From your experience, what % of Cuban cigars available in the USA are fake?

[El Presidente]

I was asked this question over the weekend when sent a photo of some Cohiba Lancero a member purchased from his local arizona golf club. 

No doubt things are changing but US members, let us know your guess. Use the attached poll 

[dobbs]

i've never seen a real habano for sale stateside, haven't been looking for them either...

-dobbs

[Habana Mike]

To my mind, any Habanos being sold by anyone on the street that has a cousin in the factory are fake and most tobacconists are peddling fakes at least 3 out fo 4 times.

That said, there are many authentic Habanos being sold via various channels, one just needs to know who, where and have some trust. Many of these have strong reference programs so the shysters eventually come to light.

[prodigy]

My good friend that owns a tobacco shop keeps buying fakes even though I told him they are fake. His friend gets them in Cuba from a guy that knows a guy who works in the factory and just steals real ones from the factory. I show him a real siglo 6 next to his. Different ring guage and length. I show him the serial number that's fake. I show him the band that's fake. He doesn't care,its still cuban tobacco so it cant possibly be a fake, and his box of siglo 6 only costs 250, and they're just as good as the real ones i give him. His are so bad I just toss them out now when he tries to gift them to me. I hope one day he will learn, but I've done my best to be the one to show him the light.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

[wineguy]

I voted 70% but assure I have no and will not have first hand experience!

I’m headed for the deck for a post dinner 2010 Reyes from FOH auctions...

[SCgarman]

There is no realistic way to answer this question. There are only a small percentage of cigar smokers in the US who likely desire Cubans. All I can say is 100% of them in MY cabinet are genuine. As for other folks, nobody knows 

[BrightonCorgi]

If they are solicited for purchase for retail or on the DL at a country club, B&M, etc I'd venture to say 75% are fake. 

Depends the venue and people buying them.  In the right circles they could be 100% legit.

[Cairo]

My assessment is that almost all fakes are bought by CC newbies--a quick look at some other cigar discussion groups provides lots of pretty pictures of fakes US tourists bought on cruises and assorted western hemisphere vacation destinations.

CC newbies far outnumber experienced Cuban cigar smokers in the states.

The fakes are often given as gifts (creating potential embarrassment for all parties).

 

[Kitchen]

I have yet see a real Habanos on the USA soil that I have not brought here.  

The only store I know that is truthful about find Habanos and authenticating them is Holts, but they are unique.  They Ashton and welcome the competition, so ...

[JoeyBones777]

Everything I've seen being sold in humidors stateside are fakes...everything! On Facebook, I would say 50/50 as far as I could tell from pics and testimonials within groups but then again most of the groups I was apart of were run by guys with good knowledge and a moral compass. On craigslist, everything I've seen is fake.

This is all anecdotal evidence of coarse but the question was stated appropriately for the answers given. From my experience 70% or more are fake.

[CgarDan]

If anything is actually sold in us chances are it’s fake.  But smoking with the people I know the only fakes were the ones gifted to us by friends visiting the Caribbean and bringing back something as a gift to us. I have seen my share of glass top boxes - just wish that money would have been better spent 

[NSXCIGAR]

Never bought any within the US but you can find plenty in the classifieds that seem pretty fishy. 

I did have good luck on the now defunct Cigar buy/sell/trade forum on reddit but I wouldn't consider that buying cigars outright. 

Never seen the need to stray from my usual vendors. And I don't need to leave the house to get them.

[Viva Vegas]

There is a big difference between Fake and counterfeit. I would think lots of counterfeit but few fake 

[Tstew75]

Almost zero in the quality trading groups I'm a part of. But then there's the others...

As they the famous saying goes "KNOW YOUR SOURCES."  And this couldn't be more important RE: US secondary.

[Cairo]

10 hours ago, prodigy said:

My good friend that owns a tobacco shop keeps buying fakes even though I told him they are fake. His friend gets them in Cuba from a guy that knows a guy who works in the factory and just steals real ones from the factory. I show him a real siglo 6 next to his. Different ring guage and length. I show him the serial number that's fake. I show him the band that's fake. He doesn't care,its still cuban tobacco so it cant possibly be a fake, and his box of siglo 6 only costs 250, and they're just as good as the real ones i give him. His are so bad I just toss them out now when he tries to gift them to me. I hope one day he will learn, but I've done my best to be the one to show him the light.

 

This is an area that totally fascinates me--why people believe what they believe--and how to persuade them their beliefs may be incorrect if they are heavily invested in those beliefs.       Somehow you would have to breakthrough on an emotional level, since your rational approach didn't seem to work.    Perhaps if someone he respected (local big shot who he admires or better yet, wants to have like him) came in and blasted him for having fakes that might work.

