E-cig banned in Mexico

[JuanC]

Hi! im from Argentina living in Mexico city, i stopped smoking around 7 days ago, after 15 years of doing it (im 32 years old), i have tried quitting using gums and medicines with nicotine replacement before and nothing worked so now im going cold turkey which is almost impossible to bear.

Surfing the net i come across this "vaping" and "e-cigs" and remembered seeing a notice on TV here in Mexico about it, to my surprise in 2008 media did give a lot of importance to ecigs and a couple small brands started selling them, shortly after our "FDA" (COFEPRIS) banned the e-cig from Mexico... and it is forbiden to be sold/imported here...

However seeing so many success histories i think this might be what i need to finally lay down the normal cigarette without fearing to go back to smoking (which seems is what my government wants..), my post here is to see if anyone can send me to a tutorial on bulding one myself or any way o get my hands on one of these life saviors?

My dad also smokes and im quiting (or try this many times) for me and for him (hes 64 now), i see hes been deteriorating lately even when he smokes 3-4 cigs a day, regardless he cant stop the habit, he tried so hard is just sad, so this might be the answer for him too before is too late.

Thanks and wish i can join the vaping comunity along with my dad soon .

 

[Pav]

That stinks. Last time I was there I brought mine and got some strange looks at restaurants I used it at. Sorry, Can't help you with the tutorial. I'm going again in the future and now you have me worried about going through customs with mine. Hope you find a solution.

Have you contacted any suppliers to see if they would ship anyway?

 

[ryanSTi]

Glad to hear you are trying. If you can't get one in then at least your over the "hardest" part. Search on here for "box mod" and you'll find lots of info on making one from an AA box using mostly RadioShack stuff. If you think you can build it, I would order the liquid and cartys or atty and carts before actually making one. That way you don't make something you can't actually use because you couldn't get the e-liquid in.

The other option is to look for a vendor in China who can ship in an unmarked box, and ship the liquid seperate from the actualy e-cig. There are lots of people in the US that are getting theirs confiscated when it's mailed over, but even more are getting through. Maybe that could work for you.

There's a lot more knowledgeable people on here, and I'm sure they'll chime in soon.

Good luck & Congrats on quitting!

 

[Elendil]

I know of one member for sure from Mexico. He owns a Chuck. I've put out a call for him to come to this thread. Hopefully he will check in and offer some advice.

 

[JuanC]

I tried blucig and others decent suppliers (avoiding Chinese cheap crap), none will send to Mexico, if you come here you must disassemble your e-cig and put the parts separated and pretend is something else, customs will confiscate any e-cig they see.

Yes its very sad to see how the tobacco beast are trying the best they can to stop the distribution of these things.

 

[Rsunset327]

What???

Last time I was in Mexico, a prostitute tried selling me my very own prescription to Vicodin. That's ok but e-cigs are not???

 

[JuanC]

Yes it is ridiculous, here is the COFEPRIS link and they argument to ban it from Mexico (u can almost smell Philip Morris money in the pdf file):

cofepris.gob.mx/work/sites/cfp/resources/LocalContent/854/4/b84.pdf

Also usually no one cares about laws in Mexico, u can go around smoking pot and pay the cop in turn 1 buck to look the other way no prob, this law however is being followed to the letter, the government even shut down the sites that where selling e-cigs over internet for Mexico.

 

[jcamacho]

That's sad, didn't know that and I am very close to the border and frequently go there. I've been taking my ecigs everywhere but not there I guess.

 

[5cardstud]

I think if you had someone send you some cheap electrcal pieces and put one ecig part in each package, you know split up the ecig parts in different packages and put some other electrical stuff ( ear phones, connecters, wires, etc.) you just might get it in. The most important piece would be the atty then the cart cause you could make a mod for the battery. And of coarse the juice. It's funny, they smuggle tar ...... and crank, etc. to the us from mexico everyday but you can't have an ecig. Good luck and I'll be praying for you to get one.

 

[Elendil]

I know of one member for sure from Mexico. He owns a Chuck. I've put out a call for him to come to this thread. Hopefully he will check in and offer some advice.

Here is the member from Mexico--PM him and see if he would be willing to give you some advice.
E-Cigarette Forum - View Profile: Eddie_Lee

 

[JuanC]

Thanks for all the wonderful replys, sadly even if i could do all this hassle to get one in im reading around the forums that the attys break fairly often and need fixing/replacements, but im a technician and systems engineer, used to fix tv, radios, etc back when i was 16 lol.

So im going to try and make my own atty and go from there to make the whole thing (looking at the stuff needed lists in other posts atm), never even seen an atomizer blueprint so i hope is simple to make one so for now just crawling around the forums >.<;.

 

[JuanC]

Here is the member from Mexico--PM him and see if he would be willing to give you some advice.

Hey thanks, tho hes on the same position im reading this he posted on another post:

"i second that request, i live in Mexico and its also hard (expensive)to get attys here, it would rock to only buy batteries and juice to vape with my Chuck, something more elaborated would be VERY VERY appreciated, specially since i know nothing about electronics but i can take a guide to my friends and work something out..."

I might even help him up later with this once i have the basics setups, seems attys is whats holding back e-cigs the most.

 

[dlynne]

I live in Houston, and love to vacation in Mexico. Is it illegal to use e-cigs in Mexico, or just to buy them? Is it illegal to take e-cigs into Mexico for personal use?

 

[ref50]

To me i think the word cigarette has a lot to do with bans, maybe if we called them electric vapourizers they might get by the bans. just a thought

 

[imawitch]

I live in Houston, and love to vacation in Mexico. Is it illegal to use e-cigs in Mexico, or just to buy them? Is it illegal to take e-cigs into Mexico for personal use?

hello neighbor

 

[JuanC]

It is completely forbidden to be imported and theres an order in custom to prevent people to bringing them inside the country, dont know if you can just walk by and say is for personal use, most likely it will get seized.

About the name the COFEPRIS made it forbidden to use labeled as "electronic nicotine dispenser" and derivatives so no... changing the name wouldn't help.

 

[dlynne]

Wow...I had plans to spend a few days on the Costa Maya in April. I guess that will have to change.

 

[arkangel]

Just got back from a trip to Tulum (south of Cancun) and both coming and going, my Little Chuck (battery mod, using cartomizers on it--see my sig if you've never seen one) got handled by the TSA people...neither one of them asked me about it, just looked at it and put it back in my carry-on backpack. Had no idea they were banned in Mexico.

When I think about, probably should have stuck that in the checked luggage: it's a copper tube, with a button sticking out of it. Open it up and there's a battery inside...hmmm, what else could that be???? Good thing is it has a Green Lantern logo and tagline on it, so it doesn't look that threatening, but still. I was prepared to vape on it so they could see what it did, but if it was banned in Mexico, they may have confiscated it

Good to know for next trip...

 

[JuanC]

Indeed most people will know about the term but dont know how it looks, so dont go around customs telling the guards u got this new awesome modded ecig lol, outside it however i think u can go flashing it in bars and stuff most people dont know what is it or that is illegal to have one.

 

[JayMazz]

What???

Last time I was in Mexico, a prostitute tried selling me my very own prescription to Vicodin. That's ok but e-cigs are not???

i was gonna say the same thing! (minus the prostitute). i can go to many places in mexico and be offered a number of illicit items, but "just say no" to e-cigs seems outlandish.

lame.