|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
The problem of counterfeit cigars is a black eye on a gentleman's endeavor. It is a shame that some people are willing to capitalize on the trustfulness (and at times the ignorance, be it inadvertent or not) of premium cigar smokers. We all like to think that we are above being taken advantage of, but for many of us that is not the case. It is especially bad for Americans who want to enjoy the forbidden fruit of Cuban cigars, as most Americans are not only unfamiliar with the methods for recognizing counterfeit Habanos, but they are left with no legal recourse if they are taken advantage of by counterfeiters. It is these things that manufacturers and sellers of counterfeit cigars rely upon. Beyond the fact that manufacturing phony cigars is unethical, it is also illegal to sell the majority of these cigars in the US because they violate the trademarks held by the two major cigar companies in the US, Altadis USA and General Cigar. These companies manufacture brands made in countries other than Cuba and sell them under the US trademark of the marquis Cuban brand names (and they are usually fabulous cigars in their own right). These companies are always interested in hearing about possible counterfeiters, as they recognize the scope of the problem that we are all facing. I encourage everyone to keep their eyes open for suspicious web sites offering great deals on Cuban cigars for US citizens. If it looks too good to be true....
Recently, I have been running into a few sites that are selling what they
refer to as "Carbon Copy" cigars, meant to mimic Cohibas, Fuente Opus X, and
Padron. This is a good example of attempts to capitialize on the good
name and quality of a couple of non-Cuban brands. I wouldn't go so
far as to call these cigars traditional counterfeits, but they are clearly
marketing themselves using these well-respected names.
For my part, I have been looking for counterfeit cigar websites for well
over a year, with moderate success. It can be meticulous and tiring
(you get tired of seeing the same sites over and over again), but it can also
be very rewarding. I have quite a system now, and there are very few
that are able to slip through my fingers. I'm going to post a few links
below of obviously fishy sites, along with how I deduced that. Again,
these are pretty obvious, but a good place to start.
http://www.sinfullygoodfood.com/cigars.htm
The "sins" of this ironically named site are two-fold: first, they are selling "Yellow Band" Cohibas from the Dominican Republic. These cigars are not legal in the US. "Cohiba" is a name trademarked in the US by General Cigar, and the bands on those cigars look like this:
http://www.lynncigars.com/larry2.htm#CReplicas
This one speaks for itself. It mentions that the box says that they are replicas, but get them out of the box and what do you have? Again, these are also trademark violations, even if they admit they are replicas.http://www.cigarhumidors123.com/cubans.html
While initially this site might seem ok (albeit a little fishy because of its look), especially considering that their brand selection and pricing seem pretty decent, further examination reveals that these cigars are shipped on within the US. Cuban cigars shipped only in the US? That is exactly opposite of how it would be if these were legitimate.
