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Bar codes on CC boxes

Habanos addict

Habanos addict

Banned
Joined
Mar 18, 2012
Messages
81
Location
North west US
Not long ago I was offered a PSD4 from an acquaintance locally and I was surprised to the fact that I did not taste as it should neither did it look right.
Lighter color ,dry wrapper and taste not worth describing.
When I tried to order some my self I asked one seemingly reputable vendor to ship me some with the boxes sealed as made and they agreed.
When I got them ,they were fakes and also tasted like it.
Issues besides the cigars them selves not tasting original where holograms at wrong place etc and bar codes missing.
After I mailed several others they all bring up many reasons why barcodes have to be peeled of.
My question is this.
As far as I know on newer cc boxes the hologram sticker has the bar codes on for verification of the customer on Habanos site of what they got.
Many vendors claim that the bar codes include info that identifies a market and that is why they do not leave them on the box.
Why should they care if they already do what they should not, besides the fact they take away the toughest part to counterfeit?

Do the bar codes provide info other than authenticity?

I never had to bother in the past since I never had to stay in the states long enough to lower my supply enough here but if I was to buy anything on line ,one would think would be nice for everything on boxes to be the way they were made in the factories untouched from peeling anything of.
I also noticed some seemingly legit sources roll their own blends ....what do you guys know about them coming from swiss origin.

This is my first post so please take it easy on me ,I look forward to this awesome site being a lot of fun to come.
 
The US embargo prohibits the purchase or possession of Cuban cigars by US citizens. Additionally, as I have travelled outside of the US quite a bit, it is obvious that Cuban cigars are often counterfeited.

The bar code question sounds like a good topic for Gordon Mott. Welcome to CP
 
Thank you all.

No source discussions need to be generated by this.

Just wanted to know besides having something to hide from the customer ,is there any validity in any of the reasons i was given by some about bar codes identifying markets and the rest of it........many interesting ones I do not need to ask about.

Just wanted to make sure I was not missing something and fail to give the benefit of the doubt to anyone I wanted to have to try to establish a relationship making them wealthy supporting my habit.

All I know is they provide customer ability to authenticate on line with Habanos,nothing else right?
 
I am curious about this as well. I ordered from some "trusted sources" that I read were good to go. One of the 5 boxes still had the bar code on, and came back legit. The reason for the bar code being removed is so that the sticks cannot be traced back to the gray market dealer. Fair enough. Is there that much trade going on within Europe to go mail order to avoid taxes and then hurt the local distributors? I mean there are not authorised dealers within the U.S. to piss off. Also if ISOM's are in "such demand" why would there need to be gray market sales? I mean they should be flying off the shelves so a guy would not need the quick cash wholesaling on the gray market. Or is the "we cant make enough to support market demand" BS?, and they are hurting in this economy as well and trying to keep up the farce?
 
Like rx2man said above, the bar codes are removed so the boxes can't be traced back to whoever sold the boxes to the online retailer (at least thats what I think he was saying). I would assume that this is done because the person/business that is selling to the online retailer is contractually prohibited from selling wholesale.
 
lherzolite said:
Like rx2man said above, the bar codes are removed so the boxes can't be traced back to whoever sold the boxes to the online retailer (at least thats what I think he was saying). I would assume that this is done because the person/business that is selling to the online retailer is contractually prohibited from selling wholesale.
Click to expand...

Yes that is what I was trying to say which does not apply to the U.S, market as we dont have any official outlets. So that only applys to Europe. etc, But if they sell that well then why the gray market? The whole demand exceeds production mystique if the ISOM stick is BS.
 
rx2man said:
lherzolite said:
Like rx2man said above, the bar codes are removed so the boxes can't be traced back to whoever sold the boxes to the online retailer (at least thats what I think he was saying). I would assume that this is done because the person/business that is selling to the online retailer is contractually prohibited from selling wholesale.
Click to expand...

Yes that is what I was trying to say which does not apply to the U.S, market as we dont have any official outlets. So that only applys to Europe. etc, But if they sell that well then why the gray market? The whole demand exceeds production mystique if the ISOM stick is BS.
Click to expand...

