"Contraband"

Odd story about how this tea from Sweden came into my possession. Knowing how much I liked tea, a friend had it shipped to me in early June while he was in Stockholm. Only I didn't learn about it until much later in July because it had been seized and later released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection as suspected--wait for this--"contraband." I kid you not.

Turns out that on June 29, 2010, the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act became law, an act that made it illegal to use the U. S. Mail to ship cigarettes and most other tobacco products. In addition to Federal law, several states and localities also have specific laws prohibiting the purchase and interstate shipment of tobacco products. 

So, evidently, one of our hardworking U. S. agents decided this "tea" was actually some kind of fancy tobacco and had it seized until he or someone else decided, "Oh, heck! It probably is just some kind of tea" and let it pass. 

That still didn't prevent me, though, from receiving all kinds of ominous sounding notices, including one from the United States Criminal Investigations Service Center threatening me with--I kid you not--"both Federal and State criminal and civil liability, including fines, penalties, and imprisonment."

All of which sort of reminds me of a certain song. :-)