Question about buying snus online, want to avoid any possible customs issues (UK)

[NoelW]

Hey guys, i'd just like to ask a question about buying snus online and getting it through UK customs legally and issue free.

I recently purchased a single can from sunsline.com just to see if it would actually arrive, and it did after 14 days. I'v been doing a lot of reading about buying snus online and getting it to the UK, and after reading through this huge thread "http://www.snuson.com/showthread.php?11457-Ok-guys-just-came-from-the-customs-now" i'm even more confused, im not one to understand laws and such when it comes to customs since it's such a vast area and even in the thread everyone was butting heads with what was right..

The thread talks about buying snus from outside of the EU online and getting it to the UK (such as snusline.com which comes out of Israel), but no more than 50g of weight if i'm understanding what i'm reading correctly (probably not), so that would be no more than 2 cans of portion snus per order.
I want to make a new order from snusline.com and buy around 10 cans of Odens Original, but i dont exactly have much money at the moment, so if customs were to get ahold of it and send me a fee (i have no idea how much that would be) i don't wanna get screwed. So, i'd just like some advice from anyone who knows on how i should proceed, should i buy cans individually in orders of 2? I know it'll end up being a bit more pricey than if i were to just buy a roll but i'm quite worried about something going wrong with customs.

If you've managed to read though that i thank you haha, any responses are hugely appreciated!

[codyg140]

I'm not from the EU so I'm no expert.

but my understanding is that if its shipped to you because the UK has snus as a banned product they can't tax it?

i remember some loophole about that. Hell skell takes trips to Sweden and brings back a suitcase of snus with no issues.

[NoelW]

First of all snus is not illegal so customs won't bother you unless there is tax to be paid.If you buy your snus outside of the EU you don't pay tax. If your package gets stopped because of this....highly unlikely as I have never had a package stopped.....I think you simply pay the tax at a post office and a small customs charge.If snus is bought within the EU, you will pay tax at the point of sale so therefore customs cannot touch it.I buy 2 rolls at a time.

Ok that's cleared it up nicely thanks for the reply

[Tala]

Taken from HMRC

The scope of UK Excise law

The scope of Tobacco Products Duty is set out in section 1 of the Tobacco Products Duty Act 1979. As oral snuff is not for smoking, the only product type that comes close is chewing tobacco which is included through section 1(1)(e). The meaning of chewing tobacco in relation to the act is further described in The Tobacco Products (Descriptions of Products) Order 2003. Section 8 of the order describes chewing tobacco as a tobacco product which doesn’t come under any of the other descriptions and has been prepared so that it can be chewed. The nature of oral snuff would make it impractical to chew and this is not the intention. Therefore oral snuff is not within the scope of Tobacco Products Duty as currently described in UK law.

As I understand it, snus isn't classified as it isn't sold in the UK and has no tax level against it. I've had 40 cans come through in a box with snus written on the box as contents without issue.