Those bands are 100% fugazi. If someone did in fact buy those in Cuba, those were purchased in the street, not a store. They're made with tobacco, mostly, sometimes banana peel, or whatever else they can get their hands on.

They were not rolled with wrappers selected for Cohibas either.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but those are as real as a three dollar Rolex.

^^^^ I'm afraid I agree. As an FYI the only legitimate Cuban cigars sold in Cuba are in the Las Casa Del Habanos stores.

If it were me, I would not smoke those. Some fake cigars sold in Cuba are rolled with banana leafs, floor sweeping and even human hair. If you are determined to smile them sacrifice one and cut it open to see what is inside.

Legally, a US citizen can only bring back $100 of cigars. I promise you will not find a box of these for that price. You can buy singles, but stick with LCDH stores in Cuba for those.

There is still risk with singles, even in the government stores. Some workers steal the counterfeit singles in and take the real ones. The no fail way is to buy a box, and get a Factura, this is a receipt they customs will collect on your way out. If the store won't give you this form, they are fake.

NEVER buy cigars on the street or beach and so not believe it when the seller tells you a friend works in the factory, yada, yada, yada.

Hope this helps and be careful if you decide to fire one up.

I have a friend who goes twice per year. He brought me back a bottle of Ron Cubay Anejo earlier this year, and a few weeks ago brought me back some cheap silver grade rum in a juice box.

He brings cigars most of the time. Yes, $100 is the rule, but most airports you'd be flying into (Miami) don't care. Declare the cigars, be polite, and generally they don't care. My friend who goes regularly brings back 1-3 boxes of cigars and never raises an eyebrow.

I got a Cohiba 50th, no band, off the rolling table at El Laguito, wrapped in Cuban newspaper from his last trip. It was okay. Cohiba has been all name, no quality, for a really long time. Early 90's was the last great era for anything with the Cohiba band IMO. Anything newer is just okay, and they don't age well.

If you disagree, I have sealed boxes of Lanceros, CE's, Sig 2-5, all from 2001-2004 or so, I'd love to get rid of I'll probably end up smoking them all, eventually, but what a disappointment they've been after 10-15 years of age. I just finished a box of '04 Robustos that mostly sucked.

Kenpoist-

Understand no one is dog-piling you. "Bad" Cubans can be filled with really nasty stuff - (number of YouTube Videos where they disect these)

Send me an e-mail with an address and I'll send you a couple of sticks that I can guarantee are 100% genuine.

Sorry man.

To add - Yarchin is too humble to say this, but he'll forget more about Cuban sticks than most of us will ever know. Worth your while (and Palet) to trust his advice.

That's sad to hear. She's no cigar smoker, but she thought she got good cigars.

I hate to tell her.

Edit: the label has "Cohiba" in raised letters, and the white squares are not cut off. The veins are kind of pronounced, though.

She bought them in a store, but I don't know what the name was.

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin1069:
Kenpoist-

Understand no one is dog-piling you. "Bad" Cubans can be filled with really nasty stuff - (number of YouTube Videos where they disect these)

Send me an e-mail with an address and I'll send you a couple of sticks that I can guarantee are 100% genuine.

Sorry man.

To add - Yarchin is too humble to say this, but he'll forget more about Cuban sticks than most of us will ever know. Worth your while (and Palet) to trust his advice.

No worries - they were a gift. Everything looks good about them (triple cap, raised gold letters, etc ). The field behind the white boxes does look a bit faded to me.

This is why I've never tried to buy any Cubans here - I wouldn't know real from fake :-)

quote:

Originally posted by SVTNate:
Those bands are 100% fugazi. If someone did in fact buy those in Cuba, those were purchased in the street, not a store. They're made with tobacco, mostly, sometimes banana peel, or whatever else they can get their hands on.

They were not rolled with wrappers selected for Cohibas either.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but those are as real as a three dollar Rolex.

What about the bands is off? I'm just curious for my own knowledge.

