Fakes in Cuba

[Koehlkm12]

I just wanted to share this story I thought people would get a kick out of. I have a friend who just returned from Cuba on a cruise. They stayed in Havana for two days. So naturally I gave him a list of stuff I was looking for. Now this was his first time on the island so I gave him written instructions of exactly where to go to buy and to not trust any random person claiming they had cigars from the factory on the cheap. Well I guess he knew better than me and decided that a random store owner who had cigars in his apartment above the store actually had a sister who rolled for cohiba. Please admire the beautiful photos below. My personal favorite are the upmann. I can't bring myself to tell the poor guy. He says he went into one of the lcdhs the next day and that all the boxes look identical to what he bought so he knows his are real.
 
 
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[johnl617]

Oh no.

Maybe these are the super duper rare ones......


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[Corylax18]

Hahaha, Yeah. Those Upmann's are gold. The surest sign of fakes; Do it yourself sticker kits. 

[SlimOne]

On the brighter side he probably saved you a lot of money

[99call]

30 minutes ago, Koehlkm12 said:

 

For some reason these cigars just remind me of Keith Richards

[Koehlkm12]

18 minutes ago, SlimOne said:

On the brighter side he probably saved you a lot of money

Hahahah thankfully only one of the 10 boxes he bought were on my list. 

[stogieluver]

You should tell him, if he’s a friend. 

[Nino]

31 minutes ago, SlimOne said:

On the brighter side he probably saved you a lot of money

No. He didn't.

Those IKEA fake boxes go for a lot of CUC's as stupid tourists will pay a BIG premium over the 25-40 CUC a fake box will cost on the street and be proud of the BS they found from "reliable sources"..

Enjoy smoking dirt - OK, you might get lucky and smoke short filler rubbish floor dirt .... ?

[cigcars]

     *If you're going to try one or so of them anyway - smoke them and let us know how they are! 

[BarryVT]

Hope you didn't lose too much money on this deal! But you gotta love the H Upmann reserve from 2010 with lcdh bands! And didn't know cohiba pirimides came in box of 13 or 25, either way, hard to tell from pic. What a disaster!

[kevpro]

I've always wondered, if they go through so much trouble to convince you the cigars are real then why not spend 2 minutes to apply the stickers / bands correctly? I suppose it's a good thing they don't as even more tourists would fall for their scam.

[Koehlkm12]

59 minutes ago, nino said:

No. He didn't.

Those IKEA fake boxes go for a lot of CUC's as stupid tourists will pay a BIG premium over the 25-40 CUC a fake box will cost on the street and be proud of the BS they found from "reliable sources"..

Enjoy smoking dirt - OK, you might get lucky and smoke short filler rubbish floor dirt .... ?

Yea he spent about 1400 on 11 boxes I think. 

[CaptainQuintero]

Ouch, I had always assumed fakes were dirt cheap, hence the appeal to tourists

[CaptainQuintero]

So is he expecting you to pay the $1100 for the cigars?

[Koehlkm12]

28 minutes ago, CaptainQuintero said:

So is he expecting you to pay the $1100 for the cigars?

No the only box he got from my list was the qdo 50. So he just wants the money for them. If he enjoys them and I cut them open and there not full of shit then I'll probably just let him enjoy them in peace instead of ruining the trip for him. 

[El Presidente]

It is pretty easy for someone new to Cuba to get sucked into the "vibe". 

Everyone's smiling, the old cars, the music and 5 mojitos later you are having a deep and meaningful with an olympic boxer at a Havana Vieja bar. Such a funny great guy. He has a brother at the partagas factory and can get you cigars at half the price. He offers to call him to see what he has...."cohiba, Monte, Limited editions".  His sister comes into the bar and hugs her brother before giving you a kiss on the cheek  and a sultry hello. You are on your 8th Mojito now.  Such a lovely family.  She is hot. They warn you not to buy off the spruikers on the street. You have just won the lottery falling in with this crew. You ask them out for dinner, they agree and ask if you would like them to bring some LE's with them.  You agree. 

