How to Find and Buy Genuine Cuban Cigars

Examine the packaging closely. Real Cuban cigars will be sold in a tightly sealed, sturdy box bearing a few distinct markings. One is the official Habanos seal, which is a technically-complex holographic image, in upper right corner of the box. There will also be a pale green Cuban warranty seal wrapping around the lefthand side, which has been meticulously designed and printed to discourage counterfeiters. The bottom of the box will feature a heat-printed stamp reading “Habanos, S.A.” and “Hecho en Cuba,” along with essential details like a code identifying the factory where the cigars were rolled and the date they were packaged.^{[6] [7]}

• Imitations are often sold in boxes with transparent glass or plastic lids. These peculiar lids are designed to satisfy you with a view of the product inside while keeping you from taking too close a look. Real cigars will always be sold in solid boxes that must be opened to view the cigars inside.
• Keep an eye out for spelling and grammatical errors, cheap printing methods, peeling stickers, and warped, damaged or flimsy boxes. Counterfeiters usually don’t go to the trouble of reproducing the quality standards of the packaging.

Take a look at the band. The band enclosing the cigar itself is one of the most telling indicators of authenticity. Official cigar bands will be printed with the highest quality materials, and are often holographic or embossed to make them immediately recognizable. Phony cigars will be banded with cheap stickers, usually dull in color and missing the sophisticated elements that characterize authentic cigars.

• The bands on fake cigars are often much larger than the bands on real ones, in the hopes of drawing the buyer’s attention to the brand name and away from the cigar itself.
• Different cigar manufacturers print different unique bands, but all are made with painstaking attention to detail. Use common sense. If it doesn’t have the impressive flair of a real cigar band, it probably isn’t.

Inspect, feel and smell the cigars. If given the opportunity, take a cigar out of its box and put it to the test of your senses. Look to see if the color of the wrapper leaf is a rich, uniform light brown. Squeeze the cigar to feel if it’s firm all the way through. Most importantly, smell the ends of the cigar. If it doesn’t have a rich, complex aroma, you can bet that it isn’t what it claims to be.^{[8] [9]}

• The inferior tobacco leaves used to wrap cheap cigars are brittle and prone to cracking, splitting and crumbling. They will also often be inconsistently colored, with a faded or mottled appearance.

Learn to spot subtle differences. Imitation cigars are often made with extravagant extra touches or careless mistakes. You won’t find an authentic Cuban cigar with a braided or “Barber Pole” wrapper (alternating layers of dark and light colored leaves), or one that has been rolled with anything but Habanos-seed leaves. Counterfeiters also don’t typically have the means to replicate certain pressing features of the cigar, such as the straight-cut, flattened “foot” end. These types of nuances are subtle, but may help you differentiate between a good cigar and a shabby fabrication.^[10]

• A fake cigar will produce a bright white ash when it’s lit, whereas a real cigar will glow softly and leave a dark gray ash.

Be prepared to pay a lot. When it comes to superior craftsmanship, you get what you pay for. The same is true for top-of-the-line Cuban cigars. Sure, you could get by spending $8-$10 per cigar from a vendor on the street, but an imitation cigar won’t have the complex flavor notes and rich, smooth feel of the genuine article. For a quality Cuban, you can expect to pay anywhere from $25 to $50 per cigar.^[11]

• Cuban cigars are expensive, even in Cuba. Contrary to the idea that they’re cheaper there because they’re more common, the makers of Cuban cigars know that their products will fetch a high price. They also understand that people will pay more for the experience of smoking a great cigar.
• If you live in the United States, the recent lifting of the trade embargo with Cuba will make it possible for you to bring home real Cuban cigars, but only up to $100 worth. In most instances, this will only get you 3-4 good cigars.^[12]

Beware of special discount offers. Because of how exquisitely made they are, Cuban cigars are always sold at full price. If you run into a pitch advertising any sort of discount offer on cigars of renown like Partagas or Cohiba, chances are you’re being conned. These second-rate fabrications may indeed be rolled using tobacco and materials from the factories they claim, but they will basically be comprised of scraps and won’t be exemplary of real Cuban cigars.^{[13] [14]}

• Unlike other commercial goods, cigars are considered specialty craftsman goods, much like fine foods and aged liquor. It is rare that you will find these types of goods sold for less than what they’re worth.

Never buy cigars “wholesale.” In addition to suspect markdowns, it’s rare for Cuban cigars to be sold in exceptionally large quantities. Each box of cigars will typically only be filled with between 10 and 20 cigars. You can be assured that packages identifying themselves as Punch or H. Upmann that contain 30 or more cigars, or that are being sold in batches at wholesale prices, are less than legitimate. Once again, if an offer seems too good to be true, it probably is.^[15]

• Wholesale deals are often made to unsuspecting tourists to trick them into thinking they’re getting more for their money. Don’t be fooled by these types of scams.
• Due to their price point, Cuban cigars are often bought individually. Only people with a lot of money will be able to purchase an entire box of cigars at once, let alone multiple or suspiciously large boxes.

Identify government-mandated markings. In recent years, new security measures have been introduced by the Cuban government to discourage counterfeiting. These include a light green Warranty Seal and unique bar code wrapping around the left hand side of the box, a unreproducible holograph on the upper right corner and an official surgeon general’s warning. All are made using unique synthetic materials and processes that aren’t easily replicated. Look for these features before agreeing to pay for a box of cigars. If the stickers on the box look like they have been forged or tampered with, you may be dealing with fakes.^[16]

• Forged Warranty Seals and other stamps and stickers will usually appear cheaply made, have misspellings and lack any sophisticated security indicators like holographic images.
• Never buy a cigar or box of cigars if any of the adhesive components appear to have been broken, removed, replaced or applied carelessly.

Acquire credentials for a trip to Cuba. Since diplomatic relations have been reopened with Cuba, it's now possible for US residents to travel to the island nation. However, these trips require special licensing, and are only possible under certain provisions. If you happen to be a journalist, trade expert or humanitarian, or if you're visiting family, you get a free pass, but at the moment, cultural tourism is only allowed via expensive and highly-controlled group tours. If you're determined to bring back authentic cigars from Cuba yourself, this may be your most feasible option. Just be prepared to have your entire trip mapped out for you.^{[17] [18]}

• For certain people, their work may permit them to engage in travel and exchange with Cuba. Some of these professions include journalism, political diplomacy, education, humanitarian aid, historical and cultural research and specialty medicine.
• Updated government sanctions only permit $100 worth of tobacco and alcohol products to pass through Customs on the way back to the United States. This equals a meager 2-3 quality Cuban cigars.

Buy Cuban cigars from importers in third-party locations. It is possible to track down Cuban cigars in places other than Cuba. Another consequence of the relaxed international trade agreements with Cuba is that tobacco products can be legally sold in third-party countries like Britain, Canada and Mexico. That means that if you happen to be on a business trip to Montreal or vacationing in Cancun, you can easily find and purchase genuine Cuban cigars, no questions asked. Look for vendors and duty-free shops in these places and bypass the headache of dealing with Cuban travel regulations.^[19]

• The Habanos company manages the importing and exporting of brand-name Cuban cigars. You can often find stores licensed to carry cigars with the Habanos seal in major international cities.^[20]