Cigarette Run to Eastern Europe, where to go?

RATM

Okay well I gave up buying smokes in this country almost 2 years back and have been making regular trips to Poland to stock up. I'd usually get 3,000 which would last me 6 months or so.

But now I wanna try out somewhere new in eastern Europe that also has cheap smokes. Poland is now tipping 3 euro a pack which is a long way off the 2.10 it was when I first started going there. So I'm looking for somewhere that smokes are cheaper than that as I gotta factor in the cost of the flight into my budget too.

I've been to Romania and Bulgaria before and have no desire to go back. Im thnking either Latvia or Lithuania. Someone said to me recently a pack of 20 Marlboro Lights in Lithuania is only e1.50- can anyone confirm this? Also any ideas how much Latvia is?

And do either mind you leaving with the 3,200 personal allowance for intra-EU passangers?

Any help or suggestions much appreciated

BenShermin

I wouldn't worry about carrying 3,200 once you can prove they're for your own use.

The only advice I can offer you is that even though Estonia is in the E.U. you are only allowed to bring home 200 into Ireland from there. This is to curb a potential black market in Ireland because cigarettes are so cheap in Estonia.


It just goes to show though that black market or no black market in Ireland, people like yourself can legally avoid paying high prices for cigs in Irish shops. When I was smoking cigarettes I very seldom smoked Irish ones since I was away in cheaper countries three or four times a year and legally brought back boxes for myself.

Methinks the government would actually see a rise in tobacco duty income if they dropped the prices of cigarettes. I can't see the lobby groups being too happy if Brian Lenihan made such a decision though.

bladebrew

i found a thread on yahoo answers that says a carton (i assume they mean 200) in estonia is €25.50!!
and cheaper than that again in latvia,
the above poster says estonia has a limit of 200!! it looks like latvia is your place, i used to work with loads of latvians on a farm,
i was wondering why all of them smoked:D

Herbal Deity

Cartons of 200 were about €24 in the Duty Free in Croatia.

It's a beautiful country also.

RMD

I've not entirely sure about this, but I've heard Ukraine is dirt cheap. Ukrainian guy in my school used to buy about 10 cartons when he went on holidays to there for apparently 8 quid a carton, Ukrainian L&M, not entirely sure how much the more well known brands would set you back.

Hamiltonion

My gf brought me back Camel and Marlboro for herself from Kiev, worked out at E00.88 a pack!

Find out the import limit, bring that, then buy about another 400 and hide them throughout your luggage, inside shoes, in pockets etc

The Hill Billy

Encouraging or providing advice on the evasion of Import Duty is not acceptable in this forum.

HB

Tigerbaby

prague. € 28 per carton of B&H Gold last March.

syklops

Tigerbaby wrote: »

prague. € 28 per carton of B&H Gold last March.

Camel/Camel Lights are 75 Czech crowns which is almost €3 euro(goes up and down a bit depending on the day)
Marlboro/ Marlboro Lights are 82kc which is about €3.28, hence the reason I switched to Camel lights.
LM Blue are 66kc which is about €2.64.

Unless the OP can get cheaper flights to Prague than Poland(I doubt it), he is not gaining too much more by going to the Czech Republic.

Bratislava/Slovakia should be a similar price, though could be a bit more as they have the euro.

tony 2 tone

Was in Poland last week, Marlboro lights worked out about €2.69 with the exchange rate. Stocked up on a few 50g pouchs of Golden Virginia, should do me for a good while. They were about 8.24 euro each.

Arthurdaly

Wow, this thread is pretty funny! Travelling thousands of miles to feed an addiction and breaking the law as well!

snaps

Arthurdaly wrote: »

Wow, this thread is pretty funny! Travelling thousands of miles to feed an addiction and breaking the law as well!

Breaking what laws???

Ilyushin76

Arthurdaly wrote: »

Wow, this thread is pretty funny! Travelling thousands of miles to feed an addiction and breaking the law as well!

You sound like a barrel of laughs:rolleyes:

They are getting a holiday and saving money as well and you are only breaking the law if you go over the allowed amount.

The Hill Billy

Arthurdaly, if you have a problem with a post - use the report post function. Do not start trolling this forum again.

HB

CCCP

I was in Ukraine recently, Cigs are around 8 euro for 200, you can only bring 2 cartons back to EU. Your looking at about 80 cent for a 20 pack.

60 cent for a beer there.

