Happy Birthday Fakes!

[bdp]

So, my missus has been overseas for 2 weeks and organised 10x Boli's as a surprise gift for my b'day before she went.. but she left the with her mother and I only got them on Saturday.

So they were in 2 plastic bags for maybe 3 weeks and it has been pretty hot for part of that time.

I think what we see here is mostly poor handling, but there's a couple of things that are a little worrying.

I think in part it's that I've consistently had good stock from good suppliers, but 7 of the 10 sticks are pretty rough looking.

Of most interest to me is the mold. They're all a little *sparkly*, which I've seen described as the beginnings of plume or more likely mineral deposits if if got really hot and they sweated.

Due to my confidence that they got pretty warm, I'm not surprised that they're likely showing first stages of mold, but I can't tell between it being hairy wrappers and actual mold. The fuzzy bits don't brush off.

Only one is a definite, as it's got a couple nice large crusty patches.

Now for the weird story:

I spoke to my other half briefly and she went on to tell me how she kept it all a secret and the supplier told her that you can't get boxes because of the new packaging laws... very fishy given that there were no olive bands on the individual sticks!

It's an Australia supplier with a retail outlet, so I think they're likely just very poor versions of the real thing.

I don't feel ripped off because I didn't pay for them and "it's the thought that counts" goes a long way with me.

But I welcome your comments on any aspect of these disappointing cigars.

Unstuck cap.

Creased edge of a wrapper leaf. Hard to capture, but it runs 1/2 the length of the spiral down the wrapper.

Various holes

Large flaked off sections on 1 cigar

Wild discolouration on one cigar.

A couple of dodgy bands, 1 pretty bad.

This one got stuck to another one

Crusties. Mold?

Hairy! and a few have lifting edges.

A strange story.

[CUBANO]

I agree with everything that Shlomo said. Don't think they are fakes.

[Jnaube]

They look fine. Cuban cigars aren't perfect as they are made by hand. You may have got yourself a pretty bad box but they might smoke marvelously.

[Fuzz]

Nothings screams fake, just an ugly cigar.

[MattW]

Nothings screams fake, just an ugly cigar.

Agreed!

[bdp]

Thanks guys,

didn't think they were going to be a problem, but the sheer ugliness gave me pause for thought.

Counter that with the poor storage, and I didn't know what to think.