Bringing my bottle with me

[bundy_138]

What do I need to do if I want to bring my brand of Liquor with me to Colombia?  (I could not find mine there)  Can I just wrap up my bottle and put it in my checked in luggage?   Do I need to declare it?  I just want to bring a 5th with me!  What do I do? 

Bundy

[william3rd]

You are permitted to bring things like cigarettes and alcohol into a country without declaration below certain limits. A fifth is OK in most countries outside of the middle east

[soltero]

What do I need to do if I want to bring my brand of Liquor with me to Colombia?  (I could not find mine there)  Can I just wrap up my bottle and put it in my checked in luggage?   Do I need to declare it?  I just want to bring a 5th with me!  What do I do? 

Bundy

You should not have any problem placing it in your checked luggage. I don't understand what difference it makes as far as whether or not some liquid may be a potential bomb, but they allow liquids in the checked luggage as opposed to your carry on unless this has changed again. I would suggest placing it in something leak proof as they beat the hell out of your checked luggage when transferring it from plane to plane.

[papi]

Bundy, if you could find a novia in Lima, you could switch to piscos and have no worries...haha. course, there is always Ron de medellin. And don't forget about Brava beer - it has a nice kick. chevere!

[rpcv]

What do I need to do if I want to bring my brand of Liquor with me to Colombia?  (I could not find mine there)  Can I just wrap up my bottle and put it in my checked in luggage?   Do I need to declare it?  I just want to bring a 5th with me!  What do I do?  Bundy

If you put it in checked luggage, you should be ok. I don't know what airline you fly but if it is American Airlines, these are their rules for carry-on liquids, etc:

Customers traveling from the U.S. and Canada may take with them in their cabin bag limited quantities of liquids, gels, and aerosols, including travel-size toiletries such as shampoo, suntan lotion, creams, toothpaste, hair gel and hair spray.

Liquids must be carried in individual containers no larger than 3.4 ounces/100 ml.

All liquid containers must be carried in a separate clear plastic, zip-top bag (see example at right) that does not exceed 8 inches x 8 inches (20 cm x 20 cm) or is quart size. Items must fit in the bag comfortably and the bag must be completely closed.

 
*The last time I flew though, I had 3 quart size bags and security tried to make me consolidate all the items into 1 bag. Luckily my Jedi mind trick worked and I was able to take them all but I'm not sure if I'd have similar success next time.

[bundy_138]

I fly American.  I do not bring ANYTHING liquid in my carry on, I just put it all in checked baggage.  What exactly do I need to declare?  Say I bought my novia some shoes and her daughter a few toys and clothes, do these things need to be declared since I am bringing them into the country and NOT taking them out with me?  Is it up to a certain dollar amount?  I did not understand the customs forms.....very vague.

I brought back 4 5th's with me from Colombia of "Fire-Water".  I did not declare them and I was not searched in customs.  I figured if I was searched and they said anything, I'd just play dumb gringo and pay any taxes. 

Bundy

[rpcv]

I fly American. What exactly do I need to declare?  Say I bought my novia some shoes and her daughter a few toys and clothes, do these things need to be declared since I am bringing them into the country and NOT taking them out with me?  Is it up to a certain dollar amount? 

The figures might have changed but in Jan 07', I could bring into Colombia items up to $1500 USA dollars and not pay any duty on them. On the form I believe there is a place to list the stuff and aprox value of them. I am not sure what you would have to pay as far as a duty if the value of your items was in excess of $1500.

[sean126]

bundy,
I've never brought liquor with me but as far as gifts...you won't have a problem.  My wife and I brought a bunch of christmas gifts with us to Barranquilla.  We brought clothes, shoes, toys...no problem.  I wouldn't declare anything unless you plan on importing a bunch of diamonds or something.   Perhaps I slipped through the cracks.

[mudd]

Brought two bottles of wine to Colombia, (hard to find good wine in Colombia) wrapped them in clothes and plastic put them in my checked bag. When I got to my destination, one was broken and my clothes smelled like wine, good thing, it was the clear bottle of wine and not the red wine that would have really sucked!!!

Found out, inspections in the airport went through my bags, and of course, they didn’t put everything back as carefully as I had packed it, broken bottle was at the edge of the bag, and not in the middle like I packed it.   And of course, the jerks leave that little card, telling you they searched your bag and sorry for the inconvenience. DONT BRING RED WINE!!!!!

[jm21-2]

Yeah...be damn careful with alcohol. I brought some up from CA to OR (Knob Creek in CA, $20, OR $35...), and one bottle broke (I don't think you could break a knob creek bottle like that, but vodka bottles definitely). Everything smelling like vodka...mmm. Great fun. by thick bottles and wrap them in something. Maybe transfer the liquid to a thicker or less breakable (maybe plastic) bottle?

