- 16/8/09
- 7,846
- 66
- 48
Once again a good friend of mine got some cigars for me while in Mexico. He got a "great deal" on some Cohibas "on the beach".
Rule #1 - There are NO deals on Cohibas or any high end Cuban brand. They do not exist. Cigars after aging in the factory are transported to government stores on the island or to the airport for transport to another countries import office as they are tobacco. The very best price you will ever pay for these as a consumer is in the smaller factory stores. They are still far more than you'd think.
Here is a shot of the box I got.
Rule #2 - There are NO boxes of Cohibas with glass tops. Boxes of 25 come in a plain cedar box as pictured below. Boxes of 5 cigars come in a paper sleeve box as pictured below.
The raised and non raised printing of the logo must be perfection. If it's off even a little the cigars inside just won't be real. Just look at the non centered head.
Here is a Gen box closeup and you can see every aspect looks perfect.
I have no idea what this hologram is. The gen is just a small square on that looks the part.
The Habanos flag. Once again the embossing must line up perfectly. It also doubles as a tamper proof sticker so it must be diagnal across two openings unlike the obvious fake here.
Seal. This must look like money and have the same feel as money. The red ink is stamped and not part of the printing process so it should look slightly different. If you carry a blacklight with you, I do in Cuba on a keychain, the seal will have a head in the center similer to US money that will only appear under blacklight. The red code will also change color under blacklight.
Box stamp under the box must be perfectly centered and straight. Cuba has changed the stamp in recent years to more of a printed style stamp unlike the "stamped" stamp of old. ALL boxes will also have a date and factory code hand stamped to them aswell.
Crooked Rep
Old style stamp. Ahh....remember when Cohiba Robustos cost $10!
New style stamp
Inside the box, you will find a piece of semi transparent paper. These are replicated very good and the tell of this one really is the print quality. The gen is perfect, and the rep is done on a home color printer.
Rep
Gen
If the makers of these put as much effort into the band as the box and just sold them as singles they'd all be rich.
The bands on Gen Cohibas have changed aswell over the years but as a golden rule, these must be perfection aswell. Everything must be perfectly in line. I find the checker pattern is always a huge tell on fakes. Also a box is color graded. All the cigars in a box must be exactly the same color. Any variations will be from left to right but unless you are a cigar color grader don't look for this, just know they must be the same.
The reason Cohibas are the most expensive cigar brand in Cuba is that the wrappers are the first chosen from the bundles in the wrapper room. The vast majority of the flavor and cost of a cigar is the wrapper so if they dont look perfect or are bumpy and veiny they are not real.
Old style band. Yes it's framed, that was a very special cigar.
New style band with raised and embossed lettering
Rep. Just look at the 3 lines of checkering and how uneven and different they are from the others in the box.
It's actuly incredibly simple to never buy a fake Cohiba
Rule #3 - Only buy them from a dealer.
Rule #1 - There are NO deals on Cohibas or any high end Cuban brand. They do not exist. Cigars after aging in the factory are transported to government stores on the island or to the airport for transport to another countries import office as they are tobacco. The very best price you will ever pay for these as a consumer is in the smaller factory stores. They are still far more than you'd think.
Here is a shot of the box I got.
Rule #2 - There are NO boxes of Cohibas with glass tops. Boxes of 25 come in a plain cedar box as pictured below. Boxes of 5 cigars come in a paper sleeve box as pictured below.
The raised and non raised printing of the logo must be perfection. If it's off even a little the cigars inside just won't be real. Just look at the non centered head.
Here is a Gen box closeup and you can see every aspect looks perfect.
I have no idea what this hologram is. The gen is just a small square on that looks the part.
The Habanos flag. Once again the embossing must line up perfectly. It also doubles as a tamper proof sticker so it must be diagnal across two openings unlike the obvious fake here.
Seal. This must look like money and have the same feel as money. The red ink is stamped and not part of the printing process so it should look slightly different. If you carry a blacklight with you, I do in Cuba on a keychain, the seal will have a head in the center similer to US money that will only appear under blacklight. The red code will also change color under blacklight.
Box stamp under the box must be perfectly centered and straight. Cuba has changed the stamp in recent years to more of a printed style stamp unlike the "stamped" stamp of old. ALL boxes will also have a date and factory code hand stamped to them aswell.
Crooked Rep
Old style stamp. Ahh....remember when Cohiba Robustos cost $10!
New style stamp
Inside the box, you will find a piece of semi transparent paper. These are replicated very good and the tell of this one really is the print quality. The gen is perfect, and the rep is done on a home color printer.
Rep
Gen
If the makers of these put as much effort into the band as the box and just sold them as singles they'd all be rich.
The bands on Gen Cohibas have changed aswell over the years but as a golden rule, these must be perfection aswell. Everything must be perfectly in line. I find the checker pattern is always a huge tell on fakes. Also a box is color graded. All the cigars in a box must be exactly the same color. Any variations will be from left to right but unless you are a cigar color grader don't look for this, just know they must be the same.
The reason Cohibas are the most expensive cigar brand in Cuba is that the wrappers are the first chosen from the bundles in the wrapper room. The vast majority of the flavor and cost of a cigar is the wrapper so if they dont look perfect or are bumpy and veiny they are not real.
Old style band. Yes it's framed, that was a very special cigar.
New style band with raised and embossed lettering
Rep. Just look at the 3 lines of checkering and how uneven and different they are from the others in the box.
It's actuly incredibly simple to never buy a fake Cohiba
Rule #3 - Only buy them from a dealer.
