Spotting Counterfeits

Counterfeiting follows desirability — and few cigars are more coveted than the Cohiba. The Cuban prestige brand is considered the most frequently faked in the world, and the copies range from clumsy to disturbingly convincing. A trained eye protects you from most of them.

Warning Sign Number One: the Price

Premium cigars have established market prices, and nobody gives them away. Anyone offering you a box of Cohibas for a fraction of the usual price is not selling Cohibas — the story about the cousin who works in the factory and puts product aside is the oldest sales pitch on the street. Genuine goods are not dramatically cheaper anywhere, not even at the source.

The Street and the Beach

In tourist areas, Havana included, street and beach sales of cigars are virtually always a trade in counterfeits. What changes hands there in nicely lacquered boxes looks convincing at first glance — but you are still paying for inferior tobacco of unknown origin, and nobody knows what is actually inside the cigar.

Band and Box

Genuine bands are precisely printed and cleanly embossed; washed-out colours, blurred details, and missing embossing give the copy away. Cuban boxes also carry the Habanos seal and the state guarantee seal — a hologram with a serial number — the latter of which can be verified on the official Habanos website. A look under the lid is worthwhile too: in a genuine box, the cigars are sorted with fine attention to matching colour shades. A jumble of different browns is a warning sign.

Buying Safely

The least exciting advice is the best: buy from an established specialist retailer or from official outlets — in Cuba, the state shops and the official Casas del Habano. The specialist dealer lives by reputation and supply chain; the itinerant vendor lives on the fact that you will be gone tomorrow. If doubt remains, check the serial number on the seal — and in an uncertain case, forgo an apparent stroke of luck rather than your confidence in what you smoke.