Aunthenticity Verification

[Eville]

One of the many smoke shops along Konig Str. in downtown Stuttgart. Among these "Cohibas" they also sold hookahs, cigs, and chew. You can bet that all of these are fake even without seeing the cigars themselves. All of the boxes are already open.

[EGQ]

All of the boxes are already open.

Box split?

[Eville]

The fivers? Doubtful

[CptnBlues63]

One of the many smoke shops along Konig Str. in downtown Stuttgart. Among these "Cohibas" they also sold hookahs, cigs, and chew. You can bet that all of these are fake even without seeing the cigars themselves. All of the boxes are already open.

I'm just curious......isn't it possible they sell them singly out of those boxes and that's why they're open?

I know my B&M sells a lot of (Cuban) Cohiba's and Montecristo's and if I remember correctly, I bought my first Montecristo #4 as a single (to try it and see if I liked it) and they had to open a box of 3 and take one out for me because they had no loose singles.

Maybe it's the same thing in this shop?

[Eville]

It's possible I suppose, but I still really doubt it. Most of them were about 4 boxes deep. You can't see it from the pic, but even the ones in the back were opened as well. The whole ambiance of the shop really makes me not trust them.

[Chè]

This is in Germany, no? You never know, but 1 thing to recognize is business would probably suffer pretty good if they were peddling fakes somewhere people don't have to travel far or look hard to acquire authentic merchandise. Secondly, I think regulators & purveyors of legit merchandise would be all over their you know whats. Think about it. Germany isn't exactly the every man for himself Caribbean or Mexico.

My guess, (assuming the location is where I imagine it, and based on the limited info the picture provides) these are probably legit. I'd further bet CptnBlues63 was correct, in that their customer base, or at least the purpose of that particular display is to serve SINGLES. If that much is logical - opening all the boxes would also be logical. If it's not for letting the cigars breath out of the God-awful cardboard & humidification purposes, it also gives customers a variety of choices, perhaps multiple factories or an opportunity to select to personal aesthetic preference.

I don't know about you guys but they'd have to only have (1) box there for me to NOT wonder if the additional "unopened" boxes had better looking / smelling / more preferable factory codes / dates etc. and not want to rip em' all open myself to inspect & speculate.

jmho

[Paddy]

I agree with Che,
Having lived in Europe most of my life, I would only be leery if this
store was in an area that caters to American tourists. Cuban cigars are easy to come by and are not a big deal. If the store is in an area that caters to mostly locals, I would feel safe. A store selling fakes to locals would end up with a brick in thier front window before too long. The price point will also be a good indicator.
A Montecristo #2 should be around 18-20 Euros, anything much less that that should sound an alarm.

[CptnBlues63]

This is in Germany, no? You never know, but 1 thing to recognize is business would probably suffer pretty good if they were peddling fakes somewhere people don't have to travel far or look hard to acquire authentic merchandise. Secondly, I think regulators & purveyors of legit merchandise would be all over their you know whats. Think about it. Germany isn't exactly the every man for himself Caribbean or Mexico.

My guess, (assuming the location is where I imagine it, and based on the limited info the picture provides) these are probably legit. I'd further bet CptnBlues63 was correct, in that their customer base, or at least the purpose of that particular display is to serve SINGLES. If that much is logical - opening all the boxes would also be logical. If it's not for letting the cigars breath out of the God-awful cardboard & humidification purposes, it also gives customers a variety of choices, perhaps multiple factories or an opportunity to select to personal aesthetic preference.

I don't know about you guys but they'd have to only have (1) box there for me to NOT wonder if the additional "unopened" boxes had better looking / smelling / more preferable factory codes / dates etc. and not want to rip em' all open myself to inspect & speculate.

jmho

I never thought about that aspect.

After reading Eville's response and seeing that they had all the boxes open I thought, "that IS odd" I know my favorite B&M, he only opens them as he needs them.

As I said, I later bought a 3 pack and immediately took the cigars out of the cardboard and put them in the humi because the box itself kind of felt damp to me and I thought that couldn't be good for the cigars. So as soon as I read the above I thought, "Oh yeah, that makes sense."


On the plus side, all 3 cigars in that box had plume on them. In fact, that's how I learned what it was. I got home, opened the box, saw white spots on the cigars and phone the B&M and said, "Hey, I think there's mold growing on my cigars!" LOL

Needless to say when the owner, Chris, explained, I was rather relieved and pleased......lol

[ashauler]

Plume or Mold.......if you saw "spots", and the box was damp to the touch.....I'm betting mold. Plume should sparkle and look as if the cigar was "dusted" with something.....not individual spots randomly distributed over the cigar.

I've read some seriously fucked up descriptions of "plume" from retailers.

[badwhale]

Plume or Mold.......if you saw "spots", and the box was damp to the touch.....I'm betting mold. Plume should sparkle and look as if the cigar was "dusted" with something.....not individual spots randomly distributed over the cigar.

I've read some seriously fucked up descriptions of "plume" from retailers.

Yeah. I think under a magnifying glass, you'll see the little stalks, and tops of mold. Plume doesn't look like that.

I saw some MAJOR mold on cigars in a shop down St Armands Circle, FL. It was unquestionable.

Either way, unless it was really bad, I'd just dust that shit off, and smoke it anyway.

Quarantine of course if you're not going to smoke it right away.

Will

[Chè]

On the plus side, all 3 cigars in that box had plume on them. In fact, that's how I learned what it was. I got home, opened the box, saw white spots on the cigars and phone the B&M and said, "Hey, I think there's mold growing on my cigars!" LOL

Needless to say when the owner, Chris, explained, I was rather relieved and pleased......lol

Possible, but it probably was mold.

From what I've learned, "plume" is a temporary condition that occurs from sudden changes a cigar is exposed to. It could in fact be that the "sudden" change was your removal of the box or the change from the BM's atmosphere.

In the right conditions, you'll blink and find a cigar you pulled out to take somewhere with you suddenly has plume crystals on its surface. I've had the experience several times when the weather outside was extremely cold (for my location at least).

Plume is actually tiny crystals (looks like grains of salt) - once you've seen em', you'll be hard pressed to confuse it with mold ever again. My understanding is in rapid change, when oil and moisture on the outter wrapper surface recede, if conditions are ripe, the moisture recedes faster leaving the oil separated to crystallize on the outter surface. That trapped surface oil = "plume".

[ashauler]

snip......

From what I've learned, "plume" is a temporary condition that occurs from sudden changes a cigar is exposed to. It could in fact be that the "sudden" change was your removal of the box or the change from the BM's atmosphere.

In the right conditions, you'll blink and find a cigar you pulled out to take somewhere with you suddenly has plume crystals on its surface. I've had the experience several times when the weather outside was extremely cold (for my location at least).

Plume is actually tiny crystals (looks like grains of salt) - once you've seen em', you'll be hard pressed to confuse it with mold ever again. My understanding is in rapid change, when oil and moisture on the outter wrapper surface recede, if conditions are ripe, the moisture recedes faster leaving the oil separated to crystallize on the outter surface. That trapped surface oil = "plume".

X2 on the hi-jack.....my apology.

I've never heard this explanation of how plume forms and would be very interested in the source of that info.

From everything I've read, seen, and experienced true plume is a rare occurence, and forms due to the stability of the storage condidtions rather than some rapid or sudden drastic change in the cigars environment.

No expert here.