No one would really buy Fake cigars in Cuba....would they?

[BellevilleMXZ]

1 minute ago, stinkhead said:

I was literally just going to say that!! I love an adventure and is probably worth the story alone.

Exactly!

[gweilgi]

3 hours ago, BellevilleMXZ said:

I would buy some......cheap.......and know what they are......part of the Cuba experience???

 

Like going to a souk in the Middle East and haggling over a  rug that the guy swears up and down the family tree is made by his aged grandmother but was really made last weaken a sweatshop in Shanghai, or going to Thailand and paying $50 for a genuine goldish-coloured Bollex watch....

It's part of the experience, part of the fun!

Plus, bringing home a box of fakes means I have "ammunition" whenever someone at a party says "can I try one of your cigars" and I don't want to sacrifice a good stick on a complete noob who will only speed-smoke half of it and stub out the rest....

Edited March 4, 2017 by gweilgi
typo

[rhcolbert]

On 3/6/2017 at 10:22 PM, SenorPerfecto said:

In my experience, every single person we had a long conversation with, who was in Cuba, and did not know cigars, ALL bought the "$75 Cohiba box from my cousin who works at the factory". Every single one. I broke the bad news to more than one personally.

I'd die to see the production of these cigars. Where's the tobacco comin from and is it all tobacco? Who's makin em and where? Soooo many questions

[Bigronbee]

When I was in Havana in January I kept asking for old (empty) boxes at each lcdh I went to - I wanted a rigid container for my singles. None of them would give me one saying they reused them. After a while I just figured they end up on the black market to house fakes. No actual reason to believe so other than my cynicism.

[Frozen North]

On 3 March, 2017 at 6:41 AM, Philc2001 said:

Fantastic FauxHibas...

Hell I'm blind, but can still tell these are fake-o-mundo's.

[rhcolbert]

Why is the glass top so PREVELANT!? How did that become a staple when cohiba never did it?  So confused

[MrGlass]

1 hour ago, rhcolbert said:

Why is the glass top so PREVELANT!? How did that become a staple when cohiba never did it?  So confused

I always assumed it was to prove the authenticity.  People can clearly see that the boxes definitely contain cigars, and these are guaranteed to be genuine because the box seals haven't been broken. 

[GrouchoMarx]

I had a few experiences during my last visit to head office....

First, while wondering about in old Havana, I was approached by a fellow who stated that the "cigar festival" was about to begin a couple blocks over. He said I can get some great cheap cigars there.  Ummm...... this is the second week of DECEMBER. Of course I declined, so he immediately went into the "powdered milk" scam attempt. We just laughed and walked away.

The next event was when we were heading to that old partagas factory behind the capitol building (our first time in Havana). We walk in the front door and (not seeing the LCDH entrance on the right) were immediately shown the "factory" LOL.  Again we laughed, and walked away (actually into the LCDH there, as we saw the door).

Finally, we're in Veradero. We did a "duo" trip - 3 days Havana, 4 in veradero. Now no one tried to scam me, but I did meet a fellow from Amsterdam who desperately tried to convince me that what he had bought were not fakes. You know the shtick, bad wrappers, rings crooked, seal IN the box...etc...  I think he got a little depressed when I showed him how to tell real from fakes, and what "fakes" meant - I cut open a stick and showed him hair.

The best policy is never to buy sticks from someone who knows somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody.

 

 

 

[Mycroft]

I bought quite a lot of fakes in dingy Central Havana apartments on various trips in the late 90s / early 00s. Quality varied between completely blocked to quite good. How they compared to the real thing I can't really say as I wasn't smoking too many Genuines at the time. But the smokable ones were definitely better than the n.c. available back then in NYC.

I got 2 nice home-rolls from a worker in the fields in Pinar Del Rio. But probably the biggest bargain was on the factory floor at the R&J(?) factory in Central Havana. In those days the rollers were selling un-banded singles for a dollar a piece,  to tourists doing the factory tour,  from the pile of cigars they had just made. Management turned a blind eye but it was limited by the rule that you weren't allowed to take a bag in on the tour. After I figured out how it worked I went back for a second tour wearing a coat with many pockets and loaded up with a bunch of different vitolas. No idea what marca they were, but hard to argue that they weren't 'genuine Cubans' .