Are they real & is it worth it?

[Reelman]

Missed that.....Good pickup!

 

[Knickerbocker]

thanks trent

 

[Trent0341]

+1 The signature of RyJ is the flavor profile. It is a wonderful profile of fragrances, which is why they have kept a very good name and virtually all of their vitolas intact as other CC brands have dropped some vitolas. When in good form, the RyJ is one of the premier CC sticks. And, of course, it has the CC twang. Not strong by any means, and considered a mild cigar by CC standards. Certainly mild compared to virtually any NC. The vitola is one of their better ones, IMHO.

I would give it a month to rest and come back to form. Don't rush these, as they have some age and could be real gems when back to form.

I think your right about RyJ being one of the premier marcas out their. I think they're fairly underrated. My go to stick lately has been the Exh. No. 4. They range from mind blowing (some 99s I bought as a gamble that really paid off) to fantastic (the box from 09 I'm working my way through now). I actually haven't tried a Cazadores as of yet but will definitely give it a try in the future based off of that.

thanks trent

Absolutely... I'm by no means an expert but with Trevors site it makes things a lot easier.

 

[Simian504]

Just to add something... The D.O.P. seal appears to have the gold edging at the ends as well. I've never seen that on any of my boxes (I'll add some pictures here in a second).

Here's one from the same time period (2005-2009) that appears to be in the OPs photo:

And here's one from 2010:

The gold lines just go to the ends. They're not a border (biggest flag in my opinion) which it looks like in your photo. That combined with the fact that it appears perfect, never actually applied to a box, and the band is improperly applied with the numbers showing would concern me. I did just check cubancigarwebsite.com and it doesn't show any of the D.O.P. seals with a complete gold foil border either. Of course it could just be my phone screen thats making it look like there is gold foil lines on the end as well.

I checked The seal and gold bands do stop at the ends. It still has the backing on the seal so that's probably another bad sign. We'll see though. hopefully they are a nice smoke if nothing else.
I have no base for comparison so maybe I'll find a little bliss in my ignorance this time I'm going to try one in a week or so and report on it.

Thank you all for you input! As usual, this place is brimming with people willing to help another brother.
-R

 

[icehog3]

Late to the party here, but since these are certainly fakes... I wouldn't smoke them, brother!

Do a back search to find a ton of horror stories about what may be actually inside a counterfeit cigar. Remember, they're not trying to make something that tastes good... they're just trying to make something that looks close enough to real that they make money from tourists who they'll likely never see again. We're talking banana leaf, plant stems, flower petals, hair...... no thanks...... fakes belong in the trash can.

I understand your hope for blissful ignorance...... but I'd stick with informed intelligence if I were you - the percentages for ultimate enjoyment are much greater...

String, plastic.....not just unappetizing stuff, but potentially dangerous in some I have dissected.

 

[weskimad]

Always lots of great advice as always, but let's remember we're talking about cigars here, not life saving medicine. First off if I were to adopt cigars, they would get frozen first just to be safe. Then rehumidify slowly hoping that the essential oils are still present. 55 percent is only 5 percent lower then many store their cigars so they might be ok if that was the worse case do the storage humidity. As far as the exact labeling of boxes, if they are from Cuba their printing process and change control is not up to world class standards, so some differences is not entirely atypical. Finally, your nose knows. Once you rehabilitate them, do they smell great, like nothing, or like a turd? That likely is your best measure. If a counterfeit cigar somehow smells great, then open one up. Is it tobacco or full of foreign material? If not, and the source sounds like it is genuine, don't overthink it and enjoy them.

 

[ciggy]

Late to the party here, but since these are certainly fakes... I wouldn't smoke them, brother!

Pete once told me he bought some fakes on purpose and they were damn good. Said laughingly he wished he's bought a couple more. just goes to show some fakes can be good i guess. Up to you what you do with them though.