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Staying vigilant

The Master said:
I've had 6 letters over the years, the last one being in 2000. All were the standard one from US Customs. I hope your vendor made good on the cigars. I personally do not do business with vendors who do not guarantee delivery.
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What resulted from the letters, if you are comfortable telling us.
 
I'm very sorry to hear your cigars got snagged. That really sucks but I do hope you ordered from a vendor that guarantees delivery. The last time I got a letter was way back in 1998 or 1999 but I know it's always a risk.

Has anybody actually ever had anything more happen than just getting a letter or is that usually the worst of it? I've never heard of anything worse happening (meaning actual prosecution or fines, or whatever it is they can nab you for if they really want to) but that doesn't mean it hasn't happened. I can't imagine that the feds are really all that interested in going after individuals who order just a box (or a few) and that the warning letter is probably the worst that happens in these cases (in addition to the seized package).
 
The letter nfulton got is the standard Custom seizure letter guys have been getting for years. It's the letter you get when Customs actually catches your order of cigars when it's coming into the US. All that happens is they destroy the cigars and send you that warning letter. I've NEVER heard of anything coming from it, even though they threaten that you could get so many thousands of dollars in fine, prison time, etc. You can pretty much light your next ISOM with that confiscation letter. :laugh:

But the NEW "Letter" that surfaced a few years ago is not from Customs, but from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). THAT's the letter that you can either get a warning OR you can get a notice that you're being fined.

A year or two ago, every damn week it seemed someone on any given cigar forum was getting an OFAC letter, either a warning or pre-penalty notice. The OFAC letter died down for a while, but I'm starting to hear scattered reports from different boards that new ones have been seen recently. OFAC got a little bit of sh*t from a NY Times article criticizing all the money and man-hours they spend going after cigars when those funds could be used to fight terrorism, so the letter-sending died down considerably.

Let's just hope it stays that way...at a low level. ???
 
Sorry to hear they got you, too, Nate. It was Customs here, too. If it has your address that's all it takes. Hopefully, not much will come of these, either. Still, I'm glad I'm a Pepin whore! :D
 
That's why you go through a retailer that goes through EXTREME precautions that make sure you won't be caught. You may not like them, but at least you actually get your cigars with no risk what so ever.
 
Boomer52, nothing ever happened when I got the letters from US Customs. Luckily I never got one from OFAC. I heard those letters are not something you can just ignore like the ones from Customs.

The worst letter I got was back in 1998 when me and a buddy had a 12 box order seized by US Customs. They never followed up, but the cigars were lost, that one sucked big time.
 
mrtapes, you are right, 2 boxes is the most any vendor will risk when they are guaranteeing delivery. 10 years ago, shipping prices were so high that the more you ordered the cheaper each box cost you. From Switzewrland it cost about 70-90 bucks an order so we would load up the orders to defray the costs. One of the cheapest shipping prices was 35 an order for up to 4 boxes from Australia, that was also back in 98.

Shipping prices included in your box price only started in 2000 and only one guy was doing that. It was about 5 years ago when a few vendors started including the shipping prices in their box price. If you check out the most used Swiss vendors, they are still charging a fortune for shipping. I pretty much stay away from them because of their policies.
 
Please clarify: what is the "letter" and "The Letter" -- the latter from whom, means what, etc? Sorry, ignorant. I live in a place where these things just aren't an issue (although I did get nailed by a couple counterfeits lately!)

The Master said:
I've had 6 letters over the years, the last one being in 2000. All were the standard one from US Customs. I hope your vendor made good on the cigars. I personally do not do business with vendors who do not guarantee delivery.
Click to expand...
 
highdudgeon said:
Please clarify: what is the "letter" and "The Letter" -- the latter from whom, means what, etc? Sorry, ignorant. I live in a place where these things just aren't an issue (although I did get nailed by a couple counterfeits lately!)
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the letter is from US customs (they confiscated your goods)
The Letter is from the US OFAC (they know you bought something you shouldn't have - aka papertrail)

If you are a US citizen - this is an issue.
 
grateful1 said:
highdudgeon said:
Please clarify: what is the "letter" and "The Letter" -- the latter from whom, means what, etc? Sorry, ignorant. I live in a place where these things just aren't an issue (although I did get nailed by a couple counterfeits lately!)
Click to expand...

the letter is from US customs (they confiscated your goods)
The Letter is from the US OFAC (they know you bought something you shouldn't have - aka papertrail)

If you are a US citizen - this is an issue.
Click to expand...

Correct me if I'm wrong but THE LETTER (RFI) Is really bad. But aren't there two forms of the letter from customs? One being more serious then the other?
 
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