Check out these fake cubans

They keep getting better... Obviously, they are not real, but the dark Monte band is raised, the cohiba bands are raised and embossed and look pretty damn good. The cuaba band looks perfect. The two 2012 limitada bands are terrible, but the 11 isn't bad. The RYJ band is perfect. The dark monte band is off center just a bit. The Genio was near perfect, only the bars are a little funky. I had a fresh espy band on me to compare as well. Obviously, the GR band on the Cohiba is terrible and never existed. All of these are long filler cigars and were bought in the DR. The cohiba bands are extremely close, best I've seen, only off slightly in color and margins, but near perfect. To the trained eye, all the wrappers are obviously not from Cuba, the EL bands terrible, but what blew me away were how good the bands are getting. I couldn't tell the RYJ or Cuaba were fake bands, and these are the best Cohiba bands I have seen yet. I did not say anything to the owner, $200 down the drain....OUCH! But I did ask to take pictures to send to my buddies to show them how cool they were

These could pass to the relative noob IMO, which is why I wanted to post them for all to see. Anyone else think the Cuaba looks just like a Camacho Diadema?

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Comments

Steve2010

Thanks for sharing, Dustin. At first glance the Maduro 5 band looked OK, but on closer examination, the white squares on the back of it look off.

catfishbluezz

Steve2010:
Thanks for sharing, Dustin. At first glance the Maduro 5 band looked OK, but on closer examination, the white squares on the back of it look off.

I know....I thought it was legit, compared it to a real band, and said it was....until I turned it around. These are good looking fakes man. As someone with a good amount of experience, I could tell immediately from the wrappers, I was just surprised at the quality of the bands.

Amos Umwhat

Interesting post. My son went to Costa Rica a couple years ago, brought back some "Cubans". Cohiba Churchills, connecticut wrapper. The label looked good, if you'd handed me an unlabelled one and asked where I thought it was from I'd have said Dominican. There were some small flaws in the wrappers, but they smoked well, good flavor. I sent one to Laker. We were never able to say definitively if they were legit, or knock-offs.

Ken Light

catfishbluezz:
Steve2010:
Thanks for sharing, Dustin. At first glance the Maduro 5 band looked OK, but on closer examination, the white squares on the back of it look off.
I know....I thought it was legit, compared it to a real band, and said it was....until I turned it around. These are good looking fakes man. As someone with a good amount of experience, I could tell immediately from the wrappers, I was just surprised at the quality of the bands.

Maybe they're rebanded, and that's why the Cohiba one is misaligned at the back?

Also, I know this is probably tough, but could try to point to what you're seeing in the wrappers that's such a dead giveaway? Is it just that they look really rough?

Diamondog

Don't get hung up on telling a fake by the bands guys, LOTS of fakes use 100% legit bands....who bought that shite?

catfishbluezz

Ken Light:
catfishbluezz:
Steve2010:
Thanks for sharing, Dustin. At first glance the Maduro 5 band looked OK, but on closer examination, the white squares on the back of it look off.
I know....I thought it was legit, compared it to a real band, and said it was....until I turned it around. These are good looking fakes man. As someone with a good amount of experience, I could tell immediately from the wrappers, I was just surprised at the quality of the bands.
Maybe they're rebanded, and that's why the Cohiba one is misaligned at the back?

Also, I know this is probably tough, but could try to point to what you're seeing in the wrappers that's such a dead giveaway? Is it just that they look really rough?

its reallythe hue of the wrappers. Colorado wrappers are a specific light choclate brown, very unmistakeable. As of late, some wrappers are a bit darker, but still have a certain consistency to them as to the hue. The splotchy spots, darkened veins, dark wrappers, and inconsistency on all of them are dead giveaways.

The cohiba Maduro the problem is the blocks on the band. Look at the bottom row, it's bigger.

catfishbluezz

Diamondog:
Don't get hung up on telling a fake by the bands guys, LOTS of fakes use 100% legit bands....who bought that shite?

customer at the B&M. The owner and I looked at each other and knew immediately. I was finishing an espy at the time.

