I have a recent convert that now finds smoking tastes gross and has orders to Afghanistan. He's trying to figure out what he can live without to make room for a stash, but it will not last a full deployment. Is there any shop that can/will ship to him there? Anyone have the exact site listing the USPS guideline for personal shipments? I might be able to afford sending the poor guy a few cans every so often to get him by. Would regular portions keep, or should he stick with whites? Any advice you guys have would be helpful since this may become a recurring issue that I didn't think of when I started making converts in the active duty troops.
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Talk about confusion... Good luck with this double-speak (substitute tobacco for cigarettes):
The Fort Campbell Courier: News
Tobacco mail ban may affect troops overseas
Posted: Thursday, July 8, 2010 3:11 pm | Updated: 3:13 pm, Thu Jul 8, 2010.
Service members serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are no longer able to receive cigarettes through the U.S. Postal System thanks to the recently signed Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act.
The PACT Act was signed into Federal law, March 31, effectively ending tobacco tax evasion and restricting minors from purchasing smokes online. But the law may have an adverse effect on some troops stationed overseas.
On its face, the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act provides that cigarettes and smokeless tobacco became non-mailable after June 29. However there are exceptions that Soldiers and their Families should be aware of.
Soldiers may still receive packages with cigarettes and smokeless tobacco as long as they meet several conditions, said David Walton, who works in corporate communications for the U.S. Postal Service.
“As far as APO goes, people can still mail (tobacco) to them,” he said.
According to postal bulletin 22287, which was disseminated on June 17, “as long as all of the following apply, you should be able to send cigarettes to your relative via Express Mail service.”
• Your relative is of legal age to purchase cigarettes where he is stationed.
• Express Mail service is available to the APO/FPO/ DPO address where he is stationed.
• The host country where he is stationed allows cigarettes in shipments to that destination.
The package has to weigh 10 ounces or less and bear the marking “PERMITTED TOBACCO MAILING — DELIVER ONLY TO AGE-VERIFIED ADULT OF LEGAL AGE.” You can only send up to 10 such mailings in a 30-day period, according to the new law.
Soldiers stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East receive mail through APO/FPO zip codes beginning with 093. Those seeking to mail cigarettes to service members must first make sure that there are no restrictions in place as mail addressed to military personnel overseas is subject to certain conditions or restrictions regarding content, preparation and handling.
As of today, no cigarette restriction codes have been placed on 093 codes, meaning that cigarettes can be mailed to Soldiers in the Middle East… as long as it’s shipped Express Mail.
“Unfortunately, Express Mail service is not available to Afghanistan and Iraq,” said Walton.
The new law may be causing nicotine-fits on two fronts and isn’t too popular with spouse and cigarette sender Erica Bentley, whose husband John is forward deployed to Afghanistan.
“I think it’s pretty ridiculous,” she said. “For my husband it won’t be that big of deal, because he can buy cigarettes at the PX or on the economy, but my friend’s husband and a lot of other guys don’t have access to any stores.”
POSTAL Change
People should be able to send cigarettes to a relative via Express Mail service if:
• Their relative is of legal age to purchase cigarettes where he is stationed.
• The host country where he is stationed allows cigarettes in shipments to that destination.
• NOTE: Express Mail service is not available to Afghanistan and Iraq. -
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Can you just imagine the challenge bureaucrats face who put this crap together!!Originally posted by ChaoticGemini View Post
They give supreme meaning to the word obfuscation.
Omit the s from obfuscation and I think what's really on their minds is
ob-fuc-ation -- now, that's more like it!!Comment
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Thats halarious..
I feel really bad for all those soldiers who can no longer receive the "cure" to their addiction.
It's honestly total BS what the government is doing now.Comment
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Has anyone actually read this?
http://www.usps.com/pactact/welcome.htm
* Alaska/Hawaii: Shipments entirely within Alaska or Hawaii;
* Business/Regulatory Purposes: Shipments transmitted between verified and authorized tobacco industry businesses for business purposes, or between such businesses and federal or state agencies for regulatory purposes;
* Certain Individuals: Infrequent, lightweight shipments mailed by age verified adult individuals; and
* Consumer Testing/Public Health: Shipments of cigarettes sent by verified and authorized manufacturers to verified adult smokers age 21 and over for consumer testing purposes, and shipments sent by federal agencies to consumers for public health purposes.
I want to highlight the last 2. "Certain Individuals: Infrequent, lightweight shipments mailed by age verified adult individuals" - I guess this part is the one that says box passes and whatnot are still allowed, good to see it in more blatant terms.
