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Fake Don Pepin Garcia Cuban Classic 1979?!?

jerodharris

jerodharris

New Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2008
Messages
95
Location
San Diego
Ok, so here's the deal. I recently purchased some DPG Cuban Classic (Black Label) 1979 Robusto's from a popular cigar auction website. The 1979 is one of my favorite cigars so I immediately knew something was up when I received them in the mail. The bands on these 1979's didn't match the bands on my other Black Label DPG's. The red in the band was off and was more like the red in Romeo y Julietta. After closer inspection, the lines just didn't seem to match up on the 1979's I received. So I smoked one of the 1979's in question and it tasted nothing like a DPG Cuban Classic. It was flat and smoked like paper. After smoking it, I figured they must be fresh and need some time to rest in my humidor. As far as the bands went, I was thinkin that maybe they were seconds or something. So I let it go and went on with my weekend. Last night I couldn't sleep and it started bothering me again. After some research and talking to a few other local BOTL's something isn't right with this batch. The red in the bands should be a darker red that's almost a brick color. The red in the bands has an orangey tint to it.
Here are some photos. Your help and input would be greatly appreciated.


The cigar on the left is the one in question. The cigar on the right is from my local B&M.

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Here are some more pics

The cigar in question
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2430308776_1f23255332_o.jpg


The cigars from my local B&M
2429496443_25194df8f7_o.jpg


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This will be interesting to watch as it pans out, because now, Jerod, you have piqued my curiosity. Just first glances, the cigar on the left appears to have a different styled band, different quality wrapper...but I'll let the experts weigh in. Good topic imo.
 
They do look very different to me. Not just the color but the lettering as well. I can't imagine why someone would go to the trouble of counterfiting these since they are not very expensive or hard to find at all. Doesn't seem it would be worth it to me.
 
Very interesting! Can the Mfg. tell you if they had 2 different band printers? I ask because these are VERY different. The detail and the gold on the locally obtained sticks is plainly far superior. It will be interesting to see what information can be obtained.

It doesn't make sense to me to counterfeit these but stranger things have happened when profit is the motive. I don't know what standard markup is in the cigar industry but if you pass-off $1 sticks as $4 sticks that certainly is better than usual markup. And, if you can do it 10,000 times, you can make a nice piece of change for $1000 investment to print and apply bands.
 
The thing is, I bought them from a "reputable" cigar auction site that i've never had a problem with.. Why in the world would anyone want to counterfit a Nicaraguan?!? This is very strange.. At least I know im not crazy and that something definitely wasn't right.
 
Those bands are VERY different. The squiggly line around the red circle doesn't match. The one on the right is more jagged and the one on the left is more curvy. The lettering is different on the left too... it has a bit of a white outline where the one on the right doesn't, it's just plain gold lettering.

And the lettering and design overall on the left isn't as crisp... almost like it's been printed at a lower resolution or dpi or something.

Seems weird to fake these, but if you think about it MSRP is what, 8 or so bucks? You could buy very cheap buck-a-stick bundles and for the cost of some cheap labels you could probably sell enough at 6+ a stick to turn a little profit especially if it's part of a larger operation. That's just not right man!
 
After seeing this, I went to the auction site that I have ordered from and saw this exact band on all the DPG CC that they have listed. Samplers and boxes. If they are faking these, someone needs to bring it to everyones attention because they are selling tons of them.

Probably the best way to figure out if DPG released 2 different bands is to call them. Here is the info:


El Rey de los Habanos, Inc.
1120 - 1124 SW 8th Street,
Miami Florida, 33130

Tel: 305.858.0001
Fax: 305.858.0005
email: info@elreydeloshabanos.com
 
The bright red band definitely isn't on any of my other DPG CC's. Sent an email to El Rey De Los Habanos seeking clarification. If I am mistaken, then I will absoloutely apologize and ask for this thread to be closed. I'm not trying to hurt anyone's business here, I just don't want to see any BOTL's get ripped off if these are in fact fakes.
 
I'm guessing they are fine. It wouldn't be the first time a manufacturer went to a different supplier for their bands resulting in some overlap. A B&M I frequent has both styles of bands in different boxes with different dates. I was initially worried, but I have smoked both and they were both everything I had come to expect from the CC series.

Billy
 
billytpage said:
I'm guessing they are fine. It wouldn't be the first time a manufacturer went to a different supplier for their bands resulting in some overlap. A B&M I frequent has both styles of bands in different boxes with different dates. I was initially worried, but I have smoked both and they were both everything I had come to expect from the CC series.

Billy
Click to expand...

I sure hope that's the case.
J
 
jerodharris said:
The thing is, I bought them from a "reputable" cigar auction site that i've never had a problem with.. Why in the world would anyone want to counterfit a Nicaraguan?!? This is very strange.. At least I know im not crazy and that something definitely wasn't right.
Click to expand...

There are counterfeit Nicaraguan cigars, Dominican cigars... any recognizable brand has been counterfeited at one point or another. Padron, Fuente, and many other major brands have all had issues with this.

Why would anyone counterfeit them? Because they can make money scamming people.
 
I'd tell them I want a refund (and if they don't give you one take it to the credit card people) and never go back. Maybe also report them to Pepin themselves.
 
I do recall hearing that they did change to a different print company to do there bands. I remember on the older 52 la perlas had the original bands that would be on the other vitolas. Now the newer batches of '52s have a smaller but similar band on them. I forget where I heard/seen this but I would try and contact the manufacturer to confirm. The color difference does seem sketchy though.
 
I have some 1950's that I also won from a cigar auction site and it has a similar label to the one you are questioning- brighter red circle and a slight white outline to the letters although not as prominent as yours. I don't have one to compare from a B&M as I'm out of those, but the taste seems the same to me.

dpg1950lb1.jpg
 
Do they both have triple caps?
I'm not in a position to make any judgement calls, but as far as the flavor goes, I have had some Black labels where upon receipt, the flavor was "weak". A few months later...wow! I've gone through about 4 boxes of them, with the same experience.
One of my favorite cigars in Robusto format. The Perla is pretty good, but takes a long time to get rid of the rough finish. Something like 6 months.
 
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