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Our offer is only for you if you are of legal age. Please confirm that you are at least 18 years old to proceed.
Our offer is only for you if you are of legal age. Please confirm that you are at least 18 years old to proceed.
Last updated on 04/23/2024 | Reading time approx. 06:12min
The 25g regulation is a real annoyance for many, as it causes a lot of effort, costs, and not least, waste. Some of the small packages cannot even be scraped out completely, meaning a significant amount of tobacco ends up in the trash instead of in the bowl each year.
We notice how little fun this is for anyone, especially from the lively comments when the topic of 25g packages comes up on our social media channels.
That's why we decided to write this article, introducing you to a way to get hookah tobacco in the universally beloved 200g tin again.
For a short while, it seemed like there was no way around the legal 25g hookah tobacco regulation—until the manufacturer MixTo came up with a clever, though not entirely legal for end customers, idea: namely, to stop selling hookah tobacco altogether. Sounds weird? But it’s true.
MixTo changed their lineup around the middle of last year from their previous two-component system with flavored molasses to an alternative system, giving consumers the chance to get their hands on the large 200g hookah tobacco tins again. On top of that, the producer could offer their product much cheaper than their competitors in the hookah tobacco segment because the tobacco now sold under MixTo is no longer hookah tobacco but what the manufacturer calls a "Dry Base," which legally falls into the pipe tobacco category.
Hookah tobacco essentially consists of three components: shredded raw tobacco, flavors, and glycerin. If you leave out the glycerin, you can no longer smoke it in a hookah, so by definition, it’s no longer hookah tobacco. The legislator sees it the same way. That’s why this dry, flavored tobacco was classified by customs as pipe tobacco and not waterpipe tobacco. MixTo is thus selling flavored pipe tobacco. This isn’t unusual, as flavored pipe tobacco has been around for a very long time. Pipe tobacco is also taxed lower than hookah tobacco, allowing MixTo to offer their product much cheaper to end customers than their previous two-component solution. Since selling pipe tobacco is legal, many manufacturers have since joined this method and now offer pipe tobacco versions of their hookah tobacco flavors in 60–100g Dry Base pipe tobacco variants as well.
Now, let’s get to how you go from 60–100g pipe tobacco to your beloved 200g hookah tobacco. Essentially, you buy (at least 95% pure) glycerin, pour it into the Dry Base tobacco, stir it, and let it sit for a while. Depending on the manufacturer, the amount of Dry Base tobacco you get in a tin varies. What usually doesn’t vary, though, is the final weight. For most tobacco flavors, you supplement the dry tobacco with a corresponding amount of glycerin to end up with a total weight of around 200g of ready-to-smoke hookah tobacco. Or, in other words: If you buy 70g of Dry Base from a manufacturer, you pour 130g of glycerin into it and end up with a total weight of 200g.
After that, take a tobacco fork and stir everything thoroughly several times so that every tobacco flake gets a chance to absorb some glycerin. In the end, you’ll have 200g of ready-to-smoke hookah tobacco. Depending on how impatient you are, you can of course start right away and build a bowl, but practice has shown that a longer steeping time positively affects the flavor profile.
It may be surprising, but not all Dry Base flavors are filled with glycerin to the point where you end up with a 200g tin of ready-to-smoke hookah tobacco. Most pipe tobacco flavors follow this principle, but some are already so "saturated" with flavors that they can only absorb a smaller amount of liquid. For example, Fog Your Law Dark Laoz and Whitecake Alman can only take up to 85g of glycerin, and Aino’s pipe tobacco shouldn’t be filled up to 200g either. So, it’s best to check with the manufacturer beforehand to see how much glycerin a particular tobacco can handle.
That’s it. That’s how easy it is to get your beloved 200g tin of hookah tobacco back. However, there’s one aspect I absolutely must explain here. So, let’s move on to:
The truth is, if you actually turn a tin of Dry Base tobacco into a 200g tin of hookah tobacco, you’re committing several crimes. It would’ve been too good to be true if this were both simple and legal. Here’s an overview of what you’re actually doing when you mix your own Dry Base tobacco:
So, every time you mix purchased Dry Base pipe tobacco at home, you’re breaking the law in multiple ways and could face several fines or even prison sentences. To at least avoid tax evasion, you’d have to report to the main customs office every time after producing hookah tobacco and immediately pay the additional taxes. Since hookah tobacco is taxed higher than pipe tobacco, you’d have to pay the difference.
In online shops like ours, the retailer must include a similarly worded legal notice with every Dry Base tobacco:
We’re pointing out that customers who plan to mix Dry Base pipe tobacco are not allowed to do so under current law. We’re also pointing out that only taxed glycerin may be used and that the produced tobacco must be taxed afterward.
Manufacturers like MixTo know what they’re encouraging their customers to do. That’s why they officially don’t sell glycerin, to stay legally safe.
They’re only selling pipe tobacco. The customer must take action themselves and is responsible if they illegally turn pipe tobacco into hookah tobacco.
I hope this article has made it clear to everyone that the process of producing hookah tobacco on your own is not legally clean. And I also want to point out that there’s a possibility the legislator could take measures in the future to penalize this kind of hookah production. Even if it doesn’t look like the legislator will push a bugfix anytime soon.
That’s why more and more producers are releasing their hookah tobacco in a Dry Base variant. Because, as we all know: Where there’s demand, there’s a market.
Whether you should try the cheaper homemade hookah tobacco in 200g tins is up to you. Ultimately, you’re responsible for your actions, so you’ll have to decide for yourself whether you’re willing to do something illegal.
There’s now a wide selection of popular Dry Base tobacco flavors. Here are some of our customers’ favorites:
One of the most popular tobacco flavors on the German market is Nameless Black Nana. The tobacco manufacturer now offers this in Dry Base form as well.
Holster now also offers their tobacco flavors under the "Zero" label as Dry Base pipe tobacco variants. Like Nameless’ Black Nana, Holster’s grape flavor "Grp 2.0" is particularly popular with our customers.
The pioneer of the Dry Base movement is a long-time favorite among our customers, as MixTo’s Dry Base flavors are considered very aromatic. The Bitcoin flavor is one of the most successful and is very popular—even those who aren’t big on lemon can quickly fall for Bitcoin. This is mainly because Bitcoin is more reminiscent of a sweet lemon candy than a real sour lemon. Meanwhile, the Dark version has also become a strong representative of Dry Base flavors based on Burley tobacco.
Hookain, with Fog Your Law, was one of the early adopters of the Dry Base trend. The Wesh Wesh flavor is a hit with many of our customers and tastes like a sweet peppermint.
But you’ll also find Dry Base pipe tobacco flavors from manufacturers like O’s Tobacco, Aqua Mentha, and Adayla in our shop. So, if you want to try a Dry Base tobacco yourself, you’ll find a wide selection in our shop. However, we take no responsibility if you actually turn it into hookah tobacco. The potential consequences of unauthorized production should be clear to you after this article.
In any case, we wish you happy shopping and a good smoke.