From what I can see compared to websites for spotting fakes:

The Habana, Cuba is not in bold
The line of white squares above "Cohiba" is cut off by the gold border.

The seem to have gotten the raised "Cohiba" correct, though.

Here's a look at the "filler"

quote:

Originally posted by Kenpoist:
Here's a look at the "filler"

Not real, sorry brother. I do not see human hair so that's a good thing. No long filler leaves there (whole leaves, instead of chopped up)

quote:

Originally posted by Jeff Yarchin:

quote:

Originally posted by Kenpoist:
Here's a look at the "filler"

Not real, sorry brother. I do not see human hair so that's a good thing. No long filler leaves there (whole leaves, instead of chopped up)

Oh yeah, I was convinced about 8 posts above :-)

If you guys can give me some tips on how to spot fake ones (aside from the above), I'd appreciate it. Some of the things were correct on this one (I knew to look for the raised lettering), but others I had no idea.

I guess I should just go smoke one of my Flathead V660s as a consolation...

Here is the definitive website for Cuban Cigars.

www.cubancigarwebsite.com


Here is a link on that website so you can see the authentic Cohiba labels:

http://www.cubancigarwebsite.c...nd.aspx?brand=cohiba

Thanks, Jeff

quote:

Originally posted by Kenpoist:

The Habana, Cuba is not in bold
The line of white squares above "Cohiba" is cut off by the gold border.

They didn't get the raised "Cohiba" correct. Font and spacing aren't right. I can't tell you precisely, just that I've been smoking Cuban cigars for so many years that I just know.

Even without the bands, I can look at those wrappers and know that they aren't real. Quality is poor.

You really aren't missing out. Cuban cigars lost blend integrity years ago. In fact, they roll a vitola, sort by color, and band/box according to what needs to go out that day. They could take a big pile of piramides, half get boxed as Monte 2's, half as Diplo 2's. Or robustos, and half are PSD4's, half are Epicure #2's. One of my best friends has been to Cuba about 20 times. I've seen video of them doing it in the factories - it's no secret.

Cuba still makes good cigars, every once in a while they make great cigars, but guys who have been smoking them for 20+ years will largely agree that they are a shadow of their former selves. I've personally aged about 100 boxes in my personal collection, cigars ranging from 97-98 vintage up to around 2005-2008, nothing newer. A few standouts aside (Punch Super Selection 2 and Ramon Allones 898, both discontinued a long time ago), it's all been disappointing compared to the early 90's cigars we were smoking back around 2002-2003.

I could talk Cuban cigars all day long, but short story is this - getting real ones is very very easy, if you do it the right way. Get some, enjoy them, but if you want my perspective... I've been smoking Cuban cigars a long time, and I've smoked a lot of them. As far as cigars rolled today, I smoke about half Cuban and half Nicaraguan these days. Up until roughly 2008-2010, I smoked almost exclusively Cuban cigars, and we're talking 3-5 per day.

Cuban cigars are good, but they aren't special anymore. For the most part.

Thanks for the info, SVTNate. I appreciate it

"Punch Super Selection 2 and Ramon Allones 898"

I find myself gravitating to Nicaraguan smokes more than anything. Much richer flavors in general IMO.

quote:

Originally posted by Leemur:
I find myself gravitating to Nicaraguan smokes more than anything. Much richer flavors in general IMO.

I concur.

quote:

Originally posted by goatboyz:

quote:

Originally posted by Leemur:
I find myself gravitating to Nicaraguan smokes more than anything. Much richer flavors in general IMO.

I concur.

I'm in the same boat. I still want to try a monte #2 and a BHK, but i'll stick to my nicaraguans.

My brother and I would go to cigar stores in Cabo San Lucas and buy "Cuban cigars." It took a couple of counterfeit purchases, but we wised up and began to take our own cigars on our trips to Cabo.

Had a Connecticut wrapped LGC last night that came in a sampler. It was quite good. Neither of the LGCs in that sampler were tight-rolled, something I've complained about before with that brand.