Cigar Scams

sightunseen

Not sure about the rest of you guys, but I am a fan of craigslist. There is just so much awesome stuff on there. I've noticed during this holiday season there has been an influx of ads selling "genuine" Cubans. The typical ad reads that a friend brought these back from Europe and that since they are not smokers, they want to sell them. I just saw one earlier today for a box of Cohiba Esplendidos at a "bargain" price of $900 (compared to normal prices of $1300!!!!). The ad included pictures of them and I knew right away they were for sure fakes (glass top box, stickers in the wrong places, faded labels).

 

I hate scammers and I am very passionate about cigars. Naturally, I made a posting warning everyone to stay away from these ads. Not sure how effective that's going to be because there is a surprising amount of stupid people in this world.

 

Ok, just had to get that off my chest.

 

 

bibby

Good call, and I think really classy that you took the time to point out to other prospective buyers that you had doubts regarding their authenticity. I agree though; time will tell if the "stupid" people will heed it!

stephen_hannibal

I don't think I would buy cigars off craigslist anyway.
I mean it's a consumable item.... and with craigslists history.... just saying.

NYHCx516x

I just saw the title of this thread and though it was gonna be something about "T"


LOL

sightunseen

stephen_hannibal:

I don't think I would buy cigars off craigslist anyway.
I mean it's a consumable item.... and with craigslists history.... just saying.

 

Oh yea, I agree. I only buy cigars from B&Ms and reputable online retailers. I guess my warning is for the people who don't know much about cigars but wants to get some for their friends/family as gifts. It just all comes down to spreading the knowledge.

rwheelwright

The Cohibas in a glass case or humidor is a fake that has been going around for a while. I saw it mentioned on CA or someplace similar. I actually had a friend who txted me and asked if I was interested in that same offer and I had to tell him that it was fake. I too would never buy cigars off of craig's list or even ebay.

jsnake

I would never buy cigars off of craigslist. Too many weirdos lurking there.

Krieg

I thought this was gonna be another *** fest about T

jeff_connors

I have scene some amazing fakes, The cohiba box is fairly complex, and faking it properly requires alot!!!! of effort. I hate the whole fake scene , but you have to admire the ingenuity of organized crime sometimes.
The following are pics of the best fakes I have ever scene...
A few tell tail signs, different hidges, no factory code, ISOM seal is done poorly, but still ...

Sandman1am

PM for you Jeff

jsnake

Nice pics Jeff. Would be so easy for many of us to be suckered without knowing what to look for. Someday when I can vacation in the south somewhere I will need to research all of this so I don't get ripped. That vacation may be far far away I fear.

dennisking

jsnake:

Nice pics Jeff. Would be so easy for many of us to be suckered without knowing what to look for. Someday when I can vacation in the south somewhere I will need to research all of this so I don't get ripped. That vacation may be far far away I fear.

when I went to Cabo, I went to a B&M that was out of town and in San Jose del Cabo, dude had a big walk in humidor and a pic of him and Brad Pitt from when he was there filming Troy. It was legit, bought some cubans. I paid a price, but that was a long time ago. seemed pretty legit though, due to the shop atmosphere, just like a B&M in the states. you could see though that there were a lot of retailers that sold soda and beer and hats and trinkets and had some smokes. those were the ones i stayed away from.

phobicsquirrel

sweet man. I saw one one the lost city cigars on craig's list... it made me laugh. I've had a few cubans most recently a monte 2 and cohiba and I am just not overly impressed. Plus factoring the price I am just not into the club. I'm sure there are some I would like, I just have a hard time trying all the cigars I can legally buy and I like a lot of them. I do think it's very shameless for people to fake cigars. Plus I also thought that cigars was like golf, a more refined, more adult hobby.

gmill880

Pheebs you ever had a Partagas Series D cuban ...very tasty ...

j0z3r

Mmm PSD4, now that's a cigar my friend. I'm wanting one right now.

gmill880

j0z3r:

Mmm PSD4, now that's a cigar my friend. I'm wanting one right now.

How ya been Jo-Jo ... nice weather and all out there ...I'm looking at 5 inches of snow on my deck and still coming down. Havn't been around as much latly since starting my new 'old job' back its been hectic but profitable which is a good thing ! Yeah the Partagas Ser D #4 is a geat smoke ...me likey ...hope your doin' good and getting to smoke as much as you like brother !!!

j0z3r

gmill880:

j0z3r:

Mmm PSD4, now that's a cigar my friend. I'm wanting one right now.

How ya been Jo-Jo ... nice weather and all out there ...I'm looking at 5 inches of snow on my deck and still coming down. Havn't been around as much latly since starting my new 'old job' back its been hectic but profitable which is a good thing ! Yeah the Partagas Ser D #4 is a geat smoke ...me likey ...hope your doin' good and getting to smoke as much as you like brother !!!

