11-03-2007, 02:14 PM
At TW's VIP Lounge last Monday---my birthday---one of the BOTL there gifted me with this:
![[Image: fauxhiba2.jpg]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v241/Boars_Heart/fauxhiba2.jpg)
A "40th Anniversary Cohiba," he says. $800 a box on the internet, he says, but he can get them for half that from "his guy" in Houston. :?
Well, first, let's start with the obvious: Cohiba doesn't MAKE a barber pole cigar . . . [lol]
Secondly, THIS:
![[Image: sinjimmycigars%2015.jpg]](http://www.flyingcigar.de/images/stories/flight/sinjimmycigars/sinjimmycigars%2015.jpg)
. . . is the 40th Anniversary edition Cohiba. The Behike humidor of 40. And that $800 "online price" is about, oh, well, $17, 200 short, more or less, depending on the current exchange rate. [really]
This is, of course, a Fauxhiba second in fame only to the infamous "glass top" ones, with its very own section on numerous "spotting fake Cubans" websites:
http://www.vitolas.net/displayimage.php?album=19&pos=15
I'm going to smoke it anyway. [lol]
SIZE: About 5.5" X 52.
SHAPE: torpedo
CONSTRUCTION: Fair. There is some damage to the foot, and some prominent veins in the wrapper leaves, but no noticeable soft or hard spots. Very little sheen. Clipped easily, cleanly and well.
PRELIGHT AROMA: Kerosene.
Naw, just kidding. Ferment and molasses notes, mostly. Might be a faint trace of "stable" but definitely no "wow, that's a Cuban for SURE!" scent.
INITIAL IMPRESSION: First few puffs reveal a mild cigar of undistinguished flavor, with a hint of leather on the aftertaste. Draw is slightly stiff and smoke volume is mediocre.
Let me take a moment to talk about the bands here. Honestly, they're like a "what NOT to do" counterfeiting seminar.
![[Image: fauxhiba4.jpg]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v241/Boars_Heart/fauxhiba4.jpg)
![[Image: fauxhiba3.jpg]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v241/Boars_Heart/fauxhiba3.jpg)
It's really a pity my digi doesn't do better closeups, because the humor here can't be overstated---the white on black squares section of the band is miscut, with the top row chopped just short of square and the tops of a mysterious fifth row visible at the bottom. The oval badge, apparently the counterfeiter's own creation, is poorly produced to begin with---for example, the "Aniversario" (sp?) does NOT flow with or correspond to the sweep of the oval, and has clearly been placed there, one letter at a time, in Pagemaker or Quark. Badly. By an eleven year old with short, chubby fingers. The other elements are out of register . . . there's a white spot where the gold foil "Indian Head" SHOULD be, and then . . . there's the Indian Head itself, about 1/16th of an inch below it. And smaller than the blank spot. The "Cohiba" logo, printed rather than embossed, is similarly out of register . . . someone has WYSIWYG issues with their cheapass printer, for sure. Finally, in regards to the oval section, underneath "Cohiba" are the mysterious words "1 med 1492."
I don't know what it means either. :?
At about an inch in, my birthday Fauxhiba is starting to pick up some rather distinctive flavor notes, like ash and moldy lemon peel. So let's keep talking about the bands.
In the yellow portion of the band, the words "Habana" (at least it doesn't say "Havana!" ) and "Cuba" are almost as blurry as they appear in my crappy photos. They appear to be low-res xeroxs/scans of the real thing. So, it's at least possible that my cigar was once at least in the same room with a real Cohiba.
As for the "Reserva" band, it's somewhat better produced, but not done in the same typography or font as Cohiba banding I've seen online. The real humor there is that the oval section of the main band was tucked underneath it when I first got the cigar, making it obvious it had been added on later, as an afterthought.
Yeah, those Cohiba folks, they really pull out all the stops, quality-wise, for the big anniversary editions, don't they? [lol]
Back to the cigar . . . I'm about halfway in now, and it's developing an acrid tinge and bitter aftertaste. Not quite shoe polish territory yet, but anything's possible at this point. It definitely seems to want to go there. There seems to have been some attempt at reproducing the signature "Cuban twang," possibly by inclusion of a trace amount of Quintero-reject-grade leaf, possibly by spraying the damn thing with Windex. Smoke volume has improved markedly, but unfortunately, at this point that's not really a GOOD thing.
On the plus side, the barber pole wrapper hasn't started unraveling yet. Not all of my CAO Americas were so forgiving. [really]
At about an inch from the band, it's beginning to become truly unpleasant, though. Not in an over the top, have to lick a dog's ass to get rid of the taste way, just acrid and bitter and otherwise flavorless. Basically, it tastes like what it is: a cheap counterfeiting effort rolled from mediocre tobacco and then left to sit in an unhumidified closet for gods know how long while they finished printing the bands. And then sold from the trunk of an '89 Oldsmobile left parked in the hot Houston sun all day.
