So what does plain packaging look like?

[MontrealRon]

Most people who buy fakes do so not because of the pretty packaging, but rather because of the price differential.

A genuine box of Esplendidos costs CUC 575 in Cuba; a box of fakes can be had for CUC 25-50.

Fakes, whether from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, or elsewhere, cost almost nothing to produce.

And, coming soon to bedevil us all, beautiful looking fakes from China. (thank you, Hiroshi).

Not long ago, my wife picked up a carton of her Benson & Hedges Deluxe cigarettes

from a smoke shack in Kahnawake, Mohawk Territory (Indian Reserve), at a fraction of the Quebec retail price.

They actually made her sick! After a careful examination, I determined that the cigarettes were fakes.

The packaging was exquisite, including embossing, virtually indistinguishable from the original.

The cigarettes themselves, though, showed noticeable differences.

These were high-tech fakes, clearly not the product of a small factory on an Indian reserve.

Without a doubt, made in China.

I am told they do good looking knock-offs of Marlboros as well.

Unscrupulous online vendors, as well as crooked B&Ms worldwide, have an enormous price advantage selling fakes.

Allowing the sale of genuine empty boxes or any packaging parts

would make their crap virtually indistinguishable from real Habanos.

If "plain packaging" becomes widespread, it will also facilitate the sale of counterfeits.

As suggested above, plain wood cabinets with implanted scannable microchips

may be the only viable long term solution.