It's about the $$$.

They get the product at a certian wholesale price.
They cannot sell lower than certian prices - based on what the manufacturer AND area setup. Yea, there's some wiggle room....but large drops - no.
They risk losing their right to be legit dealers.
This way, they move more product by selling lower....and more product may (usally does) deeper wholesale discounts and even preference when a sales guy happens to run across an extra pallet of something...the larger producer may get the call first.

It's a numbers game.
 
So the question remains how do the bar codes in the hands of a single consumer existing on the boxes can implicate anyone even if the consumer is in the States.

Is there info on the bar codes to identify a dealers market?

If it is only if one wanted to purchase and ship huge amounts, over and above the amount of the most frequent single user should pose a problem if it was asked of a single vendor.

If the bar codes do not provide info about what mentioned above the rest is irrelevant and these claims should be only another tool for confusion for the naive with out previous experience on CCs on behalf of the sellers which should be huge in this country.
 
I understand that English is not your native language. I'll leave the bead-licking comments for the other thread. However, since English is not your strong point, and it is readily apparent that your posts are very difficult to interpret here, please compose your thoughts into shorter sentences. I just stop reading once I lose the direction of the thought you are trying to express. K.I.S.S.
 
kann said:
I understand that English is not your native language. I'll leave the bead-licking comments for the other thread. However, since English is not your strong point, and it is readily apparent that your posts are very difficult to interpret here, please compose your thoughts into shorter sentences. I just stop reading once I lose the direction of the thought you are trying to express. K.I.S.S.
Click to expand...

And even think I was thinking I did my best on this last one.....I was surprised how good it was.

I will try my best for you but it would be nice if you could address at least any part of my point on the topic.
 
Habanos addict said:
kann said:
I understand that English is not your native language. I'll leave the bead-licking comments for the other thread. However, since English is not your strong point, and it is readily apparent that your posts are very difficult to interpret here, please compose your thoughts into shorter sentences. I just stop reading once I lose the direction of the thought you are trying to express. K.I.S.S.
Click to expand...

And even think I was thinking I did my best on this last one.....I was surprised how good it was.

I will try my best for you but it would be nice if you could address at least any part of my point on the topic.
Click to expand...

Seriously, read the rules and suggestions.

Punctuation and grammar are important here.

As for your question, the bar code probably has info on the origin and may track back to the dealer.
Say a master case has boxes from 1-500.
All of those would have been listed as being shipped to source 'A'.
If source A sells in one area and multiple boxes from that lot show up in another...or at a price greatly reduced...questions may be raised and the codes looked at.

They are just covering their a$$ets!
 
"Seriously, read the rules and suggestions.

Punctuation and grammar are important here."


and spelling, dont forget spelling.
 
Habanos addict said:
kann said:
I understand that English is not your native language. I'll leave the bead-licking comments for the other thread. However, since English is not your strong point, and it is readily apparent that your posts are very difficult to interpret here, please compose your thoughts into shorter sentences. I just stop reading once I lose the direction of the thought you are trying to express. K.I.S.S.
Click to expand...

And even think I was thinking I did my best on this last one.....I was surprised how good it was.

I will try my best for you but it would be nice if you could address at least any part of my point on the topic.
Click to expand...


HA, coming across as arrogant problably wont get you too many answers but here is how it was explained to me:


The Bar code and number set that works on the Habanos tracing system is on the base of the new Cuban seal, which has the hologram at the top, is rarely left on boxes for cigars exported from the country of origin. This number is to trace where a box comes from and where it has traveled to. This is a tool for distributors and Importers and for Habanos to try and stop parallel markets shipping cigars to places where they are not intended to go to. Each region has a quota of cigars. The reason that most merchants who export remove these code bars and number sets when shipping abroad, especially to countries where there are legal issues, is to protect the local importer. For example, the cigars distributed via the UK importer are for distribution in the UK only. Therefore a cigar merchant who is in the UK, supplied by the official Habanos importer in the UK is only suppose to sell his cigars in the UK. This goes for all regions of the world.
 
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