Support our troops with smokeless tobacco!

[Bigblue1]

I don't think it's been said, so I will say it. roo YOU DA MAN. Thank you for undertaking this great project, and even more thanks for fighting your way thru this bullshit. Once again YOU DA MAN. thanks again and forever.

[tom502]

Sad country we live in, where the government is the enemy of it's own people, and yet people still join to die as their pawns of corporate greed.

But, if you are going to mail stuff, just lie. Lie on the customs paper, lie on your name and return address, just make it all up, and pay with cash. If it gets through, great, if it don't, oh well, it wouldn't have anyway being truthful. But our government couldn't care less about it's soldiers, and if they want some snus and snuff mailed to them from home.

[PipenSnus]

I'm a strong believer that candor is usually the best response, but even I agree that it is foolish to tell any employee of the government the unvarnished truth. Besides, isn't it polite to speak to people in their native tongue whenever possible?

Sorry the USPS is giving you hassles, Roo. I hope PACT gets repealed and you're able to start sending your Care packages again soon. I hadn't even had the chance to send you my donation yet.

[Monkey]

Sad country we live in, where the government is the enemy of it's own people, and yet people still join to die as their pawns of corporate greed.

But, if you are going to mail stuff, just lie. Lie on the customs paper, lie on your name and return address, just make it all up, and pay with cash. If it gets through, great, if it don't, oh well, it wouldn't have anyway being truthful. But our government couldn't care less about it's soldiers, and if they want some snus and snuff mailed to them from home.

I concur.

[timholian]

I hate to say it but you may get some help from *gasp* your congress person.

I know, I know.... but its worth a try.

Or stretch the truth and label it a food item.

[PassedPawn]

Roo, when you get the chance, clear out some of your PMs. Been trying to send you one but the system says you're past quota.

[Roo]

OK folks, I'm sure some of you are wondering WTF I've been up to regarding this cause. Truth be told, not much, except collecting snus from some generous donors. I've been up to my tits in work, and also had some back problems and going to the doc and physical therapist thrice weekly it seems. Every day as I walk out the door I tell myself to go the post office, get a huge flat rate box for this next donation, bring it home, and pack it up. That has yet to happen.

PassedPawn has informed me that tomorrow he is sending a shitload of chew my way. I think the troops will love it. I have a Private in Khost, AF all lined up as the unknowing recipient, and trust me, this stuff is going out as soon as I get PassedPawn's donation. This one will be huge. The days of Medium Size flat rate boxes are over. Rest assured, all snus that has been sent to me is pissing my girlfriend off as it takes up all of my freezer space. Except 1 can... I tried a can of Jaks Wintergreen that RobS sent. Kinda gross, but that's what I expected. Just wanted to give y'all an update. This has not been forgotten... Another update to come soon when it finally goes out. Apologies to all donors for the delay. Thanks, Roo

[Roo]

I'd like to say a big thank you to the tobacco donors for putting your trust in me to do this and for putting up with over two months of me bullshitting about how I'm almost going to send out your snus. I have taken forever and 1 day to get this second donation out, and I want to sincerely thank those of you who spent money to send me hundreds of dollars worth of tobacco, and for believing in not only in the cause, but in me. For about two full months now I've had so much snus in my freezer that did not belong to me I have felt bad for not giving you some kind of feedback or confirmation that this is happening. I am not punctual, that I will say without hesitation.

I apologize for the delay, and I think it says something meaningful about this community that not once did anyone PM me and question what had happened, or would happen, to their snus. More importantly, what has really been meaningful to me personally is that the donors involved all demonstrated unbelievable, mind-blowing generosity with the expectation of nothing in return, except that I will carry out the mission and pass your tobacco on to some soldiers who will really appreciate it.

Yesterday I finally went to the post office and grabbed three medium-size boxes. They didn't have any large ones. I took three in part because I thought one or more would get damaged during my commute home from work; I ride a scooter (yeah eat it Bigblue1) that has no place to put things. But I also wanted to play it safe knowing that my freezer was chock-full of snus that didn't belong to me, and I knew this shipment was going to be of epic proportions. But I didn't know quite how epic -- I used all three boxes. Tonight I took all of the donated snus and chewing tobacco out of my freezer and unpacked it... as the recipient of these donations, having received PM's to alert me to all deliveries and having seen it all as it came in... I was still astounded to see it all stacked up and counted. There are some real admirable people on this forum, and of course I'm not only talking about the people who sent tobacco for this cause because the whole forum is the shit, but I do have to take a minute to recognize the generosity of some of our members here.

