Behike UV Bands?

[Tstew75]

Hey guys, looking for some clarification here about Cohiba's 'Standard Band F/Behike' band. Several questions: Has this band always had the UV features (2 blue dots on back)? If not, what year were they added?

Cuban Cigar Website only states:  "Standard Band F - Behike, 2010-current. Embossed. Incorporates two security holograms. Sometime in 2013 the design of the holograms was changed slightly."

Thanks in advance.

 

[Tstew75]

Anybody??

[SenorPerfecto]

No solid info other than what you've found. Perhaps someone with a UV light and a 2010 stick could check for you?

 

But I doubt as far back as 2010 they did UV...

[Tstew75]

1 hour ago, SenorPerfecto said:

No solid info other than what you've found. Perhaps someone with a UV light and a 2010 stick could check for you?

 

But I doubt as far back as 2010 they did UV...

Someone in one of my FB groups says it came with the 2014 BHK releases....but I haven't located someone with a vertical to find out for sure.

I'm hoping one of the deep collectors on here can clarify ?

[Trevor2118]

Just tested a 2010 Behike 52 & a 54....no blue dots.

[SenorPerfecto]

23 hours ago, Trevor2118 said:

Just tested a 2010 Behike 52 & a 54....no blue dots.

Thank you sir!

[Cigar Salute]

my guess is the dots started when the Piramides extra came out.  Because my April 2013 BHK 52's have the dots and the old style security hologram.  AFAIK, The Piramides Extra was the first Cohiba to include the squares with the band.  For some reason, the BHK blue squares show up more faintly than standard Cohiba bands.  I have a different batches of BHK, and have noticed the same on both bands.  They're both from reputable retailers, and one came from a sealed box with a verified serial number.  There seems to be a lot of variation with these squares.  I wouldn't be surprised if Vrijdag printing & HSA were switching things around periodically to throw off counterfeit ops.   

[Dusk]

On 4/3/2020 at 10:41 PM, Cigar Salute said:

my guess is the dots started when the Piramides extra came out.  Because my April 2013 BHK 52's have the dots and the old style security hologram.  AFAIK, The Piramides Extra was the first Cohiba to include the squares with the band.  For some reason, the BHK blue squares show up more faintly than standard Cohiba bands.  I have a different batches of BHK, and have noticed the same on both bands.  They're both from reputable retailers, and one came from a sealed box with a verified serial number.  There seems to be a lot of variation with these squares.  I wouldn't be surprised if Vrijdag printing & HSA were switching things around periodically to throw off counterfeit ops.   

Seen one of your you tube videos on this about the inconsistencies on the blue dots/squares under uv light. I have Piramides from a grey market dealer with none, some Sig IV's from a reputable/ official dealer with the squares & some CoRos from another reputable / official dealer without. Agree with you, this is probably due to different printers being used, but still wonder why Habanos wouldn't be consistant in their security methods, above statement considered. Probably just a Cuba thing.........

[Cigar Salute]

2 hours ago, Dusk said:

Seen one of your you tube videos on this about the inconsistencies on the blue dots/squares under uv light. I have Piramides from a grey market dealer with none, some Sig IV's from a reputable/ official dealer with the squares & some CoRos from another reputable / official dealer without. Agree with you, this is probably due to different printers being used, but still wonder why Habanos wouldn't be consistant in their security methods, above statement considered. Probably just a Cuba thing.........

The CoRo's are probably there, you may not have seen them if you haven't had any cigars yet, because you can't see them till you remove the band and separate it.  If you look at the far left of the band where the vitola info & Vrijdag logo is displayed, count 7 squares in from top left, 2nd row down, and then 8 squares in, 3rd row down (sounds like bingo lol)  The squares vary in location depending on the vitolas that band is meant for.  This is where you'll find the squares on 48-54 bands.  38-47 bands have 4 squares located to the left of the Taino logo.  It's definitely not uncommon to find them using bands on different vitolas, I've seen 48-54 bands used on Esplendidos, 38-47 bands used on CoRo, and they often trim bands with scissors to fit some of the smaller vitolas like the Siglo I, II, III.  The Exquisitos are an oddball vitola, and they always seem to have trimmed down bands on em.  Thanks for checking out my stuff BTW!  Hope this photo helps you - Dan

