[ronbrattin]

Does anybody know if it's legal to buy bongs and pipes online and shipped to my home in california? I really dont need the feds knocking on my door. Any info would help thank you.

[MiddleOfNowhere]

In general, sure.

They will almost always be sold as water pipes, for tobacco use only, and as such are not considered paraphernalia.

[washgirl]

Originally Posted by ronbrattin

Does anybody know if it's legal to buy bongs and pipes online and shipped to my home in california? I really dont need the feds knocking on my door. Any info would help thank you.

I am in CA and I think since they sell such items legally in CA it is legal to have them shipped in.

[cephas]

Um.....probably not advisable.

You do know it was selling and shipping bongs online that got Tommy Chong put in prison right?

Shipping or receiving paraphernalia is a federal crime. If something is legal in Ca, but it get shipped through Nevada (where it is illegal), to get to Ca, well going through Nevada (or any other state) makes it interstate, which makes it federal, which makes it illegal, since bongs are illegal on a federal level.

Truth is it is too small to get you arrested most likely, but to put you on a list....? Either way, my opinion is stay away.

There are places that will ship it to you, if you want the risk, personally I would never do it. Find a head shop near you.

[Toolong]

Originally Posted by cephas

Um.....probably not advisable.

You do know it was selling and shipping bongs online that got Tommy Chong put in prison right?

Shipping or receiving paraphernalia is a federal crime. If something is legal in Ca, but it get shipped through Nevada (where it is illegal), to get to Ca, well going through Nevada (or any other state) makes it interstate, which makes it federal, which makes it illegal, since bongs are illegal on a federal level.

Truth is it is too small to get you arrested most likely, but to put you on a list....? Either way, my opinion is stay away.

There are places that will ship it to you, if you want the risk, personally I would never do it. Find a head shop near you.

And Cephas would know about glass.... I understand the the temptation for a good deal but buying glass online sounds boring, that's like buying a car online no thanks I want to see what I'm buying. Support your local glass shop or go down to glass city or otherwise known as Venice Boardwalk.Peace..

[MiddleOfNowhere]

Originally Posted by cephas

Um.....probably not advisable.

You do know it was selling and shipping bongs online that got Tommy Chong put in prison right?

Um, no.

He got put in prison for shipping bongs to Pennsylvania, which has different paraphernalia laws. They actually had to go out of their way to get his company to do so, as they knew it wasn't legal.

"According to a manager at Chong's Glass/Nice Dreams, a man from Beaver Falls, PA called at least 20 times, trying to get them to send him a large order of their handmade glassware. Staff at the company refused every time, citing the law against selling paraphernalia in that state.

The Beaver Falls man became so frustrated that he finally traveled to their headquarters in California and put together an order on site. By the time the company had amassed and packaged everything the man wanted, he told them he was back in Pennsylvania; could they just ship it to him? At first they said no, but as the boxes held up production for other orders, they finally caved and sent the stuff out.

Then, the feds had what they needed. They "storm trooped" the place, as one employee of the shop put it. Dozens of agents overtook the place in the early hours of the morning, all decked out in riot gear."

You should have no problem at all having something sent to you in California. It doesn't matter what states it goes through, they can not legally open your package to inspect it on the off chance it contains a bong. It's not like the places shipping them put a giant red sticker on the box saying "Warning: Bong inside"

I suppose it's always possibly that your box could go through Nevada, happen to have the tape fall off and open, AND get seen by a federal agent with absolutely nothing better to do, but even then, any charges filed would likely be against the company selling the bong rather than the end user.

In the end, it's not impossible that this could have the feds knocking at your door, but you would be more likely to get struck by lightning and trampled by an elephant simultaneously.

[ronbrattin]

Thanks guys

[cephas]

Thanks, I didn't have that much information on the specifics, the article I read when it happened did not go as in depth.

Regardless though, unless something has changed, the Chong case was used to give precedent to interstate sales and shipping of "drug paraphernalia" including but not limited to glass and acrylic bongs or pipes. It is all illegal to ship to an end purchaser. I'm going to site the Wall Street Journal on this, gonna need to do some digging to get an exact date of when I read it, but it was a few years ago. There are loopholes, if it is not called a "bong", is for the "smoking of legal herbs and tobacco", etc....

This is one of the reasons you cannot get a Roor.us purchased online and shipped to you, regardless of the state, from the manufacturer. There are places that will ship you glass, most of them seem shady and if you do research you will find a lot of complaints. There are also online forums where you can buy directly from the blowers, it is all kept very discrete and very quiet, most are also communities and if you are not known, some blowers will not sell to you.

this is directly from the Roor.us site.

Where can i get ROOR.us Tubes online?:
Due to the stringent American laws regarding drugs, ROOR.us does not sell and will not sell bongs online until the laws change.

Why?: The reason is because ROOR.us is based in the united states, and selling bongs online would mean they would have to ship tubes across interstate lines, making it a federal matter and increasing their risk of being shut down by the NARCS (DEA) who leave ROOR.us alone when they stay local.

Why would selling Bongs online be illegal?: Drug paraphenilia is illegal, water pipes are not. ROOR walks a very fine line between drug paraphenilia (bongs) and water pipes. While its technically legal until its used with illegal substances, DEA will find anything to shut them down and just too risky.