Shame, too, because it's definitely long filler. Might've made a decent yardgar if it hadn't been abused. [lol]
But since this ISN'T the "Feats of Stupidity" thread, I'm going to go ahead and let it die a peaceful death. Alone. In the flowerpot. Reeking.
NANPâ¢
[cigar]
A "40th Anniversary Cohiba," he says. $800 a box on the internet, he says, but he can get them for half that from "his guy" in Houston. :?
Well, first, let's start with the obvious: Cohiba doesn't MAKE a barber pole cigar . . . [lol]
Secondly, THIS:
. . . is the 40th Anniversary edition Cohiba. The Behike humidor of 40. And that $800 "online price" is about, oh, well, $17, 200 short, more or less, depending on the current exchange rate. [really]
This is, of course, a Fauxhiba second in fame only to the infamous "glass top" ones, with its very own section on numerous "spotting fake Cubans" websites:
http://www.vitolas.net/displayimage.php?album=19&pos=15
I'm going to smoke it anyway. [lol]
SIZE: About 5.5" X 52.
SHAPE: torpedo
CONSTRUCTION: Fair. There is some damage to the foot, and some prominent veins in the wrapper leaves, but no noticeable soft or hard spots. Very little sheen. Clipped easily, cleanly and well.
PRELIGHT AROMA: Kerosene.
Naw, just kidding. Ferment and molasses notes, mostly. Might be a faint trace of "stable" but definitely no "wow, that's a Cuban for SURE!" scent.INITIAL IMPRESSION: First few puffs reveal a mild cigar of undistinguished flavor, with a hint of leather on the aftertaste. Draw is slightly stiff and smoke volume is mediocre.
Let me take a moment to talk about the bands here. Honestly, they're like a "what NOT to do" counterfeiting seminar.
It's really a pity my digi doesn't do better closeups, because the humor here can't be overstated---the white on black squares section of the band is miscut, with the top row chopped just short of square and the tops of a mysterious fifth row visible at the bottom. The oval badge, apparently the counterfeiter's own creation, is poorly produced to begin with---for example, the "Aniversario" (sp?) does NOT flow with or correspond to the sweep of the oval, and has clearly been placed there, one letter at a time, in Pagemaker or Quark. Badly. By an eleven year old with short, chubby fingers. The other elements are out of register . . . there's a white spot where the gold foil "Indian Head" SHOULD be, and then . . . there's the Indian Head itself, about 1/16th of an inch below it. And smaller than the blank spot. The "Cohiba" logo, printed rather than embossed, is similarly out of register . . . someone has WYSIWYG issues with their cheapass printer, for sure. Finally, in regards to the oval section, underneath "Cohiba" are the mysterious words "1 med 1492."
I don't know what it means either. :?
At about an inch in, my birthday Fauxhiba is starting to pick up some rather distinctive flavor notes, like ash and moldy lemon peel. So let's keep talking about the bands.
In the yellow portion of the band, the words "Habana" (at least it doesn't say "Havana!" ) and "Cuba" are almost as blurry as they appear in my crappy photos. They appear to be low-res xeroxs/scans of the real thing. So, it's at least possible that my cigar was once at least in the same room with a real Cohiba.
As for the "Reserva" band, it's somewhat better produced, but not done in the same typography or font as Cohiba banding I've seen online. The real humor there is that the oval section of the main band was tucked underneath it when I first got the cigar, making it obvious it had been added on later, as an afterthought.
Yeah, those Cohiba folks, they really pull out all the stops, quality-wise, for the big anniversary editions, don't they? [lol]
Back to the cigar . . . I'm about halfway in now, and it's developing an acrid tinge and bitter aftertaste. Not quite shoe polish territory yet, but anything's possible at this point. It definitely seems to want to go there. There seems to have been some attempt at reproducing the signature "Cuban twang," possibly by inclusion of a trace amount of Quintero-reject-grade leaf, possibly by spraying the damn thing with Windex. Smoke volume has improved markedly, but unfortunately, at this point that's not really a GOOD thing.
On the plus side, the barber pole wrapper hasn't started unraveling yet. Not all of my CAO Americas were so forgiving. [really]
At about an inch from the band, it's beginning to become truly unpleasant, though. Not in an over the top, have to lick a dog's ass to get rid of the taste way, just acrid and bitter and otherwise flavorless. Basically, it tastes like what it is: a cheap counterfeiting effort rolled from mediocre tobacco and then left to sit in an unhumidified closet for gods know how long while they finished printing the bands. And then sold from the trunk of an '89 Oldsmobile left parked in the hot Houston sun all day.
Shame, too, because it's definitely long filler. Might've made a decent yardgar if it hadn't been abused. [lol]
But since this ISN'T the "Feats of Stupidity" thread, I'm going to go ahead and let it die a peaceful death. Alone. In the flowerpot. Reeking.
NANPâ¢
[cigar]
hock: 
![[Image: spit.gif]](http://dodgetruckworld.tenmagazines.com/forums/images/spit.gif)