By Dave Faries

Staff Writer

From behind the counter of his little tobacco shop along the pedestrian-only link between Wenceslas Square and Národní, Michal Jelínek notices just about everything. Younger types hauling backpacks stop near the door and gaze at the small paraphernalia cabinet. American tourists check the cigar case for anything with "Habana" markings. More serious folks — middle-aged men, for the most part — stare up at a row of canisters propped along a shelf. They contain different varieties of pipe tobacco that Jelínek has learned to blend to fit just about any customer's tastes.

But therein lies a problem. "I'm going to be the only one in the country selling tobacco like this," he declares.

Bulk varieties allow pipe smokers to blend flavors to suit their own particular palate. They can create bolder, sweeter, smoother, cooler-burning or whatever mixtures they desire, which skilled tobacconists can prepare to order. Because the plant develops peculiar characteristics from terroir and curing, responding well to additional infusions of fruit, vanilla, whiskey and so on, the possibilities are almost limitless.

Every day, potential customers wander in from the busy cobbled walkway and ask about his stock. But Jelínek can only shake his head at what he has to tell them. "They get discouraged when I say, 'I can't sell it.' "

Those lonely jars of aromatic cured tobacco at Special Tobacos Shop are prisoners of Czech law. Every tobacco product sold in the Czech Republic must carry a government voucher stamp. For those, shop owners apply to the Finance Ministry, which Jelínek says he approached several months ago. "They've given me three stamps," he says. "But I need 30."

Finance Ministry spokeswoman Petra Krainová tacitly denies this assertion. Bulk tobacco sales are covered by section 353/

2003 of the legal code, which, she explains, "says that a person selling tobacco products has the duty to sell these in sealed packages with an undamaged tobacco voucher." In other words, with the exception of cigars and cigarillos, no smokes are available in piecemeal form. No mixing different blends for specific customers, and no selling cured tobacco from climate-controlled jars.

Some of Jelínek's fellow tobacconists consider the idea too impractical. Selling bulk tobacco, says Karel Hingar, owner of Království dýmek (The Pipe Realm), "would be very complicated, as you'd be forced to have an official voucher for every few grams of sold tobacco. One would wind up with a drawer full of vouchers."

But such practical matters don't concern the state. Simply put, Krainová explains, "The sale of bulk tobacco is prohibited in the Czech Republic."

How did Jelínek miss that one? Well, it turns out he knew it all along. Despite his show of frustration, he admits, "I just keep it over here because it makes the place more attractive." After all, he says, "You have to offer the people something special so they will remember and keep coming back."

In other words, the advertisement in the window, the visible containers and the complaints about legal restrictions are all just tawdry marketing ploys. Jelínek does promise, though, to hand over some good bulk tobacco, free of charge, to anyone who purchases a pipe in his shop.

"They can't ban me from giving the customers a free gift," he boasts.

Because shop owners in other countries readily, and quite legally, measure loose pipe tobacco for paying customers, Jelínek blames the existence of this unique regulation on nefarious street sales. "Retail inspection is more cautious now because of smuggled tobacco," which ends up as cigarettes typically sold in open-air markets, he contends. According to a study published by the International Labor Office, smuggled tobacco products account for up to a quarter of cigarette sales in many European Union countries, costing governments several hundred million euros in lost tax revenue.

Meanwhile, pipe smokers in Prague must choose between brands packed in pouches or tins. Admittedly, there's little difference in quality. At least 80 percent of the world's tobacco harvest each year goes to cigarette manufacturers, and another portion to companies producing chewing tobacco for the Chevy pickup truck crowd.

High-end cigar and pipe tobacco companies pick the best leaves. Pipe smokers, after all, aren't in it for nicotine, according to Chuck Stanion, editor of Pipe and Tobacco Magazine. "Pipe smokers taste the tobacco for the sensory experience — the many flavors available in different pipe tobaccos, the aromas and the relaxing visual appeal of smoke drifting," he says. "It's a remarkably soothing activity."

As are those trips to Tesco for Visine.

But Jelínek's facade is for viewing, not for smoking — unless you shell out a few thousand crowns for a pipe. "Sadly, I have to do it like this and wait for the law to change," says, falling back into a complaining mode that seems to come naturally.

"It's all up to them."

— Petr Kašpar contributed to this report.