Cuban Counterfeits

[alfredo_buscatti]

I was all set to get a box of Raphael Gonzalez Panatelas Extra when I remembered that I'd read about the counterfeits. There's a lot to know on this issue and it takes all the fun out of it. I think I'm going to stick with non-Cubans.

 

[somedumbjerk]

I was all set to get a box of Raphael Gonzalez Panatelas Extra when I remembered that I'd read about the counterfeits. There's a lot to know on this issue and it takes all the fun out of it. I think I'm going to stick with non-Cubans.

new to the game, but seems like with plenty of amazing legal cigars, it's almost better to not take the risk. now if you know someone who can go to a legitimate retailer, than maybe. that's the only way i'll be purchasing them going forward.

 

[Hermit]

I was all set to get a box of Raphael Gonzalez Panatelas Extra when I remembered that I'd read about the counterfeits. There's a lot to know on this issue and it takes all the fun out of it. I think I'm going to stick with non-Cubans.

new to the game, but seems like with plenty of amazing legal cigars, it's almost better to not take the risk. now if you know someone who can go to a legitimate retailer, than maybe. that's the only way i'll be purchasing them going forward.

Gotta buy from a vendor you can trust.

 

[Bluefisher]

yessir, that's the ticket.

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

The more I learn about this the more discouraged I become. Buying from a trusted retailer is better than not doing so but even vendors get fooled by counterfeits, and of those fooled I wonder how many are complicit. Leaving the judgment up to others is a good way to be duped, IMHO. On Cuban sites there are entire threads discussing the authenticity of a single cigar. Many deemed counterfeit are hard to detect in the fraudulent bands, holograms, wrapper. It's not as if, with a checklist, you can check off indications that the cigars are counterfeit. Even guys who’ve made it their business to know disagree.

I’m out to smoke great cigars, not play detective. That Cubans are different from non-Cubans is about all that can be said, though they have the cachet. I would be eager to taste the results of Cuban terroir except for the above.

 

[thedeep]

I have a bud who used to be a retailer. He still has his contacts and, occasionally, he'll let me in on a couple of nice Cubans. They consistently kick my ass. But, I love them.