Fake tubos

[rollzst]

Anyone come across fake cigars in tubes before? I have a 3 pack of petit edmundos and I have my suspisions they may well be fake.

The packaging is perfect and so are the seals, and tubes themselves but inside the tubes the cedar wood looks too thin, the bands too dark, and one of the cigars very light in colour.

I'm smoking the light cigar now and it's actually not bad, good flavour to it but perhaps a little lighter than it should be.

Would be good to hear your opinions on this

[Habana-Habanos]

Pictures?

[Pandyboy]

There are some right cheeky gits out there.

Hope the smoke was not too bad.

[cj121]

I had a three pack of RyJ Ex3s last year in Cuba. Served me right as they were off resort staff. Two out of the three were tight as a gnats chuff and plugged to buggery (what a combo) Tasted good, but that was it. Presentation was very good generally.

I suspect if the packaging was kosher, you're going to be smoking somethign legit rollzst. One stick being lighter in shade would not be considered unusual. How thick do you want your wafer of cedar anyhow?

Can't comment on the band, but the printing process on anything has tolerances (well, massive margins sometimes: ex litho printer myself in a previous life, both paper and tin)

Like HH says, pop some pics up, but even then I don't think you'll get conclusive answers. If they're smoking alright, don't worry too much

[Hot_Sauce]

A guy at my local cigar lounge brought in some 2007 EL RyJ Churchill Tubo's. He swears they are real. Even though I showed him the Habanos website and it dosen't mention anything about a EL RyJ Churchill ever being produced.

Now he is looking to purchase some Cohibas from this same person.

[cbob]

I suspect if the packaging was kosher, you're going to be smoking somethign legit rollzst. One stick being lighter in shade would not be considered unusual.

Must respectfully disagree.
Virtually ALL of the 3-packs and 5-packs sold by bar staff and beach staff and guys on the street in Cuba are in brilliantly executed packaging. The cigars inside are fakes.

I do agree that it's normal to find unusually light or dark (or rough) wrappers on tubo packed cigars. The cigars are not colour-matched the way they are for box packaging and I've seen ladies loading up tubos (Bolivars in this case) with what looked like all the colour mis-matches off the sorting table. I used to have a theory that all the smokes with dodgy wrappers got "tubo'd" anyway because nobody will ever be taking then out to see how they match up in the box. The theory may be largely accurate but I have had some really nice-looking tubos so... who knows?

[cj121]

Respectfully clarifying Cbob:

As you rightly state, packaging over there is very good, as I put.

I was making comparison to the fakes I bought last year and rollzst's, which I'm assuming came from a reputable source, to highlight that discrepencies around wrapper shade, band and cedar insert are not always indicative of a fake product.

Reading my post again, that was not explicit, sorry.

[Cigar-aficionado]

You often see staff at resorts in Cuba picking up empty tubes left by smokers from genuine smokes they may have bought at a Casa, you only then need to stick a fake smoke in it and you have a well packed counterfeit cigar

[monkey66]

A guy at my local cigar lounge brought in some 2007 EL RyJ Churchill Tubo's. He swears they are real. Even though I showed him the Habanos website and it dosen't mention anything about a EL RyJ Churchill ever being produced.

Now he is looking to purchase some Cohibas from this same person.

If the cigar never existed it is fake for sure!

[cbob]

If the cigar never existed it is fake for sure!

What?!
You mean that Montecristo Churchills I've been hoarding could be an impostor?