Is There No Law Against This?

[Armaniac]

I just came across a site and I can't believe what they're selling. CC bands, Duty paid stickers, Habanos box sheets etc. I don't know if I'm allowed to post the link to the site here. If a moderator says it's ok then I'll do it but, until then, here are some images. Although they say they're selling all this stuff as collectibles and pieces of art, we all know who they're targeting. How is this legal??

And there's much more.

[Trevor2118]

I don't know if I'm allowed to post the link to the site here. If a moderator says it's ok then I'll do it but, until then, here are some images.

This site is well known.....we do not want to help their "hit" count by linking to them.

They are, however, one of the best reasons why you should only purchase your cigars from a reputable dealer.

[Smallclub]

This site has been online for years, where's the problem since every one is aware of its existence and there's nothing we can do?

Blame the internet, the globalization, etc.

[Armaniac]

I guess being a newbie, I was just surprised that such a site exists and is allowed to operate. I understand your point Trevor and won't post the link. Thanks!

[LGC]

If it was illegal, the site would have gone down years ago. Cuba is not going to spend time any money going after guys like this.

[TheGipper]

I ordered some samples from this guy many years ago to get a look at how good it was. Every band I got from him matched real ones perfectly.

The guy is in Canada. And he only has stuff from when Habanos contracted with a Canadian printer for this kind of packaging materials.

Habanos changed printing suppliers several years ago. And this guy doesn't have anything from after that change was made. Hmm.

Basically, this guy backdoored some stuff from the same printer that was producing the real stuff for Habanos.

Just FYI.

[westg]

And this simply enables them to operate ?

[PapaDisco]

How's a poor counterfeiter supposed to make any money with those prices?! It's like $14.00+ for all the required stickers and labels, PLUS the cost of the barber-pole Fohiba that you'll need to put them on!

[ebhead]

Figures it's in Canada. Reminds me of the "souvenir" IDs they used to sell in stores in Toronto. You know, the ones where 15 year olds could go in and buy them to get into clubs...think the city has put a stop to it recently, but still, reminds me of those.

E

[El Presidente]

I have posted previoulsy about action taken by HSA against a Singaporean Fake Dealer (HSA purchased boxes of Cohiba Robusto LE and R&J LE Churchils or Double Corona LE at the time)

A defended court action cost $400k and it was a three year process.

Open and shut case one would think. Except the business owner and his wife stated they "did not know" that the cigars were fake.

6 weeks jail for the husband and a minimal fine from memory. They continued to operate as far as i can recall.

The costs involved in legal proceedings need to be weighed up against what can be achieved.

if you really want commercial quantities of bands, seals, boxes and tubes, there are plenty of sellers that don't take too much effort to discover. if you remember the lebanon bust last year of some 70,000 cigars (bandless/bundled and labelled), they were all to be repacked in HSA packagaing.

[bogglor]

if you really want commercial quantities of bands, seals, boxes and tubes, there are plenty of sellers that don't take too much effort to discover. if you remember the lebanon bust last year of some 70,000 cigars (bandless/bundled and labelled), they were all to be repacked in HSA packagaing.

Ugh, this does not inspire confidence at all. I wonder which market they were headed for?

[Armaniac]

Ugh, this does not inspire confidence at all. I wonder which market they were headed for?

Here's he article Pres. was referring to. Interesting read.

http://habanos.com/article.aspx?aid=644〈=en

[TheCoach]

This is scary... Im glad is trust my retailer... I was having a conversion with a friend of mine who swears that NC's are no different than CC's ( he's not a very close friend) I always tell him you're right, there is a difference CC's are way better... I was telling him that the market for fake CC's is much bigger than the fake NC market...

[KoreanCowboy]

This is why I only buy from the sister site. I trust the reputation you guys have EARNED and I don't even take chances. I don't buy often but when I do, It's from FOH.

[mgravito]

This really is very unsettling. I've purchased a fair amount from private sales. This makes me far less comfortable doing so.

[bogglor]

The thing is that usually, unless you're an expert at identifying Cuban craftsmanship and rolling techniques, it becomes exceedingly difficult to ID a fake if all of the other parts are right. If counterfeiters have the authentic boxes, bands, stamps, seals, etc. and they take NC sticks of reasonable quality with the proper wrapper shade for the cigar they're trying to emulate rolled in the Cuban style, until you smoke it... how can you know?

Fortunately for us, most counterfeiters fail one of these other 7 or 8 checks because they're too concerned in turning out a quick buck than they are with making the perfect fake. The counterfeiters don't care about us. They don't care that true aficionados know how to ID a fake stick. We cover 2% of their target demographic. There are plenty of other people who smoke and enjoy cigars that don't have the in-depth knowledge that lots of FOH members possess.

Private sales and trades will always carry some risk. I've had good success with my own trades, but I've been one of the lucky ones.