Fake box of Partagas Aliados?

[Ciscojohansson]

From a Youtube video:

 

From Cuban cigar Website:

Queue X-files or Columbo music...

 

[MagicalBikeRide]

Abana, Cuba 

[Ciscojohansson]

I want to believe!

[PartagasIV]

It's a high margin cigar...of course there are already bad fakes.

[ha_banos]

37 minutes ago, PartagasIV said:

It's a high margin cigar...of course there are already bad fakes.

Almost everything is a high margin [Cuban] Cigar now!

Vegueros Mananitas £18.49/ea

Aliados £82.99/ea

So bring in some 5$ fakes of VM and you have a decent margin too! Ofc there's a better margin on the Aliados, but whos gonna look twice at a Vegueros?!?

[Ciscojohansson]

The box looks legit but I would be concerned if it was mine...

 

https://youtu.be/pPRskKrk1bM?si=e72MqIBicwWvb7R0

[cnov]

Is it weird that there's no box code on the underside?

These boxes are getting more and more fancy as the weeks turn, not sure I'm that fussed about them, they'll nearly all end up at firewood at the end of their life! I'd rather a SLB if I'd save the box manufacturing cost, feels like my wife would have justification to think I was losing my marbles at some of these prices. I need to start earning more.

The cigars do look fantastic though.

[Arabian]

4 hours ago, cnov said:

Is it weird that there's no box code on the underside?

These boxes are getting more and more fancy as the weeks turn, not sure I'm that fussed about them, they'll nearly all end up at firewood at the end of their life! I'd rather a SLB if I'd save the box manufacturing cost, feels like my wife would have justification to think I was losing my marbles at some of these prices. I need to start earning more.

The cigars do look fantastic though.

They kinda look fancy on your desk and perhaps something collectors go after, I think some will never even smoke one. I agree, I was wondering why they don't cut cost on the fancy packaging and release them in different regular format. 

[NSXCIGAR]

2 hours ago, cnov said:

Is it weird that there's no box code on the underside?

No, luxury boxes usually don't have the code stamped directly on the bottom. The code would be on the outer box. 

43 minutes ago, Arabian said:

i was wondering why they don't cut cost on the fancy packaging and release them in different regular format. 

Overcharging for the fancy packaging is where the money is! HSA is a packaging company that also sells cigars since 2000. 

2 hours ago, Ciscojohansson said:

The box looks legit but I would be concerned if it was mine...

I would actually be less concerned about the missing "H" than I am about the font itself and the lighter shade and grain of the wood. Legit boxes all seem to have a darker grain and I do think the font of the lettering is off slightly, Considering the prevalence of fakes right now I would not be feeling good about this one. 

[cnov]

1 hour ago, NSXCIGAR said:

No, luxury boxes usually don't have the code stamped directly on the bottom. The code would be on the outer box. 

 

I have some Monte Dumas that have a date on the box, not quite the lofty heights of these Partagas but they also came in an unnecessary pouch that went straight in the, I should but I'm not going to throw this away pile.

[MrBirdman]

It’s very hard to compare the pictures since the angle and lighting is different, and the top shot is slightly blurry. I can’t find any inconsistencies in the font, but this is only one portion of the box.

The full video makes the box look authentic - but these days there’s really no way to tell without an in-person inspection, and even then…

[NSXCIGAR]

5 hours ago, cnov said:

I have some Monte Dumas that have a date on the box

Monte 1935 is considered a "lacquered bevel edged boîte nature box", not a luxury boîte nature box. 

5 hours ago, MrBirdman said:

I can’t find any inconsistencies in the font

To my eyes the genuine font (below) looks a little flatter and longer and possibly even has a very slight italicized slant the OP doesn't but it would be difficult to confirm without physical inspection. 

[MrBirdman]

17 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

Monte 1935 is considered a "lacquered bevel edged boîte nature box", not a luxury boîte nature box. 

To my eyes the genuine font (below) looks a little flatter and longer and possibly even has a very slight italicized slant the OP doesn't but it would be difficult to confirm without physical inspection. 

It's very hard to tell with the shot angles being so different. I mostly focused on the tails of the letters and they seemed consistent. But the one picture is kinda blurry so who knows. 

[ATGroom]

21 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

Monte 1935 is considered a "lacquered bevel edged boîte nature box", not a luxury boîte nature box. 

I probably need to sort out the terminology for these. Bit of a mess at the moment, all my fault.

Once upon a time, the most luxury box was the Sir Winston box which was a cabinet box. A confusing name as everybody calls slid lid boxes "cabinets", and it really is just a BN with a push button lock, but nonetheless it has its own packaging code of CAB.

Then, there was the Reserva boxes which were shiny cabinet boxes. We called them "black lacquered boîte nature" (Trev was still around at the time... not sure why he went with BN and not "black lacquered cabinet box").

Then there was the BHK boxes which were basically the same thing but a bit fancier, so still kept using the "black lacquered boîte nature" term.

Then came the Linea 1935 boxes. They were a BN at heart but were brown and had the beveled edges, but starting to get pretty distinct from a standard BN. For them, I created the term "brown lacquered bevel edged boîte nature box."

Then for the 2018 Limited Editions HSA announced that they were in "luxury boxes." These are still basically standard boxes at heart, BN for the Supremos, SLB for RA No.2 and QdO Senadores, but they are definitely special versions of them. HSA called them luxury boxes, so I called them luxury boxes.

Since then, a lot of things have been in fancy boxes. I tend to mostly call them "luxury boîte nature" etc. If I were being consistent with what I did for the 1935, I would create a new packaging type for each like "convex sided yellow painted boîte nature" for the Supremos.

HSA gives all the boxes I mentioned the packaging code SPB ('special box'), as do the round sided SBN boxes used on the Upmann Propios and many others, various humidors, and anything remotely special.

So, the most "correct" thing to do would probably to change all the above and many others to be "special box."

Probably what I will do is make them all "luxury boîte nature", "luxury slide lid" etc. 

Anyway, I guess my point is there isn't any technical difference in classification between the 1935 boxes and the Aliados, CCW just classifies them like that as an accident of history.

[NSXCIGAR]

4 hours ago, ATGroom said:

I probably need to sort out the terminology for these. Bit of a mess at the moment, all my fault.

More specificity never hurts I suppose. 

Perhaps we can use the code stamped boxes vs the non-stamped boxes as an indicator of classification? 

[garbandz]

I really do think a faker would be more alert when releasing such a flawed box.

HSA, on the other hand, has a long history of shoving nearly anything into the pipeline.

As far as what to call the box, it fits nicely into the "Overpriced " category.....