Gaetano7890

I have a question are Monti no 2 bands raised? If that's true I got a fake and will have to revisit those.

catfishbluezz

Yes they are raised, also check the margins.

Ken Light

catfishbluezz:
Ken Light:
catfishbluezz:
Steve2010:
Thanks for sharing, Dustin. At first glance the Maduro 5 band looked OK, but on closer examination, the white squares on the back of it look off.
I know....I thought it was legit, compared it to a real band, and said it was....until I turned it around. These are good looking fakes man. As someone with a good amount of experience, I could tell immediately from the wrappers, I was just surprised at the quality of the bands.
Maybe they're rebanded, and that's why the Cohiba one is misaligned at the back?

Also, I know this is probably tough, but could try to point to what you're seeing in the wrappers that's such a dead giveaway? Is it just that they look really rough?
its reallythe hue of the wrappers. Colorado wrappers are a specific light choclate brown, very unmistakeable. As of late, some wrappers are a bit darker, but still have a certain consistency to them as to the hue. The splotchy spots, darkened veins, dark wrappers, and inconsistency on all of them are dead giveaways.

The cohiba Maduro the problem is the blocks on the band. Look at the bottom row, it's bigger.

Wow, you have quite an eye. I remain terrible at and therefore terrified of ISOM buying all the same.

Vision

catfishbluezz:
Yes they are raised, also check the margins.

I thought the early bands were not raised.??

Vision

Vision:
catfishbluezz:
Yes they are raised, also check the margins.

I thought the early bands were not raised.??

This is what I found... take it for what is worth....

In 2003, Montecristo began using new glossy cigar bands that are not embossed (no raised print). Between 2003-2006, the Montecristo band was a light "coffee brown" colour and didn't have raised print. (Before 2003, the bands were printed on non-glossy paper and did not have raised printing at all.) In 2006, Montecristo began using slightly darker bands ("milk chocolate brown" in colour) and early versions of this band had raised printing but now they don't.

Its goes on to say that the new bands are embosed..... Again.... its just a little research from the internet..... take it for what its worth.

catfishbluezz

Vision:
catfishbluezz:
Yes they are raised, also check the margins.

I thought the early bands were not raised.??

they were not, however, the monte fakes are much more likely then old bands. Honestly, I won't buy monte of any year without an embossed label unless I see the box code and box. Best site for info is this: www.cubancigarwebsite.com. You can find all the band info there. More often then not, I see monte fakes without embossed bass than actual real ones with the old bands. I've had several fakes passed on to me.

danielzreyes

Remember that Monte 2 I posted awhile back? I got the box for it. I'm gonna bump my thread and add box pics. Again, don't know it looks legit or not as I have very limited experience with Isoms.

danielzreyes

danielzreyes:
Remember that Monte 2 I posted awhile back? I got the box for it. I'm gonna bump my thread and add box pics. Again, don't know it looks legit or not as I have very limited experience with Isoms.

done

Rhamlin

Fakes or no, how'd they smoke?

catfishbluezz

Rhamlin:
Fakes or no, how'd they smoke?

no clue, someone was showing them off at the B&M.

Rhamlin

Ah yes, missed that part somehow.

mmccartneydc

wow, is that supposed to be the Cuaba Solomones like the one i sent you?

chswrst726

Disclaimer: I'm relatively new to cigar smoking.

That being said, I recently took a trip to Germany and acquired a few 3-packs of cubans (one each -Cohiba, RYJ, and Partagas). The boxes had the light green seal on them. Is there any reason I should believe that these would not be legit?

I've never had a CC before, so I have nothing to gauge their authenticity on. A botl of mine (the guy that got me started on cigars) tried one of the Partagas and said it was great, but that doesn't necessarily tell me that it's real.

