In my first blog post about SPOTTING FAKE CIGARS http://www.ukcigarforums.com/entry.p...rs-in-general), I said I would get meself a fakie and explain what one could find in a fake box. Or what one could EXPECT to find. Here, I have the word's most common fakies: the esplendido.



Anyways, here's the box:
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From these pictures, one can just tell that the box is an obvious fake. It's off centered. The habanos sticker is much too small and has no barcode. The burnt in writing is terrible. The face looks like an Easter Island head. The hinge isn't very high quality. And finally, there is no date on the bottom of the box.
This is in contrast to a normal box which has a Cuban "Dollar Bill" sticker on the left side of the box. It is made of self destructing fibres that cannot be lifted from the box without destruction of the sticker. The bar code is always on the front side of the box whilst the hologram is on the top of the box. Health stickers are ALWAYS placed on the box's top whether it be MINSAP (Cuban), UK, Canadian, etc. Get to know your country's health stickers.

HOWEVER. Despite the fact that the box is fake, it passes the woosh test as well as humidity test. This thing is a pretty solid humidor. I might be embarrassed by being seen with it, but it's a pretty decent humidor.
If not, I can rip off the edges on the inside and use them as dividors in my 50-150 stick humidors. Pretty nice wood.

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The inside of the box is meh. The sticker on the inside lid is obviously a joke. When it comes to the inside, they would've assumed you already paid money and they've left. So from this, they do not need to make the surroundings nice anymore. All attention is lost. The cedar is terribly cut and not even the size of the box.

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HOWEVER, I did cut em up and use them to light my pipes


How are the cigars?!
Terribly wrapped. Terribly handed. Alright tobacco that I actually just smoke in my pipes. Sometimes flavoured with brandy or scotch. No matter what, it's still Cuban tobacco. They smoke like Peso cigars.

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They did, however, place the triple caps on them. and made an effort to find an alright wrapper that doesn't show many veins of the binder and the filler that you'll see in later pictures. They are wrapped decently but bound terribly

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Filler tobacco is pretty consistent. It's quite nice that only around 3 or 4 pieces are scrap tobacco. The rest is made of nice tobacco leaves that are decently sized. But they ARE rolled terribly. Sucks

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The bloody veins are THE MOST ANNOYING things you can ever come across... They stop my pipe fires, they taste awful, they once clogged up the stem of my pipe. This is obvious not the regular tobacco one can use. It's quite reminiscent of regular pipe tobacco's stems but without the humidity and fermentation that the pipe tobacco goes through.
I learn to remove them when i'm ripping out the stems and do... Something deserving with them.

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This is the fun part. It starts smelling like a rolling facility with the odour of tobacco when I do this so i get a glass of scotch, put on some music, and just spend my time grinding/ tearing/ rubbing down my tobacco into small enough pieces to shove in my pipe and smoke! Great option. Great idea!!



What I do with the stems from hell.
Douse it in Wood Alcohol and Hexanes and burn them in my fire pit. They remind me of the high class restaurants in China whenever I go back there and everyone is smoking puro tobacco cigarettes... Memories
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Cigars themselves?
Rolled so terribly I will never know. The bloody fookers explode 3 times per stick (gotta cut off 3cm when they explode). Never could finish the buggers. The tobacco, like i said, tasted like regular peso cigars. Mix with scotch, leave it out, and it's quite normal pipe tobacco with a cuban twist!





Overall
At least they're better than the damned Guantanameras......
Of course these cigars are alright. The tobacco is still Cuban tobacco, just delivered terribly. The box, as shitey designed is pretty decent. The splints I can find useful.
HOWEVER. Fakies DO come more appealing than these little sorry looking things. In fact, the boxes look sooo real and is so well done.
Those will be my next addition to come.