A gift from the Dominican Republic

[PeeJay]

So your favourite aunt goes to the DR and brings you back this lovely box of cigars that the nice man on the beach sold her because she remembered that you like Cohibas


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And because you're not stupid you put them in the freezer first, then get them out to have a good look at what you got for your $25. First lets check the seal is genuine


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Looks good doesn't it? There should be a brand on the bottom of the box too...


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I suppose they must print them on sometimes. Is the Esplendidos label meant to be stuck to the cellophane with the ribbon? What cellophane I hear you gasp.

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And what about the quality of the box itself?

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And is that a spirit level in that wooden spacer?

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Yep, this is a really bad counterfeit job, best we have a look at a cigar in the next post.

[PeeJay]

So having stripped a cigar of its cello I can tell you that it doesn't smell like anything you would want to smoke. I should just mention that the first thing MLW said on seeing these was, 'But they're all a different colour!' Smart girl my wife.

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I'll start with a close up of the band

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Okay so it will probably fool a layman who won't look to see how well its been applied

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Or the artistry that went into the cap...

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The only thing left to do now is to perform a post mortem. This is the wrapper

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And the binder, note the prominent stalk

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The sweepings that serve as filler

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It doesn't actually smell that bad, I don't think these stalks will help the burn though

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And as for these two bits? Your guess is as good as mine

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Unsuspecting tourists are buying these every day and worse, bringing them home to put on Ebay and Scumtree.

[JoeyGunz]

nice post always interesting to see what the deal is with these, cheers pj

[ValeTudoGuy]

Great post.... Though I wouldn't call Jizza an "Unsuspecting Tourist"

[cigarmo]

Is that ganja

[Sgt_Banter]

Excellent post, I've been intrigued by how these counterfeit cigars work. Shoddy work but just enough to fool tourists...

[PeeJay]

Is that ganja

No Mo, trust me, I know what that smells like!

[tommy]

Nice cigars

[cigarmo]

No Mo, trust me, I know what that smells like!

i thought it may explain why butters likes them so much

[Tucky]

No Mo, trust me, I know what that smells like!

No wonder you always have chocolate buttons to hand when you smoke....

[Wigan]

Interesting and informative pics. thank you PeeJay

[TonyN]

Kind of feel sorry for the people that get conned buying them to bring back for relatives.

[Sean]

Very good thread this mate and informative for newer people getting into cigars if only this could be found easy on google

[Scott]

Very good thread this mate and informative for newer people getting into cigars if only this could be found easy on google

Completely agree, priceless information and knowledge. [emoji106]

[SmokeyDave]

Always nice to see pics of fakes at the bad end of the spectrum, sadly there are some excellently made ones waiting for us as well.

I think a youtube vid of sparking one up is ripe to be made