Is this normal?

[wes888]

I received a small order today and upon opening one of the boxes for inspection, I noticed a significant difference in length on one of the cigars. I'm not talking about 1 or 2 millimeters, but a little over 4! The cigar is so short that I can clearly see the second row!

Has anyone seen this before? Should I be concerned? What I'm wondering is how can something like this even pass QC.

 

[SPIVY]

From my understanding that is a tell tale sign of fakes. But I am not the authority on the matter. There are people that know better then I would.

 

[grateful1]

Trust your source!

Also - what size are those?

<the look YUMMY>

 

[mrtapes]

I find it hard to imagine someone would be counterfeiting this marca.

 

[junkman_56]

I find it hard to imagine someone would be counterfeiting this marca.

Everything is counterfeited.

As others have said, trust your source.
If this is the first time you have used them and don't know anyone else that has used them, I would be concerned.

 

[wes888]

They are panatelas.

This is my first time ordering from this source, but know several others who have. From what I've heard, they are legit. I'll contact them and see what they have to say.

 

[grateful1]

They are panatelas.

This is my first time ordering from this source, but know several others who have. From what I've heard, they are legit. I'll contact them and see what they have to say.

As far as the size difference...yea...it 'could' happen. Smoke one.

 

[baldheadracing]

I find it hard to imagine someone would be counterfeiting this marca.

Yup, given they're Panatela's, they're so inexpensive that there's no money in it (although the price of these went up 10% in Canada this year ).

I've never seen a short stick like that, but I wouldn't be concerned about it. Now, if you smoke one and don't get some of that PL caramel flavour, then there may be cause for concern.

 

[jkim05]

It would be a sign of fakes if all of the cigars in the box were uniformly shorter than they should be, but one shorter cigar would not indicate fakes, but rather poor QC. Poor QC, however, could point to fakes, but if purchased from a trusted source, all should be well. And not all marcas and vitolas are counterfeited, there's no money in counterfeiting $2 cigars when you can just throw a Cohiba band on them and put them in a glass box and sell them for more.

On another note, I really love the PL Panatelas, very underrated cigar, IMO. My first box purchase.

 

[wes888]

I'm not particularly worried about them being fakes, either, for many of the reasons already articulated. I've just never seen such a dramatic difference before and thought it was pretty funny.

As for the PL panatelas, I would have to agree that they are an excellent smoke, especially at its price point. I have a box from '05 that is about halfway empty and decided it was time to stock up on some more!

 

[amateuraficionado]

I wouldn't worry about it too much Wes. As has been stated, if you trust your source you should be fine. I once got a Cohiba Maduro, can't remember if it was the Genios or Magicos, but the foot of the cigar was cut crooked, I mean really crooked! I was slightly concerned merely because I had never seen anything like that. Smoked just fine, fantastic in fact! Bottom line, trust your source.

edit: Oh yeah.... those look nummy!!! :love:

 

[Mike33]

Just another example of, "hey, its Cuba." :laugh:

 

[BigJake6904]

PL Panatelas :love:

My morning coffee smoke.

 

[Mr Peat]

I wouldn't worry about it too much Wes. As has been stated, if you trust your source you should be fine. I once got a Cohiba Maduro, can't remember if it was the Genios or Magicos, but the foot of the cigar was cut crooked, I mean really crooked! I was slightly concerned merely because I had never seen anything like that. Smoked just fine, fantastic in fact! Bottom line, trust your source.

edit: Oh yeah.... those look nummy!!! :love:

I had a similiar one that was like that. Definitely was an off cut but I know I trust the source with my life. We all know that QC down south is horrible.

 

[no3putts]

The sizing question is usually in regards to does the cigar match the vitola consistenly. If the rest of the box measures up to standard, I would guess it's just an outlier that was missed.