Expert: James Yee - 12/10/2007

Question
QUESTION: Have you any information of a website called World Habano selling cuban cigars out of costa rica?

ANSWER: Hi John,

I have not ordered from the before but I have been told that they are absolutely NOT legitmate.  If they're based out of Costa Rica and their prices are too good to be true, then the cigars are very likely counterfeit.  A lot of counterfeit Cuban cigars originate from Costa Rica so if you must order Cuban cigars online/via mailorder, it's best to avoid Costa Rican-based companies altogether; especially when they offer Cuban cigar prices far cheaper than the prices in Cuba(!).

Regards,
James

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

QUESTION: Hi James,

Their prices are a little bit higher than Puro Express.
Question #1  Do you you know of a reference source for authenticating seals of cuban cigar boxes? By the way Puro Express operates from the Canary Islands. Question  #2What do you think of that?

Answer
Hi John,

I'm sure there are online reference guides/sources for properly identifying genuine Cuban cigar box seals.  What you can do is try ASC newsgroup or google and you should be able to find something.

There's been some mixed reviews about PuroExpress.com.  I've spoken with some people that have ordered from them before and they were quite pleased with the service and the cigars.  However, there's also been claims that puroexpress ships counterfeit cigars which leads me to believe that either they purposely sell counterfeit cigars or they do not have a steady, authorized Habanos SA distributor and/or may be getting their cigars from multiple sources to which some may be questionable.  I haven't ordered from them before so I really can't comment on this yet.

Hopes this answers your question.

Regards,
James