Dominican Oregano

bob saunders

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Jan 1, 2002
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First time in all my travels that we've had a bag pulled by Dominican customs when leaving. We had a checked bag pulled at Puerta Plata and examined. Of course the fact that we had ten lbs of Dominican Oregano and twenty lbs of coffee is the reason they looked. In the end it was a humourous situation with about 30 others tourists wondering where we got such wonderful Oregano and the Dominican Custons Inspector getting a little to take home. He said they catch a lot of tourists and Dominicans with Drugs.
 

AlterEgo

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Jan 9, 2009
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I fully understand the 20 pounds of coffee, we bring at least that much every trip, but 10 pounds of oregano????? Geesh, that would last 3 lifetimes! What do you DO with that much??? Curious minds wanna know.....

AE
Okay, I'm nosy....
 

bob saunders

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We brough some back for neighbours and co-workers and my mother-in-law uses it extensively in cooking. That ten lbs cost us 300 pesos, and a small container here is $4.
 

Chirimoya

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Dec 9, 2002
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Are you sure you don't mean 10oz? 10lbs of oregano would fill a large suitcase!
 

AlterEgo

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Bob, if you run out, I will send you some, oregano is a weed in our garden. Harvesting tomorrow.

About five years ago I planted a small oregano plant in a corner of our garden. Lordy, that stuff is as bad as mint, it takes over and spreads everywhere, more and more each year. You can't get rid of it. My husband grumbles every Spring when it's time to plant the garden.

AE
 
I know AE, I offer it to all the neighbours, unfortunately, they have bad taste and do not use herbs at all. I grumble since hubby is the gardener and the botanist, but oregano was my idea when we bought the house, a real jungle now. Oh, well less grass to cut :) Ma?ana harvest of parsley, rosemary, basil and thyme.
 

bob saunders

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Are you sure you don't mean 10oz? 10lbs of oregano would fill a large suitcase!

I didn't actually weigh it but it took up half a large suitcase- two 1 gallon plastic containers and a medium black plastic bag. Definitely more than you could put in a carry on. It is different flavoured Oregano than we buy here in Canada ( where there is a good selection of different type) I grew Italian Oregano in my garden. Perhaps the soil makes a difference.
 

cobraboy

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Jul 24, 2004
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I'm surprise it didn't qialify as a banned agricultural product, you know fruits and vegetables...
 

bob saunders

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I'm surprise it didn't qialify as a banned agricultural product, you know fruits and vegetables...

It would have, if we claimed it. Only because it wasn't commercially packaged. One time Yris, brought, unknown to me until we arrived home , four avocados.
 

Tom F.

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Jan 1, 2002
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Oregano from the campo is always sent to Nueva York when anyone travels in the family. I brought 2 1/2 pounds with me last summer and my wife is half way through that. You can get it in any Dominican bodega in NYC but I haven't compared prices.
 

Shiraz72

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Feb 10, 2010
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I think they've really attempted to increase security at POP airport because the last 2 times I was leaving... I had my bag pulled for carrying spices too. The first time, I had put about 9 bags of coffee and some sazon etc.. .into our checked luggage and they pulled that and paged us down to have it checked... so the subsequent trip down, I put all the coffee into my carry on luggage and only sazon in my checked luggage... and bam! They pulled me aside at both check points.. LOL They had a short little woman, with a walkie talkie called down and she questioned the purpose of my trip and the validity of my passport my nationality etc etc etc... for about and hour... they convescated 3 bags of my coffee, cut open 1 and poured out some.... then I made it through only to hear my name being paged on the PA system because they'd pulled my checked luggage. So round 2 inspection began...with me making the final boarding call and being the last one on my flight to Montreal.... phew...
 

cobraboy

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Jul 24, 2004
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I think they've really attempted to increase security at POP airport because the last 2 times I was leaving... I had my bag pulled for carrying spices too. The first time, I had put about 9 bags of coffee and some sazon etc.. .into our checked luggage and they pulled that and paged us down to have it checked... so the subsequent trip down, I put all the coffee into my carry on luggage and only sazon in my checked luggage... and bam! They pulled me aside at both check points.. LOL They had a short little woman, with a walkie talkie called down and she questioned the purpose of my trip and the validity of my passport my nationality etc etc etc... for about and hour... they convescated 3 bags of my coffee, cut open 1 and poured out some.... then I made it through only to hear my name being paged on the PA system because they'd pulled my checked luggage. So round 2 inspection began...with me making the final boarding call and being the last one on my flight to Montreal.... phew...
Ground roast coffee is commonly used to mask the scent of drugs. That was the problem.
 

SantiagueroRD

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Apr 20, 2011
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Good Afternoon, Mr. Cobraboy is most correct on the coffee and also "Bounce" fabric softner will set off alarms. I guess the bad guys here are betting that the K-9 teams have not been training with masking scents. By the way if anyone is at the airport and sees an arrest or a person with a lot of noise arguing over a liquid or some such watch for who is following as a Judas Goat strategy has been around for long time.
 

Shiraz72

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Feb 10, 2010
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Ground roast coffee is commonly used to mask the scent of drugs. That was the problem.

That's why I put the coffee in my carry on luggage last time, rather than my checked luggage... because it looks less suspicsious if they see I'm obviously not trying to conceal the fact that I have a large amount of coffee on my person... Anyway, I'll continue to smuggle copious quantities of my Cafe Santo Domingo back to Canada with me on each trip... and I'll just have to endure the inspections... it's the price I'm willing to pay to drink good coffee ;o)