Monte #4 Concerns

[CptnBlues63]

Give them a few more weeks and fire one up.

Real or fake don't matter as long as its a good tasting cigar.

Gregg, I love your simplistic approach.

I agree. A friend went to Cuba and while there remembered I smoke cigars. Nice guy that he is, he bought a box of Cohiba Esplendidos off of "a guy that worked at his hotel" Needless to say, I knew immediately they were not real Esplendidos. But, they were real Cuban tobacco and decently rolled. I suspect most fakes bought in Cuba are rolled with floor sweepings or perhaps tobacco the roller grew in his backyard, they can still be a decent smoke. At $2.00 per cigar, I wasn't unhappy about buying the fakes and smoked them as "yard 'gars" while doing yard stuff. Just remember though, there's no guarantee you won't find a dog turd rolled in the middle of your fake Cuban.

The following link shows a comparison of fake as vs real cuban boxes.

http://havanajournal.com/cigars/cohibas-box

Have a look at the page and then you will have an idea what to look for on this box to see if it's real.

[ggiese]

One of the best "cheap" Cuban cigars (~$10.00 each) I've ever had was a counterfeit Montecristo #2. Oddly enough - they even labeled the cigar box as "counterfeit", even though all the other markings looked like a Cuban Montecristo box. I'd say the flavor profile seemed to be Cuban - though it could have just as easily been some other blend that closely resembled a Cuban flavor profile.

The killer for me - once I smoked them all, I could not find the source to get more...

The other funny thing - I recently would have said the cigars KingBeefy is showing were too "rough" looking to be a legit Montecristo. But - one of the biggest collectors I know recently said aged Cuban cigars often look "rough" like that - and that he was not willing to automatically write them off.

If those are fake Cubans and they came from Cuba - chances are they will taste and smoke very good. However - if they're fake Cubans that came from Jamaica - I'd immediately toss 'em!

[kevin7]

Intriguing it has a CUBATOBACcO stamp on thr box

[kingbeefy]

Intriguing it has a CUBATOBACcO stamp on thr box

What does it mean to have that stamp?

[ashauler]

From some interweb place:
"This is the new stamp released in conjunction with the Cubatabaco Leaf logo stamp, and the introduction of stamped factory codes. The Cubatabaco Leaf logo stamp was replaced by the new Habanos s.a. logo in 1994."

[kingbeefy]

From some interweb place:
"This is the new stamp released in conjunction with the Cubatabaco Leaf logo stamp, and the introduction of stamped factory codes. The Cubatabaco Leaf logo stamp was replaced by the new Habanos s.a. logo in 1994."

So that should be added to the list of reasons of suspicion I guess. If I had to assume I would say fake, all this info helps. Maybe they will still be good smokes though. Anyone want to take the offer to get one to take a closer look at? Like I said, even if it isn't worth smoking it will arrive with a friend that should make up for it. If not no problem, thanks again for all the help.

I thought you all were supposed to be a bunch of jerks here, you're going to ruin your reputation with helpful feedback like this.

[kevin7]

Hell Im no uber expert but I will trade ya 2 for 2 blind from my stash