someone must be buying them

[Ken Gargett]

the thread with the photos of the fakes and the comments about people buying them reminded me of something that happened on one of my trips to havana. (also, i'm sure vast numbers of people have no idea that they might be fakes as they would have a much lower level of interest than us).

on a trip a few years ago to havana, i was in the back room with hamlet at R & J when a bloke stuck his head in. well dressed chap and obviously not short of a quid, he was a canadian. now this is not intended as in any way dumping on the entire nation of sealbashers but this bloke was priceless. wanted to know what this room was and why he wasn't in it and was a bit put out when he found out that general tourists were not usually invited back unless they were good customers (actually, in reality, it is no big deal - just a small side room that opens on the main room). then he started on the prices of the cigars. prices in the shop were outrageous, he claimed, and on and on. hamlet just sat in the corner and said nothing much. i tried to point out this was as cheap as he'd get them. so i got a long lecture about how much cheaper they were all over the city. could get them for a fraction of the price anywhere. even outside on the street. i pointed out that the reason was that they were fakes. so i got another lecture about how they were just as good. no one could tell the difference. that was enough for me. i suggested he enjoy his fakes and leave the real ones to people that were not imbeciles, and he trotted off, quite happy in the knowledge that he was saving so much by buying on the streets. and i bet he told all his mates (if any) that they were the real thing.

[Cam]

» on a trip a few years ago to havana, i was in the back room with hamlet at

» R & J when a bloke stuck his head in.

thanks for the great story I've only been to Cuba once, are the fakes littered all over the streets or do you have to go looking for them?

Cam -

edited on to:

does anyone know street prices and things to look out for other than glass tops etc, i believe the construction quality of some 'fakes' to be excellent..

[smokum]

These are the same type of idiots that will send the Nigerian scammer chick 20k to get in on the millions...world is full of them.

[Mel]

Ken have you ever had a really good fake? I have. Now I do not want some body telling me that cigars are the regular factory run and it not be true as that is a lie. On the other hand if I am told they are good cuban cigars I will judge them on their own merrits. Not all "fakes are poor cigars IMHO.

[Tampa1257]

Mel, I have to agree with what you have said here. While determining if a cigar was real or fake I have had the opportunity to smoke enough fake Habanos to know a good fake from a bad one, and while they may still not be real, or be a cigar that they are representing to be, they are not a bad cigar, but just not a Habanos Puro. I would rather not experiment around and only smoke Habanos, but every once in a while you can try one.

[Cam]

» Mel, I have to agree with what you have said here. While determining if a

» cigar was real or fake I have had the opportunity to smoke enough fake

» Habanos to know a good fake from a bad one, and while they may still not

» be real, or be a cigar that they are representing to be, they are not a

» bad cigar, but just not a Habanos Puro. I would rather not experiment

» around and only smoke Habanos, but every once in a while you can try one.

wow. I must start researching this fake business some more, hey can everyone update me on the anti smoking situations in the USA? are there any cities where you can still smoke INSIDE public buildings, I know of Las Vegas..

Cam -

[kjellfrick]

We had a fine time some weeks ago parallell smoking fake and real Cohibas at a herf in Sweden. There was a guy trying to sell off Cohibas he had brought from Cuba and he didn't react the way those guys usually react when the forum members start catcalling. He took my suggestion to send me sample cigars (Esplendidos, Siglo I and Robustos) for evaluation and so I and a couple of friends brought real Cohibas to compare with. Great fun and a very enlightening experience for all of us. Some of the fakes were utterly awful while some could be smoked with some degree of enjoyment. None, however, reached the complexity and balance of flavours that we found in the real Esplendidos for example.

Pictures and a swedish text if you're interested:

http://homepage.mac.com/kjellfrick/Herfar/PhotoAlbum13.html

[Ken Gargett]

mel, tampa, agree that there are good fakes and poor ones. have had some okay smokes from fakes (separating them from the notion of the ones pinched from factories, which they will all tell you happens and once or twice, especially walking through he factories, might happen, and also the garden smokes which you might get out in the country, which are made by the workers and don't claim to be anything).

the best 'fakes' we had came from a bar in the old city where we had run out of ours and a bloke was insisting he had LE's. from memory the hoyo pyramides. we knew they were not but they looked okay. they were terrific smokes, not the LE's, but excellent. rob is pretty sure that they were P2's and i think he might be right. it was around the time they were first released. quite why you'd pretend them to be other than that, i don't know.

i buy a few fakes now and again, for fun (and one or two scungy mates that visit once a year, coincidentally, just after i'm back from cuba, to see what they can scavange - it keeps them happy). have had a few esplendidos that were pretty good, if not real.