Fake Cigars: How to Spot Them?

How can you be sure these are real cigars? That’s probably the question on your mind if you’ve come across this article! In a difficult economic and logistical climate, the counterfeit market for fake cigars, Cuban or otherwise, is getting bigger and bigger. Aficionados looking for a good deal run the risk of being fooled and buying fake cigars.

We’re going to look together at the simple, useful tips to follow to recognize counterfeit cigars, and even better, to avoid buying them.

What is a counterfeit cigar?

First, we need to define what a fake cigar is. By default, a counterfeit cigar is an imitation of an official cigar supplied by the producing brand. These cigars, which are not made by the producing brand, are therefore not authentic. They are not made from the original noble tobaccos, but rather from lower-grade tobaccos from downgraded production areas or from production areas in countries that have nothing to do, either directly or indirectly, with the original growing regions.

In addition, the rolling techniques are not the same, and naturally, the quality and smoking pleasure are not there. The lowest-quality counterfeit cigars are made with short filler, which often results in extremely supple cigars with a soft body.

Some counterfeiters do not hesitate to add glue to the filler in order to give it physical consistency and mimic the original cigar. Needless to say, this type of product is extremely dangerous to health.

Fake cigars look legitimate on the outside and have bands that are remarkably similar to the real ones. The appearance may seem perfect, but what’s inside is something else entirely.

According to some experts, galera workers collect the day’s tobacco scraps to combine them with other plants in order to make cigar filler.

This low-grade tobacco is stolen from within the factories themselves, then enters counterfeit networks in producing countries or in third countries, via smuggling channels.

Not to mention that it can contain things like hair, dust, and insects present on the floor when tobacco that has fallen to the ground in the factory is secretly collected.

There are also several types of counterfeit cigars:

• Fake cigars in fake boxes
• Fake cigars in real boxes
• Fake cigars in packaging different from the original.
• Fake cigars in bundel (fagot)

The counterfeit cigar market is huge worldwide. It feeds criminal networks, devalues the original brands and the quality of their products, misleads consumers, and these products can potentially be dangerous to health.

Why are there fake cigars on the market?

The answer to this question is relatively simple. Demand for authentic cigars exceeds supply, especially when it comes to Cuban cigars. This extremely strong demand directly contributes to the shortage we are currently experiencing, because producing countries are unable to supply enough cigars for everyone. Because of this very high demand, combined with the hope of making substantial profits in record time, smuggling networks have existed for many years and exploit the popularity of these cigars as well as buyers’ credulity to sell fake cigars to aficionados looking for sought-after products.

How can you avoid counterfeit cigars?

The golden rule for buying cigars

Before discussing the various methods for detecting counterfeits, it is important to understand how to avoid buying fake cigars.

In fact, it’s quite simple. No matter where you are in the world, the best advice you can follow is this: buy your cigars only from an official retailer authorized by the brands and the exclusive importers of those brands.

Do not give in to the tempting bargains you may see online, second-hand cigars, or cigars sold on the street. The best way to protect yourself from any kind of scam is to buy directly from an official retailer.

When the price is too attractive, especially on premium or ultra-premium products, you should suspect that the buyer is the sucker. A box of Cohiba Siglo 6 cabinet of 25 cigars sold for 550 € is absolutely impossible through the official network. It is inevitably a scam.

Knowing this, sellers of fake cigars no longer just sell knockoffs at bargain prices, but set a price close to the retail price in order to avoid raising suspicion in the buyer’s mind. The outcome is even more painful for the fish that bit the hook.

Techniques for spotting a fake cigar

All right, now that you know the aficionado’s golden rule, let’s look together at how to spot a fake cigar.

Non-Cuban cigars

The warranty seal

No matter which country your cigars come from, the boxes have a brand-specific seal that you should know about.

For example, in the case of Dominican cigars, you will always find a textured label as the warranty seal on the side of the box.

Before buying your box of cigars, take the time to look online for images of the authentic box and the labels you should expect.

The similarity between cigars

To determine whether the contents of a box of cigars are authentic, you will need to examine each cigar one by one. At this stage, it is worth comparing whether they have similar weight, size, and color. There may be slight differences, and that is normal: cigars are organic, handcrafted products, so they cannot be exactly identical.

