Gringo : Touristic Information [txt]

Cigarettes.

-- by Charlotte Duston

CUSTOMS OFFICIALS unofficially and "for general information purposes only" (Utilizing this forum does not constitute Reasonable Care under Informed Compliance guidelines. Side effects of Cuztomase Spray include headache, nausea, secondary inspectionitis, rectal observation by rubberglovz and occasional embarrasment) INFORM ME THAT

A traveler may include up to 100 cigars and 200 cigarettes (one carton) in the $800 exemption from duty. A U.S. resident may return either directly or indirectly from Cuba after a State Department-licensed visit with 100 cigars and 200 cigarettes (one carton) once every 31 days, under their $800 exemption. Tobacco products of Cuban origin are generally prohibited.

(Info from http://help.customs.gov/).

Don't embarrass yourself into a new career as a smuggler... when the officer asks you what are you bringing back, say "cigarettes." WE used to almost always cross over with a pack or two (under the 200 freebie limit) but now we've quit.

We won't even begin to touch the question of Cuban cigars -- you can see for yourself they are still illegal in the U.S. unless you are coming back directly from Cuba on an approved visit... sooooo.... well, enjoy smoking them IN Tijuana, my fuming friend.

---

Ah, sweet tobacco.  Sweet ugly dirty cancer heart disease emphysema etcetera giving causing encouraging enabling empowering sexy slow death dealing tobacco... MIKEY: WHERE'S MY OXYGEN TANK??!!

Heh heh heh. 

Mmmm the sweet&sour truth is the taxes are MucHhhh lower on cigarettes in Mexico, and you can still smoke in a lotttttt of public places.  Just try to be polite and remember there are people here who don't want to breathe your (& my most unladylike I confess too) filthy habit.  Even outdoors you should watch which way the wind is blowing.  And the wind, in Mexico, is blowing more and more against smoking and for public health.  Give it twenty years.  (But we'll be dead from cancer and heart attacks by then, what?)  [ Eeeuuuuwwwwww, grosssss, Charlotte... enough already !! ]

Sorry, Mikey.  Okay, back to business:

Other Turinfo Pages:

Tijuana Maptext.

Getting Around
Busses / Taxis

Walking

Bicycling

Disabled

Leaving Town

Things to See.

Revolution Avenue.

Eating

Movies

Museums/Galleries

Markets/Swap Meets

Shopping Malls

SHOPPING!

Drinking

Buying Liquor

Baja California wine

Cigarettes

Customs/Border

Prices: Big American Name brands -- all your usual suspects -- cost (2003) less than two dollars a pack.  Watch out for the vendors on Revolution Avenue, they CharGe MORE.  Go to smaller stores, like the cheap market in the plaza back behind the giant metal arch at 1st, under the tail end of the fake aqueduct.  Mexican brands like Montana or Broadway (filtered), Boots (with fake filter paper but no filter), cost less.  There are some real cheapies here, folks.  And the American brands taste a little different.  They're made in Mexico from a different source of tobacco, we think.

Most restaurants and bars still permit cigarette smoking, but if you buy a pack in a bar you will pay almost three dollars for it, buy hey smokes always cost more in a bar on either side of the border, it's just that in Mexico you can still smoke'em right there in the bar.

If you want to buy cigarettes by the carton, expect to pay twelve to fourteen dollars in the more reasonably priced stores (2003).  But remember you have to start paying import duty on two cartons or more if you bring them into the United States.