Habanos SA Authenticity Check : Pass or Fail

[El Presidente]

As many of you know, Habanos sa on their website has an online Authenticity check service

I remember wondering when it was first launched as to how HSA would be able to keep it up to date and accurate. Given the array of production, factories, distributors etal....NASA would struggle. Tabacuba struggles putting the warranty seals on the correct side some days

If you have used the service, what has been your experience? Accurate? inaccurate? a guide?, a total waste of time?

[HarveyBoulevard]

In the 15 or so boxes I have checked it has been spot on.

[Habana Mike]

When it's worked it reported accurately for me.

[hulklogan]

Always "overloaded". All but one box came back as they should, Other box was "not found".

[Jeremy Festa]

Have used it to check several boxes, usually rarities, on my mobile phone, whilst travelling. It was accurate in every check. I was actually surprised when it worked on boxes as far back as 1999 and 2001.

[Hiroshiro]

It works most of the time. Sometimes it will fail but if you repeat a couple times it works. I do get the Overloaded server error message a lot but so far 100%

[subiemech]

Has worked for me, but when a vendor removes the barcode it makes it difficult to verify. So not all of my boxes get checked.

[Pedro2486]

Has worked for me, but when a vendor removes the barcode it makes it difficult to verify. So not all of my boxes get checked.

Look up the microprinting that is on the seal. You'll find the serial number in there

[gwee]

I asked a question in the suspect cigar forum about this.

I ordered from a source which has been accused of selling fakes(didnt know that when i placed my order).

Both boxes checked out but i have heard that doesnt necessarily mean the cigars are real.

So are counterfeiters able to get legit serial numbers and place them on fakes?

[subiemech]

Look up the microprinting that is on the seal. You'll find the serial number in there

Some vendors even scratch the microprinting off.

[Dmatzkin]

Bought boxes from LCDH in Varadero. Half of them checked OK and half didn't recognize!! Hit and miss with me..

The ones that didn't check were relative new boxes...I will try again soon and see. It may have been just a delayed in entering the info?

[mrsgucia]

From my experience if you want to verify more then four bar codes numbers at one sitting Habanos will bloc you from this service for the next 24h. Probably overloading protection. Also some fresh boxes I brought from Cuba could not verify up to 6 months from the date of production. I'm happy that we have this service since that's the only verification tool available from Habanos.

[Bartolomeo]

Early on had some bugs but now when I do check(rarely) it runs 100% accuracy for my findings

Bart

[Pedro2486]

Some vendors even scratch the microprinting off.

I suppose so. It is in multiple locations though. Maybe they'll miss one

[oliverdst]

I asked a question in the suspect cigar forum about this.

I ordered from a source which has been accused of selling fakes(didnt know that when i placed my order).

Both boxes checked out but i have heard that doesnt necessarily mean the cigars are real.

So are counterfeiters able to get legit serial numbers and place them on fakes?

They need to know only ONE real code and use the same in all the boxes of the same cigar.

[Armaniac]

They need to know only ONE real code and use the same in all the boxes of the same cigar.

Other than being overloaded most of the time, It's been good. I even checked a box of Monte 2's for a friend. It came back as a legit Habanos SA product but the description was Jose Piedra Petit Cetros.

[maxcjs0101]

I had it working most of the time except for once where it showed "Not Found". When i checked again 2 weeks later it was showing correctly.

[MadMax]

Always Accurate!

[cognacscotchcigars]

Always accurate for me.

[Lant63]

Pass, works well.

[Moogypug]

Had a Montecristo 10 box that initially came up as "non existent" one time to "fake" another time but eventually came up legit. I don't even know what to tell you in terms of how this came to be but that was my experience. Most of the time it works ok as long as it's not overloaded but I get these wonky experiences from time to time.

[oliverdst]

This is the kind of thing that or works 100% of the time or it's worthless.

I had problems with the website twice. It was enough to me to let it go and now I just use the regular "check system" (bands, seals and box besides, of course, taste).

[Surucipe]

So far it has always worked fine for me. Pass!

[Lotusguy]

Pass (I was actually surprised how well it works)

[tippexx]

They need to know only ONE real code and use the same in all the boxes of the same cigar.

Exactly. Same if you're gonna fake banknotes. And it isn't rocket science to to run the last digit up to nine and have a pretty good chance the code will come back authenticated .... not that fakers would care anyway!