Thanks for the well wishes Gene, I'm doing great. I don't envy you having that weather, for the most part our days have been warm and the nights dip down into the 40's, 30's on the colder ones...nothing compared to your freezing temps.

How have you been friend? Hope the new, old job is treating you well. There is something to be said for being busy, times being what they are and all. Good thing you've got that hot tub, eh?

gmill880

j0z3r:

gmill880:

j0z3r:

Mmm PSD4, now that's a cigar my friend. I'm wanting one right now.

How ya been Jo-Jo ... nice weather and all out there ...I'm looking at 5 inches of snow on my deck and still coming down. Havn't been around as much latly since starting my new 'old job' back its been hectic but profitable which is a good thing ! Yeah the Partagas Ser D #4 is a geat smoke ...me likey ...hope your doin' good and getting to smoke as much as you like brother !!!

Thanks for the well wishes Gene, I'm doing great. I don't envy you having that weather, for the most part our days have been warm and the nights dip down into the 40's, 30's on the colder ones...nothing compared to your freezing temps.

How have you been friend? Hope the new, old job is treating you well. There is something to be said for being busy, times being what they are and all. Good thing you've got that hot tub, eh?

Doin' great bro' thanks. Yeah the hottub is nice in the winter especially after some long days. The new 'old job' is going great , a great bunch of guys to work with which means a lot. I'm trying to get one of the " weekend golf cigar smokers " there into the hobby , I'm taking him some smokes tomorrow if the snow doesn't close us down ! Man I would love to see some mild temps during the day to lite up . Peace Brother

phobicsquirrel

hey gene, nothing says "good employee" like having a bunch of co-workers over for a nice hot tub party! ;-)

gmill880

Hehehe !

sightunseen

So the guy that posted the fake cigar ad actually emailed me regarding my warning. Naturally, I responded. For your entertainment, here is a transcript of the email.

 

Some notes: 1) I have removed all email addys. 2) I've edited my language so it will be clean. 3) The guy's email was not edited because he was that bad of a speller

 

 

Hey Arti S. Wait, is it Mike S? Or is it Artemis S?  This is so confusing, so I'm just going to call you "Fckface."  

 

So, Fckface, I wanted to reaffirm my opinion that yes, I think your "Cubans" are indeed very fake. How do I know? I'll be honest with you, I am by no means an "expert" on Cuban cigars. What I do have, however, is a bit of common sense and an Internet connection.

 

Try and put yourself in a third-person perspective. Let's say you found a poorly worded ad on craigslist advertising a box of "Cuban" Cohibas for $300. "Wow!" you think, "that sounds like a good deal, but I think I am going to do some research before I contact this person."

 

Ok, Fckface, stop reading for a minute and write this down on a piece of paper: Use common sense and good judgment when evaluating offers on the Internet.

 

Ok, let's move on. So you do a quick Google search of what cigars Cohiba is currently manufacturing (this is where the Internet connection comes in) and what a surprise! The "30th Anniversary" editions are nowhere to be found! When the manufacturer of the cigars itself has no record of ever producing these cigars........you figure out the rest.

 

So, now that we have established that your Cubans are fake (which you obviously didn't know), let's evaluate your choice of friends. You did say your friend gave them to you, right? Well, I'm sorry to say, but you're friend is an a-hole. What kind of people give their friends fake cigars? What a dck move! Not only did he give you one box, he gave you two! (I remember that box of glass top Cohibas on a separate ad) Fckface, you are naive beyond belief. I really hope no one ever offered you free candy when you were a child.

 

Back to those fakes you are trying to sell. Naturally, I'm not going to "fukin buy them," ****, because they're fake. And I am warning other people not to buy them either, because I don't feel like having people spend $300 of their hard-earned money on a box of "cigars" that have the equivalent quality as dog sht you find on the street, being sold by some ignorant punkbtch that thinks he can take advantage of people during the holidays.

 

A Merry Christmas to you, Fckface!

 

 

fromArti. S

dateWed, Dec 23, 2009 at 12:29 PM

hide details 12:29 PM (1 hour ago)

** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY --- AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY
** Avoid:  wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home
** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping
** More Info: 

 

 

Since you thing your cuban cigar expert and you think the cigars are
fake..., dont fukin buy them! I personally dont know much about cigars
but i have been told they are cubans from my friend who if from there.
He gave them to me.
so *** off and dont worry about if my cigars are fake or not?!

stephen_hannibal

LOL OMG.... this is great.
Wait I thought Cohiba Had a 30th anniversary that came in a jar... have I been lied too?