[P Daddy]

If you're worried about the bottle breaking, just stop at duty free and buy your liquor there.  That way you can carry it on (they'll give it to you when you board the plane).  Don't worry about declaring anything unless you are bringing large quantities of items that they may suspect you are re-selling in Colombia.  In all of the trips I've made over the years, I've only had my bags searched a few times. Of course I have an honest face

[soltero]

Of course I have an honest face

Looking like a movie star can't hurt either! Every time I get on a plane to Colombia, I get "randomly" picked to be searched going and coming! You would think a nice smile would count for something! 

[P Daddy]

Looking like a movie star can't hurt either! ! 

You must have me confused with Papi

[soltero]

You must have me confused with Papi

LOL! Let me put it this way, I learned not to waste my money buying any ceramic figurines as gifts to bring back for anybody. I have as yet to have one make it in one piece. I bought a handmade chess set on my last trip and they wanted to peel off the felt on the bottoms of the pieces to see if they were filled with anything. I had to draw the line there and start bitching as I am a serious chess fan. This was at the DAS station leaving Colombia.  When I got home, I am standing there by my lonesome with two hefty security chicas dumping out my belongings and sifting through them.

Oh well...I am used to it now. I guess it must run in the family. When my parents when to Brazil about two years ago, they thought my Dad was trying to escape on a fake passport!

[Jeff S]

I brought back 4 5th's with me from Colombia of "Fire-Water".  I did not declare them and I was not searched in customs.  I figured if I was searched and they said anything, I'd just play dumb gringo and pay any taxes.

Just two things wrong with that thinking. First, there are no taxes - they simply confiscate any booze over the limit - usually 1 liter per person. And second, you get put into the computer as a smuggler and from that day forward will be singled out every time you return home from an international trip for extra inspection. I had a friend who was an international salesman and so traveled overseas at least once a month. He bought a German language girly magazine off a rack in the Berlin airport to read on the trip. Upon arrival at LAX, it was confiscated as porn. From that day forward, he was hassled EVERY time he returned from a trip, having every single piece of baggge gone through with a fine toothed comb, plus strip searched a few times. I read a statistic recently that 17,000 people a year at LAX are strip searched and given strong laxatives to see what was inside them, who are later released without finding any contraband. I'm sure the other ports of entry have similar stories. Still want to see if you can smuggle $20 worth of contraband into the US?

[bundy_138]

Well, Jeff S., I'm no smuggler.  If I was gonna smuggle something and risk getting in to trouble, it would be a hell of alot more than $15 worth of alcohol.  My point was I was not sure what items to declare and what items needed to be declared. 

P-Daddy....they did not carry my brand of Liquor at duty free.  I bought a nice bottle of whiskey and a another bottle for my lady there and didn't have any problem.  I did not care for the local brand of rum and woke up with a good headache!

Thanks for all the info people.

Bundy

[Ray]

Just two things wrong with that thinking. First, there are no taxes - they simply confiscate any booze over the limit - usually 1 liter per person. And second, you get put into the computer as a smuggler...

Jeff, it is NOT illegal to bring in liquor over the duty-free limit.

You are permitted to bring extra booze as long as you declare it. The key is that it must be declared. Any alcoholic beverages in excess of the one-liter limit are generally subject to a flat duty tax of 3% plus possible Internal Revenue taxes.

My wife usually brings 5 or 6 bottles of good Philippine rum back with her and she has never had any problems or was required to pay any taxes. Customs told her that "small" amounts for personal use or gifts are permitted but should be packed in checked baggage and declared. The inspector told her that 6 or 7 bottles would usually be O.K. without being considered commercial quantities.

Whether or not you will be required to pay the customs duty is apparently left to the discretion of the individual inspector from what I have seen. At worst, you may have to pay a few bucks but if it's worth it to you then go for it. I think the ICE agents are more concerned with terrorists and drug smugglers than they are with collecting taxes on a couple of bottles of booze.

Just make sure you declare everything and keep your purchase receipts. And NEVER try to BS a customs inspector!

[Jeff S]

I stand corrected. I've seen Border Patrol agents dumping out bottles of tequilla into the gutter at the secondary inspection at San Ysidro.

And NEVER try to BS a customs inspector!

That was my point. Those guys are trained as expert profilers and they'll probably know if you're trying to hide something. If they do bust you for something, you stand a good chance of having your reputation folllow you in cyberspace for a long time.

- Jeff