Real of Fake?

[Hydrologic]

A friend was showing me several ISOM boxes he just acquired, a Partagas Series D No. 1 2004 LE and a Cohiba Double Corona 2003 LE. He wanted to know if they were real or fake. The Cohibas looked ok, bands, size, shape and color seemed to be ok, but the inside divider had a straight diagonal cut in the upper right corner and I thought that all ISOMS were supposed to have a rounded finger size cut. Also, the box code only had the month and Year, with no factory code. The code shown was "DIC 03". There seemed to be some strange half completed marks above the date so it could be a qa/qc problem with the stamping machine. The rest of the bottom burned in stamp seemed to be ok.

The Partagas seemed ok and had an appropriate box code "CUEJUN04" but I can’t find the factory for the CUE abbreviation. Also on the inside of the lid, below the Partagas oval was the phrase "Made in Havana Cuba (by hand)". I have never heard of a recent Cuban cigar box having an English phrase on it. Again, the bands and cigars inside the box seemed appropriate. They matched the Cigar Aficionado photos of the correct bands. Cigar Aficionado did say that the "SERIES D" on the band should be raised and shadowed lettering. The wording was raised gold lettering, but I could not see any shadowing.

Does anybody have any experience with these cigars? I don't have much experience on the ISOM side of things.

 

[Matt R]

Where they came from would be a huge indicator. As far as the cedar sheet, the corners are not always rounded in recent boxes. In older boxes that was an indicator. Nowadays though, it is not. The factory code should be there, but if it is partially there and maybe they didn't stamp it hard enough, that's possible. As for the Partagas, haven't had any newer boxes.

 

[Hydrologic]

Without getting too detailed, he said that he got them in NZ, and they had some good references.

 

[dcbancroft]

All the SBN boxes from Cuba should have a wax paper covering entire first layer of cigars or in the case of 8-9-8 boxes(wrapped around) .If the wooden divider is clean cut that's an indicator that you have the real deal!!All other obsrevations you made on the box is correct.

NZ is very reputable.

 

[micker]

Without getting too detailed, he said that he got them in NZ, and they had some good references.

[snapback]164165[/snapback]​

Well, I'm not a FOG or anything, but I know of two sources in NZ... one is really erliable and a great guy to deal with. The other guy is a rocket scientist that put an ad in the new york times and caused all the shipments of cigars from NZ to the US to be confiscated.....

Generally, I dont like discussing ISOM's with those I dont knwo... I'm kinda paranoid. There for I'll shut up now...

 

[Hydrologic]

Yah I know what you mean. Thanks for the responses. I think that we have enough info. There was a wax sheet over the Partagas and everything else looked pretty pristine. Its just the english phrase on the inside lid that has me puzzled. :whistling:

 

[dcbancroft]

Well you just gave yourself up...Were I come from Islands south of Cuba are free to me every week..I do a lot of buisness with Americans that have migrated to ???
less taxes. *&^%^ You would think the IRS was looking for you...

Regards
Puro Rey

 

[dcbancroft]

Jesus..Let me give up some street knowlegde from all my 100's of trip's to the ISOM...and those stairs that are dark .... The hardest thing to barter is that wax paper>>>>>I get a kick out of keeping up!! :angry:

Thanks
Puro

 

[BkCloud114]

??? ??? wax paper ???

 

[Kento]

I would just smoke the things and see how they taste...just me tho :whistling:

 

[Hydrologic]

I'm not sure if I am getting the drift from these last replys, but there was a thin sheet of semi translucent paper in the Partagas box. I am assuming that it is the wax paper that is being refered to.

These are of course just the boxes and old rings that were given to my friend as a gift. He collects those sort of things. We were curious if they were real. Someday, when ISOMS are legal, he would like to try one and see what they taste like.

 

[dcbancroft]

:laugh: :whistling:

 

[emodx]

Well you just gave yourself up...Were I come from Islands south of Cuba are free to me every week..I do a lot of buisness with Americans that have migrated to ???
less taxes. *&^%^ You would think the IRS was looking for you...

Regards
Puro Rey

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Now that I am going to be spending more time in the Caribbean, I may look you up in person. I hope you don't mind me shooting you an email or PM prior to showing up. I do think we could possibly have the frst CP herf in in the US.

Emo

 

[vitasea]

i looked a a couple of boxes of the part serie d # 1 el which i know are real. bottom stemp was cue may 04. They to had the" made in cuba by hand " in english inside the cover.
As far as the cuts on the insde cover i have seen both stright and curved.
I would say your friends boxes are real,by the why did they have the new halogen sticker on the out side of the box?? this has been started this year and i don;t know if the exports have it or not?

 

[Four Aces]

Here's what your PSD4 box should look like closed and opened. These were purchased at the LCDH in Jakarta, located in the Mandarin Oriental hotel.

Cheers,

4A

 

[vitasea]

that mabe what a box looks like in jakarda, but not in cuba
one, the red stickers are not there as with the front center tag and the front right diaginal band
instead in the right front corner is a sm halegon about 1 inch sq
and since the boxes were EL there would a black striped el 2004 under the hanbanos sticker or which year,also the cigar would have the same el black band uner the partagas band on each cigar
the factory stamp on the bottom is almost worthless any more

 

[Four Aces]

that mabe what a box looks like in jakarda, but not in cuba
one, the red stickers are not there as with the front center tag and the front right diaginal band
instead in the right front corner is a sm halegon about 1 inch sq
and since the boxes were EL there would a black striped el 2004 under the hanbanos sticker or which year,also the cigar would have the same el black band uner the partagas band on each cigar
the factory stamp on the bottom is almost worthless any more

[snapback]171966[/snapback]​

This box was for PSD4 cigars. I have re-read the original post and see that it was about the PSD1 EL, not the PSD4. My mistake.

Front center tag and red tags are add-ons from export/import. The diagonal band is where it's supposed to be. This is a box of PSD4 cigars from Cuba, sold at the Cuban franchise LCDH store, located at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia. They are authentic.

4A

 

[esra star]

with cohiba D/C box was the code on the box itself or the cardboard box that the cedar box came in?????? as i think the code for the D/C is ment to be on the cardboard not the box inside

 

[Ironworker]

I hope this helps a little.

My Cigar Vendor sent me an email with the following information.

The Cuban Guarantee seal has micro text written right above the thick text at the bottom and the top. This is the best proof of authenticity we have found so far. To read it you need at least 10X magnifying glass or a jewelers eye piece. This is sophisticated and extremely hard to forge. We managed to read part of it under a microscope. The thin rectangles below show where this microtext is located. We have managed to read part of the text in the bottom part of the seal.