Celebrity Fakes - What’s your take?

[Stew]

So I’m a fan of Spike Feresten. He’s got a great podcast about cars and he’s a former writer for Seinfeld, one of my all time favorite shows. He also happens to be a cigar smoker, and often talks about enjoying Cubans on his podcast. I was scrolling through Instagram stories and spotted these Hoyo Epi 2’s on Spikes story. Immediately the two on the right stuck out as potential fakes - No embossing, gaps between the red and gold in the hoyo crest, and overlapping text with the gold stripe under “No2” on the secondary band.

What’s your take? Hard to believe someone with his money and access would be smoking fakes.


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[jvd1230]

Wealth and ignorance aren't mutually exclusive haha. Those do look fake. Could be an instance of "real cubans, fake brand"

 

[ChuckMejia]

Not often do you see an epi fake

He'll be ok tho

 

[Rupe]

Here is a photo of Shaq's walk-in humidor. Not only is it woefully undertstocked, check out the glasstop box of fake Cohibas in the lower left-hand corner.

 

[VeLoRoK]

Here is a photo of Shaq's walk-in humidor. Not only is it woefully undertstocked, check out the glasstop box of fake Cohibas in the lower left-hand corner.

View attachment 147385

Lol Shaq is a scrub.

 

[akpreacherplayz]

Lol Shaq is a scrub.

Lol


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[mitetak]

Lol Shaq is a scrub.

LOL

 

[multi-useless]

Here is a photo of Shaq's walk-in humidor. Not only is it woefully undertstocked, check out the glasstop box of fake Cohibas in the lower left-hand corner.

View attachment 147385

I love that there’s only 1 left in the box, lol

 

[Dran]

I was gonna jump to Shaq's defense... As I also have a glass top for the novelty, but none of mine have been, nor will be smoked.

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[Sambronian]

Wish I had his humidor! By the looks of it, I have a much larger collection. Lol

 

[OneStrangeOne]

Just because someone has wealth doesn’t mean that they have knowledge or even common sense, there is a picture of one of these DB’s lighting a cigar that still has the cedar sleeve on! I can’t remember who it was, some b ball player or rapper I think.

 

[Madcox]

Here is a photo of Shaq's walk-in humidor. Not only is it woefully undertstocked, check out the glasstop box of fake Cohibas in the lower left-hand corner.

View attachment 147385

Shaq’s collection resembles his free throw shooting His walk-in is nice though.

 

[BasicTek]

Hi walk-in maybe represents his rebounding or FG shooting

 

[jvd1230]

Here is a photo of Shaq's walk-in humidor. Not only is it woefully undertstocked, check out the glasstop box of fake Cohibas in the lower left-hand corner.

I cant help but notice now also, all of the horrible water stains coming off of that humidifier. He must have been ripped off by a bad contractor when that setup was made. I wouldnt surprised if the wood paneling was just plain ol cedar, not even spanish cedar.

 

[welder572]

You looking for this guy @OneStrangeOne

 

[Alwayslit]

Here is a photo of Shaq's walk-in humidor. Not only is it woefully undertstocked, check out the glasstop box of fake Cohibas in the lower left-hand corner.

View attachment 147385

LOL, this is sad.

 

[Fourtotheflush]

My brother went to Cuba!
went into a cigar shop and bought me a box of Cohibas!
gave them to me LY.
i gave the box a look but not an inspection!
FAKE!
a good fake, but a fake non the less.
immupset....

Do I tell him?

 

[multi-useless]

My brother went to Cuba!
went into a cigar shop and bought me a box of Cohibas!
gave them to me LY.
i gave the box a look but not an inspection!
FAKE!
a good fake, but a fake non the less.
immupset....

Do I tell him?

Tough call... as cigar enthusiasts, the morally responsible thing would be to educate people whenever and wherever we can - even explaining it to someone who’s completely uninterested, can have a positive ripple effect - say one of their friends mentions to them that they’re going on vacation, they might recall that “my asshole neighbour who smokes cigars every day and never mows his lawn says that lots of Cubans are fake, and that you gotta buy from legit cigar shops”. Could help someone you’ve never even met, and could be the reason for one less fake in this world.

At the same time, I smoked a fauxhiba in Mexico once, long before I really got into cigars, and I enjoyed it. So when one of my cousins was telling me a couple years ago how he and his friends smoked Cuban Cohibas on a beach in Mexico once and they were great, I just rolled with it. He’s not a cigar guy, but he was happy with the experience so why ruin it for him? If he tells me he’s going on vacation again, I’ll educate him a bit before he goes. Until then, as long as it’s just a single stick experience, I was that guy once too...

@Fourtotheflush just for kicks, can we see some pics?

 

[Fourtotheflush]

I didn’t take any, but I will snap some later tonight!

 

[Fourtotheflush]

So it was actually 2 summahs ago that my brother got these for me during a trip to Cuba.
I didn’t look, other than wide eyed at the Cohiba box.
Just tossed them in the bottom of the humi.
Box top looks ok
Seal at the time was much less faded.
But the holograph is just a print job.
No code or date on bottoms.
Cigar band is flawed!
I actually didn’t even consider anything when I recently opened the box.
Then when I saw 1 cigar outside the bundle and 1 band not lined up in the bunch I started looking.
The Band is lacking everything!
Only took one moments to realize it and dash my hopes of greatness!

I then Dissected one- why not / im not smoking them!
So
1 wrapper - looked in really good shape.
NO BINDER!
Just bunch
First few leafs were all good looking long filler.
Then some Half filler that was pretty stemmy.
No trash though
The trash you see broke off the long or me filler.