jncasey Posted October 10, 2023 Share Posted October 10, 2023 Hello! My name is Jonathan. New here. I've done a ton of research this weekend on spotting real vs fake Cohibas. Ended up sadly disappointed over past purchases as have many others. Going through my saved bands, I have one that I think is legit and the other is a decent fake. I believe the top band is real. The bottom band has poorly cut ends and the yellow appears faint under UV light (395nm). I purchased a 365nm light on Amazon today. However, the bottom band does have 4 blue diagonal squares and the UV label "CHB063." The top band (presumably real) only has two blue diagonal squares and UV label "CHB192." Also, the top band is the only band I have where the ring gauge numbers on the left side are in orange font. The bottom band is cut off before the ring gauge numbers. None of my other saved bands compare to the top band. What do you think? Thanks for looking! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NSXCIGAR Posted October 10, 2023 Share Posted October 10, 2023 With the UV squares and CBH it suggests the lower band is real. Cohiba bands can get cut for smaller RG Cohibas. Yes, the odd shade of the yellow strip is peculiar but what is the age difference between the two? Is there any other reason you think the cigar that had the lower band was fake? Taste? As far as the yellow Vrijdag mark and RG numbers on the upper band I've seen only yellow font for at least the last several years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jncasey Posted October 10, 2023 Author Share Posted October 10, 2023 On 10/10/2023 at 1:17 PM, NSXCIGAR said: With the UV squares and CBH it suggests the lower band is real. Cohiba bands can get cut for smaller RG Cohibas. Yes, the odd shade of the yellow strip is peculiar but what is the age difference between the two? Is there any other reason you think the cigar that had the lower band was fake? Taste? As far as the yellow Vrijdag mark and RG numbers on the upper band I've seen only yellow font for at least the last several years. Unfortunately, I can't speak to the age difference. One of them is from April when I traveled to Cabo. The upper band also has UV squares and CBH. I would agree the font is more yellow instead of orange. Attached is another photo showing four bands (lower two were previously compared in original post). The upper two are from the same box and have no UV squares or CHB, presumably fake. For your enjoyment, I cut one open yesterday what was sold to me as an Esplendidos after smoking one. Looked mostly like long filler FWIW? No triple cap. Tasted okay. Also, I checked the Cuban crest on a box of Montecristo No. 2 that I had and noticed what looks like "00012" in the crest. Research indicates I got fooled again. Shame on me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NSXCIGAR Posted October 10, 2023 Share Posted October 10, 2023 1 hour ago, jncasey said: I cut one open yesterday what was sold to me as an Esplendidos after smoking one. Looked mostly like long filler FWIW? No triple cap. Tasted okay. Also, I checked the Cuban crest on a box of Montecristo No. 2 that I had and noticed what looks like "00012" in the crest. Research indicates I got fooled again. Shame on me. No serious fakes are using short filler. That stuff ended in the 90s. It won't be helpful. The serial in the leaf on the UV seal however is the kiss of death. 100% fake seal. I will say a lot of these seals are coming out of Cuba and the cigars are backdoored out of the warehouse and factory. It's possible the cigars are genuine factory-made Cohiba. It's also possible they were made in an old lady's kitchen in Vedado. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jncasey Posted October 11, 2023 Author Share Posted October 11, 2023 8 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said: No serious fakes are using short filler. That stuff ended in the 90s. It won't be helpful. The serial in the leaf on the UV seal however is the kiss of death. 100% fake seal. I will say a lot of these seals are coming out of Cuba and the cigars are backdoored out of the warehouse and factory. It's possible the cigars are genuine factory-made Cohiba. It's also possible they were made in an old lady's kitchen in Vedado. Noted. The Esplendidos box I recently acquired had a totally bogus warranty seal. Downright laughable. Barcode not consistent with verification check, barcode # came up as Maduros, no UV Cuban crest, micro serial #'s not matching and coming up as Montecristos, warranty label light green, hologram clearly fake, transit seal exposed... list goes on. I was so ignorant and had no clue when purchasing. At least I know now. The cigars taste good though haha. My risk. Other than a quick visual inspection, I can't imagine pulling out a UV blacklight and running a Habanos verification check in front of a "seller" either... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NSXCIGAR Posted October 11, 2023 Share Posted October 11, 2023 7 hours ago, jncasey said: Barcode not consistent with verification check, barcode # came up as Maduros, no UV Cuban crest, micro serial #'s not matching and coming up as Montecristos, warranty label light green, hologram clearly fake, transit seal exposed... list goes on. I was so ignorant and had no clue when purchasing. At least I know now. The cigars taste good though haha. My risk. Other than a quick visual inspection, I can't imagine pulling out a UV blacklight and running a Habanos verification check in front of a "seller" either... A few things here. I wouldn't rely at all on the Habanos verification check. Obviously if it comes back something else that's a problem but I've seen plenty of fakes that check out on the website. Also the transit seal being slightly exposed is not dispositive of fakes. I see it all the time on boxes I know to be 100% legitimate. And at this point I don't care what any vendor thinks. If I feel like using a UV light in front of them I will. Obviously I wouldn't feel the need to do it with a trusted vendor I have a relationship with but anyone else can deal with it. If they don't understand the current climate they shouldn't be in business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jncasey Posted October 13, 2023 Author Share Posted October 13, 2023 What a difference the 365nm UV light makes compared to 395nm. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nevrknow Posted October 13, 2023 Share Posted October 13, 2023 3 hours ago, jncasey said: What a difference the 365nm UV light makes compared to 395nm. Yes it does. Try it at your next hotel room. Wait, don't. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cigar Salute Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 The Espendidos, or ANY cigar that comes direct from Habanos with an outer cardboard shell, will have the warranty seal on the outer cardboard only. The actual box should never have the warranty seal on it. This applies to anything from the late 2000's I believe and younger. Prior to that, certain boxes came wrapped in wax/glassine paper as opposed to the cardboard, and they had the seal on the actual box. The only exceptions to this rule are certain regional releases which appear to have outer cardboard shells supplied by the regional distributor. ERDM WIH 20 is one i know of for sure, as well as some of the other Phoenecia releases. You'd also do well to learn about serial number sequence. Though they've gotten better at closing the gap on newer counterfeits, the older generations of high end counterfeit like the Monte's you have tend to use older recycled serial numbers that will ring correctly in the authenticator, but are typically far too old for their corresponding box date. Also, if I'm seeing correctly, that top band in the first photo is a fake. I'd prefer not to discuss further on a public forum, as these counterfeit ops correct publicly - discussed defects VERY quickly. We need to be more careful about this now than ever before. We now have counterfeits that are impossible to visually distinguish with the naked eye. We need to make sure that's as far as it goes. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lhughes32 Posted November 7, 2023 Share Posted November 7, 2023 Could anyone elaborate on the code inside the black light seal? Is there supposed to be no number at all there or something more specific to each box etc?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfestrelabr Posted November 7, 2023 Share Posted November 7, 2023 (edited) that seal is fake Edited November 7, 2023 by jfestrelabr Post a pic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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