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Posted

Ok, I need an opinion. My buddy was in Havana last week and I asked him to pick me up 15 Siglo IV Tubos for a party I'm throwing. He emailed me back that they were out of the one's in the nice Tubes but had them in the individual cardboard box. I've bought these before so I wasn't too concerned with the cardboard ones. Less impressive as a gift but whatever.

So I get them today and they are given to me as 15 individual cigar boxes. I would have thought they would have sold them to him as 3 x 5-packs with the individual boxes inside nice and safety sealed. So that was my first flag...

Then when I pull one out, I'm not liking the look of the band. At the very top...there's almost an extra row of white squares that's cut off...(see attached picture) I was told by an 'expert' and I have no reason to doubt him, that he has often bought boxes of Cohibas from reputable sources both in Canada and Cuba and these printing cut errors happen on occasion.

I thought the cigar band thing was pretty cut and dry...it's right or it isn't so I'm still a bit worried about these cigars. What's the concensus. Fake or not?

Posted

Sorry, I don't think I hit the Attach button correctly the first time. Let's see if the pic attaches now.post-11118-0-57489900-1328125219.jpg

Ok, I need an opinion. My buddy was in Havana last week and I asked him to pick me up 15 Siglo IV Tubos for a party I'm throwing. He emailed me back that they were out of the one's in the nice Tubes but had them in the individual cardboard box. I've bought these before so I wasn't too concerned with the cardboard ones. Less impressive as a gift but whatever.

So I get them today and they are given to me as 15 individual cigar boxes. I would have thought they would have sold them to him as 3 x 5-packs with the individual boxes inside nice and safety sealed. So that was my first flag...

Then when I pull one out, I'm not liking the look of the band. At the very top...there's almost an extra row of white squares that's cut off...(see attached picture) I was told by an 'expert' and I have no reason to doubt him, that he has often bought boxes of Cohibas from reputable sources both in Canada and Cuba and these printing cut errors happen on occasion.

I thought the cigar band thing was pretty cut and dry...it's right or it isn't so I'm still a bit worried about these cigars. What's the concensus. Fake or not?

Posted

Welcome to FoH BTW..you should swing by the newbie section and introduce yourself..

So right off the bat.. just by looking at the band alone..I'm leaning big time toward fake.

The white squares are cut off. Pretty bad print job.

There should be 3 rows on top of the COHIBA

Cuban Cigar Website

Posted

That band does look suspicious. Either your friend got some fakes or real ones that were sold "on the side". Do you have other Siglo VI's you can compare them to? Do they look the same? Smell similar? Maybe post more photos.

Posted

You know what I've never understood about counterfeiters? Why they mess up. I mean, if these are fake, they went through the trouble of making the raised lettering and the shiny gold Cohiba etc...but then added extra squares? Why? Why make such an obvious mistake?

Posted

There's more wrong with the band. The bottom rows against the gold "Cohiba" aren't right either.

Some more pics would be helpful. Picture of the foot too.

Any chance your buddy decided to buy a couple off the street because they were supposedly less expensive the the factory?

Posted

Betcha he bought em from a street vendor. I dont think you can buy individually boxed Cohibas if they are in fact legit. Guess he has some explaining to do.

Posted

When I clicked on your image to enlarge it, if you scrutinize the gold lettering and lines it seems to not look "meticulous" as a Cohiba band should. I look at it this way-Cohiba is THE flagship brand, and nothing about the band, cigars or packaging should ever appear sloppy or not perfect. I know it is Cuba, but we are also talking about the most conterfeited Cuban marca in the galaxy.

Posted

Cap construction looks a bit poor and the label in general looks poor, the cohiba lables are usually perfect; the gold looks a bit smudged and messy. But more pics are needed to be honest. It may just be a factory second etc.

Easiest test would be to light one up and see, you can't fake the cohiba blend.

Posted

Easiest test would be to light one up and see, you can't fake the cohiba blend.

Good point. Though I've read somewhere that rollers are allowed to keep or smoke up to 5 cigars they roll per day? Is that true? If so, surely some of those cigars make it onto the local market along with some faked or imperfect legit bands. Though I cannot see the printer shipping substandard bands to their customers.

