CIGAR SPECIAL INTEREST

CIGAR 101

Cigars 101 Spotting Fake Cigars The fake cigar scenario is bigger than ever these days with so many new smokers looking for Cuban cigars. Add to this the fact that many counterfeiters are becoming more sophisticated and manufacturing boxes that look very real. The newest fad on the streets of America are Cuban cigars called "second quality". I can assure anyone that there is no such thing as a factory second in Cuba. If the cigar is flawed, it doesn't leave the country. Any sub-par cigar rolled by students or containing defects is distributed within the country to be smoked by Cubans.

Before you try and spot fraud cigars it helps if you understand how Cuban cigars are produced and distributed. All authentic Cuban cigars are called Habanos, and are controlled by a government corporation of the same name. Cigars are collected each day from the various factories and sent to the Habanos warehouse to await distribution. Located throughout the world are authorized Habanos dealers who get a large portion of these cigars, yet only a small portion of what they desire. A much smaller portion is divided amongst the twenty or so domestic cigar stores around the island. Almost all of these stores are located in Havana.

Every week or two the numerous stores in Havana receive an allotment of cigars, mostly small cigars but also a few of the more popular large cigars (Robustos, Churchill's, Torpedoes, Double Coronas) that everybody is looking for. You cannot fly over to Havana on a whim and buy any cigar you want. Large size cigars are very difficult to find. Relatively few are produced and only a fraction are sold in Cuba. Spread these precious few around to all the people vying for them and their respective countries and you can understand why few store bought Cuban cigars reach America.

People smuggle cigars to make money, and for most smugglers the preferred method is to buy a box of counterfeit cigars for $30 in Havana and sell it for $400 in the States. Even if they wanted to buy legitimate Habanos they couldn't, since there aren't enough available. Store prices have risen 40% in the last year in Cuba, forcing even more smugglers to the dark side in an attempt to maintain large profit margins. Consequently, the counterfeit cigar business is booming. There are hundreds of street hustlers in Havana approaching anyone who doesn't look Cuban and asking if they want to buy cigars.

The more sophisticated smugglers have large operations not unlike a private factory turning out thousands of boxes of your favorite brands. The tobacco quality and construction of these cigars will never approach strict quality standards of a real factory. The Cuban police try and control the situation, but so far they are losing the battle. Some of these illicit cigar factories have sprung up in Central America where there is an abundance of good rollers and tobacco. The cigars are shipped to the US as non-Cubans and repackaged in counterfeit Cuban boxes. The Cuban cigar craze in America has spawned a whole underground industry, and unfortunately, the "bad guys" are getting better at making fake cigars appear real.

CIGAR INSPECTION

You should approach your meeting with a salesman with skepticism. If you're viewing four boxes and locate a serious discrepancy with one box, there is a good chance that all four boxes are fake. If you're unsure of the authenticity, sit down and smoke a cigar with the salesman. Try and choose a sample cigar that looks wrong or feels hard and may be rolled too tight.

Box Appearance: Ideally the box should be in good condition, free of scuff marks and smudges. You don't want a box that looks like its been passed around for six months looking for someone stupid enough to buy it. When you pick up the box the first thing you should consider is weight. If it seems excessively heavy you might want to have a closer look. For some reason many of the fake boxes are manufactured with plywood of excessive thickness. Another reason for a box being too heavy is that the cigars were rolled by an amateur who crammed too much tobacco into the wooden tobacco press, forming it into a very hard and typically very wet tobacco stick that simplifies the task of attaching the wrapper. Fakes are almost always wrapped too tight because it is easier to produce a uniform shape when wrapping a hard blank.

The left front side of the box should have a green and white warranty seal. Its color can range from forest to lime. Inside the seal is an insignia that contains a shield with a hat resting on top. The fold line of the seal should run directly through the center of the shield. If your box has been opened already and the seal is broken do not be concerned. It is a common practice when inspecting boxes for purchase in Cuba to check for defects. On the box lid's upper right corner should be a white Habanos sticker pasted diagonally. On the bottom of the box you will find a Habanos heat stamp. Look closely to make sure it is a heat stamp and not a ink stamp. Below the heat stamp should be an ink stamp (in any color) that will tell you where the cigars were manufactured and when they left the factory. This stamp is referred to as the NIVEL ACUSO. Developed many years ago this code is actually the Latin term for "you are accused."

You are now ready to inspect the contents of the box. Inside should be a loose paper flap that protects the cigars as well as a slender piece of wax paper running across the bands. The wax paper should be cut clean with perfectly straight edges. Resting on the cigars should be the Habanos warranty printed on a small piece of parchment. Remove the warranty, pull back the flap and smell the tobacco. You should find the fragrance very pleasing, with a rich deep aroma. Cuban tobacco has a unmistakable smell. If you are lucky enough to sample a cigar, make sure you draw on it before actually lighting up. If you aren't offered a sample to smoke, try sucking on the end of a unclipped cigar. This may seem rather strange but it is one of the best ways to tell if the tobacco is good quality. Obviously this requires a little know how, but after some practice you will be able to recognize the signature flavor of Cuban tobacco.

