This is going to hurt

[CyrusTheOk]

I have a very strong feeling that these are fake I was in Jamaica hadn't been able to purchase CC's for a long time and had even purchased from this place years ago.  Checked the Habanos verification numbers and they checked out and did not look any further.  Been burying these in the humidor avoiding making this post because the truth will be unbearable LOL.  

 

[bates40]

A lot of things are off, but smoke 'em if you got 'em. 

[Islandboy]

You were right, scrolling through that was painful. 

[Arabian]

[jfestrelabr]

HYPER Fake all kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

[99call]

[Corylax18]

Ouch. They are all about as fake as you can get, glasstops from the beach are pretty much the only thing below these.  

[BossHogg]

Yikes! That was a depressing scroll down. Sorry to see. Buy from here and you will never doubt your purchase. 

[btp1979]

No one can say you do anything by the half measure! 

[CyrusTheOk]

LOL well now I have a ton more room in the humidor 

[Wailbait]

Glad you dug them out and made some space.  

[01Vert]

  I need an education.  If the numbers check out on the boxes how do you tell they are fakes?  Real boxes with fakes in them?   I know the font on the dates is different than modern but I don’t have the eye to tell anything in this case. 
 

edit.  I see the behike bands are fake as can be now.   Reviewing more pics.   
 

you bought the boxes with the seals cut?

[gormag38]

Ouch brother. I didn't even know people out there are faking the Monte Open series. Thats just bizarre to me. 

Regardless, a lot of us have made mistakes when we were first starting out. It's best to just ditch them in the trash and educate yourself on the common practices of fake cigars. These examples are 'fine' but there are fakes out there a whole helluva lot more convincing than yours. Research and vendor confidence is key in this area. 

[CyrusTheOk]

On 5/16/2023 at 8:39 PM, 01Vert said:

  I need an education.  If the numbers check out on the boxes how do you tell they are fakes?  Real boxes with fakes in them?   I know the font on the dates is different than modern but I don’t have the eye to tell anything in this case. 
 

edit.  I see the behike bands are fake as can be now.   Reviewing more pics.   
 

you bought the boxes with the seals cut?

They were all sealed was given an authentic Monte#2 to smoke prices were all believable for todays market and did a quick number scan and didn't look any closer or even at the year of manufacture.  Live and learn right lol 

[Tdm_86]

Ouch, even with the boxes sealed it’s quite obvious these are fake. At least more room in the humidor for 24:24 purchases 🤷‍♂️

[NSXCIGAR]

On 5/16/2023 at 5:39 PM, 01Vert said:

 If the numbers check out on the boxes how do you tell they are fakes?  Real boxes with fakes in them?

Serials are not something I rely on. A legit serial can just be repeated on endless boxes. A correct serial is necessary but not sufficient for determining legitimacy.

The first and most obvious issues on these boxes is the box code stamps have incorrect font. If that's off it's game over. There are many other issues with these but that's the most obvious. 

I'll give you one more: the serial should line up chronologically with the date on the box code. In other words serials are chronological from 2010-present (2001-2009 also had date markers). You can actually determine the date by the serial and the box date stamp should correspond. 

The UV seal is also something to look at among several other things. 

Just out of curiosity @CyrusTheOk are the microprint serials on the warranty seals present and do they match the main serial? Wondering if they even bothered with it. 

[jfestrelabr]

9 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

Serials are not something I rely on. A legit serial can just be repeated on endless boxes

bingo.

[01Vert]

On 6/29/2023 at 8:39 AM, NSXCIGAR said:

Serials are not something I rely on. A legit serial can just be repeated on endless boxes. A correct serial is necessary but not sufficient for determining legitimacy.

The first and most obvious issues on these boxes is the box code stamps have incorrect font. If that's off it's game over. There are many other issues with these but that's the most obvious. 

I'll give you one more: the serial should line up chronologically with the date on the box code. In other words serials are chronological from 2010-present (2001-2009 also had date markers). You can actually determine the date by the serial and the box date stamp should correspond. 

The UV seal is also something to look at among several other things. 

Just out of curiosity @CyrusTheOk are the microprint serials on the warranty seals present and do they match the main serial? Wondering if they even bothered with it. 

Thanks. Glad to get an education. I was aware of the SN being tied time wise to the box production and the UV micro stamping but I never thought about the fakers going to the trouble of copying a legit SN for labels.  

[NSXCIGAR]

3 hours ago, 01Vert said:

Thanks. Glad to get an education. I was aware of the SN being tied time wise to the box production and the UV micro stamping but I never thought about the fakers going to the trouble of copying a legit SN for labels.  

It's not much trouble at all. There needs to be some serial number so repeating one that checks out is probably the easiest thing to do. Just don't sell two boxes to the same person! 

Until there's a database where each serial is logged and accounted for so that there's a flag if two serials are entered at the same time there's nothing preventing the endless duplication of legit serials.