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Fake or real Monte Cristo?

Hey guys. I received a free Monte Cristo No. 2 tonight at a local watering hole. Guy said it was gifted to him by an accountant who works for the factory. Just wanted your opinions on whether or not you think it's real. I briefly saw the usual box labels (the cigars were in a pretty good looking box) but they had been removed and placed inside.

Here are some photos of the stick in question:

$20160428_192029.jpg$20160428_192041.jpg$20160428_192140.jpg
 

The Count of Merkur Cristo

B&B's Emperor of Emojis
Hey guys. I received a free Monte Cristo No. 2 tonight at a local watering hole. Guy said it was gifted to him by an accountant who works for the factory. Just wanted your opinions on whether or not you think it's real. I briefly saw the usual box labels (the cigars were in a pretty good looking box) but they had been removed and placed inside.

Here are some photos of the stick in question:

View attachment 655068View attachment 655069View attachment 655070
PatDaddy:
At first glance, I would suggest you have 'the real McCoy'! :drool:

But here's a couple of 'tests' (among others), to spot a fake;

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1) The top one is fake and the bottom one is real. The real band is also longer and a deeper chocolate color.

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2) Also 'the real McCoy' Montecristo Logo's are raised on the back. Take the band off and 'check it out'. :w00t:

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[FONT=&amp] "A cigar is as good as [the] memories that you have when you smoked it". Raul Julia [/FONT]
 
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Commander Quan

Commander Yellow Pantyhose
From the pictures it is tough to say definitively one way or the other, but Monte#2's are one of the most counterfeited cigars, and the story doesn't add up. Finished Cuban cigars do not go out the back door of the factory.
 

Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
Actually most of the factories allow their rollers to take home a certain number of cigars. That was the practice in days gone by, anyway. But I have never heard of an accountant getting freebies. Not saying it couldn't happen, though.

The one Montecristo that never gets counterfeited is the iconic "A". This is such an immense cigar with such a perfect wrapper that wrapper leaf of similar size and quality would be rare.

There was a bartender at the marina on Isla Flamenco, Panama who when emptying ashtrays would save bands and cellophane and would re-band Honduran Punch and Hoyo cigars, then double his money selling them as Habanos. I guess he didn't know all that much about cigars and thought he could get away with disguising a Honduran Punch as a Cuban Punch and he sold me a Punch Double Corona for a fair price but somehow it just didn't look right. I lit it and instantly recognized the buttery taste that the Honduran Punch Grand Cru line (And the Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur line) has in some years. I went to the gift shop and bought a handful of the real item, told the bar manager what I was doing, carefully and discretely marked the band, smoked it down to a nub, went in the bar and discarded it in the ashtray. Next day I went back in and asked if he still had any nice Cuban cigars, and selected the only Punch. Busted. The Cuban Punch is a fairly strong and lively cigar as the name might suggest. The Honduran Grand Cru Punch cigars are quite good, very smooth, but not even close to the same. All they have in common is a brand name. Bartender was fired. Manager treated me to a meal and all the booze my belly could hold, and gave me back what I paid for both fakes, no doubt deducted from the bartender's wages. A crooked manager of course would have been getting a piece of the action and would have tipped the bartender off. Unless the bartender had just been holding out on him.

Please, somebody say "How could you be so mean to a poor guy who is just trying to make a buck?" Well, you don't mess with my cigar. And cheat me, steal from me, lie to me, well, don't be disappointed if it comes back to bite you in the bad place.
 

The Count of Merkur Cristo

B&B's Emperor of Emojis
Slash:
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...great story because don't mess with my cigars and don't 'play me like a piano' (I for one don't have any sympathy for
that bartender)! :w00t:

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"[People] make counterfeit [cigars]; and in many more cases, [cigars] makes counterfeit [people]". Sydney J. Harris
 
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Kentos

B&B's Dr. Doolittle.
Staff member
When did they start embossing the bands? I might have had some that I might have smoked and might have seen bands without the embossing. I also might have remembered that it might have been a more brownish color as in the top band.
 

The Count of Merkur Cristo

B&B's Emperor of Emojis
When did they start embossing the bands? I might have had some that I might have smoked and might have seen bands without the embossing. I also might have remembered that it might have been a more brownish color as in the top band.
Kent:
$Montecristo Logo.jpg According to the Cuban Cigar Website...the Standard Band C w/ embossing was circa 2006 to 2012 (which is now discontinued, but there is lots of cigars out there with this band), and was replaced by the Standard Band D w/ embossing and similar to Band C, but with abolder gold of the fleur-de-lis central logo and side inserts in 2013 and is the 'Current' band for Montecristo. :thumbsup:

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Standard Band D and from 2013 on - Current

Read More: http://www.cubancigarwebsite.com/brand.aspx?brand=montecristo

“The cigar is the perfect complement to an elegant lifestyle” French Author George Sands
 

Kentos

B&B's Dr. Doolittle.
Staff member
Kent:
View attachment 655686 According to the Cuban Cigar Website...the Standard Band C w/ embossing was circa 2006 to 2012 (which is now discontinued, but there is lots of cigars out there with this band), and was replaced by the Standard Band D w/ embossing and similar to Band C, but with abolder gold of the fleur-de-lis central logo and side inserts in 2013 and is the 'Current' band for Montecristo. :thumbsup:

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Standard Band D and from 2013 on - Current

Read More: http://www.cubancigarwebsite.com/brand.aspx?brand=montecristo

“The cigar is the perfect complement to an elegant lifestyle” French Author George Sands

Thanks for that. I had some that were obvious fakes, such as EL bands on sizes and shapes never made in EL guise, no triple caps, etc. Even then a few were really good smokes.
 

The Count of Merkur Cristo

B&B's Emperor of Emojis
I hate to break it to you but that is clearly a fake, and not a very good one at that.

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THIS is a Monte Cristo!
This made my day!!! :lol:

I've had one of those, and I gotta tell you...it was a bear to keep lit.
CigarSmoka, Andrew & Dude:
$+2.jpg...now I'm hungry...awesome!
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[FONT=&amp]“[Smoking a cigar is] like a bee hovering over a bloom…[like] a butterfly pausing on a petal before taking the nectar”. Martin Booth[/FONT]
 
Thanks for all the responses guys. I took the band off and it was not raised like in the Count's photo. I guess that settles it. :(
 
Hello everyone! I am new to this world. Can someone tell me please is this real or fake MC no.2? Thank you in advance.
 

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