unbanded ISOM's

I see a lot of CC's floating around, for sale, etc. that are unbanded. Supposedly they are from cabs and that's why they are unbanded. The lengths and rg seem to be correct for what they are claiming them to be. I'm wondering if that is as common as it seems to be and they are legit. They are from otherwise legitimate BOTL, not the ol' my neighbor has a friend that went on vacation...

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Diamondog

Unbanded because from cabs? That doesn't make sense on its own merit. Cartain cubans came unbanded, I am hard pressed to think of any current productions that do...older, yes....custom rolls come unbanded...there are however cigars that can be obtained from factories unbanded BUT not for most to get their hands on. It all comes down to sources...some may have sources within the cuban factories or through vendors etc that are extremely well connected MOST do not. You MUST trust your sources implicitly not just that they are good guys but that they are connected...

rzaman

I just had a cigar night with some folks and one of them were from Cuba. I saw this thread this afternoon and asked him about it. He told me in Cuba there is a black market where people offer unbanded cigars. They say friends of friends or uncles of uncles who works in various cigar factories offer unbanded cigars. It can be genuin or fake. It depends who is the supplier. In Cuban black market it is possible to get genuin Behile without band with $150. Yes, you heard me right- 10 unbanded Behiked 52 without boxes. I asked him about the authenticity. he said 50:50 but most of the time fake. The genuin cigars are stolen or from their personal stash. The rollers get some free sticks but not Behikes quality.

catfishbluezz

Older cabs came unbanded, newer production does not regardless of dress box, SLB, or cab. I believe it happened for a short period of time in the late nineties and 2000's. If a specific seller on olh is selling them, do not buy, you can PM for the name. You can check dates here: cubancigarwebsite.com.

catfishbluezz

Oh....and 99-05ish is shoddy production to, so I make it a point to steer clear of those years which is where they might be common. Unless you are buying the actual cab and can verify its date code and seal, too much risk IMO

blurr

At least I feel better after reading the replies. I pm'd to avoid this as in my VERY newbish 2 years experience I have never seen unbanded cabs. Grey market we are well versed in and that's a trust your source but olh is a different game. No need to go there, this community has all the help you need and the advice of the guys who I respect here has taught me well in growing my delicious collection.

catfishbluezz

blurr:
At least I feel better after reading the replies. I pm'd to avoid this as in my VERY newbish 2 years experience I have never seen unbanded cabs. Grey market we are well versed in and that's a trust your source but olh is a different game. No need to go there, this community has all the help you need and the advice of the guys who I respect here has taught me well in growing my delicious collection.

ive only seen them from years back, nothing current in the last 6 years. That site I posted is one of the best resources to check dates, packaging, etc...

catfishbluezz

Blurr, lets just say I bought some that were complete sh$t, ran it by some sr BOTL's, they had my back, but the seller was a dbag. Some of the sizes checked out via dating them to unbanded years, but they were terrible construction and tobacco. Learned my lesson the hard way, but backed off going the scumbaglist route over a couple smokes. I'll PM the name to anyone curious, but given its hard to verify and there is a good chance they came from the sh$t years of habanos, I'd just steer clear unless its a friend and you e smoked one. Cigar-reviews.org is another good resource too.

bigharpoon

Thank you all very much for your responses. I appreciate you taking the time to help out a CC newbie. This forum continues to prove itself to be a wealth of knowledge and camaraderie. Thanks again.

mmccartneydc

Don't know if this has anything to do with it, but when I was in Mexico. The resort had a cigar lounge in it and I bought a few Cubans for the week. The dude in the lounge told me that if I had any left, to just take the bands off of them and even if they were found upon coming home, they could not prove they were CC's and therefore, I wouldn't get in any trouble. Don't know if that works or not as I finished those and actually bought more before leaving!

Bigshizza

My take on this is the practice by some online sellers, sending sealed boxes of cigars with a Costa Rican stamp and then you wait for the empty Cuban boxes and rings to show up 3 weeks later. Maybe that's one way these unbanded ones show up?

catfishbluezz

Bigshizza:
My take on this is the practice by some online sellers, sending sealed boxes of cigars with a Costa Rican stamp and then you wait for the empty Cuban boxes and rings to show up 3 weeks later. Maybe that's one way these unbanded ones show up?

its a specific seller Jim. He claims they came from cabs in the early 2000's. There are plenty of examples you can find on either of the resources I posted. Several companies did it, but stopped due to the counterfeiting problem. I don't think anyone does anymore. You can PM me for more details, it's not someone here. And always check those two websites. One is controlled by a well respected member of the community.