Sketchy CC MC Bands

[bballbaby]

So i've got a few ISOM montecristos now, and i've had a few in the past, but the bands among them all have some inconsistencies.

I bought some in Mobay Jamaica a few years ago. 5 MC #2 for somethign like $90 USD. They were gorgeous looking sticks and they were really good too. However, the bands on them were very lite brown and they were all off center. Not all were off center int he same place either, each of the 5 was different.

I bought a few others this year from the resort we were staying at. The bands are the same light brown, but they are all on center. The cigars themselves were in a tube. I inspected the box and everything looked in order to my educated, but untrained eye. I smoked one which had a very strange grass taste, but i've punched another and the draw throguh it is very good, so i'm about 75% certain these are authentic.

I recently was gifted a petit edmundo and the band on this one is centered but the shade of brown is distinctly darker than the ones i have. I got it from a brother on this board, so i assume it to be 100%S authentic.

I also recently made a trade for some #2s and #4s. The bands on those are the lite brown like the tubos that i have but they are cnetered. The sticks themselves look good and the foot smells good, but i havent' tasted one yet to see how they smoke.

What do you guys think about the band inconsistencies? is that typical? I would think MC would have the same color band for everything.

Thoughts?

 

[dpricenator]

I've heard that color and die-lot differences are common place coming out of Cuba. My concern is that you bought these smokes in a tourist destination and not at the LCDH store. Just based on that I would think you chances are less than 75%, but that's just me. I'll have to look at my bands when I get home.

 

[Greg]

Jamaica you say? Not exactly the place I'd go shopping for a Cuban cigar. The best cigars in Jamaica are absent of any tobacco :smokingbo

I've heard your best shot is paying high dollar, even then I'd worry. Counterfeits are everywhere in the Carribean basin. But the only way to truly tell is to smoke it.

 

[indyrob]

I don't think it's about the dye.

The bands are most assuredly offset printed in mother sheets about 22"x30" and then stamped out (die cut) in a cutter in stacks of 25-50 mother sheets each...If there was any inconsistencies on the sheet, it would look mottled and trashed. There are a few things you can do that changes the color slightly, like having too much water on the rollers during the printing process,or having someone mess up the formula a little bit, but for the most part the ink is in a reservoir and is fed throughout using various rollers until it hits the plate then the blanket then the substrate.

As far as being off center from stick to stick, I'm not sure if the bands get put on just before boxing or not (seems to me that they would) but if it's off center on one it should follow through to the next band since it was cut that way.

From a pressman's stance, I think anyone that runs a press becomes a little anal about what rolls of their press...regardless of country. I think the problem really is counterfeiters making crappy bands because they don't know how to do it right.

 

[bballbaby]

Jamaica you say? Not exactly the place I'd go shopping for a Cuban cigar

Believe me, my sole purpose for going to JA was not to shop for cigars, i can assure you that. But i assumed that the reputable establishment at whcih i was a guest would not serve fake cigars. Coincidentally, i did pick up a few Partagas serie D no. 4 from that resort establishment that i'm quite certain are the real deal. They are fantastic.

Now the first lot of MC #2 i bought at the airport on the way home. I knew the risk i was taking and unfortunatley i was in a hurry and did not check the labels nearly as closely as i should have. I took a quick look at the box and saw the sticks themselves, which were absolutely gorgeous, and said ok. I was in a good mood and took what i knew to be a roll of the dice at best. I most likely got took on that one.


On a funny note, i walked down the beach to a beach vendors "hut" and took a look at his cabinet of cigars, cuban of course. he had a ton of cohibas, they looked pretty good, but i knew better. As i walked past the cash register, there's the proprietor taking fresh cigars out of little white cardboard boxes and putting cohiba bands on them. He never stopped the entire time i was in there, and when i walked past the cabinet again, he asked me if i wanted some real cubans cuz he had a bunch of them, the real thing he said. What a hoot. He didn't even try to hide it.

 

[bballbaby]

I don't think it's about the dye.

The bands are most assuredly offset printed in mother sheets about 22"x30" and then stamped out (die cut) in a cutter in stacks of 25-50 mother sheets each...If there was any inconsistencies on the sheet, it would look mottled and trashed. There are a few things you can do that changes the color slightly, like having too much water on the rollers during the printing process,or having someone mess up the formula a little bit, but for the most part the ink is in a reservoir and is fed throughout using various rollers until it hits the plate then the blanket then the substrate.

As far as being off center from stick to stick, I'm not sure if the bands get put on just before boxing or not (seems to me that they would) but if it's off center on one it should follow through to the next band since it was cut that way.

From a pressman's stance, I think anyone that runs a press becomes a little anal about what rolls of their press...regardless of country. I think the problem really is counterfeiters making crappy bands because they don't know how to do it right.

Woah. I'm not quite sure what to make of all that, other than i think you think they might be fakes, i think.

 

[indyrob]

Sorry...too much coffee & free time this morning.

There is a logical way to look at something...If you have a doubt about it, you're probably holding a fake.

 

[Greg]

Yeah, counterfeit band = counterfeit cigar. However, a legitimate cigar band does not a real Cuban cigar make, i.e., there are some legitimate, or near perfect copies of Cuban cigar bands on counterfeit cigars as well.

Basically, judging the legitimacy of a Cuban cigar by the band isn't the only criteria you should use (the only way to truly know is by taste), but obviously, if the band is questionable then so is the cigar.

 

[bballbaby]

So then all yous guys that are sitting on MCs, what color brown are your bands? Lite brown or dark brown, like the brown from a dominican MC band.

 

[Tegu]

The old Monte bands are darker than the new ones.

http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar/CA_Counterfeits/Genuine_Page/0,3392,33,00.html

 

[bballbaby]

The old Monte bands are darker than the new ones.

http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar/CA_Counterfeits/Genuine_Page/0,3392,33,00.html

Excellent link. I had noticed all of those things and it all maked since.

My confidence in my resort purchase is growing.

 

[Tegu]

Excellent link. I had noticed all of those things and it all maked since.

My confidence in my resort purchase is growing.

I hav had alot of fake cubans (thank you cancun, cozumel, and belize) and have kept most of the bands, some of them look good, some are obvious fakes, but the ones that look good are fairly close to the real ones, how I could tell they were fake is that they did not use the right kind of glue to hold them on the sticks, they used glue gun like glue, instead of the plant based glue used on Cigars. I guess someone glued them on in their garage or something.

 

[blessednxs65]

Having smoked a couple of fakes I share BBall's concerns. Hopefully we will be past the Embargo soon and we'll be able to openly purchase and compare against the sticks we now acquire legally.

 

[bballbaby]

What kind of Montecristos were in the tube? Only ones in the tubes are the Tubos and Petit Tubos.

Small ring gauge and something like 6" long. Guage is similar to a typical panetela

I removed them from the tubes due to the embargo and customs.

 

[bballbaby]

Nice link again. That helps a lot

I feel pretty comfortable that what i have are authentic now.

The tubos i had were just that, tubos, not petit