I recently received a fiver of Siglo II's from a friend that went down to Cuba. They look kinda suspect to me. They are in a cello pack. I'll post a separate thread sometime later.

Posted

Did the individual box packaging the cigar came in look used or tattered in any way? Only way to tell for sure is by cutting it open or smoking it. The band does look a little bit suspicious though.

Posted

Ive yet to see a legitimate Cohiba band with the gold box around the name with the same width as as the gold line that goes goes around teh box.

Every real Cohiba I have seen has the thickness of the gold line around the band about twice the thickness of line used in the rectangular box.

Posted

I gotta say, nothing screams "fake" to me here at all...I have seen some Cohibas with a slight miscut of the rows many times. While it is one of the tell-tale signs of a fake cigar, it alone, in my own opinion, is not enough to claim fake.

More pics, price paid, receipt, story, etc...would help.

I'm not sure what more pics you want...each cigar looks exactly like this one..but I paid somewhere around $11 per stick, he has the receipt and he's my best friend and I gave him explicit instructions only to buy them from the Partagas factory store. I know he didn't screw around with this. If they are fake, then the clerk at the Partagas factory in Havana keeps fakes behind the counter for suckers who can't see the difference or don't bother to check. Honestly, I think they are fake so anyone saying so won't be insulting me...but seriously...if you can't trust buying them at the source...geezus that pisses me off.

I'm a Montecristo man...so even lighting one up right now...unless it tastes like dog poo, I don't know if I could tell you, "yeah, that's a Cohiba".

As Peter Griffin would say "....this grinds my gears!"

Posted

Ok, I just opened another one...and this one the squares match up...the cap looks good to me...I dunno...this looks like a good cigar...attached are better pics...I think part of the problem people have with giving their opinion on the gold part is that fact that the reflection in the photos throws things off...it is raised and shiny gold...must be hard to counterfeit no?

post-11118-0-93302400-1328147406.jpg

post-11118-0-03223800-1328147416.jpg

post-11118-0-27546200-1328147424.jpg

post-11118-0-45128500-1328147431.jpg

post-11118-0-18425900-1328147439.jpg

post-11118-0-54512700-1328147448.jpg

Posted

Looks fine to me. Dimensions look right (very hard to tell from picture, but a guesstimate). Caps look well done. Nice wrappers (not a crappy wrapper, not something that looks like it was made in someone's kitchen by a half-blind stooge). Bunch at the foot looks well-done and in the right style, if not maybe just a bit over-full potentially (depends on if the draw is free enough).

Stuff can happen. Is there a chance that some "fakes" could get shuffled in there? Yes. But if he bought it at the Partagas store, it's still a Cuban then - it just may be grey/black market from within Cuba, a side-deal stick or whatnot. Still likely perfect, aside from band cosmetics (there are flaws to their band making practices, that's for sure, and sometimes the bad/ugly bands end up getting used).

Smoke it and enjoy.

Posted

Give the suspicious looking one to the guy who's the most drunk.

:buddies:

Posted

I don't mean to be to forward about this but I've see something very similar to these fakes before, they will smoke well and they will taste ok but they are fakes. In the first picture the band is obviously fake with the dots as well as the way it is embroidered, the letters should be right on not off to the side. On the second picture the issue with the embroidering continues as well as an issue with the dots, there should be a viable black space under the first row of dots. The boxes appear to be real and the cigars will smoke well so enjoy.

  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

oh my god ! i am too affraid to have bad surprises like these when ordering on online shops !

Posted

If he purchased it in Havana from a "Jinetero" aka street hustler, than more than likely you did not get an authentic Cohiba. You do have a cuban cigar made with cuban tobacco, but their would be no way to decipher from which factory it was produced. Also, I dont think counterfeiters in Cuba import their tobacco as it would be taxed by the government in CUC (convertible peso) while their salaries are in CUP (pesos); a price they simply can not afford. I'd say smoke it, give it a herf or two, but it did not come from El Laguito....

Cheers mate,

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