Question about Barbeque Sauce
 

I'm flying to Germany tomorrow and I wanted to bring a bottle of hardcore Texas barbeque sauce for my friend over there. I wanted to bring my suitcase carry-on so I don't have to worry about anything, but then this morning I remembered about the barbeque sauce. TSA won't let me carry it in my bag, right? They'll confiscate it? THAT DEADLY BARBEQUE SAUCE, inducing dangerous hypertension via sodium overdose!!!!

Seriously, though, am I gonna have to check my stuff in because of the sauce? I really didn't want to have to do that.

Your options are:
a) messy: repackage it into bottles less than 3.4 ounces (or 3 oz, depending on the educational level of the TSA droid you encounter) each and put them in your 1 quart Freedom Baggie with your other liquids, gels and aerosols. Wash and dry the original bottle and reassemble at the other end, or
b) difficult: convince the TSA droids that Texas BBQ sauce is a medically necessary liquid, or
c) risky: bury the bottle deep in your carry-on and hope that the TSA droids are too busy flirting with each other to pay attention to the x-ray machine when your bag goes through, or
d) annoying: wrap it very carefully and check your bag.

Welcome to Amerika. :(

Can you Fedex or otherwise send it ahead of you?

Don't know what the shops have at SAT. But if by chance, you are flying out of AUS, at least one of the shops has BBQ sauce, I think from the Salt Lick. You can buy it airside and carry it on with you.

Not sure if it would cause any issues if you have to go through other security checkpoints in Europe.

AUS2008, it's Rudy's BBQ sauce, not that random junk at the airport gift shop. (I'm sure some of it's good, but I'm not getting that, who knows how long it's been sitting on the shelf) Texas BBQ sauce IS a medically necessary liquid! Are you kidding me?! Of course it is!

That being said, of the options RadioGirl gave me, the best-sounding one seems to be burying it in my carry-on bag & hoping they're flirting and being goofy. How is this "risky", by the way? It's a sealed bottle of BBQ sauce, what are they gonna do? It barely qualifies as a liquid, it's got pepper in it and other solids, hahaha.

If they do find it and harass me for it, what happens? I'll just be forced to check the bag in, right? Or shall something more devious and evil at the hands of a sinister cabal occur?

Don't rick checking all of your stuff. Find a small box, wrap the bottle in bubble wrap, newspaper, or a hotel towel, tape it shut, and check the box.

I've done it frequently with wine. If the airline loses the box, no big deal. Losing my stuff would be much more annoying.

How small a box are we talking about here? I guess I'll go to the Post Office in the morning to buy the box and some bubble wrap.

If you are transiting thru DFW, you can pick up some sauce in the airport.

Cousin's Bar-B-Q
B27, D28
Dickey's Barbecue Pit
A18, C6, E12
Railhead BBQ
D18

I don't think there are any BBQ joints inside SAT.

Freeze it and get a wig like Brittney Spears.

No joints, but BBQ sauces at the shops. That's why I was babbling about shelf life. I'm transiting via Atlanta, I don't know Georgia cuisine, haha.

I like the idea of a box and bubble wrap. Easy, low-cost and simple. Seems like it would work, I'm just curious about how big the box should be, haha.

OP, I don't know if you saw this. Are you connecting anywhere in Europe to get to your end destination?

And I know that I have to run and hide if I ask if Texas barbecue sauce is that much different from German curry ketchup? :p

Nope, I saw it. I'm not connecting in Europe, Atlanta to Germany and I'm where I need to be.

If they find the sauce, they will declare it a liquid and not allow you to carry it through. (According to TSA, peanut butter is a liquid. :rolleyes: ) My only experience in Texas was a transit at DFW in about 1993, so I don't know how likely they are to find it at your particular airport.

In theory, if they find it, they should offer you the chance to go back and check in your bag; in practice, it has been widely reported here that TSA droids simply slam-dunk your bottle of "liquid" into the Rubbermaid trashcan before you have a chance to contemplate your other options. Again, I have no idea how likely this is at your airport.

So my mention of "risk" was simply that you might lose the sauce.
If you have to go through security again in ATL, you double the chances that they'll find the bottle or that they'll trash it.

I'd go with the box and bubble-wrap solution.;)

Hmmmm. Sounds good, RadioGirl. You Aussies are awesome, you know that, right? ;) I'd love to visit your country/continent sometime.

Wrap it good, hide it in your carry on, and hope for the best. If they find it (low probability) play dumb (you thought just water wasn't allowed, or because it was factory sealed you thought it was OK, whatever...) and then just check your bag if they throw a fit.