jplaurendi - discuss

[Pole Lock]

It has to be legit, right? I mean, would thieves keep using the same MO? I guess Wade authorized a batch of newbies recently, so there's blood in the tank...

Never a good sign when a dormant acct suddenly starts spewing high-end boxes.

[Johnny-O!]

Boxes look recycled
Left and right hand rollers on all boxes
No box press on either torp, slightly on the D3
Bands show no age
:popcorn:

[alwayslit]

[quote author=Hutch link=topic=36604.msg155494#msg155494 date=1452668113]
The prices truly are amusing. But the cigars, if authentic, are some excellent cigars. I went through several boxes of the last two, and wish I had more, but I think I'll buy 36 boxes of PLPs instead  :bigup:
[/quote]

Couldn't go wrong with that choice :bangin:

[CigarFreak]

ya I think the biggest problem is all the bands look freshly printed.  someone here had a box of those psd3 where the ink on the bands were bleeding and wearing off.

[mk05]

[quote author=Johnny-O! link=topic=36604.msg156047#msg156047 date=1453864431]
Boxes look recycled
Left and right hand rollers on all boxes
No box press on either torp, slightly on the D3
Bands show no age
[/quote]

[quote author=CigarFreak link=topic=36604.msg156069#msg156069 date=1453926223]
ya I think the biggest problem is all the bands look freshly printed.  someone here had a box of those psd3 where the ink on the bands were bleeding and wearing off.
[/quote]
Honestly, this isn't a witch hunt. I think people can feel that there's something amiss, but it's not enough to indict.

The bands and condition are not what's under question here; Nor is wrapper orientation. Plenty of old cigars that are kept in warehouses come out looking perfect - just look at all the SW back stock that look like Polly and the girls boxed them up yesterday. Furthermore, wrapper orientation by itself means nothing, either. If we were talking about people selling Hamlet or some other roller who rolls Salemones and Lanceros every which way, then yes, that's a problem since you should be able to deduce that it's more than one person rolling. Nevertheless, these are factory production cigars, rolled by multiple rollers, so we can't single that out as a red flag.

There's no way to conclusively say these are fakes. They look suspicious, but that's about it. The only thing you could say, is that Partagas Piramide's TDV01 is a code that has been seen faked for Sublimes and other ELs. However, the problem here is that the packaging looks right. It just feels like a real Cuban black market cigar sold through the Caribbean, like those never ending supply of '98 Fundadores, '99 SdCs, or other Caribbean sourced boxes with TDV03. That's about it. As for the D3, I don't know what's going on there either. You could argue the lack of box press since most pictures show severe box press, but that's not enough, is it? All I can say is that the Partagas D3's tobacco doesn't look very H92, H2000, or C98x from that era - it doesn't look like bulletproof kevlar. The Hoyo looks crappy enough to be a real EL.

I really don't know. They feel funny, that's about it. I'd like an explanation for the benefit of everyone, but that's the extent of my curiosity. It doesn't feel like this guy is lining people up.

As for that CGR in 3 different sizes, I'm going to guess that it was a gag or some friend of his who was trying to impress him.

[JohnE1000]

^^^
Well said!

I don't believe a conclusion can be reached from the posted photos alone.