Great night, you go home with 5 boxes. 

 

The above happened in November to a European mate of mine on his first trip.  The scam works a treat and has been going on for ever and ever.

[kevpro]

4 minutes ago, El Presidente said:

It is pretty easy for someone new to Cuba to get sucked into the "vibe". 

Everyone's smiling, the old cars, the music and 5 mojitos later you are having a deep and meaningful with an olympic boxer at a Havana Vieja bar. Such a funny great guy. He has a brother at the partagas factory and can get you cigars at half the price. He offers to call him to see what he has...."cohiba, Monte, Limited editions".  His sister comes into the bar and hugs her brother before giving you a kiss on the cheek  and a sultry hello. You are on your 8th Mojito now.  Such a lovely family.  She is hot. They warn you not to buy off the spruikers on the street. You have just won the lottery falling in with this crew. You ask them out for dinner, they agree and ask if you would like them to bring some LE's with them.  You agree. 

Great night, you go home with 5 boxes. 

 

The above happened in November to a European mate of mine on his first trip.  The scam works a treat and has been going on for ever and ever.

This description makes it tempting to fall for the scam knowingly ?

[smokum]

1 hour ago, kevpro said:

This description makes it tempting to fall for the scam knowingly ?

I’m kinda with you there ! Depending on how hot she was anyway.

[Philc2001]

You should smoke a couple and see how they are. Don't assume they are bad just because they are fake. I smoked many fakes when I lived in Miami several years ago. I am fortunate to have multiple Cuban friends, and they would bring back cigars and gift them to me when they went home to visit family. Most times I could tell they were fake, but some fakes tasted quite good and in some cases better than the real deal. Unfortunately I could never establish a source for the good fakes, but honestly I had more good ones than bad ones.

One set of the fakes I had, at least I thought they were fake because the price was less than half of the real LCDH price, were actually excellent cigars. Out of the 3 my friend gave me, I cut one open and I was really surprised there was nothing suspicious in it, it had actual long-filler, no banana leaves or floor clippings. I still don't know where my friend got them, "just trust me my friend" is all he would say. When I smoked the other two I was quite impressed, it was almost certainly Cuban tobacco, burned very well and tasted divine. Of course, any cigar that does not come from an official 'LCDH' outlet is a fake, that is a given. But it is not necessarily a bad cigar. Very likely it has real Cuban tobacco and may very well be long-filler, and actually decent tobacco comparable to any you can get in a real LCDH factory. Cuban people are proud and resourceful people, and they have their ways. 

But then again, it may also be garbage, so don't get your hopes up. 

[Koehlkm12]

20 minutes ago, Philc2001 said:

You should smoke a couple and see how they are. Don't assume they are bad just because they are fake. I smoked many fakes when I lived in Miami several years ago. I am fortunate to have multiple Cuban friends, and they would bring back cigars and gift them to me when they went home to visit family. Most times I could tell they were fake, but some fakes tasted quite good and in some cases better than the real deal. Unfortunately I could never establish a source for the good fakes, but honestly I had more good ones than bad ones.

One set of the fakes I had, at least I thought they were fake because the price was less than half of the real LCDH price, were actually excellent cigars. Out of the 3 my friend gave me, I cut one open and I was really surprised there was nothing suspicious in it, it had actual long-filler, no banana leaves or floor clippings. I still don't know where my friend got them, "just trust me my friend" is all he would say. When I smoked the other two I was quite impressed, it was almost certainly Cuban tobacco, burned very well and tasted divine. Of course, any cigar that does not come from an official 'LCDH' outlet is a fake, that is a given. But it is not necessarily a bad cigar. Very likely it has real Cuban tobacco and may very well be long-filler, and actually decent tobacco comparable to any you can get in a real LCDH factory. Cuban people are proud and resourceful people, and they have their ways. 

But then again, it may also be garbage, so don't get your hopes up. 

