I just visited Cozumel this past week. This is the first year I actually hunted for Cuban cigars and I was determined I was going to get real ones. However, my desire clouded my judgement. I picked up 6 cigars off a vendor for 45 bucks. (If the price seems to good to be true... It is.) I went back to the hotel that night and looked them over. They were Cohiba cigars and had flawless bands. I did a lot of research on the Cuban cigars before leaving to Mexico. However I did not do enough research. I got the stickers on the box mixed up as to where they should be and forgot about the new barcodes that Cuba has put on their warranty seals. About three days after that I walked into a respectable tobacco shop that sold all Cuban cigars... The moment I walked in I was ashamed of myself. I took close looks at the real Cubans. The three caps on the head... The warranty, Habano sticker, and words on the back of the boxes were all there. They had maduro wrappers, oily wrappers at that! There were little to no veins on them either. I knew I picked the wrong place to buy cigars. I didn't even buy a real one I felt so down on myself.
Moral of my story is that you live and you learn. My mind got n the way of finding real Cubans and I got ripped off. However, next time I will find the real ones, given the fakes don't keep getting harder to spot.
FYI...Cubans do not use Maduro wrappers bro, only in one line of cohiba in three vitolas. None of them should've had Maduro wrappers. The cohiba Maduro has a distinct band that denotes Maduro as well.
I saw a few maduro wrappers, I'm not sure if they wer Cohiba or not. It still shows how ridiculous trying to find a Cuban cigar is. There are more fakes than real ones out there it seems...
I saw a few maduro wrappers, I'm not sure if they wer Cohiba or not. It still shows how ridiculous trying to find a Cuban cigar is. There are more fakes than real ones out there it seems...
not if you look in the right places friend overseas, LCDH is the only way to buy.
I saw a few maduro wrappers, I'm not sure if they wer Cohiba or not. It still shows how ridiculous trying to find a Cuban cigar is. There are more fakes than real ones out there it seems...
not if you look in the right places friend overseas, LCDH is the only way to buy.
LCDH? I was just reading an article a while back about how Europe is bringing in a high volume of fakes as well, lol. I've looked on the Internet but that is way too risky for me.
I saw a few maduro wrappers, I'm not sure if they wer Cohiba or not. It still shows how ridiculous trying to find a Cuban cigar is. There are more fakes than real ones out there it seems...
not if you look in the right places friend overseas, LCDH is the only way to buy.
Exactly. Sometimes people are so anxious to buy them when they find them, that they ignore that little reminder called a Bulls*** alarm. I've seen good fakes and bad ones (literally a machine-made with a bad Cohiba band). As long as people keep buying them, they'll keep counterfeiting them.
I just saw what La Casa Del Habano was and I walked right past it in Cozumel! Didn't even go in to check their stock. I had no idea they were the ones to look for. Like I said Steve, my mind and thoughts totally screwed up my judgement. Let that be a lesson for me, lol.
Yep, that was the shop (lcdh) to get them from. They are very expensive, but real. I've had similar experiences to you. Funny how after all the educating one can still get duped! I was in some shops in mexico that were not official lcdh and some of the CC's looked absolutely great to my eye. Everything about them looked real except the price.
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Moral of my story is that you live and you learn. My mind got n the way of finding real Cubans and I got ripped off. However, next time I will find the real ones, given the fakes don't keep getting harder to spot.
LCDH? I was just reading an article a while back about how Europe is bringing in a high volume of fakes as well, lol. I've looked on the Internet but that is way too risky for me.
I've seen good fakes and bad ones (literally a machine-made with a bad Cohiba band).
As long as people keep buying them, they'll keep counterfeiting them.