From: Alvin Kincer <????????????????????>
Subject: Re: Pipes Digest #164 - November 4, 1994

Dear Steve, 
I absolutely love this digest.  I am something of a novice pipe smoker, 
but with all the things I have learned while reading this forum I doubt I 
will be for long.  I am also a big time cigar smoker but my wife will not 
let me smoke them in the house so I am relegated to smoking them in my 
car whenever I am out and about.  My pipes on the other hand she loves 
and will let me smoke them in the house whenever I want.  My father is a 
pipe smoker, where I picked it up from, and sometimes carves his own 
pipes.  However we rarley see or hear much from each other and hae been 
unable to obtain one of his "home mades".  My big question right now 
deals with cigars.  I am preparing to take a cruise to the Mexican 
Riviera in December and want to bring back some Cuban stogies.  I was 
just curious if any one had suggestions on where to buy them in either 
Cabo San Lucas or Mazatlan.  Also, what can I expect at the port in L.A. 
concerning bringing them back into the U.S.?  Are they real sticklers for 
bringing them in or do they have better things to focus on like drugs and 
weapons.  I heard from one friend that the ship's purser announced over 
the intercomm that the officials have trained dogs to sniff your bags for 
them.  This can't be true, is it?  Well, time to go thanks again for all 
the great info.
                        Alvin Kincer
                        ????????????????????
                        compuserve 73563,355

[ From what I've seen in Cigar Aficionado, customs really has better
things to do than look for smuggled Fidelweed. But YMMV, and if you
get tagged it can be a real hassle on later travel. Your best bet may
be to hide them inside a bale of cocaine. :-) Please don't consider
this an endorsement of illegal activity. -S. ]


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