Cohiba Esplendidos: to be, or not to be!

[Jimmy2]

Whats the date on the back of the box the stamp picture is not clear.

Your seal has a E as the first letter which should put the date around 2004/05 i would think.

Your date on the back of the box if clearer i could give you a better answer if i seen the type of stamp they used.

Also i have never seen a big dark mark like that on the bottom of your box i think they call it a vain ? I have smoked through many many boxes in 5 years never seen that before but its Cuba you never know.:-)

[Guest rob]

In 99.99999 % of boxes I have seen the "Habanos" chevron is on the upper right hand side and the Cuban Warranty Seal in on the left side, with the shield folded over the top edge.

Also, the date stamp on the bottom looks to have a 4 digits in the year.

All boxes I have seen only have 2 digit year identifier - 3 letters for the factory code, 3 letters for the month, and 2 digits for the year.

[Miami101]

Well I guess from the amount of people who viewed this posting you can not tell if the Box is real, or fake......Anyone:

[mkz]

» Well I guess from the amount of people who viewed this posting you can not

» tell if the Box is real, or fake......Anyone:

From the looks of it and as rob said: the chevron and tax-stickers should be on the opposite sides.

Should a box of Esplendidos really have a "Hecho a Mano" on it? Shouldn´t there be a "Totalemente a Mano" instead? I thought that "hecho" was mostly used on machine-bunched, hand finished cigars.

Also, looks like the lock on the box is slighly to much to the left (could be my eyes) and the band on the stick is slightly unevenly pasted... Not really a sign of quality.

A better shot at the box-code would be great. And if you smoked one and reviewed it for us... :-)

[Mike33]

» From the looks of it and as rob said: the chevron and tax-stickers should

» be on the opposite sides.

No, that is the proper placement for the chevron and warranty seal on Esplendidos. It is one of the few boxes that come that way that I am aware of. The seal, however, does seem a little "off" in terms of color, but that could be just the picture. All other markings appear fine, but the box code looks wrong from the pic. Also, the box's construction seems legit as well...with 5 "finger" notches visible from the photo.

The only things I can see wrong from the photos, and they may not be an indicator of it being fake, are the color of the seal and the box code. Other than that, it looks legit.

[Miami101]

Hi

Folks..The truth about this box it was sold to me by a factory worker who came from Cuba. The story is this person bought them from a shop in Cuba. I have the bag they came in.

What I think after asking around on the streets, and business friends.

There is a gang of Cigar makers that make fakes here in Miami. Let just say one of there wharehouse went up in smoke. I do not agree with fakes...If you have the skills to make such a nice box, and role almost perfect cigars why not come out with your own brand.

On the Question about smoking one of the cigars above,and reviewing it: I have a good idea if it is O.K. with El Prez. I will send the following guys one cigar from the box, and if you could smoke it and provide your review that would be great..Let me know what you think....be honest..

Here is the list: Please send me your address:

Jimmy2

rob

MKZ

mike33

Ginseng

El Prez if he is up to it.

[Jimmy2]

Whats the date on the back of the box i will tell you in seconds...:-)

[Grasso]

Looks just like my box from '01. The only exception is that my date code is laid out:

ALV

ABR 01

For reference, the 2 first letters on my seal are AD

[mkz]

» On the Question about smoking one of the cigars above,and reviewing it: I

» have a good idea if it is O.K. with El Prez. I will send the following

» guys one cigar from the box, and if you could smoke it and provide your

» review that would be great..Let me know what you think....be honest..

Exiting idea!! However: is the FOH message service operable or is it still down?

I would love to review one of the sticks. :-D

[Jimmy2]

If o 2001 is date its a fake as the first letter on the seal is E that would be 2004/05 i think.

2001 would be A or B as this is when this method started using 2 letters on the seal followed by numbers...

