Yes, more fakes from that Caribbean island...

[KiloWhiskey]

I had a pretty exciting morning. A co-workers brother-in-law brought back cigars from Cuba and was interested in selling them. I asked if I could see them as I was interested. The cigars were purchased from a cousin of the guys cuban wife that works in the factory. He said the cigars came from the factory. The same old story....

Yes, it turns out they were fake.

First box:

Cohiba Pirámides....From the outside: Were in a brown wooden box. The Habanos band and Cuban Tax/Customs sticker looked legit. BUT no date stamp on bottom of box, no Edicion Limitada band in corner of box under the Habanos band, La Habana, Cuba on wrong side of front.

On inside of box: This was the kicker. Edicion Limitada band on cigars said 2011 but cigars were Pirámides format not the Cohiba 1966 Cañonazo Especial format. They didn't smell right and the craftmanship of the torcedor was not good at all. They were ugly cigars.

Second box:

The next box was RyJ. They box looked legit, the Habanos band and Cuban Tax/Customs sticker looked legit. HOWEVER, again no date stamp on bottom of the box, and nothing on the side of the box telling me what vitola it was. I had to open the box to see what format it was.

On the inside: Turns out it was a Churchill. The cigars were a much better quality than the Cohibas I looked at earlier. But they didn't smell right either. The band(S) looked legit. It had the red RyJ band and the gold band saying "Romeo y Julieta Churchills". However, of all the searching I did online I could not find this combination of bands on one cigar. I found a red RyJ band and also gold band saying only "Churchill" on the same cigar. And I found a only a gold band saying "Romeo y Julieta Churchills" on a cigar. Even though the cigars themselves looked good the other inconsistencies made my spider senses tingle.

I didn't buy either of the boxes and told him they were fakes. I took pictures but can't load them right now. I have to wait till I get home. I will post the photos later.

For those that will make the trip to Cuba, (if you haven't seen these already) I hope this helps you know what's out there.

Even though I missed out on a chance for some great cigars, it was time well spent looking at and touching real fakes. I've read a lot about fakes but never actually saw some with my own eyes. It was a pretty cool experience.

Cheers!


Post Edit: I'm back home and posted the pictures below.....

 

[ciggy]

Hate to see this...People really need to educate themselves before they buy. What a shame.

 

[Knickerbocker]

the people who get caught up in buying fakes do not care enough to educate themselves.

 

[orangedog]

or don't know to even think of it. not everyone assumes that every product is counterfeited.

 

[CO Smokes]

What always kills me is when a relative or friend brings me back "Cubans" from a vacation and they didn't know they were fake. They took the time to think of me and pick up a gift and some asshole overseas ripped them off. I usually dont tell them but it always makes me so angry that people make a living ripping other people off

 

[Knickerbocker]

The way I worded my statement was a bit terse, what I actually meant was that people like the ones on this forum are not going to get duped. we put in research, we have resources to compare fakes with authentic, we know what to look for immediately on the packaging and the bands.

people who are tourists and who do not smoke cigars regularly or do not have any experience with CC's will not understand that CC's are highly counterfeited products and even if they do understand they do not know how to spot a fake one if they saw it!

 

[cartisdm]

My wife and I just had this experience while she was shopping for a CHI hair iron. Even Walmart had the FAKE product on their shelf! Would YOU have known it was fake if your wife asked you to pick one up?

...

P.S. - yes, I told Walmart... yes, I brought proof when we had the real thing... yes, they gave me a refund... yes, their manager agreed to call corporate and have them pulled from the shelves...

Holy crap. They make fake flat irons now? WTF? I would have never guessed. I also recently found out there's a whole market out there for fake golf clubs. At least the golf clubs thing I can understand, but fake hair care stuff from a department store? :squinteye

 

[CO Smokes]

Knickerbocker, I disagree they don't care enough to educate themselves...... it's hard to educate yourself on a topic that is largely banned from being discussed... and that's assuming you KNOW you need to be educated, in the first place. MOST people don't make sure they're not buying fakes with all SORTS of things. My wife and I just had this experience while she was shopping for a CHI hair iron. Even Walmart had the FAKE product on their shelf! Would YOU have known it was fake if your wife asked you to pick one up? It's not that I didn't care enough to educate myself... I didn't know I needed to be educated.

