ChanceSchmerr Posted April 8, 2010 Posted April 8, 2010 Well, my friend returned from his trip to Santa Clara, and sent me the boxe(s) he picked up for me. PSD4's were on my list I gave him, although I have never tried them. After loving almost every partagas I've tried, I wanted to get on to trying the rest of the marque. Anyway, my friend picked up 2 boxes of 10 PSD4s (UGA SEP 09), and although I gave him explicit instructions on where to go and what to look for, I've not been able to get a hold of him to confirm how he picked these up. As you'll see, the two boxes have good looking cigars, the 2nd box especially has a nice oily dark wrapper that reminded me of Rob's HQ selections. That said - I am concerned about their legitimacy. The band appears to look like a similar band recently shown on the forums that some people think is fake. The box appears to look as it should, properly sealed, with the expected rice paper and habanos instructions inside as always. The cigars smell wonderful and spicy, exactly as expected. The Caps and wrappers aren't poorly made or applied, however, the edgeing of the box (as you can see in picture 6) appears to have machining marks, as if it was somewhat shoddily made. I decided that even though they were literally off the truck, and young as hell - I wanted to celebrate a fantasy baseball win, and I was also curious to see if these possible fakes tasted legit. So I lit one up. DISCLAIMER: This is my first PSD4! What a great cigar! It indeed tasted young - reminded me of the SLR Coronas I bought late last year from Czar that were less than a year old. Smooth tobacco from the start, tons of woody tastes, and after the 1st third, the spice and power of partagas made itself known. Right from the start, this tasted (to me) like a Partagas, reminded me strongly of a mix between the Party Presidentes and the Party SDC #1. Right to the very end, I noted frequent blasts of a sweet, doughy cookie taste (best description I can come up with), really very nice! 90 with the potential for much more! So, after smoking that, If I was blind I'd be convinced these were genuine PSD4s. But, the fact that I've never had one before, and the small clues like the oddly machined box edge and bands make me skeptical still. Both boxes are getting a 3 day freezer treatment, just to make sure there is no hangers-on from Cuba. What say you, folks? Note - the bands were a lot more uniform initially, I inspected each cigar for bettle holes before I took the pictures - No sign of them, thank God! Note the Diagonal cutting marks in the wood. Shoddy Habanos box, or shoddy fake box? Anyone else seen this in a legit Habanos box?
BobLobLaw Posted April 8, 2010 Posted April 8, 2010 I am by no means an expert, but when I got my first box of PSD4 I was astounded at how "rustic" the box was. It was one of my first cuban purchases and in my head I felt all cuban cigars would have much fancier packaging.
dicko Posted April 8, 2010 Posted April 8, 2010 I have no idea about the packaging/appearance but the flavour profile seems spot on from the handful I have tried.
LeafLover Posted April 8, 2010 Posted April 8, 2010 If they taste good, smoke em and try to forget about it. They look like my Parti SD4's IMO. Not an authority on spotting fake boxes though.
Trevor2118 Posted April 8, 2010 Posted April 8, 2010 Did you try authenticating with the serial number?
SandmanTR Posted April 8, 2010 Posted April 8, 2010 Did you try authenticating with the serial number? Like Trevor said... ...check this site to run the SN. http://www.habanos.com/Sellos/Info/VerificaSelloCajon
strayvector Posted April 8, 2010 Posted April 8, 2010 Looks like pictures of the ones I posted. They weren't my cigars, but a question that was posted on another board. I wanted to make sure that there hasn't been an unannounced band change. This is the second time that the same questionable bands have appeared (missing periods on the band). The owner of the other cigars claims that they were from a legitimate known vendor, hence my curiosity on whether there might have been a band change. I've never seen these bands myself, but then the newest PSD4s I have are from 08 box codes.
strayvector Posted April 8, 2010 Posted April 8, 2010 See this thread: http://www.friendsofhabanos.com/forum/inde...howtopic=101109
Kangaroo495 Posted April 8, 2010 Posted April 8, 2010 My gut feeling is that they're definitely real.
bob25 Posted April 8, 2010 Posted April 8, 2010 The band is missing DOTS. I have a box from CZAR and on mine the bands have dots after "PARTEGS" and after "D". Yours deosnt have them so unless there was a band change I doubt that they are real.
JoshMP Posted April 8, 2010 Posted April 8, 2010 two things - As the guys have said run the serial number. That is a definate answer there. Secondly - does it really matter? A cigar you felt was a "90 with the potential for much more!". Does it matter where it came from, who rolled it? I imagine if you got them from cuba you didn't pay a heap for them so really, don't stress it. If i gave you an unbanded cigar and you smoked it and really enjoyed it and i told you i got it in indonesia from a local would it sully that memory? Impressive but by no means negative. Also the code checking website can be a bit difficult to understand, it just told me my box of D4's was fraudulent 3 times before i worked out how to properly input the code. So check it a couple of times.
