Loophole in Tobacco Mail Ban?

[cocsp2002]

So I decided to read this mail ban bill, and it defines smokeless tobacco as that tobacco specified in 18 USC, section 2341 (Crimes and Criminal Procedure).

"Smokeless tobacco" is defined as: any finely cut, ground,
powdered, or leaf tobacco that is intended to be placed in the
oral or nasal cavity or otherwise consumed without being
combusted.
However, "contraband smokeless tobacco" is defined as: a quantity in
excess of 500 single-unit consumer-sized cans or packages of
smokeless tobacco, or their equivalent.
18 USC, Sec. 2341 goes on to specify that quantities of tobacco less than that defined are not prohibited, provided that the consumer, merchant or carrier has paid the applicable taxes and all are properly licensed and of legal age.

I don't know about you, but I don't order 500 cans at a time, I'm willing to pay the taxes as they apply, and I'm of legal age. This could honestly work in our favor, if I understand the Code right. Anyone?

[chainsnuser]

Every law has loopholes as long as there are politicians who'd be hindered by a strict law.

I guess there are enough dipping (or snusing?) politicians in the U.S. to prevent a total snus-prohibition, but 500 cans? I don't believe that. There must be another paragraph, which relativises that number, e.g. as "only for vendors/shops/tradesmen".

Sorry, I'm no law-expert and I've already spent too much time finding loopholes in the German (or so to say E.U.ropean) laws, so I will not further investigate that.

I believe that there will be a loophole for snusers in the final law, no doubt.

Cheers!

[mercvrivs]

COCSP, you sir, have made an excellent point. Do you see this as decent assurance that our snus ordering for private consumption will remain unaffected? If so, then I thank you heartily for this new information.

[sentry103]

I didn't post in any of the mail ban posts because I didn't put much stock in it to begin with.

1. Its not a very enforcable law. Sure they may get a few but really, what post man is gonna check every letter coming from a foreign country? Law enforcement has better things to do.
2. loopholes like the one you stated. Politicans aren't going to tick off every tobacco consuming American all at once.
3. It seems like its just American dot coms is all the law affects anyway. So we'd send more Americans to some discreet foreign country to set up shop. Admittedly, i'd have to check on that.

So I'm not too worried about it. For now, I'm gonna ignore the hype.

[TripEMT]

I tend to agree with sentry. So far, it looks like this Mail Ban is gonna shape up to be a lot like the Napster/Metallica outrage that happened a few years back. Nowadays, when someone gets nabbed for illegal downloads, they have something like 1.2 Billion songs or something like that. I think it'll be the same with snus... Unless you're ordering a pallet, and having it shipped to your house, i don't think we'll see a big problem, at least i hope.

[RobsanX]

It's not law enforcement that I'm worried about... Just like our favorite suppliers won't ship us Montecristo, they will probably choose to follow this law too...

[snusbear1]

It's not law enforcement that I'm worried about... Just like our favorite suppliers won't ship us Montecristo, they will probably choose to follow this law too...

Northerner, at least, does in fact ship Montecristo snus to the USA. Good stuff, too!

[exexpat93]

Mail Bans

Switchblades are forbidden to be exported to many states. Yet somehow they are ordered on the internet. As are pot seeds and plants. Or Cuban Cigars. It depends your source and how far they are willing to go for their customers.

I hope our little hobby stays under the radar so we can enjoy Snus as long as we enjoy and need it without excess regulation and taxation on our side of the pond.

Noticed my last package from Sweden was marked Swedish Snus and was not billed extra taxes by Swedish Mail to US. UPS is shooting themselves in the foot and loosing me as a customer by being overly observant.

[SnusHound]

UPS may just be covering their a$$ for various reasons.

I, for one, will continue to get snus regardless of the ban. It won't be that difficult to find a decent supplier. Just have to watch out for the scam artists just like when importing anything else that is discouraged. But, I could live without it if necessary. I'd rather go cold turkey than be robbed via the taxes on domestic product.

Now is a good time to stock up on snus, scrilla, and smith n' wesson.