"Consumer Testing/Public Health: Shipments of cigarettes sent by verified and authorized manufacturers to verified adult smokers age 21 and over for consumer testing purposes, and shipments sent by federal agencies to consumers for public health purposes." - I found this one interesting and went to the part that elaborates on it a bit.
http://www.usps.com/cpim/ftp/bulleti.../updt_002.html
"Public Health Exception — Federal government agencies involved in the consumer testing of tobacco products solely for public health purposes may mail cigarettes under the mailing standards of Consumer Testing, with certain exceptions." - I wonder what this one means?Comment
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Originally posted by chadizzy1 View Post
Certain Individuals: Infrequent, lightweight shipments mailed by age verified adult individuals
- 10 ounce limit!! And usually express mail which requires a delivery signature.
- Infrequent = whatever you might get away with (if you frequent a PO that is
anal about regulations that might mean no more than once or twice per month!
Did you say "Rotate your POs like you should your snus?" Hmmm! You said it,
I didn't.)
Shipments transmitted between verified and authorized tobacco industry businesses for business purposes
Northerner/Getsnus etc fall into this category.Comment
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This is good information, thanks snusgetter. I know from recent experience that snus cannot be mailed to Yemen (or was it Oman...) but I guess that APO zip does not begin with 093. I'd have to go back and check. But this is great news because the massive "support the troops" shipment going out when I receive PassedPawn's donation any day now is headed straight for an 093 address. Woo hoo!Comment
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Roo, do yourself a big favor:Originally posted by Roo View Post
Go to your PO and speak to the Postmaster or a supervisor.
Explain your situation and get a reading from them about the applicable regulations
concerning the zip code, contents and weight of the package; you should be able to
get at least a ballpark figure on mailing your parcel. If need be, get a second opinion
from a different PO; then go from there. It would be foolish to wait until the last
minute and then be stymied by a decision you may not like, possibly made on the
spur-of-the-moment.
Good luck!
P.S. Read the whole of my first reply above concerning 093.Comment
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I am currently stationed at an APO starting with 093.... I talked to the post master and he was unaware of the PACT act or anything prohibiting the shipment of tabacco. Northerner will not ship to my address and I have yet to hear back from buysnus. Right now I am sitting okay with about 6 rolls of snus left from my pre-pact order. I thought it was odd that some of my back ordered snus that arrived post-pact that came from sweden got here in 3 days. I am guessing it probably got into the APO system somewhere in Europe and probably did not even go via the States. If that is the case, I do not see what the big deal is if the orders do not even touch US soil. This whole thing is crazy and I can't belive that those that are defending our democracy are getting hosed too! I guess I need to finish the letter I started to my congressman.......Comment
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You have to have someone from the states mail it to you basically. Maybe spouse, girlfriend, buddy, parents. Hope the officers in charge of mail will let tobacco be shipped since health hazards from tobacco are not deployed troops biggest concern.Comment
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SNUS'r, do regular portions keep okay or are whites a better choice for the climate and lack of refrigeration?Comment
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My regular portion snus has kept well. I keep them in a fridge. I did notice that a can of icefruit I opened yesterday was a little dryer than normal. I also had a few cans of offroad that dried out pretty good so I sprinkled some water in the can and was good to go. The best brand as far as retaining mositure has been thunder. I can open a can of it and the portions are still moist. Those can also came directly from Sweden, so maybe that has something to do with it? I think that when the mail sits in 100 degree plus weather it has a tendancy to bake what ever is in the packages. I got a care package yesterday that had some trail mix in it and the M&Ms melted into a giant gob of chocolate. With all this PACT stuff, looks like I will have to wait until I go home on mid-tour to restock. I think I should have enough to last me till then.Comment
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Back in the day when I mailed packages to Iraq, they were mixed items and by the time I got to the PO, I couldn't remember 5 items in the box. Needless to say, many items went undocumented on the customs/declaration forms. Never had a package returned or opened so maybe you could have your friends/spouse, include a few cans with frequent care packages and have them forget that they put them into the box at the po.
Hope you get something figured out. That would be beyond suck to be stuck without snus! 
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In a Nutshell:
- mailed packages must state the name and address of the sender
- the sender must be a member of the Seneca Free Trade Association
- mailings
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Postal Service expecting its busiest day of the year
By Ed O'Keefe
(Photo by Jacqueline Larma/AP)
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