Expert: James Yee - 12/28/2011

Question
QUESTION: James-
My retailer showed me a box of Partagas Serie P No. 2 today. The semi boite nature box of 25 was wrapped in cellophane. We removed the cellophane and examined the box carefully. The factory code on the bottom is POS and the date code is ENE 06 (January 2006). The warranty seal looked in order (location, UV image), as did the box seal. The only item that is "off" is the first letter in the serial number on the warranty seal is "D." According to cubancigarwebsite.com, serial numbers from 2006 "should" begin with "H" or "I." Thoughts?

Anyway, we then opened the box and examined the cigars. They looked and smelled as they should. All the bands were in the right location and in the exact same place on each cigar. The bands themselves looked genuine. The only concern I had with the cigars was that the torpedo heads were not consistently shaped. Some of the heads were fatter than others and some were slightly angled to the side. Are genuine cuban piramides typically nearly identical from a shape perspective? Is this a reg flag for counterfeits? I know they are hand-made products, but does quality control typically make sure all are shaped nearly identical?

Attached is a pic showing what I mean.

Thanks!

ANSWER: Hi Matt,

The torpedo heads should be fairly uniform and identical to each other.  After cigars are rolled, they are sent to the sorting table where they're colour and shape sorted before eventually being packaged into boxes.  This allows a box of cigars to have cigars that are all fairly consistent in shape and colour.  This also means that a box of 25 cigars may contain cigars rolled by more than one factory worker and as a result, all the cigars may not be perfectly identical (the tapered heads will be fairly uniform but may not be 100% identical).  Based on the attached photo that you enclosed, the colour of the cigars looks consistent and some of the torpedo heads do look slightly off but the varying quality of the heads is not too far off to consider it a red flag.  I've seen other genuine torpedos where the heads are slightly varied like this.

As for the serial number, Cubancigarwebsite.com is pretty reputable and spot-on with their info.  I have never seen a 2006 box with the serial number beginning with D (all my 2006 boxes are H & I) but the website does say that the box "should" begin with H or I.  This suggests that the serial number may begin with a letter other than H or I.  It's possible that a 2006 box could start with a D in the serial number.  I'll look into this some more for you and let you know what I find.

Based on the photo, you mentioning that the cigars smell normal, the seals appearing genuine and placed correctly and the bands being aligned, I will say the box is most likely real.

I hope this helps.  As always, if you have any more questions, please feel free to just ask and I will be happy to help.

Regards,
James

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you James. Attached is an image of the warranty seal, which may help?

Answer
Hi Matt,

Thanks for the additional pic.  I'll look into this some more for you.  If it's OK with you, I'd like to look into this after the new year as I'm still on winter vacation right now.  (I'm still available to help people now but I prefer subjects that require lengthy research be done after the holidays.)  If I find anything, I'll just reply and re-edit this discussion with the new information and you'll be re-notified by allexperts.

Regards,
James

EDIT (01/06/12): Hi Matt, I've made some calls and my sources confirm that the serial number on genuine boxes can indeed begin with the letter D (and sometimes G).  However, as I have mentioned numerous times with other readers, counterfeiters will go as far as recycling and stealing genuine boxes, bands and/or labels to make their cigars appear more genuine so your best, sure-fire method of determining whether or not a cigar is genuine is by taste.  Though a box may visually appear authentic, tasting the cigars is the only way to be truly sure (unless the box was definitely purchased from an authorized Habanos retailer.)

I hope this helps!  As always, if you have any more questions, please feel free to just ask.  Thanks for your patience with this answer.

Regards,
James