Warning - People will try and over charge you if you don't speak Russian or Ukrainian. As soon as they hear the English language the price is going up.

syklops

CCCP wrote: »

I was in Ukraine recently, Cigs are around 8 euro for 200, you can only bring 2 cartons back to EU. Your looking at about 80 cent for a 20 pack.

60 cent for a beer there.

Warning - People will try and over charge you if you don't speak Russian or Ukrainian. As soon as they hear the English language the price is going up.

Ironic for someone called CCCP to go to Ukraine.

Im going to Ukraine the week after next, so OP, I can get a full list of prices/brands for you if you want?

dolphin city

Arthurdaly wrote: »

Wow, this thread is pretty funny! Travelling thousands of miles to feed an addiction and breaking the law as well!

breaking what law??

OldGoat

dolphin city wrote: »

breaking what law??

The user you are referring too has been banned from the forum but for future reference remember the old addage - "Don't feed the trolls". Report them instead.

sc86

anywhere else good bar ukraine?
pref sunny lol

my sis was in tenerife a few weeks bk and every1 on the plane in dublin airport had bags searched so be sure to only bring the legal amount ha

CCCP

sc86 wrote: »

anywhere else good bar ukraine?
pref sunny lol

Crimea is very hot and sunny, Its in southern Ukraine, in black sea above Turkey.

sc86

CCCP wrote: »

Crimea is very hot and sunny, Its in southern Ukraine, in black sea above Turkey.

is it a nice place?

The Hill Billy

Wish you were here?

Djdukey

Hey,

The Ukraine isn't in the EU so you can only bring back 200.

I was in Lithuanaia a few weeks ago. I went to Vilnius. Lovely city, but very cold. Its small enough city with the old town, then BIG shopping centres around it. All within short bus ride away. FOOD is dirt cheap. We ate in a restaurant and had 2 large pizzas, i had 4 beers and girlfriend had 3 mojitos (cant spell) and it came to 9euro. Seriously was in shock.

Anyway about the cigs. I bought loads in the supermarket as i smoke marlboro lights. A box of 200 was around €23-24 euro. I bought mine in the supermarkets.

Then at the airport they had them for €22.50! And you could use your card and pay in Euro. So I bought more there. I couldn't believe tho but they had Benson and Hedges! They were like the US ones though (red label and blue label) and I think they were €26. My girlfriend was looking to buy Benson in Vilnius city, and they dont sell them. Or anywhere in Poland.

Just MAKE SURE YOU KEEP YOUR RECEIPTS! You HAVE to have them to show customs you did pay Tax and duty, otherwise they can take them off you.

In Vilnius there are markets and little kids selling boxes of cigarettes from Belarus and Russia (all different brands)!! a box of 200 is only €8-10!! (Vilnius is beside belarus, and the cigs come from there and also from Russia as Russia has a little state beside lithuania.

But be warned that if you buy these and get stopped by customs, they will be taken from you as you don't have receipts for them showing you paid VAT and also Belarus isnt in the EU!!

Aer lingus flies to Vilnius direct from dublin. Ryanair fly to Kaunas (smaller city about hour away). You can also fly into Vilnius and out of Riga as riga is 3 hours away on bus (Bus is luxury and has internet) only about €20 one way.

And also, AFAIK you can only get to Ukraine by going to UK (or other European airport) not directly from dublin? So you will have to go through customs in both countries. i.e if you go via UK you gotta go through customs in UK then in Dublin.

Terrontress

See the link beneath.

I think that you can only bring in 4 cartons (800 ciggies) while remaining within the law and I think that from certain EU countries that drops to the same level as per a non-EU country although it doesn't state that on the link beneath.

http://www.revenue.ie/en/customs/leaflets/pn1878.html

I read that the UK have no allowance but advise you that you might have to explain yourself if you have more than 3,200 cigs (16 cartons).

The Hill Billy

alex73 wrote: »

I think the EU should reform the single market to exempt tobacco... Its all very well to bring in cheap cigarettes from Poland, but its the Irish exchequer who will have to pay for the Heart disease treatment or lung cancer quimo.

alex73 - Anti-smoking statements have no place in this forum. Please read & understand the forum charter before you post again.

HB

cj263

i know its in a different area but was in Egypt a few years ago and found cigs in the duty free in the airport. 200 for about €8. only got 200 because i thought they wouldnt be good. i was wrong. i smoke john player blue and they were nearly the same. Cant remember the name of them but they were in a light blue packet. amazing country as well.

ArmaniJeanss

Terrontress wrote: »

See the link beneath.