While I'm not going to throw them away if they're not real (if they taste good, I'm going to smoke them regardless. Likewise, if they're ass...i'll treat them as such), I would like to know...just for my own knowledge.

Any thoughts?

catfishbluezz

Post pics dude

Rain

chswrst726:
Disclaimer: I'm relatively new to cigar smoking.

That being said, I recently took a trip to Germany and acquired a few 3-packs of cubans (one each -Cohiba, RYJ, and Partagas). The boxes had the light green seal on them. Is there any reason I should believe that these would not be legit?

I've never had a CC before, so I have nothing to gauge their authenticity on. A botl of mine (the guy that got me started on cigars) tried one of the Partagas and said it was great, but that doesn't necessarily tell me that it's real.

While I'm not going to throw them away if they're not real (if they taste good, I'm going to smoke them regardless. Likewise, if they're ass...i'll treat them as such), I would like to know...just for my own knowledge.

Any thoughts?

Bro, I'd watch yourself if they are not real...who knows what you're smoking? I agree with Dustin, post some pics.

catfishbluezz

Had a fake monte the other day...took two puffs...put it aside. Really...it jsut tasted like an NC that was below average nad I knew it was going to go south. It did have a triple cap and nice wrapper though.

Roberto99

Rain:
chswrst726:
Disclaimer: I'm relatively new to cigar smoking.

That being said, I recently took a trip to Germany and acquired a few 3-packs of cubans (one each -Cohiba, RYJ, and Partagas). The boxes had the light green seal on them. Is there any reason I should believe that these would not be legit?

I've never had a CC before, so I have nothing to gauge their authenticity on. A botl of mine (the guy that got me started on cigars) tried one of the Partagas and said it was great, but that doesn't necessarily tell me that it's real.

While I'm not going to throw them away if they're not real (if they taste good, I'm going to smoke them regardless. Likewise, if they're ass...i'll treat them as such), I would like to know...just for my own knowledge.

Any thoughts?
Bro, I'd watch yourself if they are not real...who knows what you're smoking? I agree with Dustin, post some pics.

+1 I got sick on a fake once and not from nicotine. Not sure what it was contaminated with. I've heard of some pretty crazy stuff being found in them.

bigharpoon

In my opinion if you find yourself with a fake there isn't any harm in lighting it up and giving it a try. If it's total garbage - chuck it. Not all fakes are total garbage, though, some are half decent cigars that are passed off as authentic name brand Cubans and sold at a premium. Yeah, it won't be the Cuban you hoped or paid for but since you already paid for it you might as well give it a try and be a little wiser for the wear next time around. The most important thing with Cubans is to trust your source.

chswrst726

Just for clarification, I personally broke the seal on all 3 boxes.

rzaman

They are all original Cuban cigars.

scarlin

rzaman:
They are all original Cuban cigars.

+1 or Flawless fakes

ctschirgi

Amos Umwhat:
Interesting post. My son went to Costa Rica a couple years ago, brought back some "Cubans". Cohiba Churchills, connecticut wrapper. The label looked good, if you'd handed me an unlabelled one and asked where I thought it was from I'd have said Dominican. There were some small flaws in the wrappers, but they smoked well, good flavor. I sent one to Laker. We were never able to say definitively if they were legit, or knock-offs.

Yes the Costa Rica Cohiba cigars. Ever time we moored in Golfito there were folks on the pier with Cohiba Cigars. The guys would always ask me how to tell if they were real and I'd tell them I have no way of knowing. Seems there probably isn't a fool proof method since the bands on fakes could be legit and Cuba has had issues with entire years worth of tobacco harvests being damaged or less poroductive. A poor cigar could be a quality control issue/cumulative effort of poor harvests vs a fake.

Diamondog

There is a way to tell, dont buy cigars on a pier lol....if you dont have a trusted knowledgeable source that you can buy from with 100% certainty dont waste your money....