CO Smokes, we'll probably just agree to disagree... but you've got to TELL people. The ONLY way the fakes will disappear is if people KNOW they made a mistake and TELL OTHERS too! By NOT telling them, they'll probably do it again...... or at least tell about their wonderful experience to others who will. That's where the OP did it right, here....... he told them they were fake..... and probably helped educate them on how to tell the difference and the places they should stick to for buying...

... and Knickerbocker... this goes to my original point. CO Smokes' family/friends doesn't know they need to be educated... and nobody bothers to teach anyway...... so it's hard to blame the consumer every time.

P.S. - yes, I told Walmart... yes, I brought proof when we had the real thing... yes, they gave me a refund... yes, their manager agreed to call corporate and have them pulled from the shelves...

I do see what you mean but I've had multiple people get offended when I told them they bought fakes. To them it was like I just told them "hey idiot, you got ripped off". Obviously I didn't mean to be rude, but they still took it that way. Any fellow smoker that gets duped ALWAYS gets a little Cuban 101 lesson from me so it doesn't happen again. in my experience non smokers don't seem to give a shit they just don't get me cigars anymore lol.

My main point was that it disgusts me that people make a living cheating others.

 

[KiloWhiskey]

Sorry for the poor quality of photos, but I only had my cell phone camera... Here are the photos as promised:

Cohiba:

RyJ:

Jim, I did educate him. I showed him how it should look compared to what it actually looked like. He didn't know anything about cigars, but he walked away today realizing there is alot more to cigars than what people assume. It was a really cool experience.

 

[Alwayslit]

.....Wow

 

[ironchefscott]

All this talk of fake cubans is making me wonder how many of the cigars I have bought from someone or got gifted were legit.......maybe that that is why I have not been blown away by many?

 

[Pooh Bore]

Unfortunately if the price is too good to be true it normally is. Compared to uk or Internet prices its still cheaper to buy them legitimately in Cuba. So why go for the extra saving and risk buying fakes?

 

[SurpriseMVP]

Not to hijack this thread, but a co-worker of mine just bought fakes. He went to Mexico and I told him don't buy from a dude on the beach. Also explained to stay away from Cohiba and Monte since those are usually faked. Told him to look for something not likely to be faked like a Boli or VR. Well he came back all excited with 4 Montes that he bought from a beach vendor. When I said "I told you not to buy on the beach", he replied that the dude showed him credentials. He pulled out some sort of card showing him he is an authorized dealer, then explained why he should use matches and not a torch to light cigars. Guess it was a good sales pitch. Either way he showed me what he bought and I told him right away they were fakes. Came in Cello, not even a size Monte makes, bad photo copied bands. He then asked if I wanted to smoke one anyway to which I replied they need to go in the trash. I cut one open for him so he could see the short filler. Lesson learned "I Think". maybe he will be smarter next time.

 

[Gravity]

Sad stuff, I would put cigars right up there with watches and purses for extreme danger of counterfeit. There are a few things that you just aren't going to get a real good deal on, AND get a legit item at the same time. There's a reason some products are so highly counterfeited, because the originals hold their price.

Counterfeit flat irons at wal-mart though, that's a new one. Just proves you're better off not trusting anybody on anything you buy, always educate yourself. "Ok buddy, where's this California cow this cheese came from?? Do you just have some Nevada cow cheese that you're calling California cheese? You know they're happier, RIGHT?!"

 

[Trent0341]

I noticed that that both boxes had the code on them. I'm curious if you ever ran this on Habanos SA website to see if the codes are fake as well? I'm sure some of the fakes are putting real codes on the boxes I'm just curious as to how prevalent it is.

 

[gibbleguts]

The problem with using that to check your sticks is that the HSA site doesn't always work even with LEGIT codes! I bought a box at the Partagas Factory in Havana... another at the LCDH next to the RyJ Factory...... and the codes didn't check out; haha! It's a pretty worthless system. The only way to tell, for sure, is true trust in your source (and I'm pretty confident in the LCDHs at the factories themselves).

I agree mostly. I do know people who have gotten fakes out of the RyJ factory shop. Never on full boxes but on those pre packaged 5 packs they sell to tourists. Had a girl come in Thursday night to the shop and she had just came back from Cuba with a fake box of esplendidos she bought on the resort. They were all long filler but all seco so going to be some pretty bland cigars but smelt like good tobacco anyways.