A gift from down under.

[Joncon]

When I was in OZ recently my good friend bought me this cohiba siglo as a welcome gift. He didn't know which siglo it is and I have not had the time to measure it to work it out.

All that aside as you can see the band looks odd. That is because is wrapped in electrical tape. Don't worry about it's authenticity as u visited the shop it came from and all was good. It has been done to meet the plain packaging rules.

Just thought it might interest you all to see where the world is heading.

[Shaun]

Interesting, that looks incorrect to me. The entire band should be covered in a drab green label, and not electrical tape but adhesive labels. Rather unbanded cigars than that... heaven for fakers all this plain packaging nonsense.

[tommy]

Last time I was in Perth I found myself needing to buy from a bottle shop. The overbands and blank tubes were a pain. Part of the browsing process is deciding which cigar is visually pleasing to you. It's amazing how that changes without the band. But then again what is in a brand? It's already gone beyond the point where one can conclusively say that Punch have one profile and RyJ have another. Once upon a time they were grown on different estates but these days each factory gets leaves from various estates and gets a rolling quota. The brand profile is so diluted it seems from what I can tell. I don't think cigar bands ever need to be covered though. Cigars are a niche market item and those that partake aren't likely to change because the law does. Fags were banned in pubs etc and smokers turned to ecigs and it stuck even after they were banned too. Cigars aren't the same. We indulge in a different way. I just don't think we need to be protected from ourselves. I like so much about Australia but they have this so wrong. Or maybe I'm wrong and blinkered but I don't see any benefit from having a badly disguised Cohiba. Take the band away or leave it alone I say.
🤷🏻*♂️

[mcdee]

Totally over the top, nanny state bollocks!

And coming to a shop near you no doubt.