Hahah yea for his sake I really hope they aren't floor sweepings so I don't have to worry about it being a health issue. 

[Philc2001]

1 minute ago, juri said:

oh the bright side all fakes in cuba are actually cuban cigars haha

i guess your best hope would be a legit roller stealing real tabaco and boxes/bands and selling stuff on the side for extra money

I would be satisfied with just having decent tobacco and a well rolled cigar. I can leave the labels and the packaging. 

[Connoisseur Kim]

10 hours ago, Koehlkm12 said:

I just wanted to share this story I thought people would get a kick out of. I have a friend who just returned from Cuba on a cruise. They stayed in Havana for two days. So naturally I gave him a list of stuff I was looking for. Now this was his first time on the island so I gave him written instructions of exactly where to go to buy and to not trust any random person claiming they had cigars from the factory on the cheap. Well I guess he knew better than me and decided that a random store owner who had cigars in his apartment above the store actually had a sister who rolled for cohiba. Please admire the beautiful photos below. My personal favorite are the upmann. I can't bring myself to tell the poor guy. He says he went into one of the lcdhs the next day and that all the boxes look identical to what he bought so he knows his are real.

 
 
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These are definitely obvious fakes as they have typical signs and characteristics of fake cigars (wrong cigar band usage, separated government warranty seal and HSA chavron)! I feel pity for that lad...

[Nino]

15 hours ago, Koehlkm12 said:

Yea he spent about 1400 on 11 boxes I think. 

He was extremely lucky to get 10 fake boxes without official Facturas out without getting them seized in HAV ...

14 hours ago, CaptainQuintero said:

Ouch, I had always assumed fakes were dirt cheap, hence the appeal to tourists

Fake boxes are cheap if you speak the lingo and can bargain.

Never more than 25 to 40 CUC a box.

But tourists mostly fall for the "tale behind the boxes" ... the uncle, father, cousin, grannie or Martian working in the factory and getting them out - or the "Co-Operativa" guys with a fake badge standing outside Partagas or La Corona.

Or the official Cuban tour guide selling them on the side ... or the owner of your Casa who "happens" to have some boxes.

Or the manager of a Paladar ... :

http://flyingcigar.de/startseite/havana-november-2018-hole-in-the-wall-el-laurel-seafood-and-fauxhibas/

Who needs to fly to Cuba to buy/smoke fake Habanos - unless you want to "finance" your vacation there by selling them to unknowing people or via the bay back home ?
 

14 hours ago, Koehlkm12 said:

No the only box he got from my list was the qdo 50. So he just wants the money for them. If he enjoys them and I cut them open and there not full of shit then I'll probably just let him enjoy them in peace instead of ruining the trip for him. 

That's fair. Let him enjoy his puchases.

[CaptainQuintero]

12 minutes ago, nino said:

He was extremely lucky to get 10 fake boxes without official Facturas out without getting them seized in HAV ...

Fake boxes are cheap if you speak the lingo and can bargain.

Never more than 25 to 40 CUC a box.

But tourists mostly fall for the "tale behind the boxes" ... the uncle, father, cousin, grannie or Martian working in the factory and getting them out - or the "Co-Operativa" guys with a fake badge standing outside Partagas or La Corona.

Or the official Cuban tour guide selling them on the side ... or the owner of your Casa who "happens" to have some boxes.

Or the manager of a Paladar ... :

http://flyingcigar.de/startseite/havana-november-2018-hole-in-the-wall-el-laurel-seafood-and-fauxhibas/

Who needs to fly to Cuba to buy/smoke fake Habanos - unless you want to "finance" your vacation there by selling them to unknowing people or via the bay back home ?
 

That's fair. Let him enjoy his puchases.

  I suppose on the island there will be some fakes that are simply stolen regular production, I was any to say it probably depends on security at a factory on how many they can steal, but if management is involved I guess it's more about changing the paperwork than much else?

[maxcjs0101]

I was wondering what would happen if you tell the seller on the spot that the stuff he’s pedalling is fake.