Thanks for posting this--you inspired me to add one of my favorite quotes as my signature.
 

[madandana]

I am unaware of any BM trying to sell “Cubans”.  The Craigslist ads I’ve seen are surely mostly fake. I know of a couple flippers On Facebook and I’m pretty sure they are legit but I don’t buy from them. 

[rcarlson]

7 hours ago, Viva Vegas said:

There is a big difference between Fake and counterfeit. I would think lots of counterfeit but few fake 

What's the distinction between fake and counterfeit?  

[Viva Vegas]

A counterfeit cigar would be a cigar labeled with a band being sold as that brand but another make. Example, a cigar with a Cohiba band but is a peso cigar . A fake would be a cigar being sold as Cuban but is not. Example Someone telling you a cigar is Cuban but it is from another country. Just the way I see it, you might see it a different way. A lot of people talk about buying fake Cubans on the street in Havana. They are not fake they are real Cubans but might be counterfeit Cubans ,might not.

[Nino]

43 minutes ago, Viva Vegas said:

A counterfeit cigar would be a cigar labeled with a band being sold as that brand but another make. Example, a cigar with a Cohiba band but is a peso cigar . A fake would be a cigar being sold as Cuban but is not. Example Someone telling you a cigar is Cuban but it is from another country. Just the way I see it, you might see it a different way. A lot of people talk about buying fake Cubans on the street in Havana. They are not fake they are real Cubans but might be counterfeit Cubans ,might not.

Not logical to me.

Counterfeit is Fake - and Fake is Counterfeit.

The definition of counterfeit is :

To counterfeit means to imitate something authentic, with the intent to steal, destroy, or replace the original, for use in illegal transactions, or otherwise to deceive individuals into believing that the fake is of equal or greater value than the real thing.
Counterfeit products are fakes or unauthorized replicas of the real product.
Counterfeit products are often produced with the intent to take advantage of the superior value of the imitated product.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterfeit

[CaptainQuintero]

58 minutes ago, Viva Vegas said:

A counterfeit cigar would be a cigar labeled with a band being sold as that brand but another make. Example, a cigar with a Cohiba band but is a peso cigar . A fake would be a cigar being sold as Cuban but is not. Example Someone telling you a cigar is Cuban but it is from another country. Just the way I see it, you might see it a different way. A lot of people talk about buying fake Cubans on the street in Havana. They are not fake they are real Cubans but might be counterfeit Cubans ,might not.

  I know what you're trying to say but it's semantics. Fakes in Cuba (Or those not made in legitimate factories/farms/etc) will most likely contain tobacco grown in Cuba, but they can also contain anything from plastic, rat droppings, leaves from the ground, chemicals etc. You might get lucky and just get something stolen from a legitimate source, but the chances are pretty low.

  Yeah the fakes will have been made in Cuba so they are Cuban made, but you've also got genuine Cuban floor sweepings, genuine Cuban hedgerow etc rolled up inside them. That's the thing, you could be getting a mislabeled cigar or something that can put you in hospital. These aren't just people rolling honest cigars and telling you they are official products, they're rolling something that will (at a distance) look like a cigar, made from whatever they can get their hands on and, depending on the scruples of the person, safety concerns may or may not be a thing.

[Viva Vegas]

So if someone gives you an unbanded cigar and tells you it's a Cuban you smoke it then they tell you it's from Mexico, was it a fake Cuban you just smoked or a counterfeit? It's a fake the way I see it. Just my 2 cents,,,I agree about what could be in a fake and would never buy one. But if you have the right hook up, you know cigars are leaving out the back door and being sold for less then the LCDH.

[MPS]

Tons of fakes down here in Miami. Most of them aren’t even Cuban at all. There is a growing number of smokers here who understand but most don’t and happily smoke these fakes. The bands aren’t half bad either. I keep a humidor in my office so people know I smoke and I get gifts all the time. Most of the time they are fake. 

[BrightonCorgi]

4 hours ago, nino said:

Not logical to me.

Counterfeit is Fake - and Fake is Counterfeit.

They are both the same thing and don't want either one.  I did get fake Esplendidos from a friend coming back from Cuba.  Real box and bands (box was a little warped), but hardly an Esplendidos.  Real Cuban cigar, fake Habanos.

[bbguardsp]

95% of customers who come into the shop I manage with CCs are fake.  Anytime someone mentions they want to bring them in for me to look at I warn them of what they are asking and their hopes and dreams will likely come crashing down.  Recently I've come across more people who have actually been to the island and returned with fakes than actually acquired in the states.

[SenorPerfecto]

The question should be, "What percentage of the time have you looked to purchase a Cuban cigar at a shop in the States and found the cigars to be fake?"

 

Much narrower scope and far less room for ambiguity.