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The Perfect Counterfeit Cohiba...Almost

(badhangover @ Jan 28 2007, 08:39 AM) [post="431027"][/post]
Excellent work, Ginseng. Between your counterfeit sleuthing and your Acid reviewing, you're quite the busy person. I'm a bit curious what percentage of samples sent to you for authenticity review reveal themselves to be genuine, in your opinion, from your examinations.
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BH,

I am particular about the cigars I solicit for analysis precisely because time is so tight. When I contact someone to try and learn more about their cigars or to obtain a specimen, I am pretty sure they are counterfeit and that they have particular educative value. As a rule, I do not seek to go out and validate every "is this real" post out there. There are plenty of folks who are capable of handling the more obvious cases.

I've received unsolicited contacts from maybe 10 or 12 people and in all but 2 or 3 cases the cigars in question have been counterfeits. And those authentic cigars were obtained from what I would consider trustworthy sources. The upshot is that those folks did not have full confidence in their supplier or did not know enough to determine that the goods were real. In those cases, I'm please to do a little one on one teaching. Knowledge is a wonderful thing.

Every single one of the cigars that were obtained "from a guy" have been counterfeit. Every single one.

Wilkey
 
Wilkey,

I've got a bunch of what I think are fake Acids and Moontrances. Might they have an educative value?

:)

Thanks.
 
Oh CRAP!

I got some cigars "from a guy" here at CP. I'm gonna have to out a major player now.














:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Ginseng said:
Every single one of the cigars that were obtained "from a guy" have been counterfeit. Every single one.

Wilkey
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Fantastic job Wilkey and a great read as well. This one was particularly suspenceful and kept me changing my guess until the photo of the foot. Thanks!


:cool:
 
Ginseng said:
Every single one of the cigars that were obtained "from a guy" have been counterfeit. Every single one.
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This statement alone is such a strong contribution to the cigar community. Your well articulated analysis and conclusions of these fakes make such a resounding condemnation against purchasing "from a guy". Regrettably, sometimes common sense needs to be reinforced.

To those who have received fakes as gifts from family and/or friends, I am not bashing on you or your sources. They most likely bought their fake cigars with the best of intentions (even if they looked for "a deal") and most likely gifted them to you with the best of intentions as well. I just think Ginseng's findings reinforce the necessity to be absolutely certain of provenance and confidence of authenticity before introducing cigars into the general cigar community (e.g. box passes, PIF's, trades, etc). The fact that so many cigars are submitted to Ginseng leads me to believe that this cigar board is conscientiously diligent about preventing such dubious cigars from entering circulation. Very nice to see.
 
Just one question, though.

Does the best counterfeit Cohiba ever smoke worth a damn? I know it's not as good as a real Cohiba, but is it any good?
 
(badhangover @ Jan 28 2007, 06:07 PM) [post="431224"][/post](Ginseng @ Jan 28 2007, 06:46 AM) [post="431059"][/post]Every single one of the cigars that were obtained "from a guy" have been counterfeit. Every single one.
This statement alone is such a strong contribution to the cigar community. Your well articulated analysis and conclusions of these fakes make such a resounding condemnation against purchasing "from a guy". Regrettably, sometimes common sense needs to be reinforced.

To those who have received fakes as gifts from family and/or friends, I am not bashing on you or your sources. They most likely bought their fake cigars with the best of intentions (even if they looked for "a deal") and most likely gifted them to you with the best of intentions as well. I just think Ginseng's findings reinforce the necessity to be absolutely certain of provenance and confidence of authenticity before introducing cigars into the general cigar community (e.g. box passes, PIF's, trades, etc). The fact that so many cigars are submitted to Ginseng leads me to believe that this cigar board is conscientiously diligent about preventing such dubious cigars from entering circulation. Very nice to see.
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That point cannot be stressed strongly enough. Several folks have reported having received fakes in passes or trades and then there are those who might not know that they did. I think the strongest way to frame this issue is as follows:

Not: "If you don't think it's counterfeit, it's ok to pass on or gift."

