I know this is a subject that in the past has been addressed by Delta and a few others, but theres been a lot of new guys who have come on board in the last few months, so myself and a few others thought it might be a good idea to post it again. It has to do with trading ISOM's that aren't authentic. The reason I'm bringing it up now is I just finished smoking a Cohiba Siglo VI that I recieved in a trade some time ago which I couldn't even tell you who it was from or what the trade was for and frankly, thats not important anyway. It had been sitting in the bottom of my humi sleeping and I decided it was time to spark it up. When I looked at it a little closer beforehand, I had some suspicions since there were a few inconsistencies, but the band was almost perfect so the only way to be sure was to smoke it. It wasn't till the ash was a quarter of the way down that I was 100% sure it was a fake. All the signs were there, the lighter colored ash, the taste which wasn't the distinctive Cohiba cocoa flavor and all the other more obvious ones. The wrapper started to break apart and the ash had a hole in the center of it that you could see which traveled all the way down the cigar making it almost hollow. Now thank god, the cigar actually wasn't to bad and I enjoyed it anyway, but the point is it still wasn't an authentic cuban which at the time I traded for it was my understanding that it was. The whole point of why some of us thought this should be posted again is that if we are involved in any type of trade that include ISOM's, we all have an obligation to be absolutly sure the cigars we send are in fact authentic. Its really the fair thing to do and noone is saying they're won't be honest mistakes especially with how well a lot of these fakes are made lately. The VI I had today could have fooled anybody and it wasn't until I smoked it that I was able to know for sure, but thats why if there is even a hint of it being fake, the right thing to do is avoid sending it all together. In the DT Box Pass thats going on, most of the ISOM's I purchased myself so I know they are real, but there is a Cohiba Robusto I included in there from a past trade that Ferg was nice enough to bring to my attention may be suspect. Because of that, I've discouraged anyone who has thought about taking it for a play unless they were absolutely sure its real. If we aren't giving the matter the attention it deserves, we are really doing a disservice to the party we're trading with, especially if it involves high-end cigars such as the Cohiba VI and others like it. If these things were only $2-5 each, this wouldn't even be an issue, but when you have cigars that are in the ballpark of $50 for 2, its no fun getting 2 back that are worth tops, $10. I just use that as an example, but its something to always take into consideration and I think would also help avoid unnecessary disappointment that also comes with finding out the great cigar you couldn't wait to smoke ended up being a yard gar. There are a lot of great BOTL's on board here with considerable knowledge of how to distinguish real from fake so for new guys or BOTL's who only recently have started to try ISOM's, always feel free to ask any one of us and we would love to help if we can. Sorry for being long winded and hopefully this makes sense. I for one have been having a blast trading with everyone on board here and appreciate the fact that I've been able to not only try all these different cigars sent to me, but I also enjoy helping others do the same and this is just another way to make it a great experience for everyone and avoid anyone being unhappy. Have a great Memorial Day everyone.
