So... fakes, huh?

[earthson]

You know, for a long time, I have been curious as to why those who proffer fakes allow the bands to be imperfect, the boxes to match no known packaging, and the vitolas to not reflect anything in production (REALLY!? A RyJ Churchill Piramide and a Cohiba barberpole!?)

So are fakes just a gigantic social engineering experiment to see how gullible people are? While the Behike band is increasingly complicated and difficult to fake, many standard bands are not. If someone is going to invest time and money into producing fakes, why wouldn't they ensure that the bands are as close of a copy as possible? Why aren't fakes more believable?

And it makes me wonder...

[Pixa]

Because 99% of fakes are aimed at people who have no real knowledge about cigars so badly faking a high end they will have heard of makes them more money than faking a marca very well that they average joe might not know.

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[pbibby]

Why spend the money making something perfect when they sell the terrible ones just as easily. See the "Mighty Fohiba" thread...

[PapaDisco]

Because 99% of fakes are aimed at people who have no real knowledge about cigars so badly faking a high end they will have heard of makes them more money than faking a marca very well that they average joe might not know.

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Exactly. They are aimed at the 'bling' crowd, and the more bling the better they sell. Barber pole baby!

[cigcars]

I have seen fakes attempted to be sold that were raggedy, SEEDS exposed and stuck in the foot, black spot splotches in the wrapper - and this by folks who should know better and try to pass them off to folks they SHOULD know that know better;

There are reports that on the streets of Havana, itself, some "entrepreneurs" sell "Cojoke-ibas" that are filled with newspaper, human hair and animal hair, feces and dirt, etc. BTW - they only want $35 a box!

* * * * *

On the other hand I've seen fakes that were BEAUTIFULLY manufactured, with very careful attention to hologram and factory stamp detail, well made attractive cigar wrapper, and when smoked..."WHAT the HELL is THIS???" kind of flavor.

And I've also made the rounds of fakes that were not so well made...I mean as far as the proper size and ring gauge measurements and so on...but when smoked - was HEAVENLY, and I do mean HEAVENLY. Greatest flavor almost out-doing the real authentics.

You live, you try, you learn, you experience. My humble 2 cents.

[Wallbright]

I'm far from an expert but my understanding is, similar to those above, that they are aimed at tourists/uninformed individuals. These people will purchase the lower quality products for higher prices and not be phased (or not be put off by the too good to be true pricing as well). It would be too much trouble to fake cigars perfectly as the return wouldn't be as great. I too have heard of some fakes that smoke even better than the real deal (and have heard of some rolled with clumps of human hair). You just never know what you get from fakes.

[Susanne]

...

And I've also made the rounds of fakes that were not so well made...I mean as far as the proper size and ring gauge measurements and so on...but when smoked - was HEAVENLY, and I do mean HEAVENLY. Greatest flavor almost out-doing the real authentics.

You live, you try, you learn, you experience. My humble 2 cents.

I had that *exact* experience with a set of No-hibas that were likely DR fabrications... I was much, much younger in my CC relationship, but had a fine appreciation of the off-island smokes, and someone peddled me a box of these things... that literally blew my socks off. It wasn't until I tried a few of the "real deals" that I realized the flavor on the real ones was extremely more complex (which caused me to look at the bands of the Nohibas and cringe at my naivety) but they were still a *very* good, *very* tasty (and pretty well made) smoke.

[IPORTER]

Exactly. They are aimed at the 'bling' crowd, and the more bling the better they sell. Barber pole baby!

Those barber polls are some specimens! Really does suprise me the lengths that these f$%kers go in producing fake puros, and bad one's at that! But as said above, and correctly so, these horrors are being churned out for the 'iliterate' cigar crowd which continually feed or create such a market demand for this type of crap.