How to spot counterfeits

[Ramon]

gotta find a UV bulb

Get the CSI season 8 part 1 DVD box set and there's a UV pen-torch inside

[Alex]

Get the CSI season 8 part 1 DVD box set and there's a UV pen-torch inside

Or buy one of these http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ultra-Violet-UV-LED-Light-Keychain-Torch-IN-UK_W0QQitemZ290315736524QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Spor tsLeisure_Camping_LightsLanternsTorches?hash=item2 90315736524&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1688|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A13 18|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50

[ACMCC]

UV pen on its way...lol, cheers Alex.

[Alex]

Just ordered one myself

[ACMCC]

As soon as it arrives I'll have a go at taking a pic and post...now will the camera take UV?

[whisky77]

anorak!

The biggest error with these piramides is that they don't exist as an LE at all. The LEs for 2009 have been decided and the Cohiba Piramide isn't one of them. The counterfeiters must think we're morons. I daresay a lot of tourists will be taken in with them esp. if they don't know much about cigars and they're bringing them back as gifts...poor buggers

I was in Nassau in 2000 and I was offered "genuine" Cohiba piramids.All the tourists were buying these things up like crazy and all I could do was watch.
I told the girl in the shop they were fake and she said all their cigars were genuine.

I thought "bollocks to you all" and was subsequently dragged from the shop kicking and screaming like a demented cigar anorak by the missus, before I caused a scene.

[Stevieboy]

I was in Nassau in 2000 and I was offered "genuine" Cohiba piramids.All the tourists were buying these things up like crazy and all I could do was watch.
I told the girl in the shop they were fake and she said all their cigars were genuine.

I thought "bollocks to you all" and was subsequently dragged from the shop kicking and screaming like a demented cigar anorak by the missus, before I caused a scene.

LOL!! In 2000????? Brilliant....Glass-topped?

[daverave999]

Tonight I smoked one of the cigars given to me for Christmas that started this whole journey.

It was bought in Mexico and given to me in cellophane. Sorry about the pictures but my camera is at my girlfriend's flat.

Measurements were 155 mm by what appeared to be 44 or 46 ring gauge (spot the 'deliberate' mistake). It was actually really well rolled. Slightly more filled by the band. Very good burn with the ash reaching nearly two inches before it fell the first time. Good draw too. Band looked like the 2003-2006 band on cubancigarwebsite.com (not embossed; same colour).

I had stored this at 70% RH.

Not having smoked a Monte 2 before I was unable to compare. It was similar to the Diplo 2 I've smoked for the first third, but then all serious taste seemed to peter out. Were it not for where it was bought, the cellophane and the ring gauge, I could have well believed I'd just got a bad stick or Monte 2's were not to my taste.

[TJCoro]

Senor Dave,

Hello, my name is BJ, BJCoro, and I sometimes post for TJ,

At first glance, the puro looks pretty good, actually, except for the last picture of the band (I will compare it to some of my monty's later). And the cellephane is a problem. But based on your pictures alone, I don't immediatly spot a problem.

Please sir, tell us where you bought it. It is possible, but highly risky, to buy authentic Habanas in Mexico.

I am BJ, BJCoro, and that's my snap opinion.

[daverave999]

I'll find out where he bought it, but the ring gauge being that far off is a major sign no?

[TJCoro]

I'll find out where he bought it, but the ring gauge being that far off is a major sign no?

Yeah...that could be. Not sure what the ring size is supposed to be - 50 perhaps?

[daverave999]

52. I checked so many times it's ridiculous, seeing if I'd measured it wrong or something.

[whisky77]

cellophane?

Apart from the cellophane it does look like the real deal from the photographs, however as far as i`m aware the No2 has never been offered in cellophane.

[cj121]

I've only got one at the mo' to compare it with Dave.
Banding looks a little iffy: the Cubans are normally meticulous with getting them right (as I understand) which may be determined by the ring guage issue you highlight. My specimen measures up, as should, at 52: put a 52 guage band on a slimmer stick and you're going to get slight overlap as in the pic eh? I'm going to stick my neck out and say counterfeit.

[Ryan]

If that cigar was sold as a Monte 2 and you are sure that it is no more than a 46 ring gauge, it is definitely fake.
Ring gauge in a box of real cuban cigars will vary a little sometimes but never by that much.
If the cellophane was machine applied, that is, still smooth not crinkly and the ends folded very neatly and evenly, the cigar was definitely fake.
A vendor may have placed by hand the cellophane on a cigar, in which case it has only a 99% chance of being fake.
If the cigar was bought in Mexico by somebody who did not know where exactly to buy cigars it has a 99% chance of being fake.
The band might be real, it doesn't matter.