PADDYWHACK121272 Posted April 8, 2010 Posted April 8, 2010 The band is missing DOTS.I have a box from CZAR and on mine the bands have dots after "PARTEGS" and after "D". Yours deosnt have them so unless there was a band change I doubt that they are real. I'm intrigued by this too...the box and the cigars look fine to me but all of my D.No.4.'s have 'dots'...and I should add come from a very reliable source...I checked a box of Serie P no. 2. - has a dot after the '2' but not after the 'P'....Trevor's site shows the band for the D.No.4 with dots...
lemmycaution Posted April 8, 2010 Posted April 8, 2010 I have a box from March 09 and they also have all the dots. The only thing is I don't think the cigars you have are fakes, but where are the missing dots going on these PSD4's?
Kangaroo495 Posted April 8, 2010 Posted April 8, 2010 Chance, buddy, check the code on the website and put us out of our misery. I am dying to get to the bottom of this. I said real, because the construction of the cigars is rather exemplary. Certainly not typical even for a good fake! However the band has me intrigued.
sepp Posted April 8, 2010 Posted April 8, 2010 Well, my friend returned from his trip to Santa Clara, and sent me... Santa Clara, Cuba? These boxes don't appear to have the hologram on boxes sold within Cuba. The Boxes appear legit as do the seals and overseals but they appear packaged for export off the island. does that make them less legit? A little more shady and probably grey market but maybe not less legit. Following the band discussion myself so no comment. Just my 2 cents.
bob25 Posted April 8, 2010 Posted April 8, 2010 BTW there is a Suspect Cigar Forum I think its a better place for this post.
acidmase Posted April 8, 2010 Posted April 8, 2010 I don't see a problem with this box!!! All legit looks just like my box and I got it from a VERY reliable source.
bob25 Posted April 8, 2010 Posted April 8, 2010 I don't see a problem with this box!!! All legit looks just like my box and I got it from a VERY reliable source. The box is not the issue here. Read above regarding the BANDS.
acidmase Posted April 8, 2010 Posted April 8, 2010 I'm not home right now, but will run home to check out my bands and see how mine look.
EricM Posted April 8, 2010 Posted April 8, 2010 Santa Clara, Cuba? These boxes don't appear to have the hologram on boxes sold within Cuba. The Boxes appear legit as do the seals and overseals but they appear packaged for export off the island. does that make them less legit? A little more shady and probably grey market but maybe not less legit. Following the band discussion myself so no comment. Just my 2 cents. The new seal replaces the old hologram on bottom right of boxes, doesnt it? All those I purchased in Cuba last month none have the hologram anymore.
ChanceSchmerr Posted April 8, 2010 Author Posted April 8, 2010 two things -As the guys have said run the serial number. That is a definate answer there. Secondly - does it really matter? A cigar you felt was a "90 with the potential for much more!". Does it matter where it came from, who rolled it? I imagine if you got them from cuba you didn't pay a heap for them so really, don't stress it. If i gave you an unbanded cigar and you smoked it and really enjoyed it and i told you i got it in indonesia from a local would it sully that memory? Impressive but by no means negative. Also the code checking website can be a bit difficult to understand, it just told me my box of D4's was fraudulent 3 times before i worked out how to properly input the code. So check it a couple of times. I have run the serial number on the habanos website. I have no idea how to do it right, and every time I input what I see, it tells me in bold letters that I am a victim of Fraud (thanks for not mincing words, Habanos) The two numbers that I see are 000016 978188 000016 978140 The bands are definitely different, no question with the lack some dots, and also with the location of "PARTAGAS" being offset different under the "SERIE" than it is on Trevor's site. Yes, it's true that if I enjoy the cigar then who cares what it is - but I do not want to be one of those clowns who smokes a fake and proudly pronounces how good it is. I buy and continue to buy from Czar to ensure what I get is top-notch and authentic (and doesn't have resin spots or the wrong damn year), but I would have thought that cigars purchased from a resort walk-in humidor in Santa Clara, Cuba would be also authentic. I guess I just hate dishonesty so much that I'd hate the thought of having fake cigars, no matter how good they taste. I suppose I should get off my high horse!
bob25 Posted April 8, 2010 Posted April 8, 2010 As for the verification check,do the following: Enter the serial code without any spaces. check "Input Manual" and then select the second barcode example. I try checking your barcodes and the answer was "Non registered code still for Habanos S.A. Illegal product" for both of them. For example for a legit code put this code and see: 000004099530
bigfunkyg Posted April 8, 2010 Posted April 8, 2010 You have to play around a bit with the Habanos SA serial number thingy. I had about 14 boxes come back from Cuba this year and it took me a bit but eventually I got it right and the boxes turned up as legit. If you enter the code in as one number and select from scanner it works in the end: This is the verification screen that came up: I understand your pain as I have had many experiences with friends / family / co-workers bringing me back cigars from Cuban vacations in an effort to score duty free cigars. It's very frustrating and challanging for both parties involved. Relax and smoke away! G
bob25 Posted April 8, 2010 Posted April 8, 2010 That is good ,so now the only question left is why the band is different? There was no change in the band AFAIK.
mkz Posted April 8, 2010 Posted April 8, 2010 That is good ,so now the only question left is why the band is different? Different manufacturer? Newbie mistake at the band factory? New design? Im shure time will tell if its a planned design change or just a temporary glitch.
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