Recently Ministry of Cigars got confronted with the wild range of different rules and regulations for cigars while traveling internationally. Most countries in the world have an allowance to bring in cigars for personal consumption. It ranges from no allowance at all, to a no limit as long as the boxes are open and it’s for personal consumption. Some countries measure by numbers, others by weight, some in grams in the metric system, others by pounds in the imperial system.
Now even though there are limits to the duty-free allowance, it doesn’t mean you can’t bring in cigars at all. Just declare them, and after paying tax, you can bring in the cigars anyway. Our advice is to play by the rules. Don’t be a dumbass and risk a fine, or even be arrested and trialed for smuggling. It’s not worth your time, or your reputation.
In a series of articles, we dive into the allowances per country, categorized by continent. We started with Europe, then we went to Asia, Africa, Oceania, North America and today we dive into the regulations of South America. Next week we will publish our final thoughts and a complete list of the duty-free allowances from all over the world.
South America only has a few countries and two territories, one British and one French. All countries have an allowance, either in weight, a value of numbers of cigars.
Now note: all these numbers are the allowance when you bring in cigars personally. The rules and regulations on postal shipments are different.
Argentina
Argentina has an allowance of 25 cigars.
Bolivia
Bolivia has a duty free limit of 50 cigars.
Brazil
Only 25 cigars are allowed to be brought in duty-free into Brazil
Chile
The duty-free allowance of Chile is 50 cigars or 50 cigarillos
Colombia
Colombia has a duty free allowance of 50 cigars.
Ecuador
Ecuador has a duty free allowance of 25 cigars.
Falkland Islands
The British territory has an allowance of 50 cigars or 100 cigarillos.
French Guiana
As the name suggests, French Guiana is a French territory and has the same duty free allowance as France. 50 cigars of 100 cigarillos. The EU members allowance does not apply.
Guyana
Guayana has a duty free allowance of 227 grams of cigars or cigarillos.
Paraguay
You can bring 300 US dollar worth of cigars into Paraguay duty-free.
Peru
Peru has a duty free allowance of 50 cigars.
Surinam
Surinam has a duty free allowance of 20 cigars or 200 cigarillos.
Uruguay
Uruguay has a duty free allowance of 25 cigars.
Venezuela
The communist country has close ties to Cuba, yet the allowance of cigars is low with 25 cigars.
