Techniques to Spot Counterfeit Cigars by Asad

In past Cigar smoking was considered as a smelly habit pursued by only businessmen and older people. But for the last couple of years, cigars have become trendy with people of all ages. It's growing trend is indicated by its unprecedented sales, an explosion of cigar magazines, shops and even nightclubs. The most popular and expensive among all the cigars is the Cuban cigar. The growing demand for Cuban product has produced a flood of phony cigars. According to a survey 80% of the Cuban cigars sold in Canada are fakes.



Before we try to spot fraud cigars, it is helpful if we understand the procedure how Cuban cigars are produced and distributed. An authentic Cuban cigar is called Habanos, and a government corporation of the same name controls all the distribution of Habanos. Cigars are collected from the various factories and sent to the Habanos warehouse where they are stocked for distribution. Authorized Habanos dealers are located throughout the world, who get a large portion of these cigars, but yet not enough to persuade the market demands. It is actually a small portion of what they desire.

In the back streets of old Havana illegal factories produce fake cigars. The raw material for the production is stolen from the legitimate factories, tobacco leaves swept from the floor, cigar bands, finished cigars, the company seals, and even the cedar boxes. This makes it a very risky business because if caught, inside workers can lose their jobs. But anyhow they manage to do it make their living a bit better.

 

They then hire professional couriers to smuggle the finished cigars out on passenger planes or aboard ships to the rest of the world,. All the western nations believe there is Mafia involvement, but Cuban authorities have identified channels being used to export large shipments of fake cigars as those used by drug smugglers



The big bang of cigars in the 1990's brought with it a large problem of circulation of counterfeit cigars. The newest fad on the streets of America is Cuban cigars called "second quality". But I can assure you that there is no such thing as a factory named second in Cuba, and the flawed cigars are actually not allowed to leave the country. Any sub-par cigar rolled by students or containing defects is distributed within the country to be smoked by Cubans.



To be certain that you have purchase your cigars from a legitimate dealer. Buy it from your local tobacconist or from sites like Gothamcigars.com, which can protect you from forking your money over for a box of fake cigars. If you're viewing four boxes and locate a serious problem with one box, there is a good probability 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.



Cigar Inspection - step by step

First step – in the first step we can carefully examine the box of the cigars. An Authentic Cuban cigars box contains a green and white warranty seal on the left front side. The seal will contain an insignia that has a picture of a shield and a hat. On the upper right side of the box there is a white sticker, which is placed diagonally with the word 'Habanos' printed on it. The overall appearance of the box should be neat and clean. If the box appears damaged, smudged, frayed, or marked or color is dull don't buy it. Even if the cigars are the real things, their quality may have suffered in transport.

Second step - On the bottom of the box of cigars, there is a heat stamp with the words 'Habanos'. Fake Cuban cigar manufacturers often used other ways to imprint this label, such as rubber stamps or paper labels.

Third step - If you can open the box, take the time to smell the tobacco. Cuban cigars will have a deep, rich aroma. If the smell is off, or very weak, these is a much better probability that the cigars are not authentic Cuban cigars.



Fourth step - Now examine the cigars. It should have a uniform appearance in both color and shape. 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 drop of water on the leaf magnifies a ray of sunshine

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