This box of "Splendid" Cohibas is not original and can be obtained on the street for 20 or 30 euros while a single original cigar, in Spain, is priced at 28 euros in a tobacconist
 
In the street there are cigars good cigars but they are not reliable cigars because they are only sold in the Casa del Habano, either in Havana or Santiago de Cuba.
 
Obviously, all the cigars that are offered to you in Cuba are Cuban tobacco but there is an underworld that trades with the second or third cigars, falsifying the vitolas and the boxes that contain it. We will explain the route of the true cigars of the highest quality.


Cigar box 

The cigars travel in refrigerated containers between 2 and 4 degrees to lethargic or kill the possible moth that the tobacco brings, it is a quality control to guarantee excellence since in the cigar an egg can come from the tobacco moth that hatches and detracts The taste of true habano. That is why the cold is used in transfers and when it arrives in Spain it is distributed in refrigerated trucks, between specialized stores, always at low temperature and from there it sends to specialized tobacconists and they are exposed in a Cava, with percentage of humidity between 60% and 75% and a temperature between 16 and 17 degrees. Only the specialized tobacconists, who are not all, have these facilities, have a Cava to maintain the temperature and control the temperature and humidity, so that the cigar is preserved with all its organoleptic properties and the gut in perfect condition.
 
I repeat that the factories do not sell cigars to individuals, the people who tell you that fool you from the outset, for security, if you buy on the street cheaply you already know that the product does not respond to the vitola it carries and the origin is doubtful origin. If you take the risk with everything and your economy does not allow you to buy the real one, when they offer you a box you must lift the second layer and never lose sight of the box that they teach you, they can give you the change at any moment of distraction since there is a product legitimate, not authentic, in the price-quality relationship, but always the skilled street vendor will show you the best one that obviously has Cuban tobacco, but as I say, it does not respond to the brand that you observe in a box and vitola.


Fake Cuban Cigar
 
To recognize a pure legitimacy, observe the screenprint of the vitola well, the fakes of homemade printing presses are quite good but, if you look closely, in authentic vitolas the screenprint of the screenprint must coincide with the relief, of the same, the fakes They are quite well achieved but when they are made in homemade printing presses there is always a small mismatch in the relief.
 
In the factory a rigorous quality control of the cigar is carried out and the outer layer has to be homogeneous and that no crevices, veins or buns are noticed, there are good imitations, it depends on the skill of the twister who has done it.
 
The boxes carry special square brackets with perfectly punched black logo and the boxes have a dark orange varnish with black ink engravings with the edges well aligned, without leaving them, and for greater control the box carries an inspection number, an ink stamp blue that indicates the date of packaging, in the imitations the boxes do not carry these controls although they present thermal recordings to paste the stick.
 
Finally, we want to make it clear that you can get good tobacco, on the street, for personal consumption, even if it is not the product that the vitola specifies, but what you should never try is to “do business” because illegal tobacco trafficking is very punished and guarded.
 
The tobacconists have a police order to call immediately if someone tries to sell them cigar boxes or detect that they are offered somewhere with what the "business" can find with the bones of the dealer at the police station and a heavy fine for contraband.
 
To acquire cigars with any guarantee of authenticity these are the addresses in Havana and Santiago de Cuba where there is Casa del Habano
 

• La Casa del Habano, Partagás cigar factory Industria # 520 e / Dragones y Barcelona, behind the Capitolio
• Casa del Habano, Hostal Conde de Villanueva Mercaderes # 202, e / Lamparilla y Amargura, Old Havana
• La Casa del Habano, La Quinta Ave. 5th # 1407 e / 14 and 16, Miramar
• La Casa del Habano, Club Habana Ave. 5th e / 188 and 192, cast Flores
• La Casa de Habano, Hotel Habana Libre Calle L e / 23 y 25, El Vedado
• Other Casas del Habano can be found at the Meliá Cohíba and Meliá Habana hotels.
• The Casa del Habano of the National Hotel has no smoking room, but there is no oasis more perfect for smoking a Habano than the gardens at the bottom of the National Hotel
• In Santiago de Cuba you can find a Casa del Habano at the Meliá Santiago Hotel