E-liquid shipping to the Middle East

[zapete]

**If you do not feel like reading through this tragedy (lol), scroll down**


Hey peeps! I seem to have reached a dead end when it comes to e-liquid supply and availability locally. In the Middle East, e-cigs are banned and so we have a frustrating time getting things from overseas. Reason being is that whenever any combination of words containing "electronic cigarettes" or "e-liquid" and it's variants are dotted down on the customs form, they are ceased immediately.

In terms of hardware, I've had no issue getting them past customs since the packages usually have labels saying "electronic components" or "gift". Thing is, e-liquids tend to get ceased because they're labeled as such. Being in the Middle East and having vaped the "premium" liquids, I crave for more but am unable to get anything shipped with 100% guarantee of arrival. The only workaround is to get vendors to label the contents as "natural oils" or "flavoring" or "natural extracts etc... So far none of the vendors I've been in contact with have agreed to do so because it violates whatever laws or morals they may have.

Now I'm not putting the blame on anybody here since I do understand where they're coming from with the argument against tinkering with the package label. However, being quite deep and invested in vaping, it's only natural that I'd like "premium" liquids.

In terms of local supply, we do have a website that does sell liquids from well-known vendors, but the major turnoff is that they're overpriced and the website itself tends to freeze because it's the only website carrying these liquids.

If any of you have seen Mad Max where the king guy starts showering the peasants with limited water supply, that is exactly my current situation with e-liquids with me being one of these "peasants" and the website being the "king guy". Frankly, it gets frustrating having to refresh the page only to have it reach a Bad Gateway error and I'm quite fed up with that.

**To summarize my dilemma and to save you the time to go through my whining, are there any vendors willing to cater to us residing in the Middle East?**

Thank you for your time.

 

[retired1]

You'll have to contact them directly. Suppliers are not allowed to post anything business related in the general forums.

 

[zapete]

I see. So basically do what I'm currently doing without posting about it publicly. Back to square one, I suppose.

 

[Nimaz]

**If you do not feel like reading through this tragedy (lol), scroll down**


Hey peeps! I seem to have reached a dead end when it comes to e-liquid supply and availability locally. In the Middle East, e-cigs are banned and so we have a frustrating time getting things from overseas. Reason being is that whenever any combination of words containing "electronic cigarettes" or "e-liquid" and it's variants are dotted down on the customs form, they are ceased immediately.

In terms of hardware, I've had no issue getting them past customs since the packages usually have labels saying "electronic components" or "gift". Thing is, e-liquids tend to get ceased because they're labeled as such. Being in the Middle East and having vaped the "premium" liquids, I crave for more but am unable to get anything shipped with 100% guarantee of arrival. The only workaround is to get vendors to label the contents as "natural oils" or "flavoring" or "natural extracts etc... So far none of the vendors I've been in contact with have agreed to do so because it violates whatever laws or morals they may have.

Now I'm not putting the blame on anybody here since I do understand where they're coming from with the argument against tinkering with the package label. However, being quite deep and invested in vaping, it's only natural that I'd like "premium" liquids.

In terms of local supply, we do have a website that does sell liquids from well-known vendors, but the major turnoff is that they're overpriced and the website itself tends to freeze because it's the only website carrying these liquids.

If any of you have seen Mad Max where the king guy starts showering the peasants with limited water supply, that is exactly my current situation with e-liquids with me being one of these "peasants" and the website being the "king guy". Frankly, it gets frustrating having to refresh the page only to have it reach a Bad Gateway error and I'm quite fed up with that.

**To summarize my dilemma and to save you the time to go through my whining, are there any vendors willing to cater to us residing in the Middle East?**

Thank you for your time.[/QUOTE

The base ingredients may go trough easily. PG, VG and flavor concentrates should not be problematic. I am not sure if the nicotine wouldn't raise suspicions, unless you can get it locally. Another way would be to use someone you know as an intermediate who wouldn't mind changing the labels of your juice...

