Scratched Out Bar Codes?

[Catawbamatt]

Need some help here, this is only the second CC purchase I've made. The barcode came looking like the picture shows, completely scratched out. However, the side bands of Habanos SA and LCDH were still sealed.

What does this mean? Why was this done? Does this mean they are possibly fakes?

 

[Eric]

Grey market.

 

[ZaneG]

Grey market.

What Eric said.

 

[Catawbamatt]

thanks guys

 

[brandoncpm]

Grey market.

What Eric said.

Not true. They are fakes. Send them to me and I'll dispose of them

 

[shadowcam]

Grey market.

What Eric said.

Not true. They are fakes. Send them to me and I'll dispose of them

Go away troll You know you only want CCs with RE or LE bands. This is way below your standards.

 

[brandoncpm]

Grey market.

What Eric said.

Not true. They are fakes. Send them to me and I'll dispose of them

Go away troll You know you only want CCs with RE or LE bands. This is way below your standards.

Coming from "the pot" I'll take that as a compliment.

 

[ShaneG]

Limited knowledge but guy feeling is- I'm calling admiral ackbar on that.

 

[Jp1979]

Very common practice. no worries

 

[StogieNinja]

Sometimes the grey-market vendors will scratch out the barcode in a limited attempt to conceal the origin of the box.

 

[Jp1979]

there are more of them on the seal if you have a magnifying glass.

 

[Catawbamatt]

where at on the seal? like in the hologram?

 

[Jp1979]

they are microscopicly small and in various places in the graphics of the seal. I believe there is one somewhere near the bottom right corner if I remember correctly. cubancigarwebsite.com will show you where to look, it should be the late 2009 and up seal. they have pictures on there.

 

[Catawbamatt]

Thanks!

 

[DanLAXX1]

Here's some closeups for you Matt...

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe they only started putting the numbers on the sticker around 2012-13. I know that any boxes I that I have from 2011 don't have them on it. Another way to tell if they're authentic is to take a black light to the warranty sticker. You'll see something that looks like national seal(?) that only shows under the light.

Here's some pictures to show you what I'm talking about. One with and one without the black light. Hope this helps! Any questions, don't hesitate to PM me.

 

[Catawbamatt]

awesome Dan, I appreciate it

 

[PuffPuffSigh]

I've heard the whole grey market "distributors don't want it traced back to them" line. I strongly suspect bullsh*t. I've ordered online from vendors selling outside of their region that leave the codes intact. Who are they afraid is going to raid your home and trace back boxes in private possession to see where they came from?

My concern would be seals that have been counterfeited perfectly wouldn't be able to pass the Habanos authenticity check for multiple boxes. If they print the same code on all your boxes then you know it's fake since each box has it's own unique code. I could print a bunch of fake seals all with the same serial number XXXXXXXXXX which is a real box of say Cohiba Siglo VI which would pass inspection but since they can't ALL have that number it's an easy way of being caught. Also I heard it's possible batches of seals were stolen from actual factories and sold to counterfeiters. In this case, Habanos can just void the number batch. So counterfeiters would have perfect seals but invalid serial numbers.

Either way, I just make it policy to have fully intact boxes with seals ;-)

 

[Deadman's Point]

There's a lot of theory in this post ^^^. I understand it is merely an opinion, but it prompts a million -"Is this real?" threads. Absence of a barcode is a common occurrence.