The price

Counterfeit cigars are cheaper to produce than authentic cigars. If the price of the box of cigars you want to buy seems suspiciously low, be cautious. In fact, that is very often the main reason people end up buying fake cigars: aficionados think they are getting a good deal. Remember the golden rule: only buy from official retailers.

Cuban cigars

The warranty seal

The seal includes a barcode as well as a hologram. The seal is a rectangular label; the barcode is located at its right end, while the hologram is at its left end. The seal is placed on the left side of the lid, leaving a margin of 3 to 6 millimeters between it and the edge. It should then extend over the front edge, ideally reaching halfway down. You can authenticate a box using the product code contained on the seal, right here: Authenticity check.

The Cuban habanos seal is printed on synthetic adhesive paper, which destroys itself when someone tries to remove it from the box. It is therefore impossible to stick it onto another box. The seal also includes anti-photocopy security features, as well as optical-effect patterns that are impossible to reproduce.

The holographic label includes a two-tone inscription that appears in both 2D and 3D, and the seal also includes a micropoint that only a laser scanner can read. The barcode contains technical and commercial information, and each barcode is registered in a database managed by Habanos SA.

Local import guarantee

Habanos (Cuban cigars) are protected by local import guarantees in the form of labels created by importers approved by Habanos S.A. to sell Cuban puros in a specific geographic area.

The cigar boxes sold in HABANO & ALMA boutiques bear the guarantee seal and holographic label of Habano SA and do not need these local import guarantees, as they belong to the Habanos brand.

Appellation of origin

In 1994, the Cuban authorities introduced a new legal text requiring boxes of exported Habanos to bear an Appellation of origin label.

The markings on the box

In 1960, Cuba decided to print the inscription “Hecho en Cuba” (literally, “Made in Cuba”) on the outer bottom of Habanos boxes. The printing is done in the old-fashioned way, since cigar brands must adopt the hot-branding technique.

Since 1989, boxes of Cuban long-filler cigars have also included the mention “Totalmente a mano” (entirely by hand). The marking is placed just below the inscription “Hecho en Cuba.” This measure does not apply to machine-made cigars.

Then in 1994, an additional inscription became mandatory: Habanos s.a. This mark is placed just above the first one. As a reminder, in Cuba, Habanos SA is the body responsible for exporting and marketing Cuban cigars worldwide. Between 1985 and 1995, it was called Cubatabaco before being renamed.

The dates and the factories

The dates and production factories of Habanos are indicated on the boxes using a secret code and a boxing date printed with a stamp. Only Habanos SA and its authorized distributors can decipher this code, which provides information about the factory that made the cigars.

The date code indicates only the month and year, and it began to be applied in 2000 (00). Before 1985, these markings did not appear on the boxes, and between 1985 and 1999, they were encoded. The months are indicated by Spanish abbreviations, for example “ENE” for January (“enero” in Spanish). Knowing the production date is important because habanos age and improve in quality, especially in terms of their organoleptic characteristics. The official Habanos website also makes it possible to verify the authenticity of habanos.

Code	Spanish	Month
ENE	Enero	January
FEB	Febrero	February
MAR	Marzo	March
ABR	Abril	April
MAY	Mayo	May
JUN	Junio	June
JUL	Julio	July
AGO	Agosto	August
SEP	Septiembre	September
OCT	Octubre	October
NOV	Noviembre	November
DIC	Diciembre	December

Since the near disappearance of discounts and other genuine or disguised special rebates, especially on premium and ultra-premium Cuban cigars, followed by rising cigar prices across the board, the cigar counterfeiting machine has gone into overdrive, seeing in the drastic reduction in supply a tremendous opportunity to make easy money even more easily than in the past.

Buying cigars at discounted prices in the past, once considered by some consumers to be a smart purchase, has turned into a nightmare for some aficionados who have accumulated substantial cigar stocks worth several hundred thousand euros, and in some cases several million. Indeed, it is when they want to have their precious cigar reserve revalued that the expert delivers the bad news: “Dear Sir, the cigars you acquired are fakes!” Impossible to resell without risking prosecution under counterfeit resale laws, and complicated to smoke!

Once again, trust your certified merchant, approved by the importers and by the cigar brands in each country.