CC, I completely agree with you on this matter.
I am guilty of using sticks I would never have put in a pass due to not remembering where they came from.
I made the mistake of not using my own sticks that have been bought from "trusted" places. I wanted to move the pass out as fast as I could and used what I had in the work Humi. I should of waited and used sticks from the coolers I keep at home. The top row of my work humi I stock with sticks I am going to smoke that week while at work or coming home from work. In the bottom shelf I keep cigars I pull from passes or cigars bombed to me from anonymous sources. Since I dont know the origins of these cigars I dont like to mix them with my sticks. TO avoid what just happened here. But this is what i get for not following my own guidelines.
For this I apologize to the members of the pass and to the members of cigarpass.
For what it is worth, I smoked both of these cigars tonight... and they are not Cohibas in my opinion. I cut them open after not enjoying the first inch or two, and it is long filler through and through, probably farm rolled tobacco... but they are not Cohibas...
As has been mentioned, the taste is fairly distinctive and easy to recognize, and it was lacking here. The cigars started off a bit bitter, had none of the fermented Cohiba taste on your lips, nor the nose... they weren't even enjoyable fakes unfortunately.
Since the bands look perfect except for the diagonal line above the 'b' in Habana, and since the taste of the cigars is clearly not that of a Cuban Cohiba, here's my current *guess*. These are real bands that were rejected for use on production cigars because of the print defects. These rejects were then taken from the factory or print shop, and found there way onto Fauxibas, that were sold to some unsuspecting person.
Just a guess... but I think something similar to that must have happened, because other than that minor defect, the bands are perfect... and the cigars taste like warmed over butt hair.
So if you have any other "Cohibas" with the same band defects, you might want to toss them.