Balthazar Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 (edited) So, after this happened I was devastated. The Hafa had been serving me well for quite some time, and it is still the best pipe I've ever smoked (mind you, I've only smoked like four or five different hookahs). In an act of desperation I ordered the Nour Bohemian. Pricy and elegant, but a step down from the KM smoking-wise (not that there were enormous differences).I spent some time looking for a fitting vase, and after narrowing it down to two or three vases I decided to go with an original KM-vase from gothookahs. They normally don't ship internationally, but Chuck being Chuck, he decided to help me out. Got nothing but great things to say about gothookahs... The Vase (and some shisha) came after a couple of days. Oh, and excuse the crappy image quality. Mobile phone cameras just don't do hookahs justice.(Nour in the back)Will be smoking a bowl of Tangiers K-peach as soon as I'm finished studying. Can't wait... Edited October 10, 2008 by Balthazar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Codename067 Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 Thats some good news man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kapten Kanel Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 Arent you afraid of getting hit by tobacco taxes? I live in sweden and i think we have similar taxes, the tax for 1 kilo of shisha would be around 350$ or something here. Im gathering the courage to import some shisha myself but i wonder if it would be best to order a big or a small order, does smaller packages have less risk of being checked or something? Sry for going a little OT here but... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indian_villager Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 Hello fellow Hafa brother! Glad to hear you are back in business! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinman Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 Good to hear you are back in business. I dont mean to hijack, but I must ask, where did you get those metal tipped KM hoses?-Russ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaia.plateau Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 Thanks for the note on the Nour Bohemian... I've been very tempted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balthazar Posted October 10, 2008 Author Share Posted October 10, 2008 QUOTE (Kapten Kanel @ Oct 10 2008, 06:38 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Arent you afraid of getting hit by tobacco taxes? I live in sweden and i think we have similar taxes, the tax for 1 kilo of shisha would be around 350$ or something here. Im gathering the courage to import some shisha myself but i wonder if it would be best to order a big or a small order, does smaller packages have less risk of being checked or something? Sry for going a little OT here but... Yup, we've got about the same taxes. In Norway there's a tobacco tax of just about 2,5 NOK for every gram of tobacco. So 1 kg would mean roughly 400$ in taxes. Also, you're not allowed to import more than 250g of tobacco in one shipment unless you have special permission. Anyways, this is useless information seing how we don't want it to be identified as tobacco-products. I have probably made between 10 and 20 international orders in the last year, not one of them has been taxed. The amount of shisha in each order has varied between 500g and 4kg. I know some other people from the Norwegian hookah-community (which consists of like four people), and as far as I know not one of them has had their shisha taxed.I don't know why. My first expectation would be that the packages were not seen as "suspicious" when entering the country, but my last orders have all been stopped for examination. Yet none of them has been taxed. Yet almost every shisha-brand has the word "tobacco" in fairly large letters on their boxes, so it shouldn't be that hard to figure out that it's an ingredient. My only logical answer is that the people working with customs and taxing are a part of some secret hookah-club. Either that or altruism.Still, to be on the safe side there are some things I always ask the vendors I use when I place my orders.1. Check the "gift" box2. Don't set the value any higher than 35$ (This is because of a ridicilous tax we have to pay on any package worth more than 200NOK entering Norway, don't know what the limit is in Sweden)3. Hand-write the USPS Declaration Dispatch Note (makes the whole "gift" thing seem more likely to be true)4. Don't mention the words "tobacco", "shisha", "hookah" or similar on the package or the USPS Note (If I order a hookah I usually tell them to use words like "decorative vase" and with shisha "molasses" or "food samples")Also, I think it's best to use the cheapest and slowest shipping option available.Oh, and even though my orders has never been taxed I still feel safest when ordering from MNH. Although pretty much any vendor will help you out (and I have nothing but good things to say about goothookahs or nazar, too) they always seem to go the extra mile. They're the only vendor I've dared to order more than 1kg of shisha from.QUOTE (tinman @ Oct 10 2008, 07:15 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Good to hear you are back in business. I dont mean to hijack, but I must ask, where did you get those metal tipped KM hoses?-RussHookahcompany, KM Ultimate Hose. To be honest I prefer plastic tipped hoses, but they didn't have any left. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaia.plateau Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 (edited) Do you know if GotHookahs will declare items like that? Edited October 10, 2008 by gaia.plateau Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balthazar Posted October 10, 2008 Author Share Posted October 10, 2008 When I made this order I forgot to tell them to use a hand-written note. So they didn't do that. Also, they didn't check the gift box. But they did use a fictional value and describe the content as "Decorative Vase" and "Molasses". What I didn't like was that they entered my email address under "Importer's Telephone/Fax/Email", but I'm sure they'll be willing to avoid this is you ask them to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaia.plateau Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 Great, thanks I just ordered a Perpetual River from them, will probably be my last hookah for a long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balthazar Posted October 10, 2008 Author Share Posted October 10, 2008 I was actually thinking of buying one of those myself, but after the Nour-purchase I couldn't justify it. Looks like a great pipe, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaia.plateau Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 (edited) I was sooooo close to getting that Nour. Absolutely beautiful. But HC was adamant that shipping it cost them $60, which is complete BS, every vendor I deal with can ship a 2-5kg hookah to Canada for $30-$35. So it was easy to choose a Perpetual River for just under $100 compared to a Nour Bohemian for well over $200. Edited October 10, 2008 by gaia.plateau Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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