But Mine are Real! by Frank Seltzer (updated)
It has often been said that 95 percent of Americans who have smoked a Cuban cigar are generally smoking fakes. While many cigar smokers will agree with that, they usually add, yes but MINE are real. Sure skippy.
Counterfeit cigars from Key West
Last week, General Cigar along with federal and state officials seized more than 3-thousand fake Cohibas in little ol Key West. Imagine that, fake Cubans in Key West. The Cohibas, and judging from the picture they weren’t the Red Dot Cohibas but the Cuban type, were being sold in 7 different tobacco retailers in the prime tourist destination. The fakes were being sold for about $20 each.
General Cigar President Dan Carr said the seizure was “a clear victory” in the company’s fight to protect its trademark. But the truth is this remains an ongoing battle for many cigar companies.
A couple of years ago, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement busted a ring that ran a multi-million dollar counterfeiting operation. Back then officials confiscated not only fake Cohibas but also fake Montecristos, Trinidads and Romey y Julietas.
No one has an exact handle on how big the counterfeit business is, but certainly it is worth many millions. The reason quite simply is the profit. For those making fake Cubans, the counterfeiters buy cheap cigars for pennies and then sell them for huge profits.
General Cigar and Altadis USA spend a lot of time and effort devoted in trying to disrupt the counterfeiters operations and put them out of business and into jail. The problem is it is tough to find all the fakes. Most times the counterfeits are found in stores, rarely are the manufacturers found. Some fakes are made in little home-based factories in Florida, others come from all over Latin America including some from Cuba itself.
But Cubans are not the only fakes being made. In Santiago, Dominican Republic, two years ago, authorities confiscated and destroyed over a thousand boxes of fake Fuentes, Macanudos, Davidoffs along with the usual Cohibas, Montecristos and Romeos. These fake cigars were being sold in stores at Dominican resorts and in Santiago and Santo Domingo. Padron also has been plagued with knock-offs. If you want real Fuentes , Macanudos , Dominican Cohibas, or Romeo y Julietas of course you can get them at JR.
And get this, not ever Swisher Sweets are exempt. In 2009, authorities around Birmingham, Alabama busted a ring selling fake Swishers and Black and Milds. The counterfeiters were getting cheap cigars made in India, boxes and labels from China and then assembling them in Alabama. At the time, a five pack of Swishers sold for $3.50, yet the counterfeiters made hundreds of thousands of dollars from the fakes because they were making a 700% markup.. The ring was busted because a consumer bought some of the fakes and sent them back to Swisher because of the poor quality. The company immediately realized they were fakes and an investigation began resulting in arrests.
The key to avoiding fakes is to be certain you purchase from a reputable tobacconist. For example if you want a fake Cuban…make certain it is a Genuine Counterfeit Cuban.
Still More Taxes
Cook County Illinois and Chicago are at it again. The county board president is pushing for even higher tobacco and alcohol taxes. For cigars, the increase would be an additional 30 cents per stick. Pipe tobacco and cigarette tobacco (Roll Your Own) would go up $1.20 an ounce. All this is in addition to the state’s 18 percent OTP tax. The county also wants to increase alcohol taxes 50 percent. A vote on the increases for the county is expected later this week. Meanwhile, two Chicago aldermen are looking at similar increases for the city as well. The International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers Association is calling the increases “job killers”. Says Bill Spann, the head of IPCPR, these kind of tax increases will force consumers to go elsewhere and revenues will be lost not gained. A year ago I spoke with an owner of a convenience store who is just outside Cook County. He noticed when the tax on cigarettes went up to $2 a pack in Cook County, his cigarette sales began to grow. After SCHIP hit, and other cities added on their own taxes, consumers could save 20-30 dollars per carton by driving to DuPage county and his cigarette sales doubled. If you tax it more, consumers will find a way around it. For those of you in the Chicago area, voice your opposition.
Fuente rejoins ProCigar
As first reported by Cigar Aficionado this week, Tabacalera A. Fuente has rejoined the Dominican cigar organization ProCigar. According to CA, Carlito Fuente met with Hendrik Kelner–the president of ProCigar–at a charity event and said his company would rejoin the group. Fuente was one of the original founders of the organization but left ProCigar in the mid 90s. ProCigar met on Tuesday and unanimously voted to welcome the Fuentes back into the fold.
ProCigar –officially, La Asociacion de Fabricantes de Cigarros de la Republica Dominicana–is an association that helps promote Dominican cigars worldwide. The members are : General Cigar Factory, Tabacalera de Garcia (Altadis USA’s Dominican factory), MATASA (maker of Fonseca and Quesada), La Aurora, Tabaquisa (Maker of Juan Clemente), Corporacion Cigar Export (maker of Augusto Reyes), Tabadom Holdings (Davidoff) and now Fuente.
For the past 4 years, the association has held its big ProCigar festival in February where participants spend time with the cigar makers in both the factories and fields as well as seminars, parties and dinners. Next year, the event will be February 19-24 in the Dominican Republic.
