First step in Developing the 10 commandments of determining a fake box of CC cigars.

[joeypots]

A friend of my wife is a yoga teacher. This lady organizes trips to lovely destinations and the travelers do a lot of yoga. Go figure. Years ago, when travel restrictions to Cuba were easing she went to Cuba with a group and stayed with some Buddhist monks and did yoga. Go figure again. Sooo, my wife’s friend bought a box of cigars from a Cuban Buddhist and showed them to me when she got home before she sent them to her brother. I forget what they were but she got them cheap and they were bad counterfeit Habanos. I told her I didn’t think the cigars were authentic.  Her reply?

“The people who sold me the cigars are not the kind of people who would sell fakes."

I don’t know if this rant fits the topic but a Cuban cigar commandment should read,

Never tell anyone they bought a fake box of Cuban cigars. Never.

[Rushman]

14 hours ago, westg said:

Hey Rush is back 😎🌴

Lets not celebrate until we see if it sticks!  

7 hours ago, joeypots said:

Never tell anyone they bought a fake box of Cuban cigars. Never.

That is good advice - just smile and say thank you!

[gormag38]

4 hours ago, joeypots said:

Never tell anyone they bought a fake box of Cuban cigars. Never.

 

2 hours ago, Rushman said:

That is good advice - just smile and say thank you!

This is oh so true. A friend of mine works with a guy who's parents immigrated to the US from Cuba. About a year ago his coworker visited the country and brought back a box of CoRo for my friend. No stamp, tax seal or warrantly seal. Just a plain CoRo box.

Needless to say he was adamant that the cigars were genuine and took great offense when I asked him questions about the cab. Never again will I 'rain on someone's parade'. They'll learn in due time about their cigars if they want to. 

[helix]

Provenance x 10 . lol.

[BrightonCorgi]

Friend brought a fake box of Esplendidos back from Cuba.  lbox (warped), real looking bands, but hardly real Cohibas.  Must were super plugged.  A couple had a some Cuban twang, but hardly a Cohiba.  Donated to troops deployed to use as they saw fit.

[vladdraq]

10 hours ago, BrightonCorgi said:

Friend brought a fake box of Esplendidos back from Cuba.  lbox (warped), real looking bands, but hardly real Cohibas.  Must were super plugged.  A couple had a some Cuban twang, but hardly a Cohiba.  Donated to troops deployed to use as they saw fit.

I've seen hundreds during the years, back in the day i use to cut them open, if long filler smoke them etc. Not one, regardless how good looking they were, came close to what a Cohiba should taste. Some where ok smokes, i would associate those to the wine people start to make home and fool themselves that they made something good. Well in my experience you can get drunk with that wine, but damn most of the time it was awful. Same with the fake Cuban made Cubans 🙂

[NSXCIGAR]

On 10/10/2023 at 11:05 AM, gormag38 said:

About a year ago his coworker visited the country and brought back a box of CoRo for my friend.

I think most people can't grasp how any cigar bought in Cuba could be fake. They bought it in Cuba, therefore genuine Cuban cigar. To be honest I kind of get the logic! 

On 10/10/2023 at 4:18 AM, MrBirdman said:

I’ve seen a number of fakes being sold in cellophane, actually, which is also a dead giveaway. 

Seen that as well. Perhaps a holdover from several Cohibas being offered in cello until the 1990s as well as almost all major brand machine-mades. It would have been plausible that a genuine CC could come in cello until the 2000s. It also helps conceal a lower quality wrapper. 

[MrBirdman]

9 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

Seen that as well. Perhaps a holdover from several Cohibas being offered in cello until the 1990s as well as almost all major brand machine-mades. It would have been plausible that a genuine CC could come in cello until the 2000s. It also helps conceal a lower quality wrapper. 

I also think it’s a factor of buyer expectations for fine cigars - specially American buyers, since the cello CC I’ve seen were all at Caribbean resorts. That by the way includes the Ritz Carlton Grand Cayman; my dad, a former NC smoker who’s unfamiliar with CC, stayed there last winter and texted saying he’d buy me a box from the hotel shop and what brand did I want. Naturally suspicious, I asked for pictures of the (quite large) humidor and not a single stick was displayed bare (including the Behikes, which were plentiful of course!). I breathed a sigh of relief he’d checked with me before doing something nice. 

My father couldn’t believe the Ritz would sell fakes; a “10 commandments” page would be quite helpful as a resource for traveling friends/family unfamiliar with CC.

And to the Ritz GC, shame on you. I know everyone down there does it, but they don’t all charge $2k a night for a room either.