While I have no intention of putting this theory into practice, hypothetically if I made an opium tincture in a high proof alcohol and brought it through customs at an airport would it be detectable as anything but alcohol?

maybe opium

I think it will be fine, just put it into those Vanilla Extract bottles or something similar. Not clear about the restriction on bringing liquids aboard airplanes though...look into it.

To my knowledge, 3 oz is the maximum for carry on, but if it is in a bag you should be good. Drug dogs could be a factor, but if you sealed the bottle really well, and then washed it like a mother fucker, that should at least minimize the potential dog risk.

Here's a good tip to see if your method of hiding drugs from dogs works ..

Go buy a little bottle of butyric acid (can get off ebay, used for fish bait) , it's stinky AS FUCK , like a drop will stink out a whole room ..

(you might wanna do this outside)
Put a few drops in your container (or fill a little bottle etc), and wrap/seal it up etc until you can not smell it AT ALL, not even a tiny whiff of the stuff with your nose held up close to the package, then it *should* be enough .. replicate exactly the packing methods you used with your drugs :)

What I am wondering though is if the smell of otherwise legal alcohol will nullify any opium smell. I havn't smelt opium before but I would imagine that alcohol would be the stronger smell. If you have what appears to be a bottle of vodka in your bag they wouldn't give it more than a second look and they definatly won't take a swig out of it.

Dogs can smell meth in water, I heard? Or is this bs?

Just curious.

My understanding of a canine's olfactory-perception is that while us humans may smell a McDonald's Big Mac, they sense it as its constituent components: eg. the sesame bun, cheese, tomato, big mac sauce, and beef patties.

Logic would dictate that it would be able to differentiate between volatile opium and distilled spirits?

You want to mix alcohol and strong opiates?

If they search your luggage at customs then having a bottle of liquor that has been opened will raise suspicions. Smuggling meth in bottles of liquor was possible for a little while, so now customs agents analyze liquor bottles pretty throughly.

you might try Maker's Mark. If you're not familiar with it, it has a large glob of wax over the top of it. you could theorhetically open it up, mix in your opium, and re melt the wax over the top. But since this is such an obvious way to disguise it they may check it more closely.

i would reccomend trying it in a shampoo bottle of tube of tooth paste, something that everyone would expect you to have and pay not attention to.

OP, i think as long as you keep to the bottle size constraints enforced by the air port security you should be ok.
http://www.tsa.gov/311/index.shtm




but personally in this day an age, trying to smuggle drugs through an airport would be the last thing i want to do. even if it was only a tiny weeny bit.