Cigar makers burned by fakes

The Washington Times ^ | 5-9-06 | Curt Anderson

[JZelle]

MIAMI -- Cigar aficionados beware: Those handmade Montecristos, Cohibas and Romeo y Julietas aren't necessarily premium smokes. Law-enforcement and cigar industry officials say counterfeiters are marketing millions of dollars in fake upscale cigars, some even pretending to be authentic Cubans that are illegal to sell in the United States. A crackdown uncovered several major counterfeit operations, including one in Miami that resulted in the seizure of more than $20 million in fake stogies, labels and packaging.

[yarddog]

I don't keep up with cigars but the radio station I listen to has a show on cigars, I think on Saturdays. I usually just change stations when it is on but the other day I happened to catch him discussing Cuban cigars.

I wasn't too surprised when he said the best cigars do not come from Cuba. He did say they were made by Cubans in the Dominican Republic and somewhere else.

I thought that was typical that anything communist would be naturally rated as the best by the media, especially since Castro has always been their darling.

[N. Theknow]

Try these guys for a good cigar.

The Cigar Factory - New Orleans

[Jimmy Valentine]

Thanks! hope they don't make them out of stuff damaged by Katrina

[Uncle Vlad]

Anything by Fuente is great. I have some Opus X's that have been aging for over eight years. Every now and then, I have one, and they're sooooo good!

[pigs]

Did you know the hystory of the makers of the cohiba caribbeans finest?

They are made by the guy that started rolling cuban cohibas for fidel at el laguito, Mr rivera back in the 60's ,He's got a royalty agreement with habanos to produce and use their band out of the dominican rep also Rum ,cohiba caribbeans finest is the only cohiba alow to be sold in the DR ,not even general cohiba is allowed in the shops of the dominican they can make them on the free zone but that's it ...i notice alot of ignorance with alot of cigar guy's or people in the cigar bzz..read before you judge,i guess we are still a label culture ,we buy because the label brand without knowing what is the hystory of the product...oh well

[Graycliff]

(...i notice alot of ignorance with alot of cigar guy's or people in the cigar bzz..read before you judge,i guess we are still a label culture)


Not to sure if your calling me ignorant or not? At about the same time cigar aficionado magazine had an article about fakes and how to identify them, showing the brands, bands, and manufacturing techniques. They even have a special section on their web site, where you can compare to the authentic. It didn't take long to determine that the one's I'd purchased were fake.