Counterfeit Montecristo GR's and Cohiba 1966's...

[cigarsam]

what we need is an app on mobiles which can scan the boxes and verify if they are real or not!

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[Aussiewaz]

Leicester (where I live) used to be the counterfeit capital of Europe.

Ah hah! Got any of those glass top boxes laying around that I may purchase at a premium? LOL. Just kidding as your input is interesting.

[SmokeyDave]

Back off my month holiday and just read through this post, very interesting reading, especially as my job is Reprographics.

I can say that to reproduce a Cohiba box design is an absolute breeze, it is not exactly complex in make up and design, probably an hours work for me on a Mac if I have a real box to reference.

Set up costs for the Foil blocking isn't expensive for a counterfeit setup, maybe ?700.00 a design roughly.

Anyone who is a printer will be used to colour matching special inks.

An old print press can be bought pretty cheaply, but to be honest if the outfit is into counterfeiting on a large scale it's peanuts to them.

And as a final thought, up until recently Leicester (where I live) used to be the counterfeit capital of Europe.

[donkeydrop]

thanks monkey ill check with kriss at the black swan but im sure he is with h and f

[donkeydrop]

we do have a cigar shop in Huddersfield but unfortunately I cant get in to the place as its a listed building and does not have a ramp for my chair

[Aussiewaz]

I buy online in singles, if I went to the shop I could see the boxes but the shop is 90 miles away!

Ah yes, that makes sense then.

[donkeydrop]

I buy online in singles, if I went to the shop I could see the boxes but the shop is 90 miles away!

[monkey66]

so am I safe from fakes if I buy from reputable shops like jjfox or the black swan? I buy in singles so never get to see the box labels.

I wouldn't worry for a second with JJF. Don't know the Black Swan but if they are supplied by H and F direct all should be good.

[Aussiewaz]

so am I safe from fakes if I buy from reputable shops like jjfox or the black swan? I buy in singles so never get to see the box labels.

A polite question, why do you not get to see the boxes? Every B&M I have bought from allows me to check the box for date stamp & labelling when buying singles, I pick the cigar from the box myself. Just curious is all.

[donkeydrop]

so am I safe from fakes if I buy from reputable shops like jjfox or the black swan? I buy in singles so never get to see the box labels.

[monkey66]

A little update.

The 'square' seal was apparently used on some legitimate products pre Dec 10.

This reinforces the 'real but stolen' theory to the label, and the theory that this is why HSA changed an already new label design.

[monkey66]

Fascinating topic and an interesting read.



That's seems an astonishing claim.. Do you have a source?

Nope, perhaps a bit poor by me

I guess in my head the general cigar community seems to be of this opinion. Could be wrong of course. But when you look at the numbers of fake Cubans in Cuba, South and North America, Caribbean, Eastern Europe and now China there must be a lot.

[El Catador]

Fascinating topic and an interesting read.

There are more fake cigars in the world than real ones

That's seems an astonishing claim.. Do you have a source?

[JOAO LA PEZ]

lmfao





ok, but lets pretend for a second that that was a serious suggestion....

Depends on how you want to define 'legitimate'. This was a sale by Spanish grey-market seller. Pretty sure H and F will tell you they have never sold a counterfeit stick and this is why you should always buy from them. You pay a bit more but your quality is guaranteed kind of thing.

You would not be able to import cigars from Cuba to the UK as H and F own the franchise for the UK (unless they allowed you). I think there are exclusive distributorship's for nearly every global market.

It is this monopoly (and govt's taxation policy) that leads to us chasing cheap prices, and lets us fall for fakes and cons.

But if you want to start a cigar distribution business go for it (that's what's called when a few people get together to perform an act of commerce, not a 'collective'). You would not be the first that started off as an enthusiast and that led to them getting into the industry, some quite successfully. However if your goal is to have great, original smokes, legitimately imported to the UK, at duty-free prices we all know you will be disappointed.

Perhaps we should stop pretending that cheap cigars is some sort of mission or human right. At the end of the day Cuban Cigars are a luxury product which have nothing to do with the real issues in the world. This is a pay-to-play hobby and all of us who smoke cigars (burning expensive leaves flown all over the world) are to some degree frivolousness and selfish. To then spend ones energy bitching about the price seems kind of shallow to me.


....but you were just having a laugh, right?

monopoly, only if you are reselling.

[monkey66]

Has this stuff spread into stores or is it mainly occurring over internet sites?
You would of thought that vendors would check their stock.

This is almost always limited to non-UK on-line sites but has been know to appear in some (non-UK) shops.

There are more fake cigars in the world than real ones, educate yourself as best you can, buy form reputable sources and if a deal is too good to be true it probably is.

We have very few fakes in the shops in the UK (just very high prices).