Topping this to avoid starting a new thread....saw some genuine fake Cohibas last night. I feel bad for the buyer in question because he seems like a really nice guy, a musician who visits Cuba pretty regularly. A mutual friend introduced us at dinner last night because he thought I might be interested in his some of his latest purchases. He breaks out a bag with a few boxes and produces, very carefully and with a bit of flourish, a box of Esplendidos. I'm no Cohiba scholar and generally don't go over my boxes like Sherlock Holmes to get a point of reference for these occasions, but there was enough wrong out of the chute to make a sound judgment...bad wrappers, noticeable space between the cigars, inner box corners not totally flush, etc. No codes on the bottom was the biggie, which I brought up as potential trouble with him and started to get the "my wife is from Cuba, I got these IN Cuba" from him so I just let it go.
I'll see him again at a big "El Floridita" themed party at the restaurant this week, and he's seriously hoping to sell all these cigars, so I'll make another attempt to talk to him if possible. Nice guy, but doesn't seem to know much about cigars in general, much less the minefield of Fauxhibas out there. He did have a carton style box of Siglo V's and carton box of Robustos, but I didn't get a close look at those. No idea if they are as counterfeited as the dress boxes, but these guys and the Cohibas.....man, they're like magic beans for those who just do not know anything about cigars.
Hopefully I can get him on the right track and get some GOOD smokes from his next trip, lol.
