I did a few searches to make sure no one else had this question, so...
Take a look at these cigars. Both are Montecristo Petit Edmundos. The darker one I bought several months ago, while the lighter one I bought just recently from Rob.
I know there is some natural color variation even among the same brand and even the same vitola, but that strikes me as a very wide difference. It is even more striking in person. I have complete faith that the lighter colored cigar is legitimate, but I was wondering what people thought of the darker one. Its band is textured and gives every appearance of being legitimate, and I actually bought a box of 10 of those and the warranty seal checks out on HSA's website. I still have that box and again, it looks great and has all the components it needs to have. If I didn't have another markedly different cigar to compare it to, I would have no indication that this is a fake either. The construction of my PEs from several months ago was poor, with roughly half the box plugged, and several others of middling quality. I'd say I only had one or two decent cigars out of that batch, but they all had that very dark wrapper.
What do you think? Is this a common occurrence for wrappers to be that different, or did I get duped with a real box containing fake cigars?