 

[Nimaz]

The base ingredients may go trough easily. PG, VG and flavor concentrates should not be problematic. I am not sure if the nicotine wouldn't raise suspicions, unless you can get it locally. Another way would be to have someone you know as an intermediate who wouldn't mind changing the labels of your juices...

 

[zapete]

The base ingredients may go trough easily. PG, VG and flavor concentrates should not be problematic. I am not sure if the nicotine wouldn't raise suspicions, unless you can get it locally.

This seems like more hassle than simply changing the description of the contents of a package containing ready-made juice. Nicotine would in fact raise suspicions as importing anything with nicotine is prohibited around here.

Another way would be to have someone you know as an intermediate who wouldn't mind changing the labels of your juices...

Now you're onto something. Problem is I've yet to find anyone willing to take the plunge.

 

[PD Vapes]

I can understand the frustration, if e-liquid became illegal to buy in the UK and I had to purchase it from overseas, but no one would ship it. It would become really frustrating.
Problem is, many e-juice retailers or manufacturers have so many orders, that if they started labelling things differently and shipping to Countries were there is a chance of the item being ceased. It would slow down work flow and possibly decrease profits if they had to replace or compensate for seized products.

One way would be too look for smaller independent places online and email them with your predicament and put forward your proposal of swapping up the postage labels to something other than e-liquid. I'm sure a lot of them would say no, though a few might say yes. There's 100s of them.

In a way it's weird, because most Countries, when thinking of e-liquid, you don't think about legality. So to know some Countries have banned the sale, it's mind boggling.

 

[zapped]

I would contact Tobacco shops in the U.S that sell eliquid.

A lot of those guys are from the Middle East as well (or at least they are in Richmond, VA) so they might be more sympathetic to your case.

A large number of those shops also sell "herbal" devices, so I doubt they would have a hard time with moral or ethical considerations in this regard either.

 

[Nimaz]

This seems like more hassle than simply changing the description of the contents of a package containing ready-made juice. Nicotine would in fact raise suspicions as importing anything with nicotine is prohibited around here.

Now you're onto something. Problem is I've yet to find anyone willing to take the plunge.

Rather than changing the label, I would change the container to one with a cosmetic oil label. One that people use in their daily hygienic routine. Ejuices can easily be mistaken with some kind of flagrance oils as some folks in here are saying that their new own made juice smells like perfume. Changing labels can be somehow a hassle. Washing, drying the oil containers, transferring the liquid, ceiling the cap before shipment may be easier. Hopefully you'll find someone to help you with that. From my standpoint, it's not a big deal as the products are indeed not some kind of drugs.

 

[stevegmu]

There's a big vendor in Israel. Can't remember the name, though, maybe Yalik, or something like that...

 

[UncLeJunkLe]

@zapete: are you a civilian living/working in the middle east or are you US military? It was my understanding that US military have no problems receiving eliquid in the Middle East through US military post.

Also, have you tried Chinese retailers like FastTech? They seem to label all contents as "gift". I know Chinese juice is undesirable to many, but beggars can be chooser.

Also, if you don't mind sharing, what country exactly are you living/working in? From what I have been seeing so far on my little research the last couple of minutes, it's only certain countries in the mid east that have problems, not all.

 

[UncLeJunkLe]

I see. So basically do what I'm currently doing without posting about it publicly. Back to square one, I suppose.

I'm not sure what retired1 means because you are not obviously a vendor but you should be OK to post names of vendors and ask where you can buy something. People are mentioning vendors and referring people to specific vendors all the time here on the forum. I don't think it is against the rules to mention a vendor. It's just not OK for a vendor to come to this thread and say "Hey, I will ship to you, just order from my website".

Also, about the post that mentions trying to buy from an Israel-based company...well, forgive me if I'm wrong but that sounds like a bad idea for someone in the Middle East...no? I would think packages from Israel would be more "suspect" and not slip by customs so easily.

 

[zapete]

@zapete: are you a civilian living/working in the middle east or are you US military? It was my understanding that US military have no problems receiving eliquid in the Middle East through US military post.

