Punch DC no Habanos serial match

[liuzzi]

Hello! 

Would appreciate some advice. I just found the Habanos Verification service on their web and have been checking my boxes mostly just out of boredom. Everything has been checking up with the exception of this 2005 Punch DC box, purchased in a Hotel Sevilla store in Havana long time ago (probably ~10 years ago). 

The old seal looks fine, H=2005. But the new one is not getting a result from the verification service. I don't know if I'm doing anything wrong but I'm getting that "this is not an official Habanos product"

Am I missing something here?

Thanks,

Kaarel

[Puros Y Vino]

This one is difficult.  The cigars look fine to me.  The front decals look a bit "off" in that they are flat, not embossed at all.  I don't have a 25 Count Punch DC dress box in which to compare though.  So, take that with a grain of salt.   The factory code (EFA) falls into a period where the codes changed often.  According to CCW, 2003 was the last year in which codes were consistently bound to the factories they came from. 

"Current System - 2003 on

With this system of factory codes, all factories have a unique three capital letter code that can be changed monthly and yearly. With this system there is a substantial number of unique codes available, which means there need not be a duplicate code for many years.

Consequently, identifying and tracking them is virtually impossible. Only those with access to the code generator program would know codes in advance.?"

The bottom warranty seal aligns with the ones uses from 1999-2011.  So as a 2005 box, that's feasible.

The one on top looks like the one used from 2009-10. 

But you state it does not return with a valid record from verificacion.habanos.com (FWIW, I'm trying the # now but the site seems borked)

The only thing I could think of and I've seen it with my eyes, is that staff opened the box for a customer for inspection, the box was declined and the shopkeeper then applied a newer stamp to the top of the old one to "reseal" it.  One would like to think that the new record would have been sent to Habanos HQ but given how reluctant most staff are to even fill out a Factura, I'd guess it got lost in the shuffle. 

I've never seen or heard of Punch DC fakes in the wild myself.  But I'd say it's probably a release worth counterfeiting. 

Let's see what others have to say.

[nKostyan]

The upper warranty seal appears to be fake (barcode and corners without rounding)

[Puros Y Vino]

24 minutes ago, nKostyan said:

The upper warranty seal appears to be fake (barcode and corners without rounding)

There is a version without the rounding.

Now that I look at it.  The font for the numbers are different and how the numbers fall into the barcodes is different. Starting with the "0" On the above graphic it's inside the two long, left hand bars. In the OP's photo, the zero is outside those bars. 

[liuzzi]

Here is a closer look of the bands, embossing is definitely there, not an expert but not seeing anything wrong with these bands. 

And thanks a lot for the info! The placement of the zero is a curious one. 

I guess it would be interesting to know why would anyone use a "fake warranty seal" on an otherwise fine looking box which already has a fine looking older style warranty seal?

[liuzzi]

Guessing the zero placement is fine as there is this format in the Habanos verification page as well. Maybe it's just not working, so would be interesting to know if anyone has gotten this number 1 format serial number on attached image to verify

[Edicion]

I did a test and this box info came up. I ran it again and it said it was not a genuine product. I'll try from another browser later to see if I can get any other outcome. Could just be the site malfunctioning.

[liuzzi]

Just found another box, probably purchased during the same trip. This is from a different store in Comodoro. Punch again, Churchills this time, similar format serial number, doesn't get a response from Habanos verification either.