quote:

Originally posted by cigar-monkey:
Esplendido $30.00
Siglo 1 $10.00
M5 Genios $32.00

This is what I can get them for.

That place at Yonge & Front, in the basement, doesn't count.

Dusko007 is on the mark.

Taxes are somewhere in the range of 100-200%, but then you have to factor in retailer markup. When the Siglo VI first came out, I found it ranging in price from $55 to $75 (Holy Smokes and Cigar Studio, respectively). I haven't checked recently though, as I stick with Holy Smokes for lower-priced singles.

I phoned the Canadian Border Services Agency and what they said was that if you pay say $200 for a box of cigars that is more than your alloted exemption, then you would have to fork over $364.00 to customs for each $200 box.

By my calculations, that's about a 182 percent tax rate.

That's probably closer to the worst-case scenario. I think the federal taxes are around 75% mark (duty, excise, 'special' taxes, GST), but I don't know about the provincial taxes. When shipped from overseas, the provincial tax is rarely added. Maybe at the border crossings they're more strict about collecting the provincial tax.
At any rate, despite what customs might say over the phone, or on the web, I'm confident that what you pay at the border is up to the border official whose looking at that 3rd box of cigars you 'forgot' to list on the import form If you disagree, you still pay what they say at the border, but you can appeal for a refund afterwards. As if!

just last night i was talking to a buddy that came back from Cuba a few weeks ago with a few extra cigars.. he gets pulled over, and the customs agent asks him to put a value on the cigars that were over his allowance (we’re allowed 50 cigars each, and I think he had 100).

After looking at the prices that were marked on some boxes, they both agree that 200$ was the value of the extra cigars.. so he was charged 480$ extra…

Now this is the great Canadian system.. we'll tax the life out of you

quote:

Originally posted by salibas007:
just last night i was talking to a buddy that came back from Cuba a few weeks ago with a few extra cigars.. he gets pulled over, and the customs agent asks him to put a value on the cigars that were over his allowance (we’re allowed 50 cigars each, and I think he had 100).

After looking at the prices that were marked on some boxes, they both agree that 200$ was the value of the extra cigars.. so he was charged 480$ extra…

Now this is the great Canadian system.. we'll tax the life out of you

And then kick you out into the cold to "enjoy" it.