Also, have you tried Chinese retailers like FastTech? They seem to label all contents as "gift". I know Chinese juice is undesirable to many, but beggars can be chooser.

Also, if you don't mind sharing, what country exactly are you living/working in? From what I have been seeing so far on my little research the last couple of minutes, it's only certain countries in the mid east that have problems, not all.

I'm a local residing in Kuwait. I am aware that FastTech sells eliquids and I have tried some of them however, they're just not "up there". We do have guys selling e-cigarette needs which do include "premium" eliquids but the way they market their supply is preposterous.

Because importing anything related to e-cigarettes is prohibited, everything is done behind doors and because the guys who sell e-cigarette needs know that, their exploitation of the vaping community within the country is limitless and absurd. For example, every weekend they bring in new eliquids, devices, atomizers, and what have you. Since they do that on a weekly basis (and at a specific time and day of the week), traffic to their website becomes congested leaving people wanting supply hanging. Imagine having to constantly refresh a page only to be met with errors. Your cart is loaded with what you need and towards the end of the process (finalizing the order), you get an error telling you that some items in your cart are not available anymore. This also happens while signing in or checking out due to the extreme server load. Basically it's a "first come, first serve" kind of thing while playing Russian roulette with the webpage.

Frankly, I'd rather be able to pick and choose whatever eliquid I want whenever I want. Putting these limitations makes me feel that they've literally got me by the balls. I'm fed up with this weekend thing topped with their crappy server capacity. People have complained time and time again about the server issue and yet they don't seem to care. Oh, I also forgot to mention that their prices are exaggerated especially for hardware.

I'm still searching for my savior (read: vendor who wouldn't mind catering to my needs), but so far the situation looks grim.

 

[Kriengsak Wangdulyakiti]

I am in UAE. You may find e juice in black market locally. It is double price from original price but still much cheaper than the website you mention about. My stock will last for about 3 months. Next month I have to ask my friend to smuggling another batch for me to survive another year, feeling like a criminal.

 

[UncLeJunkLe]

I'm a local residing in Kuwait. I am aware that FastTech sells eliquids and I have tried some of them however, they're just not "up there". We do have guys selling e-cigarette needs which do include "premium" eliquids but the way they market their supply is preposterous.

Because importing anything related to e-cigarettes is prohibited, everything is done behind doors and because the guys who sell e-cigarette needs know that, their exploitation of the vaping community within the country is limitless and absurd. For example, every weekend they bring in new eliquids, devices, atomizers, and what have you. Since they do that on a weekly basis (and at a specific time and day of the week), traffic to their website becomes congested leaving people wanting supply hanging. Imagine having to constantly refresh a page only to be met with errors. Your cart is loaded with what you need and towards the end of the process (finalizing the order), you get an error telling you that some items in your cart are not available anymore. This also happens while signing in or checking out due to the extreme server load. Basically it's a "first come, first serve" kind of thing while playing Russian roulette with the webpage.

Frankly, I'd rather be able to pick and choose whatever eliquid I want whenever I want. Putting these limitations makes me feel that they've literally got me by the balls. I'm fed up with this weekend thing topped with their crappy server capacity. People have complained time and time again about the server issue and yet they don't seem to care. Oh, I also forgot to mention that their prices are exaggerated especially for hardware.

I'm still searching for my savior (read: vendor who wouldn't mind catering to my needs), but so far the situation looks grim.

zapete, I feel bad for you and your situation but it appears that there's not much you can do. Even if you find a vendor that will ship to Kuwait, you will run the risk of customs not letting it through or destroying the content, as you know. Be careful if you do find a vendor that will ship to you as they will not "eat" the loss if the product gets blocked/destroyed by customs. It will be your loss.

As others have already mentioned, you may want to consider making your own eliquid by importing your PG, VG and flavorings. As far as nicotine, if you can't import the nicotine base, then you may have to extract it from store-bought tobacco. I know this is not convenient but it may be your only way of continuing vaping. As it stands now, ordering e-liquid is already a hassle for you so you should probably consider making your own, assuming you are allowed to import the ingredients.