[cigarros]

Hey! Unfortunatly your cigars not real, I guess it's goodmade fake:yes:

How much have you paid? Less $200 per box - double fake:confused:

[Miami101]

» Hey! Unfortunatly your cigars not real, I guess it's goodmade fake:yes:

»

Cigarros I know they are fake...go back up and read the my post. My goal was to show how good the fakes look these day..not to ask if they are real. ;-) Also don't just say they are fake point out why you think they are fake.

I'm a long time member, and I'm trying to provide some value to the site. Lord know's my fishing photos add no value.:-D

The reason I was asking for information is that some of the items like the box, and labels are coming from Cuba...maybe even the cigars are from Cuba...

I have over 5000 labels of cigars...some include companies that are no longer alive...I even have them in bundles..Also I like to see how other members determine real, or fake cigars. This will help me improve on my next batch....JK!:-D

What got me with these cigars is that they were O.K. some were great....

Folks on my list send me your address I will send you out the cigars next week. Let see what you guys think.

I also got an e-mail in to El Prez to get his input. I also want to hear what Tampa has to say about this..I know he is in located in FLA and has to deal with fakes all the time.

[Miami101]

» Looks just like my box from '01. The only exception is that my date

Is there any chance you can post some photos of your box, or send me photos to post side by side.

[Grasso]

» Is there any chance you can post some photos of your box, or send me

» photos to post side by side.

Here are some photos of mine. I chopped up the cedar sheet for kindling some time ago, so that's obviously not pictured.

[Jimmy2]

By looking at the stamp yes you are correct it is indeed a fake..

I deal with hundreds of fakes here every year and they mess the date with seal letter letters 95% of the time.

Also there are other mess ups to that i see with fake boxes...

The latch when lifted up should have german writing on it as they are made in Germany.

Latch is also a very badly made..

Also the Cohiba label on the back side of the lid does not look right..

[Miami101]

Grasso send me your address I really would like to have you smoke one of these cigars... The photos really help out...The latch if the only item that is different.....also the dates....If you smoke the cigar it should close the deal.

[jayro75]

» Grasso send me your address I really would like to have you smoke one of

» these cigars... The photos really help out...The latch if the only item

» that is different.....also the dates....If you smoke the cigar it should

» close the deal.

Grasso send me one of your Esplendidos! they look like they may be fake and you should let me verify just to be safe..:-D

[Grasso]

» Grasso send me one of your Esplendidos! they look like they may be fake

» and you should let me verify just to be safe..:-D

Hehe, only one left :-P

Luckily, the draw has loosened up over the last 7 years to make it just smokeable (clipped it recently to pre-test).

[Miami101]

I will prep these cigars for this week and ship them out. ...in other words I will have my wife go to the post office and mail them for me....

[rafa]

That's a truly old Spanish box.

[Miami101]

The following people please send me again your address. I lost some of them with an E_mail melt down. Once again sorry for the delay...I'm packing them and shipping them ASAP.

El Prez I got his address good to go...

Jimmy2

MK

Grasso

Rob

Mike33

Colt yea you....

Guys send me your addresss to [email protected]

I have you Cigar pack and ready to ship on Monday.... I had Carlo over my house last week and he stated this fake cigars smoke real nice....can this be a fake cigar.....

[Miami101]

Yes I'm sorry I lost your address, and I'm late....but give me a break folks I still getting my life together now that I'm a dad...

You should see the new car/van I getting...I'm one step alway from becoming a Foot ball Mom!...

[El Presidente]

» You should see the new car/van I getting...I'm one step alway from

» becoming a Foot ball Mom!...

Has your hair started going grey yet :-D

[Miami101]

Hi

Guys

In another link we had started to talk about Cohiba Esplendidos and the issues with fakes. I have a box brought to me from Cuba, and has been in my Humi for two years. I don't want to say of they are fake yet, or real. In fact I don't know for sure....I can only guess.

I live in Miami, and fake Cuban cigars are easy to find.

I want the members here to review the posting photos and add input.

(to be, or not to be Cohiba! This is the question)

Here we go:

[Miami101]

Jimmy

Here is the best photo I can get of the date. It is hard to read on the box...

My e-mail is [email protected]