But rather: "If you are not absolutely sure it is genuine, do not pass it on or gift."

Einherjar, I've smoked several fakes that I believe came from the same ultimate source. They tend to be monotonous, medium tobacco flavor, and nondescript with no real character. In other words, not terrible but rather boring. One person has remarked that they might contain Mexican tobacco and I'm planning on investigating this.

Wilkey
 
Great info once again Wilkey. You are providing a great service to this community by educating all of us on this subject. I think I posted this in another thread, but looking at the packaging that the fake cohibas have, it is truly impressive how elaborate some of these fakes are. If those fakes were packaged in the genuine EL box the come in, it would've been very hard for me to spot the fake.

Thanks again!
 
Young_Smoke said:
Great info once again Wilkey. You are providing a great service to this community by educating all of us on this subject. I think I posted this in another thread, but looking at the packaging that the fake cohibas have, it is truly impressive how elaborate some of these fakes are. If those fakes were packaged in the genuine EL box the come in, it would've been very hard for me to spot the fake.

Thanks again!
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You and me both. It would be damn near impossible. Luckily, this particular class of counterfeit has a very distinctive bitter smell and a distinctly non-Cuban taste.

Thanks for the kind words!

Wilkey
 
Great education, and more importantly, showing the detailed photographs and how you arrived at your conclusions.
 
Outstanding analysis, Wilkey! Thanks for the info.

One thing confused me, though. Accigar called his '04s and you mention '06 packaging. Was he incorrect or was there a typo, error, or did I misunderstand somehow?

Steve

P.S. I remember the ribbing you got when you pulled out the flashlight! ;) :D

Ginseng said:
The other clincher is that accigar's cigars came in this packaging:
AccigarCohibaPiramides08.jpg
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Steve,

They are labeled 2006 ELs.

A boy's gotte be prepared for anything. ;)

Wilkey
 
Hi, I am impressed by your post about counterfeit EL Piramides because I have just been offered a 25 shrink wrap pack for U$ 140!! What gives me the shakes is that it was my reliable (until now) supplier. I live outside the US, and cuban cigars are legally imported here. I would appreciate if you could post the pictures so I can check your findings. Right now the photobucket informs that the pictures you mention in your Jan 28 2007, 12:01 AM
post have been moved or deleted.
 
cigarpagrest said:
Hi, I am impressed by your post about counterfeit EL Piramides because I have just been offered a 25 shrink wrap pack for U$ 140!! What gives me the shakes is that it was my reliable (until now) supplier. I live outside the US, and cuban cigars are legally imported here. I would appreciate if you could post the pictures so I can check your findings. Right now the photobucket informs that the pictures you mention in your Jan 28 2007, 12:01 AM
post have been moved or deleted.
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Fake, fake, fake:

http://www.vitolas.net/displayimage.php?pos=-1021
 
cigarpagrest said:
Hi, I am impressed by your post about counterfeit EL Piramides because I have just been offered a 25 shrink wrap pack for U$ 140!! What gives me the shakes is that it was my reliable (until now) supplier. I live outside the US, and cuban cigars are legally imported here. I would appreciate if you could post the pictures so I can check your findings. Right now the photobucket informs that the pictures you mention in your Jan 28 2007, 12:01 AM
post have been moved or deleted.
Click to expand...

Name three things wrong with this post ... :sign:
 
PuroEsq said:
cigarpagrest said:
Hi, I am impressed by your post about counterfeit EL Piramides because I have just been offered a 25 shrink wrap pack for U$ 140!! What gives me the shakes is that it was my reliable (until now) supplier. I live outside the US, and cuban cigars are legally imported here. I would appreciate if you could post the pictures so I can check your findings. Right now the photobucket informs that the pictures you mention in your Jan 28 2007, 12:01 AM
post have been moved or deleted.
Click to expand...

Name three things wrong with this post ... :sign:
Click to expand...

How's about one thing:

cigarpagrest
Group: Members
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