You're 100% wrong Mr. Kahuna. The cigar store I bought these from has been in business in a very upscale area in Vancouver (Gas Town) for 28 years. He explained to me that the supplier at the time did in fact remove the serial number and placed their own label on the box as authentication. He told me flat out, that he would buy them back from me for a substantial premium I might add. If they were fugazi (your statement). Why in the world would he offer to do that? So, yes there was a quick resolution to this. I brought this to FOH to get some answers. I supplied numerous pictures of the cigars for reference.