I was given these by a co-worker. I am pretty sure these are counterfeit Cohibas. Although they do say Republica Dominica on the band, and they could be the Dominican Only Cohiba.

They're not Cuban...

There is a Dominican line called Cohiba, which these probably are.

Low

Low, the DR cohibas have the "red dot" band. The bands on these look like the old style cohiba bands that had the word cohiba in black instead of the new embossed gold. I don't see how you can tell from a picture lacking much detail. I just smoked one that looked similar, but with a little lighter wrapper that I KNOW was real. Just my .02

Definately Fakes. The Dominican line of Cohibas doesn't have that band and never have. When the Dominicans first came out they were unbanded. I have seen many of these counterfeits.

Many smoke shops sell these. They are basically shop cigars that have a clearly fake band for the uninformed. Usually the white dots are very small and not the checkered style squares. Also, they say Dominican Republic or something similar. They sell them at $3 to $4 apiece.

Is the photo blurry or do I need glasses?

Nope, its a little blurry. I thought they were fakes, but I have read of a Cohiba sold only in the Dominican (where these were purchased) that have a similar band to the Cuban but say Republica Dominica. In either case, I paid zero, so nothing hurt from my POV. Expect them in a trade coming soon! J/K guys. Thanks for the input.

Actually, they are not fake at all. They are the Cohiba brand made for sale in the Dominican Republic only. An agreement was reached some time ago with the manufacturer in DR that he would no longer export his cigars (due to a law suit brought by the red dot cohiba brand). The court ruled that these cigars could only be sold in the DR under the Cohiba Dominica band. The court also ruled that any cigars still in the U.S. could be sold until the existing inventory ran out. It seems that Dominica Cohiba cigars are able to mate in the US because the supply of them keeps growing despite the court's ruling.

The do not pretend to be Habana's although they aren't a bad stick. I can get you a box (in fact several boxes) of these at my local tobacco shop for around $90 - $100 a box.

Cheers,

grond

Thx grond, these were purchased by a friend of a friend in the D.R. and 'imported'. It was hard to tell, I knew of the cigars you mentioned, but these labels were inconsistent in their printing, so I wondered. These got a little dry (my buddy's wife left his humidor open - I'm not even getting started on that one) so I am going to sit these in a quiet corner of my humidor and let them absorb some moisture and see if they can rebound.

MACS(SW)... I know the "usual" DR Cohiba's have the red dot. I was talking about the ones that grond described.

Grond explained in more detail what I meant. The yellow band DR Cohiba's aren't too common in the US anymore, but I still see them from time to time in cigar stores...


Low

what Low and Grond said (as usual)

those r fake. the authentic's have 4 rows of white squares, on a black back. the label looks correct but below COHIBA it says "habana, cuba". hope your friend didnt pay top dolla.

They aren't trying to be passed off as Cubans. However, they are still fake. A VERY reputable web site (won't post out of respect) did an entire article about the Dominican Cohibas and they said that any Dominican Cohibas that have the black/white squares with the orange/yellow are fakes, and only the red dot Cohiba's are genuine Dominican Cohibas. Furthermore General Cigar has been sued by Cubatobacco and lost rights to the name Cohiba.

No offense... but these aren't fake. They are genuine Dominican Republic Cohibas for distribution only in the DR. The Red Dot Cohibas are only licensed and saleable in the US since we don't recognize any of the Cuban copyrights. And, of course, the original Cuban Cohibas have the band, similar to the one in the picture but with Habana, Cuba below the black band. General Cigar is not able to sell under the Cohiba name anywhere but the U. S.


BTW, the US does not recognize any copyrights on Cuban names and that is why you continue to see the Red Dot here.

This is confusing and I don't pretend to know any details. For a long time I though DR Cohibas had to have the red dot because I thought that only those, as opposed to ISOMs, could be legally labeled Cohibas. Slimboli pointed out to me that the DR can now use the label, other than red dot, for their cigars due to a court action of some type, already alluded to here. So yes, the cigars in the picture may very well be "real" Cohibas (DR) as well as red dot Cohibas (DR), as opposed to the ISOM Cohibas............Whew, told you this was complicated..............

Just my thoughts...............

LOL @ arwings...

You're right. The Red Dot Cohibas are made in the Domincan Republic by General Cigar... but... they can't be sold in the Dominican Republic. They are made for export only and only for the United States.

The Cohiba Dominica brand (similar band to Habana) but with Dominca Republich on the bottom are also made in the Dominican Republic and are for sale only in the Dominican Republic.

And, of course, the Cohiba Habana... everyone knows can be sold everywhere in the world but in ... the United States.

LOL... that is confusing!!!

My mistake. I just read an article explaining the difference between the three different Cohibas. Now it makes more sense. Thanks Grond.

my father in law just got a bundle of these in today and they're not bad. So, even after all of these posts I have a question. Obviously these are not made by the Cuban Cohiba brand. They are also not the Red Dot brand. Are they made by General Cigar then? Or is it some other company just capitalizing on the famous name?

just wanted to top this and see if I can get an answer to my question

They aren't made my General Cigar and they are/were produced in a factory called "Montecristi". They were only to be sold in the Dominican due to a copyright of the Red Dot Cohibas made by General, but as to who actually makes them I have no idea.