Now I realized that lately all I have done here is complain. This post however will be to inform and educate my readers on... acquiring nicotine in US.
I am just back from Walgreens buying 2 packs of Virginia Slims, Menthol. I went there a couple of times in the last few weeks and am almost positive that their Davidoff slim supplies are gone. In any case, it is a bother to try to communicate with the nice ladies at the counter to get them. (Maybe I am pronouncing Davidoff in a German fashion) Therefore, I decided this time to try out something more traditional (a.k.a. American).
My favorite lady, who actually remembered my Davidoff preference (do not ask me how) was not there. So I went for the Virginia Slims just because they were higher on the shelf and with glasses on that was the only brand I could really make out except the usual Malboro and Camel. I payed a good 16$ for 2 packs. I came home and.. they are NOT slim. My loving greetings to PM.
I do get irritated paying 16$ for 2 packs. This makes roughly 8x3.5=28AED and 56SEK. I think even in Europe cigarettes cost 45SEK. Besides in UAE, they were max 10AED. Ahh the good old days.
Why am I suddenly talking about cigarettes? What happened to the happy occasion of snus? Well, I have had problems acquiring that in USA. I use General Mini Portions Mint. Snus options are of utmost sensitivity. You can not just go with some other brand or size or taste. It ruins everything. And snus being particularly Swedish, the options over the counter stay quite minimal. Though I have to say I feel grateful I found General -imported from Sweden- in big portions and wintergreen-, after a few months at a store directly diagonal from my place.
To import snus online for those who require particular preference, there are 2 options. Rather 2 sites. One is the swedish site and one is the american site. Both are called swedishsnus.com but one has a "-" somewhere there. It is not so straightforward though. The building I live in also contains a hotel. Because of this (I guess) i can not be verified to be an adult and could not order from the American site. Same goes for the Swedish. I did make one order from the Swedish site to a friend's place when I was in need 2 months ago. But I was aware that I could not use this route all the time. I did get myself verified manually by opening a ticket to the American site's customer service.
The American site did verify me by taking a copy of my passport. But they wanted 240$ for 30 packs. While I had payed, when I ordered the stuff to my friend's place, something like 100$ for 20 packs including the shipping from Sweden. The difference is due to a 90$ tobacco tax on the first order. How come the second order does not include this I have no way of knowing.
Alas, I have 39 more non-slims to go through and am thinking that maybe I should exchange the other package for some real slims. Otherwise, just happy to inform my readers how thinks work and how much they cost.
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