During my most recent trip, a gentleman gave me his 3 remaining cigars from a sampler pack he purchased. He did not want to travel with them, but I suspected he wanted to get rid of them since they were so horrible. The labels were poorly made; the filler tobacco was chopped and the binder was missing; and they were not smoke-able because there were so poorly made. Please beware, any Cuban cigars not bought at the official La Casa del Habano store will most likely be a poorly made counterfeits. I have seen many stores, including one in the malls selling these rip-offs.
I've smoked, and still enjoy many fine cigars. My two favorite Cubans are the Montecristo #2 and Bolivar's Belicosos Finos. I can go into why they are my favorites, but both of these cigars have a wrapper that almost has an oily, slightly shiny appearance. Last time I was down there I went to every cigar store I could find from the sleaziest to the nicest. Every store had these two cigars. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM WAS FAKE. They looked like they were wrapped in sandpaper.
