Madness v Madness

[Cool Boola]

By the time u would get there u would have to come back?

[silverbullet]

Aye, my last day trip to Barcelona cost €33.98pp return with Ryanair. Brought the older not so young lad with me and saved €1,600 on the price of the smokes purchased. Probably spent about a ton on beer and tapas but still a healthy! saving... and a pleasant day out... c.20C, no sunshine so safe to eat/drink outside with no flies to feed and water.

You were lucky Bruce Heller wasn't working that day.

Ah Mi Amigo!

[Rat Catcher]

Aye, my last day trip to Barcelona cost €33.98pp return with Ryanair. Brought the older not so young lad with me and saved €1,600 on the price of the smokes purchased. Probably spent about a ton on beer and tapas but still a healthy! saving... and a pleasant day out... c.20C, no sunshine so safe to eat/drink outside with no flies to feed and water.

You were lucky Bruce Heller wasn't working that day.

Why? It's not illegal.

[Rat Catcher]

By the time u would get there u would have to come back?

Depending on flight times you'd have 3 to 7 hours to kill, plenty of time for a pleasant luncheon or you could, of course, get an Air B&B for a night or two pretty cheap outside of summer months.

[markmiwurdz]

Aye, my last day trip to Barcelona cost €33.98pp return with Ryanair. Brought the older not so young lad with me and saved €1,600 on the price of the smokes purchased. Probably spent about a ton on beer and tapas but still a healthy! saving... and a pleasant day out... c.20C, no sunshine so safe to eat/drink outside with no flies to feed and water.

You were lucky Bruce Heller wasn't working that day.

Why? It's not illegal.

How many smokes?

[Cool Boola]

As many as you can get in 2 big bags

[Rat Catcher]

Two Ryanair hand luggage bags, CB. 8 cartons in each = 3,200 smokes.

[silverbullet]

Two Ryanair hand luggage bags, CB. 8 cartons in each = 3,200 smokes.

Perfect. That way they don't go through the scanner.

[Rat Catcher]

Wouldn't matter, SB... they're duty paid - provided they're for personal use you can have as many as you like... but the hand luggage comes "free" with Ryanair without having to buy priority boarding or whatever... and you've still room for a buke and a few little bits of tat you might buy while under the influence.

It's actually twice the guideline amount... but the guideline is just that, a guideline. Provided you can demonstrate that they're for personal use you're good to go - in practice that means you might have to sign a declaration and produce a receipt to prove they're duty paid and not stolen... unless they have evidence of an intention to sell them on your part. For that you'd have to either be a tobbacconist or have previous (actual smuggling related) convictions.

[silverbullet]

Wouldn't matter, SB... they're duty paid - provided they're for personal use you can have as many as you like... but the hand luggage comes "free" with Ryanair without having to buy priority boarding or whatever... and you've still room for a buke and a few little bits of tat you might buy while under the influence.

Smokes that went in the belly would be scanned as routine, cabin bags, rarely. But as you say the amounts are not worth their while.
An old Foxrock taxi driver used to smuggle smokes. anything under €10,000 and they weren't too bothered with.

[Rat Catcher]

I'm not smuggling, merely exercising my rights as an EU citizen so I've no qualms whatsoever. I could, for a little extra, buy any amount from any number of Eastern European vendors on the streets of Dublin but I won't because that would be illegal and they never have my brand!

[silverbullet]

I'm not smuggling, merely exercising my rights as an EU citizen so I've no qualms whatsoever. I could, for a little extra, buy any amount from any number of Eastern European vendors on the streets of Dublin but I won't because that would be illegal and they never have my brand!

Ah sure you could have got some nice single malts @ ten litres a go.

The following quantities are generally considered as being for personal use for individuals travelling within the EU:

800 cigarettes
400 cigarillos
200 cigars
1kg smoking tobacco
10 litres of spirits (whiskey, gin, vodka and so on)

[Belker]

Wouldn't matter, SB... they're duty paid - provided they're for personal use you can have as many as you like... ....

I gotta agree with Stephen on this, I did my research on it a few years back and he is fully correct.
It might raise a few eyebrows if you had a few fully loaded suitcases but if you can prove personal use then your in the clear.

[markmiwurdz]

It's the duty free that has the 200 limit so,I never knew that.

[Belker]

It's the duty free that has the 200 limit so,I never knew that.

I haven't done that lark in about 20 years, but back then the Spanish tobacco shops were actually cheaper than duty free. Most important to keep your receipts to prove duty paid.

I thought about a day trip to Bulgaria a few years ago, which sells 20 cigs at a Tenner less per pack than ROI, and as it is in the EU it is all legal, I would defo bring a suitcase if doing that round trip.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/415034/cigarette-prices-across-europe/