Question about travel and kava
- Thread starter Melissa
- Start date
Ok so here goes wed i will be flying to charlotte with this in my checked or carry on not sure which one bag i dipped into already .It is like 700 grams all instant i will spontaneously combust if something happens to it. 
D
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Always carry on for me (vanuatu rules ) and always declare it. It's not illegal but keep it above board is my rule.
I always declare kava. I used to do a fair bit of international travel - I would not be concerned about TSA on domestic US travel, at the end of the day you're carrying something legal so it might cause a fuss but in the end, no problem.
Overseas customs is who you have to be sure about. I tried very hard to find out the rules about kava in HK and Macau. They replied to me, but it didn't help much. In the end I declared by Paradise extract in both places. They were baffled, and eventually I explained it as "relaxing chocolate" when it was clear "kava" meant nothing to them!
Unfortunately a lot of my travel goes via Singapore. I am fairly sure it is classified as a poison there. Don't mess around with Singapore and this stuff. It is not worth the risk in any way. So don't take kava through Singapore. Malaysia and Indonesia are probably on this list also. India? I am not sure.
I had a funny experience flying into Suva once. I bought Fijian kava in Tuvalu (I don't think they can grow it there, or if they can, not much). We still had some left over. When I declared it to customs on entering Fiji they were overwhelmed with excitement and hence followed a nice long discussion about kava
Overseas customs is who you have to be sure about. I tried very hard to find out the rules about kava in HK and Macau. They replied to me, but it didn't help much. In the end I declared by Paradise extract in both places. They were baffled, and eventually I explained it as "relaxing chocolate" when it was clear "kava" meant nothing to them!
Unfortunately a lot of my travel goes via Singapore. I am fairly sure it is classified as a poison there. Don't mess around with Singapore and this stuff. It is not worth the risk in any way. So don't take kava through Singapore. Malaysia and Indonesia are probably on this list also. India? I am not sure.
I had a funny experience flying into Suva once. I bought Fijian kava in Tuvalu (I don't think they can grow it there, or if they can, not much). We still had some left over. When I declared it to customs on entering Fiji they were overwhelmed with excitement and hence followed a nice long discussion about kava
I would 2nd put it in checked. But on domestic flights in the USA, I seriously doubt that this will ever even be questioned. It looks like coffee in that packaging. And there is nothing to question about it legally anyway even if they looked at it, but again, highly doubtful.
It's like when you arrive from an international flight and you have to fill out the customs form for things that are 'supposed to be' declared. Last time I brought back coffee from an international flight, I asked someone in customs if I have to declare coffee because maybe it can be considered a food. The person told me, no, don't worry. Then the next person I saw that asked me if I had anything to declare, told me that I did and handed me the form. It's the government, they have no idea what they are actually supposed to be doing, so you never know what will happen, depends upon the person. But ultimately, you can't get into any trouble over kava here in the USA, so nothing to worry about.
It's plant material so you may have to declare it, depending on who you ask.