SMOKING

SPOTTING COUNTERFEIT CIGARS

Cubans aren't always Cubans

 

 

S

o your buddy tells you he has a connection for some real Cuban cigars.  It sounds good. So you meet the guy, fork over $200 for a box of ten and celebrate your good fortune.

 

You get home and celebrate by pouring you and your buddy a glass of 15 year old single malt scotch and smoke one of your treasured Cuban.  But when you open the box, some things just don’t seem quite right.  The cigars appear to have some imperfections - nothing that really stands out - just some little things like the bands are loose, the cigars have a few white spots on them, and they aren’t all uniform in size and shape.  You don’t say anything to your buddy who’s still excited about the score.

You fire one up and find that it smokes o.k., but as a Cuban, you thought that it’d be much more of an adventure and pleasing to your senses.  You nod and force a smile as your buddy asks you “aren’t these great?  Cubans are so much better than what you can find in the U.S.”.  You wonder if perhaps he knows his cigars better than you, and you simply aren’t able to appreciate the intricacies of the cigars like your buddy.

 

 

It’s possible that you’re smoking a real Cuban - but not likely.  Chances are your buddy put you in touch with a guy who either knowingly or unknowingly buys and sells counterfeit Cuban cigars.

 

Don’t feel bad though.  Believe it or not, counterfeit Cubans are not just a problem in the U.S., but are a big problem in Cuba.  That’s right.  Even if you’re lucky enough to get in to Cuba, you stand a very real chance that the cigars you buy are fakes.

 

So what’s a guy to do?  How can the average guy tell the difference?  The answer is, he usually can’t.  That’s why there’s such a huge market for counterfeit Cubans.  Unless you’re a regular consumer of fine Cuban cigars, you might not be able to tell a legitimate Cuban from a good fake.  Although, some fakes are obvious fakes, in that they often are filled with very low quality tobacco and are poorly constructed.

 

CONTINUED - COUNTERFEIT CIGARS