Now examine the cigars. The appearance should be uniform in both color and shape. Consistency is very important. The wrappers should be tight and free of large veins. You should avoid wrappers that appear dry and chalky. Small golden spots are normal, produced by a slight burn when a ray of sunshine is magnified by a drop of water on the leaf. The top face may appear flattened or what is known as box pressed. This is particularly true for torpedo shapes. Remember that cigars should always be tightly packed.

The cigar caps should look identical, all resting an equal distance from the top of the box. Tap the box and move them forward if they are staggered. The opposite end of the cigar, or the foot, should be cut clean and straight. The cigar bands should be identical and aligned perfectly. Poor printing registration on cigar bands is fairly common so it is difficult to point to this as a flaw. The color of the cigars can vary from light to dark but never to the point of what you might consider a maduro color. Cuba does not produce maduros.

Feeling the cigar is probably the single most effective way to tell you what is inside. The true talent of a professional cigar roller is the ability to place exactly the right amount of tobacco in a cigar from head to foot. An amateur places tobacco unevenly, giving the cigar hard spots and soft spots. A hard spot is a clog in the cigar, making a smooth easy draw impossible. A soft spot will cause the cigar to burn unevenly or go out. You can feel the contents of a cigar by firmly pressing your thumb or forefinger into every inch of the cigar. The wrapper should feel soft and moist and the tobacco beneath firm and even. Practice on a cigar that you know draws well and you will acquire the feel. Search for hard spots and when you find the worst example, smoke the cigar as a test. If the draw is off, you just saved yourself a box full of disappointment.

If the top level of cigars look good, turn your attention to the cigar ends or the foot of the cigar. Pull the paper flap out of the box and open the lid a few inches. Turn the box upside down and knock on the bottom a few times to dislodge the cigars. The ends of the cigars should drop into view. This is your only chance to view the inside of the cigar. The tobacco should be brown, usually dark and never green. The density of the filler should be even with enough space between the leaves to allow air flow. If the filler appears too tightly packed, almost solid, the cigar will be plugged. Look for leaf veins that appear as small light colored twigs inside the cigar. A very common mistake of counterfeiters is the failure to remove the central vein from the leaf before rolling. This is a sure giveaway. Real cigars contain mostly whole leaves that run from end to end allowing a natural channel for the smoke to follow. Fake cigar producers use whatever they can find for filler and that usually includes leftover tobacco scrap. Rarely do they blend the various leaves that together give the cigar flavor balance. The result is very often a horrible tasting cigar. If you ever buy a cigar and it won't draw, open it up with a razor and see what's inside.


The wrapper binder and filler of a real Cuban cigar on the left, and a fake on the right.

You are now ready to inspect the bottom layer of the box.
The color of the tobacco should be almost identical to the top. If you notice a large difference the box is fake. The common practice amongst counterfeiters is to put the junk on the bottom. If you were a little suspicious when you examined the top layer, be especially thorough with the bottom. If any of the cigars seem to be stuck to the paper lining the box, especially the cigars on the far left or right it means the box was produced by someone who was too impatient to let the glue dry before loading the box. You would be surprised by how often this occurs. The final clue as to the origin of the box has to do with a little known but always reliable flaw that will appear on 80% of the fake boxes. Between the two layers of cigars will be a thin cedar lining. Appearing on the upper right corner should be a small half moon cut out for your finger, never a straight cut. This cut should be perfectly curved with a clean edge. This is a machine made cut and should be free of any imperfections caused by a human hand. The remainder of the liner should be cut to perfectly fit the box, with approximately an eighth inch clearance around the edges. The surface should be free of cracks or splits, a sure sign the wood was salvaged from the waste bin at the factory.

If you receive a box with a piece of cardboard as a divider instead of cedar, the box is surely not authentic.

I have tried to be as definitive as possible in my descriptions. Keep in mind that not all boxes of factory made Cuban cigars are perfect and meet the criteria I have described. They are, after all, a hand made product being produced in a country that routinely experiences shortages of raw materials. In the last few years the tobacco crop has been strong, allowing Cuba to increase production to meet growing worldwide demand. New factories have been opened and new rollers trained. The production push has strained quality control, especially in the area of packaging. Hopefully the worst is over now and the leadership at Habanos can focus again on quality and consistency. For those aficionados that love Cuban cigars the best protection is to purchase your tobacco from an authorized dealer such as Casa de Habanos or----Advertiser-- If your living in a country that bans Cuban products do your best with what is available. Always be wary and keep in mind that most of the product you encounter is unfortunately not what it is represented to be.

Information provided by Cuba Travel