cheapest place in Europe for me to buy my cigarettes

Ian_W

ManAtHome wrote:

Unless you're really unkucky and end up with a "bend over and pass me the Marigolds" situation...

Wow, if you got a carton of Lucky Strikes up where the sun don't shine I don't think the Marigolds would strike much fear!! _pale_
They regularly target flights from the Canaries and confiscate all but your 200 allowance - with carte-blanche for personal use from mainland EU to continue MAH's analogy - I think they're just going through the motions!!;)

ManAtHome

Well you have to check for illegal cigars...

I normally bring in around 4000 from the EU and cigars from outside by the way. Have been through a spot-check from Tenerife at Manchester - pretty sure they grab the lot (I just had my legal allowance, but one or two people were taken round the back after whinging - stupid or what?).

Reminds me of the old joke about a guy having his case opened and it was full of !!!!!! - after wading around for a while, the customs officer asks what he's doing bringing a case full of !!!!!! through....



Just been to Vegas and it's me winnings in a cr4p game.

ynot2005

customs will seize everything if you go over the limit of 200 cigs from anywhere outside the EU and even some of the new members of the EU

you cannot just keep the 200 you are allowed to buy and lose the rest

zincoxide

From the customs & excise website:

If you also have tobacco or alcohol goods that you bought in an EU country (other than tobacco products over the limit for imports from that country) you will not have to pay any more duty or tax on these so long as:

• they are for your own use and
• you can show, if we ask you to, that you have paid duty and tax in an EU country, for example by producing the receipt.

So - if you take a receipt showing you purchased 4000 cigarettes in the EU and bring back 4000 from outside the EU you could show that you took them with you?

slowen

I brought double the allowance of tobacco back from Gran Caneria last year as it was so cheap and only worked out another £5 lot of tobacco and no-one was at customs when we flew back into Liverpool early hours of the morning. I am going to Tenerife via Manchester airport this year and getting back into the UK at 5am but will probably just back the allowance

What happens if you get caught with more than your allowance? will they just take the extra off you or will they take it all from you to prove a point?

billie19

Its a shame that they are so stringent on the tobacco and alcohol but at the same time let any Tom, !!!!!! or Harry into the Country.

I'm certain that the government loses a darn sight more in money from immigrants/asylum seekers than lost revenue in contraband.

Hey, I might even tell them that it's my human rights to bring in my chosen amounts of these items..!!!

Billie
xx

nelly_2

you can pay the tax when/if you get caught so you can keep them but it cost you the same as here

pattycake

I live part of the time in Prague. Just a word of warning, the limit on cigarettes back to the UK is still 200 just like outside the EU. This is simply because they are so cheap out there.

If you bring over the allowance they will confiscate the lot. I travel frequently via Manchester and have witnessed the Customs officers having a "purge". Does not bother me much as I am a non-smoker. How on earth do people afford to smoke at £5+ per packet. A mystery. Roll on a ban in all public places next year.

lily_the_pink

I would always buy from somewhere they are fresh or definately genuine cigarettes - I used to buy off the street in south america where they were about 15% cheaper than in the shops (say 40p instead of 50p) but sometimes the cigarettes would be very dry and there was a definate difference in quality with lucky strikes for example. I only mention this in respect to the post about buying cheap cigarettes in Africa. The ones bought in shops were fine.

A few years ago I bought back some cigarettes from Tenerife, and these according to my mother were very dry too - so I suspect that these were not genuine Silk Cut (I had bought from a very cheap shop selling electronics). I am sure this is not a problem in most places as I never have had problems with cigs from Greece or mainland portugal.

bunking_off

If you fancy driving instead, from memory they're pretty cheap in Luxembourg. The motorway service station there is pretty much dedicated to flogging cheap ciggies. Petrol's cheap as well, meaning a lot of people travel from Netherlands/Belgium/France/Germany to stock up on both.