[BeerPimp]

1 hour ago, Cigar Salute said:

The CoRo's are probably there, you may not have seen them if you haven't had any cigars yet, because you can't see them till you remove the band and separate it.  If you look at the far left of the band where the vitola info & Vrijdag logo is displayed, count 7 squares in from top left, 2nd row down, and then 8 squares in, 3rd row down (sounds like bingo lol)  The squares vary in location depending on the vitolas that band is meant for.  This is where you'll find the squares on 48-54 bands.  38-47 bands have 4 squares located to the left of the Taino logo.  It's definitely not uncommon to find them using bands on different vitolas, I've seen 48-54 bands used on Esplendidos, 38-47 bands used on CoRo, and they often trim bands with scissors to fit some of the smaller vitolas like the Siglo I, II, III.  The Exquisitos are an oddball vitola, and they always seem to have trimmed down bands on em.  Thanks for checking out my stuff BTW!  Hope this photo helps you - Dan

Thanks for explaining this.  I have some Cohiba Coronas Especials and Coros.  I can see the 4 diagonal dots on the Cohiba Coronas Especial but not on the Coros.  Someone mentioned that there are only 2 diagonal dots on the coro.  But I don't see them on mine. 

[Dusk]

20 hours ago, Cigar Salute said:

The CoRo's are probably there, you may not have seen them if you haven't had any cigars yet, because you can't see them till you remove the band and separate it.  If you look at the far left of the band where the vitola info & Vrijdag logo is displayed, count 7 squares in from top left, 2nd row down, and then 8 squares in, 3rd row down (sounds like bingo lol)  The squares vary in location depending on the vitolas that band is meant for.  This is where you'll find the squares on 48-54 bands.  38-47 bands have 4 squares located to the left of the Taino logo.  It's definitely not uncommon to find them using bands on different vitolas, I've seen 48-54 bands used on Esplendidos, 38-47 bands used on CoRo, and they often trim bands with scissors to fit some of the smaller vitolas like the Siglo I, II, III.  The Exquisitos are an oddball vitola, and they always seem to have trimmed down bands on em.  Thanks for checking out my stuff BTW!  Hope this photo helps you - Dan

 

Only received the CoRos from our host on Friday, smoked one on the weekend.

Just checked the band & the dots are the in same position as your pic.

Thanks for the knowledge, keep up the good work.

Andre

[ATGroom]

Yeah, sorry CCW isn't better on this stuff. There isn't really a space for detailed security feature stuff in the current format we store bands in, but I may add it on a different page in the future. This is my current understanding. Please let me know if anything is wrong.

1. Cohiba Standard band G. Introduced 2012, from 2017 onwards (starting with the Talisman) there is a UV code on the right edge below the gold strip. Begins with CHB followed by a three digit number. Also, some squares fluoresce, sometimes four in a diagonal next to the head, sometimes two in a diagonal on the left side. 

2. Cohiba Maduro band H. Introduced 2016, has a UV code under the A in the Cohiba. Begins CHBM followed by a three digit number. Also, some squares fluoresce, sometimes four in a diagonal next to the head, sometimes two in a diagonal on the left side. 

3. Behike band F. Since redesign in 2013, some squares fluoresce, sometimes four in a diagonal next to the head, sometimes two in a diagonal on the left side. 

Particularly the Behike band, the dates are speculation as I don't have access to a wide enough range of Behike bands to say definitively.

The serial numbers, my observation is that they are the same for all the cigars in a box. They jump around a bit, and don't appear to be sequential across the batches. I would be interested to know if there is a pattern, ie, "all the cigars produced at El Laguito between May and June of 2018 have the serial CHB017" or similar, but again, I don't have access to a big enough collection of Cohiba to tell. On the standard band, the serial number is often trimmed off on thinner cigars. I don't think it is possible to match the bands to the cigars (ie, "all Robusto should have CHB020"), not least because they often use incorrectly sized bands on cigars. I think it must be more of a batch number. Would be interesting to see a lengthy list of box codes matched with the serial numbers on their bands which might reveal some patterns that could be used for authentication. 

