What's in the Mail?

Glad to hear that your order made it to you, Elric. Besides having your tobacco confiscated, those fines you spoke of are terrible.

I think that a dog could be trained to notice and identify latakia. 

Thanks Walkman.

At least the worst that happens is that Customs destroys an order if the duty is not paid & then that's the end of it. No repercussions.
I've been rather fortunate & shouldn't complain really as I've now got around 30lb cellared.
I'm much better off than most Aussie pipe smokers.

I don't think you can confuse a sniffer dog. They way they are trained and their amazing ability to discern between smells, I am convinced there is not a way to confuse a professional sniffer dog. 

I saw this, which may or may not be relevant:

"Unlike humans, trained police dogs have the ability to separate odors mixed together. When presented with a bowl of stew, a human sees all the different ingredients but smells just one odor. A police dog can smell, distinguish, and separate each ingredient contained in the stew simply by sniffing it.



"This explains why masking odors does not work. If a smuggler wrapped a pound of marijuana in sheets of fabric softener followed by a good wrap of foil, and finally placed it in a can of coffee, a dog smells the fabric softener, the foil, the coffee, and the marijuana. ...


Drug dogs are taught which odors provide the reward."

That's definitely relevant and answers my question thanks.
Yes, if trained to detect tobacco then latakia would not put them off if dogs are able to "separate odours".

That was how I described my first exposure to an English blend, Becks 'ol Limey Bastard around 18 months ago. "Do people actually smoke this shite?" I thought.
Intrigued, I had a small bowl. It wasn't foul as I expected. So I mixed it 50/50 with Windsail Virginia. One small bowl at night was nice, two bowls was one too many.

It's interesting how tastes change over time. English, American, crossovers are now my mainstay blends.
Some blends smell nice, especially those with a light topping such as Epiphany, Count Pulaski or Chestnut for example. Those where latakia has been used as a condiment.
Straight latakia on the other hand, still smells of asphalt, burnt rubber & butt. 

@legend Lover.........what if the whole thing was coated in vicks? My dog can't stand the stuff.


Dogs have a much greater sense of smell compared to humans. Dogs have up to 300 million olfactory receptors in their noses, compared to about six million in humans. I’ve seen “ coke “ ( not the beverage ) packed in heavy foil then packed in horse manure, a dog that’s trained to smell a “ specific drug “ will still be able to sniff out the coke. Same with marijuana.

Got two of the three pack MM Seconds. They were out of the larger bags when I ordered. So 6 cobs and as usual can not find a single issue with any of them that would make me consider them seconds.

Everything I have read confirms this. I have no personal expertise however, just reading. But if I were a betting man this is the way I would bet.

You disbelieve this at your own risk. 


There have been cases, I have read,  where smugglers have gotten away with it because the inspectors did not believe their dogs. LOL

There are many dogs trained to sniff out explosives “ only “. I know of one dog “ Baron “ and his owner who will remain anonymous, this dog is the one that sniffed a bomb that was planted well inside a vehicle in NYC within the area of Times Square. This device was designed to cause major damage to buildings and the many people that frequent the Times Square area. This is one amazing dog, as well as his handler/owner. The cost of the dog and the training exceeds the $15,000 dollars point, it’s money well spent. When it’s time for the dog to retire, he/she belongs to the handler for the remainder of the dogs life. Baron is now retired, a great well behaved dog. The perfect dog to protect one’s home. Even myself that knows this dog well can not enter the home without the command of it’s owner.

Postman just left my latest tobacco order while I was in the shower. Just cut it open and took a pic. Packin' and stackin' time. Slow and steady wins the race. Grabbed a few of tins, plus 1 pound of each: 10 to Midnight, Anniversary Kake, and Russ' Tasty Kake.

Just received from TobaccoPipes:
2x 4 0z SPC PLum Pudding Special Reserve
2x 4 ox SPC Mississippi River Special Reserve
2 oz SPC Hood Canal
2 oz SPC Potlatch
2 oz SPC Seattle Evening
8 oz SPC Mississippi River
1.5 oz Sutliff Crumble Kake English #1 (apparently Sutliff is blended by Mac Baren)
Dunhill lighter flints

Just ordered 3 oz of Scotty's Butternut Burley from P&C.

Thanks for the great gift Ken! A big bag of Kona coffee an Stone Haven too! What goes around comes around.