Who I highly recommend]

Quite a few fellow Aussies bagged me out for being 'paranoid' as they claimed that the laws only applied to 'commercial quantity' but as it turns out, that's not so.

So I have a healthy stash that should last me at least a few years. Pipe tobacco is one of my last remaining pleasures in life so I'd prefer not to be here if I run out as I'm not paying $100 for 50g of tobacco, much less for mediocre blends at that.
For 7 years I smoked the one pipe day in day out as I had no clue that briar pipes need to be rested.

Once I started learning the basics & realising that I needed to acquire a rotation of pipes, I first bought two MM cobs & a Dr Grabow Duke. I've now got 3 MM cobs and find them to be great smokers, every bit as good as my much more expensive briars.
Timelord - G'day cobber.

When I first heard of the July 1st changes in the law, it referred to "Importing commercial quantity of tobacco without a license". [Why many Aussies thought that the laws would not apply to them ordering personal amounts]

As it turns out, U.S. on-line tobacconists have been told by U.S.Customs that they must declare every single item for what it is.

Before July 1st they'd declare my tobacco as Hobby Supplies [Pipe smoking IS my hobby]

Since July 1st I've received one order that had it's contents listed as tobacco. [8oz of Bullseye Flake] and a tin of SPC Mississippi River SR from a private sale.

My best chance is to buy privately ...... so don't forget me if anyone has milder non-aromatics for sale : )

 

[geopiper]

Greetings Chopper.

 

[gerryp]

Welcome from a mile outside New Orleans, Louisiana! I've never met an Aussie I didn't like, and that goes for all 5 of them.
You're number 6, and things look promising so far. :D

 

[timelord]

Before July 1st they'd declare my tobacco as Hobby Supplies [Pipe smoking IS my hobby]

. Sounds like you used to order from the same place as me :puffpipe:
I didn't hear about the new laws until after 1st July (another member mentioned it in a posting) and I spent a few unhappy hours reading through the relevant websites to find out what was really going on. Typical gov't websites; some didn't mention the changes and implied the old system was in-place but then I found the ones that had the new rules. At that point I realised I'd missed the boat in so far as stocking up goes but fortunately I've already got a reasonable quantity in store so I'll manage somehow.
By the way; I'm not a huge distance from you. I'm currently on Sydney's Northern Beaches.

 

[chopper]

Timelord - aww that blows chunks. I forget when I first heard of the law changes but my intuition told me to stock up while I still could. Although I'm on a disability pension I still managed to accumulate around 40lb. That sounds a lot but that will last me around 4-5 years at a rough guess.
I've had two parcels of tobacco reach my door since July 1st, 1 was sent privately the other from TobaccoPipes which surprisingly had each item declared.

So I'll continue ordering for the time being.
I've started growing my own with the intention of making my own kake to supplement my stash. Last year I grew a few pounds of Burley. This year I'll be growing Virginia.
Northern beaches is a great area. My grandparents lived up the hill from Manly and my great aunt live at Fairlight so I spent a lot of time there during school holidays.

For just over a year I lived just above the South Steyne surf club and drove Manly cabs as a 2nd job for years.

 

[charf]

Greetings from NZ

 

[chopper]

G'day Charf. Are you aware that you're allowed to import whole leaf tobacco into NZ & only have to pay for heat treatment?

There's a limit but it's based on cost rather than weight IIRC. Order up big before they change the rules like they did here.