I think that you can only bring in 4 cartons (800 ciggies) while remaining within the law and I think that from certain EU countries that drops to the same level as per a non-EU country although it doesn't state that on the link beneath.

http://www.revenue.ie/en/customs/leaflets/pn1878.html

I read that the UK have no allowance but advise you that you might have to explain yourself if you have more than 3,200 cigs (16 cartons).

The revenue admitted earlier this year that there is no 800 cigarette limit, though as your link shows they do a remarkably good job of maintaining the pretence that there is such a limit.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=64874225&postcount=15

Dave_Kilkenny

I'd advise you to travel to the small town of Przemyśl in the south east of Poland nearest airport is Rzeszów.
In the town in the old city their is a Ukrainian 'car boot sale' of sorts. When walking in you will see people selling Unitarian cigarettes. Some popular western brands and others not so popular. 200 = 12.50 (50PLN).

You probably wont get searched getting onto the plane, I never have been yet it is an airport with a big military presence and is maintained by the military, but don't fear they're just people doing a security related job.

Oh and also since these cigarettes are purchased outside of the EU be sure to pay all relevant taxes to the appropriate customs and excise people.

BeerNut

Dave_Kilkenny wrote: »

You probably wont get searched getting onto the plane, I never have been yet it is an airport with a big military presence and is maintained by the military, but don't fear they're just people doing a security related job.

I don't see why the Polish authorities would care about your cigarettes. It's customs in Ireland to whom you may have to explain yourself.

Dave_Kilkenny wrote: »

since these cigarettes are purchased outside of the EU

You just said the town is in Poland, in which case they're not bought outside the EU.

canonball5

Dave_Kilkenny wrote: »

I'd advise you to travel to the small town of Przemyśl in the south east of Poland nearest airport is Rzeszów.
In the town in the old city their is a Ukrainian 'car boot sale' of sorts. When walking in you will see people selling Unitarian cigarettes. Some popular western brands and others not so popular. 200 = 12.50 (50PLN).

You probably wont get searched getting onto the plane, I never have been yet it is an airport with a big military presence and is maintained by the military, but don't fear they're just people doing a security related job.

Oh and also since these cigarettes are purchased outside of the EU be sure to pay all relevant taxes to the appropriate customs and excise people.

Would have to agree with the above post on the smaller airports statement.If you're in Poland it's best to head east as the price of goods is less.Everyone knows they charge more in the tourist areas,so avoid those.Supermarkets are expensive for this sort of thing.The misses is Polish and we travel over a lot, and often have to shop around for good prices on and the best deals.Also a good haggle always helps!!My advice would be to avoid the large shops and find a small quiet place they can often order in brands like B/H and Silk Cut.

Dave_Kilkenny

canonball5 wrote: »

Would have to agree with the above post on the smaller airports statement.If you're in Poland it's best to head east as the price of goods is less.

The point I was more pointing out is most towns that border the Ukraine will have Ukrainians coming over to sell cigarettes at profit. Normally in the town I mentioned (My girlfriends town) is about 40-50ZŁ for 200 yet in a shop your expecting to pay 10.50ZŁ a pack and in the airport (Rzeszów) I've paid 100ZŁ for 200 Marlboro Red (Around 25Euro so thats fairly the norm in some other EU airports).

Id advise Poland as its also a lovely place to travel to, and it is within the EU. Also Przemyśl is very famous for its part in WWII and has a vast system of bunkers under the town, many open to the public and I believe last time I was over this September they had a team of Architects working in the main square on the bunker system under the town to search for historically relevant things before opening it up to the public (After renovation obviously)

BeerNut wrote: »

You just said the town is in Poland, in which case they're not bought outside the EU.

As I stated the cigarettes I was referring to are brought into the EU from the Ukraine where the tax is significantly lower if existent. There is no EU tax paid on them so you must take that matter into your own hands if you wish to do so.
Consider it like this, northern Ireland isn't part of the EU. I go up their and buy lots of cheap cigarettes bring them to a car boot sale down south and sell them to people.

BeerNut

Dave_Kilkenny wrote: »

As I stated the cigarettes I was referring to are brought into the EU from the Ukraine where the tax is significantly lower if existent. There is no EU tax paid on them

You, the buyer, are not importing them into the EU therefore you are not liable to pay duty on them. This is a matter between the people taking the cigs across the border and the Polish revenue. If the tax isn't paid on them by the time you buy them, they are smuggled. None of this is the concern of you, the purchaser at retail.

Dave_Kilkenny wrote: »

I go up their and buy lots of cheap cigarettes bring them to a car boot sale down south and sell them to people.