FECK, it doesn't matter I don't like cohiba anyway.

sightunseen

stephen_hannibal:

LOL OMG.... this is great.
Wait I thought Cohiba Had a 30th anniversary that came in a jar... have I been lied too?

FECK, it doesn't matter I don't like cohiba anyway.

 

You are probably right. From what I understand, Cohiba (and other Cuban manufacturers) rarely makes anniversary edition of cigars and when they do, they sell out almost immediately. No way this punk could've landed a box and is selling it for $300.

j0z3r

Cohiba recently released a super limited cigar, the Siglo VI Gran Reserva. They come in boxes of 15 and sell for around $1500...Something tells me that if these were indeed legit, $300 would be on the low side. So yeah, this guy's a **** and unfortunately is so naive he doesn't know he has fakes, either that or he does know and doesn't care...either way, he shouldn't be selling cigars since he obviously doesn't know anything about them.

Lasabar

Are you saying that my Cohiba Behike's that I bought for $50 are fake??? But his aunt works in a factory and all factory workers get one free box a year and she REALLY needs the money!!!

JZ

Everytime I go on vacation out of the country I go to c.a. and really do some research. I went to Cancun last year and was led to a reputable B&M that sold the real deal. I studied all of the known fakes to have comparision while I was there. Word of advise.....If a guy comes up to you on the beach and has a bag with boxes of Cubans your not getting the real deal. Same is true in the flea market type shops! If anyone is going to Cancun, PM me and I will tell you exactly how to get to the legit store.

Krieg

sightunseen:

So the guy that posted the fake cigar ad actually emailed me regarding my warning. Naturally, I responded. For your entertainment, here is a transcript of the email.

 

Some notes: 1) I have removed all email addys. 2) I've edited my language so it will be clean. 3) The guy's email was not edited because he was that bad of a speller

 

 

Hey Arti S. Wait, is it Mike S? Or is it Artemis S?  This is so confusing, so I'm just going to call you "Fckface."  

 

So, Fckface, I wanted to reaffirm my opinion that yes, I think your "Cubans" are indeed very fake. How do I know? I'll be honest with you, I am by no means an "expert" on Cuban cigars. What I do have, however, is a bit of common sense and an Internet connection.

This was great, LOL

 

Try and put yourself in a third-person perspective. Let's say you found a poorly worded ad on craigslist advertising a box of "Cuban" Cohibas for $300. "Wow!" you think, "that sounds like a good deal, but I think I am going to do some research before I contact this person."

 

Ok, Fckface, stop reading for a minute and write this down on a piece of paper: Use common sense and good judgment when evaluating offers on the Internet.

 

Ok, let's move on. So you do a quick Google search of what cigars Cohiba is currently manufacturing (this is where the Internet connection comes in) and what a surprise! The "30th Anniversary" editions are nowhere to be found! When the manufacturer of the cigars itself has no record of ever producing these cigars........you figure out the rest.

 

So, now that we have established that your Cubans are fake (which you obviously didn't know), let's evaluate your choice of friends. You did say your friend gave them to you, right? Well, I'm sorry to say, but you're friend is an a-hole. What kind of people give their friends fake cigars? What a dck move! Not only did he give you one box, he gave you two! (I remember that box of glass top Cohibas on a separate ad) Fckface, you are naive beyond belief. I really hope no one ever offered you free candy when you were a child.

 

Back to those fakes you are trying to sell. Naturally, I'm not going to "fukin buy them," ****, because they're fake. And I am warning other people not to buy them either, because I don't feel like having people spend $300 of their hard-earned money on a box of "cigars" that have the equivalent quality as dog sht you find on the street, being sold by some ignorant punkbtch that thinks he can take advantage of people during the holidays.

 

A Merry Christmas to you, Fckface!

 

 

fromArti. S

dateWed, Dec 23, 2009 at 12:29 PM

hide details 12:29 PM (1 hour ago)

** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY --- AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY
** Avoid:  wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home
** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping
** More Info: 

 

 

Since you thing your cuban cigar expert and you think the cigars are
fake..., dont fukin buy them! I personally dont know much about cigars
but i have been told they are cubans from my friend who if from there.
He gave them to me.
so *** off and dont worry about if my cigars are fake or not?!

JZ

LOL!! Great post!!! From his grammar or lack there of I would be willing to bet my paycheck that he is in or from another country. A lot of scams originate out of other countries. Another common scam is through Ebay where the seller is selling something at a ridiculous cost saying it would cost to much to ship to their country for a long list of reasons. They always try to get you to deposit money into Ebay Warehouse and that you can pick up your item there. Good rule to follow is that if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.