A week ago, I was terrified of bringing my cigars back to the U.S. with everything I’ve read online about the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP).  Now, I know what works and what doesn’t.  What follows is my experience to help your cigars navigate the way back to the land of the free! 

Here’s a little backstory. For the past 2.5 years I’ve been working in Kuwait or Qatar as a contractor and maintaining a good bit of my cigar collection with me.  While it wasn’t an extraordinary amount to those in our hobby, it was enough to get weird looks when trying to prepare for this move back to the U.S.  This collection included two coolidors with approximately 45-50 boxes, a large tupperdor with about 400 cigars in cedar trays, and about 200 or so in travel humidors.  

While Kuwait had rules against shipping cigarettes and loose tobacco, I was free to ship cigars back to the states or to another APO address.  I assumed this would be the case in Qatar (I had received cigars on a weekly basis), but they’re pretty spiteful towards all classes of tobacco.  When I went to the local USPS on base and various local shipping companies, I was told that cigars could not be shipped for any price from Qatar.  As it turns out, this is the only country in the Gulf that has such strict international shipping policies with USPS on base. 

And needless to say, what I read online about bringing cigars back into the U.S. gave me a lot of heartburn.  According to the CBP, my personal exemption was only $800 in value, not to exceed 100 cigars total.   

To make matters worse, I called two different ports of entry and asked what would happen if I re-entered the U.S. with more than 100 cigars.  One agent told me that I would be allowed to pay the duty, which would be assessed on site; no further information was given on how the duty would be calculated.  The other told me that I would not be allowed to pay duty, and additional cigars would be seized and destroyed. 

So there I was, with a significant amount of cigars and not much of a plan to get them home.  

What I Did

Knowing that there was a good chance I’d be providing the CBP with a year’s worth of cigars, the first thing I did was pack 100 favorites to send with my wife since she was leaving a week prior.  

And you know what? It’s an odd experience packing just 100 cigars, considering that they may be the only ones that get through to the other side.  I’d like to say that I sent my most expensive, irreplaceable cigars with the Mrs., but I’d be a liar. 

There were some winners for sure, but for the most part I carefully selected cigars that I’ve smoked several times and knew I would enjoy again.  If you could have seen my selection process on your TV, you would’ve probably been yelling at the screen.

Then, I gave away everything Cuban to a coworker that wanted to impress his buddies.  Of course, I also loaded him down with several more bags of stuff that I think he’d like equally or more if he gave ‘em a shot.   

Next, I packed my 100 cigars from what was left into a couple larger travel humidors.  For some reason, it was much easier deciding on what to pack for myself and I ended up just grabbing the expensive stuff and gifts from friends.  

Lastly, I was introduced to another pair of contractors on base that enjoyed cigars in the evening with some Airmen.  These gents were gracious enough to come over to my apartment the night before I left and take the tupperdor full of singles off my hands.  Since the cedar trays were too large for the hard-shell coolers I had access to, I decided it was better to give them away with the double risk of damage or seizure.  

My saving grace was that I had downloaded the invoices from SmallBatchCigar.com to prove the box purchases in the coolers.  Whereas the singles were impossible to match up, most of my boxes were easily visible on the printed invoices. 

Why The Invoices Matter

The U.S. customs form reads, “Residents: the total value of all goods, including…” This worried me quite a bit at first, considering that goods acquired abroad were included and not the sole means of acquirement in question.  

Yet in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule 9801.00.01, it states that goods made in the U.S. are exempt from duty when returning if they haven’t been improved upon or changed.  Luckily for me, an update was made in 2016 to also include goods purchased from the U.S. and not just produced in the U.S.

The Mobile Passport app reads this way: “Do I (we) have any articles to declare that were acquired abroad and are being brought into the U.S. in excess of the duty free exemption?” That was a solid no for me. 

Armed with this knowledge, I stuffed a bunch of invoices in my backpack and proceeded like normal through the customs process.  Of course, I was stopped because I had a couple large coolers looking like I was importing any number of no-nos. 

My Experience with the Customs Border Patrol Agent

I was asked by at least three people why I needed so many cigars.  I didn’t really have an answer, except to say that I’ve been overseas for a while and like to have options on what to smoke.  

I was then asked if I declared all these cigars, since there are penalties in place for not completing the customs form truthfully.  I advised that I completed the customs form on the mobile app, and it only asked if I had goods acquired abroad in excess of $800 – which I didn’t.  This brought a smile to the agent working my case.  He’s probably an avid cigar enthusiast. 

When asked to provide proof that these cigars were in fact purchased from the U.S., I was able to provide adequate evidence that they were from Small Batch out of California.  This cleared the air after a look through the coolers and some matching of boxes to paper.  It’s funny, though, because most of these cigars are hardly sold anywhere in the world except the U.S. (That answer didn’t fly).

I was also told that if I didn’t have proof of purchase, I would have been able to pay the duty.  If I couldn’t pay the duty, my cigars would then be seized – but not beforehand.  That’s very reassuring, but I’m glad that it didn’t come down to that. It’s also worth noting that the Agent inspecting my items was helpful, respectful, and courteous.  Nothing at all like the horror stories that I’ve read online.  He particularly liked the smell of the Serino Royale Connecticuts, and I would’ve given them to him on the spot if I weren’t worried about it being seen as a bribe. 

So that’s that!  I downsized some, but got to keep my boxed collection for another day.  What a crazy world we live in…

Tell Us!  What has your experience been with bringing a lot of cigars back into the U.S.?