Right: so you have smuggled them across the border. You are the criminal and Revenue will be after you, not the customers at your car boot sale. There is no mechanism by which your customers can apply to have a Revenue sticker applied to their pack before they light up.

There is no way to "be sure to pay all relevant taxes to the appropriate customs and excise people" on the cigs you mentioned: they're just smuggled cigarettes and can't be legitimised retrospectively.

CCCP

Whatever you choose to do , just remember that Ukrainian ciggs will have a revenue sticker from Ukraine and a person traveling in EU with these Legal Cigarettes is limited to 200 on a flight, its EU law on Ukrainian Ciggs not Ukrainian law. I recommend the Malboro lights/gold/ They are better quality then the same smokes bought here IMO. they don't taste funky like the cheap spanish 'fumars' for example.

Also remember that if you are going to Ukraine and wish to purchase cigarettes, The Duty free in the airport is 4 times more expensive then in the shops outside :P

I remember the look on an Irish woman's face who I bumped in the Duty free in Kiev, I was behind her in the Que and saw her pay 31 euro for 200, I heard her accent and said hello , as I'm Irish myself. And informed her that she could of bought the same smokes for 8 euro outside the Airport, she wast impressed:P

Another high quality cheap legal Import is Crimean Wine and Ukrainian Vodka.


Also as a side not, if you enjoy a cigg before a flight, you can do so in Ukrainian airports :)

mezzomix

I'm planning a short weekend trip back to austria and I'm thinking about travelling back from bratislava to dublin.. up until now, but to break even, I'd need to buy 5 at least.
Up until now, I've only bought 4 boxes max. Can I just buy 6 boxes at the airport and put them in my hand luggage, or should anything over 4 boxes be checked in?

larryolaoi

Terrontress wrote: »

See the link beneath.

I think that you can only bring in 4 cartons (800 ciggies) while remaining within the law and I think that from certain EU countries that drops to the same level as per a non-EU country although it doesn't state that on the link beneath.

http://www.revenue.ie/en/customs/leaflets/pn1878.html

I read that the UK have no allowance but advise you that you might have to explain yourself if you have more than 3,200 cigs (16 cartons).

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/no-limit-for-cheap-holiday-cigarettes-and-drink-2096877.html

You can bring in as many as you like for your own personal use. keep receipts and only buy one brand.

Kendannedy

CCCP wrote: »

Whatever you choose to do , just remember that Ukrainian ciggs will have a revenue sticker from Ukraine and a person traveling in EU with these Legal Cigarettes is limited to 200 on a flight, its EU law on Ukrainian Ciggs not Ukrainian law. I recommend the Malboro lights/gold/ They are better quality then the same smokes bought here IMO. they don't taste funky like the cheap spanish 'fumars' for example.

Also remember that if you are going to Ukraine and wish to purchase cigarettes, The Duty free in the airport is 4 times more expensive then in the shops outside :P

I remember the look on an Irish woman's face who I bumped in the Duty free in Kiev, I was behind her in the Que and saw her pay 31 euro for 200, I heard her accent and said hello , as I'm Irish myself. And informed her that she could of bought the same smokes for 8 euro outside the Airport, she wast impressed:P

Another high quality cheap legal Import is Crimean Wine and Ukrainian Vodka.


Also as a side not, if you enjoy a cigg before a flight, you can do so in Ukrainian airports :)

Noticed this in Moscow too. Was completely baffled as to why smokes were cheaper in the kiosks than in the airport.

tomas88

larryolaoi wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/no-limit-for-cheap-holiday-cigarettes-and-drink-2096877.html

You can bring in as many as you like for your own personal use. keep receipts and only buy one brand.

So just to be clear here , you can bring in as many cigarrettes as you like from EU or non-EU countries , provided that these are for your own personal use?

There are no duty issues with say the Ukraine as opposed to Latvia??

BuffyBot

No, you can only bring in the normal limits from non-EU countries.

rob1970

larryolaoi wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/no-limit-for-cheap-holiday-cigarettes-and-drink-2096877.html

You can bring in as many as you like for your own personal use. keep receipts and only buy one brand.