In the first round, Colonel Ramsey in Kabul received 7 POUNDS of snus and snuff donated by BigBlue1, Mr. Snuffleupagus, and Monkey. 3 people sent me all of that snus that is surely still going around Baghram to this day. rickcharles606 sent some cans that didn't fit the first time.

For round two, before me now I have 135 cans of snus and a few Discreet pouches and samplers. RobS sent me roll after roll of snus, damn-near one hundred cans of snus; I'm talking about TOWERS of Claq Qui, Thunder Wintergreen, Jakobsson's Wintergreen, Offroad Wintergreen, Skruf ES and other snus. Monkey, my man Mike, sent his 3rd donation, a little box from a now-familiar address in Tampa with rolls of Taboca Strong Minis. That was just a short time after sending a handful of General Lös cans. Ladysnus sent a huge box with a bunch of snus, as did Desirexe -- I can't recall exactly who sent what at this point but there are lots of Grov, General, Gotlands, Offroad, Onyx, and other assorted cans from Ladysnus and Desirexe. rickcharles606's cans made it into one of these three boxes as well. Some of these cans were destined for AFWife's husband in Oman, but due to the PACT exemption on Oman's APO zip code and UPS's inability to ship to the address, I scrapped it and added those cans to this second donation. She had placed an order for him on buysnus, and I hope it made it.

Last but certainly not least is PassedPawn, who sent me SIX 16oz. bags of Stokers chew, and 9 pouches of Redman! This is more chew than I have ever even seen in one place, including any store. The troops are going to love it. The three boxes are packed and ready. In this thread and in another thread about someone deploying to Afghanistan there is conflicting information about whether the Afghanistan APO is exempt from PACT. So I'm a little unsure about how it's going to work out at the post office tomorrow. My plan is to fill out the customs declaration form honestly and list the contents of tobacco, then most likely haggle with the post office lady over the rules until she looks it up or calls someone and finally agrees that I in fact can legally mail an ass-ton of tobacco via USPS to Afghanistan. Should this plan fail, I will take the boxes to a different post office and list the contents as "candy and snacks". I'll let you know how it all works out.

Thanks again to the donors. You all are awesome. These troops are going to love what you have done from them. Altruism, is alive and well, as I've said before in this thread. If I forgot someone, please PM me and I will kick myself in the teeth and then edit this thread. ~ Roo

Edit: As if this post weren't long enough, I have two more things to add. All three of these boxes are going to a US base in Khost. My best friend gave me the name and address of a Private he served with there. I called my friend yesterday and explained the enormity of this donation, and he assured me that there are plenty of nicotine addicts in the area for this to get distributed to. I think this is a fine idea -- basically we are dropping a massive snus attack on 1 US base in SE Afghanistan near the Pakistani border where shit's real rough. It will go around. The other thing is that I have a picture. My camera is at a friend's house in Oregon for the moment, so this Blackberry photo will have to do.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[chadizzy1]

My plan is to fill out the customs declaration form honestly and list the contents of tobacco, then most likely haggle with the post office lady over the rules until she looks it up or calls someone and finally agrees that I in fact can legally mail an ass-ton of tobacco via USPS to Afghanistan.

It allows small shipments of tobacco products, but only via Express Mail because that's the only postal service product that meets the identification requirements under the law.

(http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...RpUUgD9HGK09O0)

So are you having to ship it in a ton of tiny boxes?

[Roo]

Damn. Thanks for the links chad. No, I am not going to break this up into 30 tiny little boxes. What I will do is list the contents as something that will not raise suspicion; not a food product and definitely not a tobacco product. Here's what I'm thinking: once they leave the United States, if at that point they have not been x-rayed or opened, I am inclined to assume the boxes will make it. Of course the packages could be examined upon arrival in Afghanistan, but I'm doubting that military personnel over there would give a shit. The worst case scenario is that all of this snus is confiscated and "disposed of". A second scenario that doesn't worry me as much is that I get in trouble for breaking this asinine law, then take the fight to my local news stations, bring more attention to it, and deal with the consequences. Best case, obviously, is that it slides on through with the hundreds of other packages going to APOs every day. What do you guys think? Goddamn it this is stupid.

