I'm not the photographer you are but I tried . I actually traded a guy that works next door at the veterinarian hospital a couple of Torano Torpedo tribute's for these.He has a roommate that his family lives in Cuba and they send them to them from time to time. He says he only smokes a few a month. I plan on making some more trades. Can't wait to try those casa's! Thanks for sharing the great pics. Dan

lol.......nice trade.

Question:

Don't the Cohiba 2001 EL's have the "OLD" Cohiba band... not the "NEW" one...

Although, I may be wrong...

Low

Lowman, Thanks for the link. looks real to me and since my friends roommates family sent them from Cuba I think it's real. I will Question him further, in fact I will print this out and show him, he will get a kick out of it, or busted for lying. Dan

just read even out of Cuba it can be counterfiet. But it looks good, as long as it taste good, now you got me takin a microscope to the thing, Thanks alot. Dan, just kiddin.

The Montecristo Edmundo on the left looks real. The Cohiba is definately a fake (albeit a great looking one). The giveaway is the three rows of squares and the raised/embossed gold Cohiba. You can look at a picture of a real one next to a fake here.
http://shortcut-cigars.com/shared/faux_cigares/cohiba_piramide_EL2001.jpg 

The fake is on the left... the real deal is on the right.

I meant the Montecristo Edmundo on the right looks real. 🙂

Great site lowman, thanks for the great info. will be checking my gars tonight.(paranoia has set in)lol

grond --- in the link you posted, both are the 'real deal', and dapperdan can compare his to those two ... is that what your are saying?

The key point here, is that the 'gold embossed' three row band did not come out until 2003 ...

O.K. the bottom band looks like the one on the right same as on mine. The top band looks like the site lowman posted ,scroll down to Cohiba piramide EL 2001 picture and that is what my label looks like, but it does not say if it's a real one it just says launched in 2003. I think they mean real cohiba. I will post a pic of a close up of the band so maybe we can get to the bottom of this very serious business of fraud. I thank you all for your help and input on this Matter.
Dan

I just saw fake or real post and hdking says gold letters must have three rows, now I think its real. The dilemma continues.

Cohiba Piramide EL 2001. A cigar made in 2001 with the new band ( gilded and embossed letter) launched in 2003. Its real.

dapperdan --- I think you are a little confused here ...

... if it has the 'Edicion limitada' 2001 band on the bottom, and the 'gold embossed' three rows of dots on the top ... someone other than the manufacturer put the bands on that cigar. The 'gold embossed' band didn't come out until 2003.

While it very likely it is Cuban tobacco, since you said it came from 'someone next door that you know, who has a roommate, who has a family that lives in Cuba' ... it probably is Cuban 'farm tobacco' (which can be very good), just not the cigar the band claims it to be.

Come to your own conclusions and believe what you will, but I would say that for the very reason I stated (why would the bands not correspond with each other?) ... I would say that this cigar is meant to impersonate something that it is not.

Heck ... just smoke it, and enjoy it!

Also ...

... that series of photos )on the site that Lowman posted), is showing all the 'fakes' ... and when they say, "A cigar made in 2001 ... with the new Cohiba band (gilded and embossed letters) launched in ... 2003!" ...

I think that they are saying, 'tounge in cheek', get the picture? A sort of 'how can that be' implication ...

Slim
Very confused. So I have a real Cuban cigar with real Cohiba bands of good quality but just not a Cohiba.I think I will stick to my Troano's.There must be a lot of these out there to have pictures of the same cigar as the one I have.
He says he has 3 box's. I should ask him to take pictures of them so we can then decide if the box's are real and full of fake but real Cuban cigars with stolen bands.
If its a good cigar the guys rolling them should just use there own bands on. O.K. I think I get it now Cohiba in Cuba is nationalized, so you can't actually have your own business there without the government taking it over so you roll your own cigars and steal there labels put them on your cigars so they can be sold? something like that? Any way thanks for everyone's help for educating us on Cuban Cigars.
Dan

dapperdan --- that's all counterfeiting really is ...

... taking something that 'is not', and saying 'it is'.

The smaller farms that are operating 'down the street' without the reputation of the larger well known established factories, roll up their cigars, steal the bands (or make their own) ... and sell their cigars for a much higher price, riding high on the established factories name.

It's just that 'their' cigars are not the well known 'special blend' that became the reputation and benchmark of the well known trademark names ...

... so they are still Cuban cigars, just not the ones you were expecting (and paid the high $$$) to get.

Those are the better counterfeiting operations. Many won't even go that far, and just put the bands on any old cigar they get their hands on ... and some (I've heard and read about) don't even have real tobacco in them.

Heck ... even I could take any ol' cheap bundled cigar that was a decent resembalance to a super-premium, and put a Fuente OpusX, Carlos Torano, La Aurora Preferidos or Padron Anniversary band on it, and then sell it off to someone as 'the cigar' the band say it is ... if I were desperate for money and into ripping people off. That would be counterfeiting as well ...

Unfortunately, the people in the countries that produce many of the counterfeit cigars, are usually very poor ... and have found an easy way to feed their starving families by capitalizing on the unsuspecting, gullible, or just plain uneducated cigar smoker. Others have more unscrupulous motives ...

Cuban cigars are the most highly counterfeited cigars in the world, because of the short supply, they are always in high demand, they can command (and get) the big bucks for them ... and of course, they carry that 'best cigar in the world mystic' with them ...

Anyway ... that's just my take on it ...

Slim
Excellent " take". I just smoked the fake and with my limited expertise I will compare it to the Torano torpedo tributes I have that I purchased for $143.00 for the box from CBID, A great price for those cigars.Same size shape and construction as the fake Cohiba.
Here's my take. The fake Cohiba burned very evenly with a tad of harshness. Did not burn as long as the Tribute but with similar taste other than the slight harshness. On the over all aficionado rating I will rate the Cohiba fake a 84 and the Torano a 91. My conclusion. Don't pay more than 100 bucks for a box of fakes when you can get a excellent box of smokes from CBID auction and know what your getting.Cuban or not. Thanks again to all that posted to this thread. I only got 1 cigar but I would have really been bummed if I paid 3, 4, 5 hundred bucks for a box.



Dan

Dan ... usually the 'fake' Cohiba's sell for less than that, and that is another 'red flag' ...

... don't buy them for less than they sell for in Cuba ... LOL!

That's no Edmundo either. It may be something else in the Monte lineup, but the Edmundo has the "new" Monte band that came out in '03.