So what's the risk if one brings 50 boxes from eg Latvia? Ireland and Latvia are part of EU and duty was paid in Latvia. Can officers at the airport prosecute you and impose a fine for transporting goods bought in EU even in large quantities? Can they actually size your cigs? 50 boxes is difficult to prove that they are for own personal use and officers definitely will have queries but I am not sure they have any rights to prosecute a 'smuggler' operating within EU. The meaning of that article is that they cannot do anything once duty was paid in EU. Any seizure or fine must be illegal !!

lord lucan

rob1970 wrote: »

So what's the risk if one brings 50 boxes from eg Latvia? Ireland and Latvia are part of EU and duty was paid in Latvia. Can officers at the airport prosecute you and impose a fine for transporting goods bought in EU even in large quantities? Can they actually size your cigs? 50 boxes is difficult to prove that they are for own personal use and officers definitely will have queries but I am not sure they have any rights to prosecute a 'smuggler' operating within EU. The meaning of that article is that they cannot do anything once duty was paid in EU. Any seizure or fine must be illegal !!

I won't try and address the legal aspect as only Customs can say how that would be enforced but one thing they would look for in that case would be that they're all the same brand. If you came through with say 10,000 Marlboro,you could easily point to them being for personal use. If you came through with 2,000 Marlboro,2000 B&H,2000 Camel,and 4,000 Silk Cut Purple for example,they would rightly enquire why you have so many different brands for personal use.

This happened to a friend of mine. He had 10,000 of one brand from Poland and was stopped. Customs seemed satisfied that they were all for his own use and the duty had been paid and was allowed through.

raz86

How many cigarettes or kgs of tobacco am I allowed bring home from Europe? I'm going to Italy (don't know if that matters).

It's my first time buying tobacco products abroad. Any advice would be great. Thanks.

BeerNut

You're in the EU, so there's no strict limit. But once you go above 800 cigarettes or a kilo of loose tobacco the Customs officers may start asking questions. If you have several different brands, they'll probably suspect you're a smuggler.

Mods: any chance of a sticky with all this in it? It comes up a lot.

The Hill Billy

It gets posted to often enough that it doesn't drop of the front page.

HB

Muahahaha

Anyone know what the current prices of a pack of 20 is in Estonia & Latvia? Thinking of taking a jaunt there soon and stocking up. Also is the EU personal use bar still set at 3,200?

larryolaoi

Muahahaha wrote: »

Anyone know what the current prices of a pack of 20 is in Estonia & Latvia? Thinking of taking a jaunt there soon and stocking up. Also is the EU personal use bar still set at 3,200?

The EU have placed restrictions on All those specific countries since Jan 14 as far as I know. I quit smoking and started vaping since Aug 13, that's a better choice for definite... will see if I can find some info

larryolaoi

larryolaoi wrote: »

The EU have placed restrictions on All those specific countries since Jan 14 as far as I know. I quit smoking and started vaping since Aug 13, that's a better choice for definite... will see if I can find some info

EU member states are permitted to impose these types of restrictions where cigarettes have been bought “duty-paid” in a country that has not yet reached the EU minimum levels of tobacco products tax on cigarettes.

These countries include:

Bulgaria
Croatia
Hungary
Latvia
Lithuania
Romania

Anyone with cigarettes in excess of that quantity must declare them to a Revenue officer and pay the appropriate excise duty from 1 January. The measure does not apply to other tobacco products brought in from these member states as long as those products are for personal use and not for commercial purposes.

Revenue said this restriction will be removed as each of the member states in question achieves the minimum level of tax required and they have until 31 December 2017 to do so.
Read: Two women sentenced to prison over seized cigarettes>
Read: Cigarettes worth €20,000 seized in raids on Dublin houses>
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Wanderer78

Muahahaha wrote: »

Anyone know what the current prices of a pack of 20 is in Estonia & Latvia? Thinking of taking a jaunt there soon and stocking up. Also is the EU personal use bar still set at 3,200?

how much do you save by doing this?

larryolaoi

Muahahaha wrote: »

Anyone know what the current prices of a pack of 20 is in Estonia & Latvia? Thinking of taking a jaunt there soon and stocking up. Also is the EU personal use bar still set at 3,200?

viinarannasta.ee/articlesr.php?sid=21&gid=17

Check if Estonia is not on that list..I used to buy 10,000 a go in this place..very handy

€35 for a carton of Marlboro

Muahahaha

Thanks for the info larryolaoi, its Estonia I'm flying into but Latvia I'm flying out from. From what I gather they're €3 or so a pack in Estonia right now so I'll stock up there and make sure to get a receipt in case Customs stop me coming off a plane from Latvia.

mariosuarez

Wanderer78 wrote: »

how much do you save by doing this?

3200 = 160 packs
160 x €3 = €480
160 x €10 = €1600

Gross profit = €1120
Minus flight =€100
Minus otther costs = €100

Net profit = €920

larryolaoi

Better off going electronic, save your lungs