[snusgetter]

Damn. Thanks for the links chad. No, I am not going to break this up into 30 tiny little boxes. What I will do is list the contents as something that will not raise suspicion; not a food product and definitely not a tobacco product. Here's what I'm thinking: once they leave the United States, if at that point they have not been x-rayed or opened, I am inclined to assume the boxes will make it. Of course the packages could be examined upon arrival in Afghanistan, but I'm doubting that military personnel over there would give a shit. The worst case scenario is that all of this snus is confiscated and "disposed of". A second scenario that doesn't worry me as much is that I get in trouble for breaking this asinine law, then take the fight to my local news stations, bring more attention to it, and deal with the consequences. Best case, obviously, is that it slides on through with the hundreds of other packages going to APOs every day. What do you guys think? Goddamn it this is stupid.

Your plan has much merit and, considering the current
atmosphere throughout the whole postal system, you
shouldn't encounter any problems.

UNLESS you end up dealing with some by-the-book dipstick
who needs to really get a life! And these spitheads exist if
only to make everybody else miserable. In that case, try a
different office.

Best of luck...

[Tobakssmak]

...basically we are dropping a massive snus attack on 1 US base in SE Afghanistan...

Lol, I love it. Great work Roo. Don't worry about the delays, I know how real life tends to get in the way. You're doing all the heavy lifting for this project and we all really appreciate it.

[sgreger1]

Damn. Thanks for the links chad. No, I am not going to break this up into 30 tiny little boxes. What I will do is list the contents as something that will not raise suspicion; not a food product and definitely not a tobacco product. Here's what I'm thinking: once they leave the United States, if at that point they have not been x-rayed or opened, I am inclined to assume the boxes will make it. Of course the packages could be examined upon arrival in Afghanistan, but I'm doubting that military personnel over there would give a shit. The worst case scenario is that all of this snus is confiscated and "disposed of". A second scenario that doesn't worry me as much is that I get in trouble for breaking this asinine law, then take the fight to my local news stations, bring more attention to it, and deal with the consequences. Best case, obviously, is that it slides on through with the hundreds of other packages going to APOs every day. What do you guys think? Goddamn it this is stupid.

Roo, they do check the packages because they try to make sure no one mails them any alcohol or other contraband. They dont check well though, like for example if you fill a mouthwash bottle with vodka and then put some blue die in it to make it look like mouthwash, they'll never find out. However, anyone who sees this will just think it's free dip and gladly pass it on to wherever its addressed to. If it makes it to the APO it will be good to go, I guarantee that. I say let them try to fine you for it, take it to the media. Then again, the media hates tobacco too. But you could say you were trying to help the soldiers, and that the new Obama admin rules don't allow you too, then send it to Fox news and your good to go.

[SnusoMatic]

if it gets confiscated all of us needs to make sure our local tv news knows about the story. a lot of national news stories start off as local news stories. something like this would ruffle local vets and politicians live for these type stories. local tv loves to report on troops being done wrong. if the story is coming from all over the national news would not be able to ignore it. don't get me wrong i am not pro war by any means. but if we are going to send these people over there to do our dirty work then they should be able to take a dip if they want.

[Roo]

Oops, I forgot to update this on Monday with some good news. After hauling the 3 heavy-ass boxes to work in a hefty bag on my scooter (it wasn't the smartest idea but it worked), I was pondering exactly what to put on the customs forms when I found this online:

http://blogs.federaltimes.com/federa...cco-to-troops/

http://www.examiner.com/military-com...acco-to-troops

Effective August 27th tobacco can be mailed to military addresses again! I'm glad they finally came to their goddamned senses and recognized the crude irony in not allowing people who are old enough to dodge bullets and kill people in the name of freedom to smoke a cig or enjoy some smokeless from home. So the boxes are back at my apartment and taking up the whole bottom shelf of my fridge. My girlfriend is so happy to once again have use of only half the refrigerator.

Thanks again everyone for your patience... gonna do this legally for my own peace of mind and to ensure delivery. I'll let you know when they finally go out.