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Calling any Bolivar Experts

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wdh

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Well, I think I scored my second box of fake Bolivar Royal Coronas....arrrggh! I'm learning my lesson about finding reputable vendors on my own and a couple of you have already kindly taken me under your wings - hopefully there won't be many more posts from me like this.

I've uploaded about a dozen high-res photos to one of my sites...would any of you who know your Bolivars mind taking a peak and give me your thoughts? I keep wanting to believe these are real but a combination of the following makes me think they will probably be in the mail Monday morning:

http://hhh.smugmug.com/gallery/2622807#138424897

  • Each of the 25 cigars is 1/8 of an inch shorter than the 4 7/8 inches a Royal Corona should be;
  • The warranty seal is printed on an almost white stock of paper that behaves much differently under a black light than four other seals which are identical and from different vendors (see photos of both sets);
  • Under normal light the warranty seal is very close to other seals I have, but under high magnification, the details start to break down compared to the others;
  • The bands of this box are almost identical to the known fakes I was sent the first time I tried to buy some of these cigars...there are differences, but the similarities in Bolivar's portrait - down to the number of dots - make me think these came off the same press / laser printer.
  • I've included close-up photos of the top, side and inside cover of the box. It's hard to find good pictures of what the portrait and coins should look like - level of detail, etc. - so I was hoping anyone with a known box of authentic Royals could compare his/her box to the photographs and let me know.

Thanks in advance for any help on this....and thanks to a couple of you who have already been kind enough to point me in the direction of your own vendor network...starting down this road without community support is really hard! Best -
 
frankluke

frankluke

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i'm no expert, but i'll give you my opinion.. it looks like you already answered your questions..

the cigars being an 1/8 of a inch shorter is the biggest give away that they are fake, i can see 2 or 3 sticks being slightly shorter, but not the whole box.

also the red lines bleeding through the gold coins on the band doesn't bother me i have cigars like that now, from a lcdh in montreal, so i think your good there. and as many people say "thats cuba"

the box looks good to me, but that dont mean much cause vendors will sell you a legit box with fake cigars in it all the time.

again thats just my opinion, but if the vendor in question, is giving you a chance to return the cigars, do it. dont put yourself through the aggravation of tryin to figure out if you have legit cigars, i think you already know the answer.
 
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wdh

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It's hard to tell from the picture but each stick measures exactly 4 3/4 inches; they should be 4 7/8
 
Fox

Fox

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Pretty nice fakes. The triple cap looks well done in the large photo and the cigar seems to be extremely well made. Lack of respect for length and ring gauge are bad ju-ju. It would be nice to know how this plays out.
 
CSMoFo

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My "expert" opinion is that you just got stroked by a limber one.

Where did you get them from ? I'm gonna stay away from them .............
 
W

wdh

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owljones said:
How do they taste? That would be your best indicator.
Click to expand...
Well....just went for a walk to try one out - the draw was so tight I almost passed out from sucking so hard....what I did get into my mouth was unremarkable...bitter, a little harsh. Pulled it apart after the fire was out and although I'm no expert, didn't think several moist, greenish leaves belonged. Luckily I had a nice little Tatuaje with me for a back-up so it wasn't a complete write-off. But, I think I can close the book on these BRCs - they'll be in the mail tomorrow for sure!
 
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