¿Puedo llevar una cachimba a México?
February 20, 2022 4:00 PM   Subscribe

I am going to Mexico tomorrow by car from the US, and I can't find an authoritative answer on whether I can bring in a hookah and its supplies (shisha tobacco, coals). I know I should have no problem bringing the hookah back to the US. Kindly share your wisdom if you know, or can effectively search the Spanish-language internet, which I cannot, as I don't speak Spanish.

I would like to bring into Mexico my hookah, an unopened box of charcoals, and an unopened 250 g box of shisha. If they want to swab the hookah for illegal drugs, that's fine, because my hookah has never had anything but tobacco in it.

Anybody have experience with this?
posted by pH Indicating Socks to Travel & Transportation around Mexico (3 answers total)
 
Best answer: (disclaimer: I don't know what I'm talking about.)

This site suggests, but does not prove, that the hookah is unremarkable by itself. You're allowed 200g of tobacco in your personal luggage, but 1 kg in total, so that might be a problem. It depends upon the customs officer. As that website says, "Be reasonable and don’t bring in quantities of anything that might look like you are planning to resell them."
posted by blob at 6:38 PM on February 20, 2022


Best answer: You can only import 200g of tobacco to Mexico without having to pay duty, so you'd be wise to reduce that if possible, otherwise you'd have to declare it and pay duty, which would be a pain.

I can't find anything specific about hookahs in Spanish and there isn't anything along those lines in the list of prohibited items on the Mexican government website, so I think it should be fine. I'm certain charcoal is no problem.
posted by ssg at 6:42 PM on February 20, 2022


Response by poster: Thanks very much for your help, blob and ssg!
posted by pH Indicating Socks at 1:21 AM on February 21, 2022


« Older Alchoholic Drinks as a substitute for X   |   Pyebaek/paebaek vendor in Albany/Saratoga Springs... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.