[Tstew75]

11 hours ago, ATGroom said:

Yeah, sorry CCW isn't better on this stuff. There isn't really a space for detailed security feature stuff in the current format we store bands in, but I may add it on a different page in the future. This is my current understanding. Please let me know if anything is wrong.

1. Cohiba Standard band G. Introduced 2012, from 2017 onwards (starting with the Talisman) there is a UV code on the right edge below the gold strip. Begins with CHB followed by a three digit number. Also, some squares fluoresce, sometimes four in a diagonal next to the head, sometimes two in a diagonal on the left side. 

2. Cohiba Maduro band H. Introduced 2016, has a UV code under the A in the Cohiba. Begins CHBM followed by a three digit number. Also, some squares fluoresce, sometimes four in a diagonal next to the head, sometimes two in a diagonal on the left side. 

3. Behike band F. Since redesign in 2013, some squares fluoresce, sometimes four in a diagonal next to the head, sometimes two in a diagonal on the left side. 

Particularly the Behike band, the dates are speculation as I don't have access to a wide enough range of Behike bands to say definitively.

The serial numbers, my observation is that they are the same for all the cigars in a box. They jump around a bit, and don't appear to be sequential across the batches. I would be interested to know if there is a pattern, ie, "all the cigars produced at El Laguito between May and June of 2018 have the serial CHB017" or similar, but again, I don't have access to a big enough collection of Cohiba to tell. On the standard band, the serial number is often trimmed off on thinner cigars. I don't think it is possible to match the bands to the cigars (ie, "all Robusto should have CHB020"), not least because they often use incorrectly sized bands on cigars. I think it must be more of a batch number. Would be interesting to see a lengthy list of box codes matched with the serial numbers on their bands which might reveal some patterns that could be used for authentication. 

Thank you a million

[Cigar Salute]

ATGroom, may I humbly suggest... I have a 2013 BHK that I purchased in early 2014 with old security hologram with the 2 squares.  I would not be surprised if they started doing it after the Piramides Extra was released in 2012.  I will post a photo of said band later when I get home.  I actually think the "CHBXXXX" code may be some kind of lot # or print run ID #.  Vrijdag Premium Printing could not share any info about this with me when I spoke with them about it, but if you look on Habanos SA's website, there's a little article about the current standard Cohiba band G.  They say that "This new band incorporates a new hologram design that can be certified, as well as other increased security measures that allow a better traceability to each Habano of the brand"  The Alpha-numeric code is the only thing I can think of that would provide traceability?  The codes appear to be tied to multiple vitolas in the same time period that fit the same band size.  I only have 2 batches of BHK's, but both the old style band I have as well as the current have 1 square that glows under blacklight in 2 spots.  The features you describe in #3 match the current standard Cohiba band G.  38-47 vitola size has the 4 squares on current bands.  48-54 has the 2 on the far left.  Also, it may be worth noting that on all vitolas using the current band, the white border of the Taino logo will glow under blacklight as well.  I've seen fakes that do not glow like this, so it seems like this feature is added as well.  It also appears that on some bands, the entire band appears "glow in the dark" under blacklight, where as others it's just the security pattern that does so.  Below is a counterfeit band (confirmed by Vrijdag printing to be a fake (it has their logo on it)  

 

The above photo was taken from a genuine band, and I placed it there just to compare to the fake.  Posted below are both squares on an Oct 2018 BHK 52 with Behike band F.  I will post the 2013's with the old Hologram shortly when I get in.  Much obliged gents ? 

Ok fellas, 

These 2 photos are taken from an April 2013 BHK 52 band.  You can see the old style security hologram present in the top photo.  I apologize, my florescent blacklight's batteries are about done, and I don't have any fresh AA's.  But, I did get some photos, and while faint, you should be able to see the Security tells circled with relative ease.  Hope this helps my friends.