Re: Novedosos from Johnny
Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2020 9:14 am
[quote author=mcgoospot link=topic=47828.msg193042#msg193042 date=1576519035]
Hutch, if you remember correctly, I actually was the one who found out why these people including me, were giving good reviews to the "Trinidad 40th anniversary" cigars he was selling. He was actually buying, from Puro Express boxes of the Trinidad Robusto Extra cigars (50 x 155) and was merely adding a band to make them look different. Remember, very few people had ever seen or smoked cigars from the 40th anniv. humidor. There were only 400 of these humidors made. The cigars were similar in size (52 x 150). The reason they got good reviews was because they WERE Trinidad cigars, just not the 40th anniv. cigars. He was buying Trinidads for about $10/cigar and selling them as ones from the humidors for $40-60/cigar.
I remember a similar scam when Mitchel Orchant from Cgarsltd was selling cigars claiming they were from the 1996 Espesialidad humidors that Christof Wolters had specially commissioned from Habanos SA. That was back in 2004. Orchant was selling "humidor #80" of the 100 humidors made for Wolters. Problem was that he was also selling singles from that humidor #80. Question #1 was how can you sell singles from Humidor #80 and still sell the intact humidor. Well a few people purchased singles and low and behold they weren't 1996 Espesialidad Salomones at all. How did they know that? Well in order for Wolters to get the OK from Cuba to make these cigars he had to cut the feet 10mm. In addition, the humidors themselves had to be manufactured to hold these cut feet cigars. The ones sold by Orchant didn't have cut feet. He eventually claimed that while these weren't actual 1996's they were rolled at the same time by the same rollers with the same tobacco as the 1996's. Basically they were custom Salomones which tasted very good. If not for the discrepancies set forth above, they would have passed muster with buyers like the Trinidads that Triple Ligero was selling. Orchant was exposed as a fraud (yet many people continue to buy from him and he somehow has kept a decent reputation in the vintage cigar community. For more info you can visit [url=http://www.cigarweekly.com]www.cigarweekly.com[/url] and visit their Club Habanos Archives.
The point being there are some great tasting cigars out there which are being sold as something that they are not. If you don't care about provenance and only care about taste then you are fine. If provenance is important to you then take those steps to verify. If it looks too good to be true it probably is.
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I remember that well. Pretty sure it was me who called him out on it. Big shitstorm surrounding it but I did get my money back.
Back to the Jonny O's to keep this on point.. Received my order from him last week. If you have ever owned boxes of cohibas you are aware of the special aroma they have that only they have. Nothing else even comes close to the real deal. Unmans are like that too. They have a very distinctive aroma to them..
That being said, if the EL's I got from Jonny are not cohiba then someone went through a lot of trouble to fake it. I haven't smoked one yet. they are resting for at least another week or 10 days.. The aroma is dead on for Cohiba though. If not the actual viola then at the very least they are all a cohiba blend which is fine by me. The wrappers and construction is absolute perfection. These were rolled by someone that has some definite skills. I've been to the island a bunch of times and had some very good cigars made. These are as good as any i have ever had made myself.
Hutch, if you remember correctly, I actually was the one who found out why these people including me, were giving good reviews to the "Trinidad 40th anniversary" cigars he was selling. He was actually buying, from Puro Express boxes of the Trinidad Robusto Extra cigars (50 x 155) and was merely adding a band to make them look different. Remember, very few people had ever seen or smoked cigars from the 40th anniv. humidor. There were only 400 of these humidors made. The cigars were similar in size (52 x 150). The reason they got good reviews was because they WERE Trinidad cigars, just not the 40th anniv. cigars. He was buying Trinidads for about $10/cigar and selling them as ones from the humidors for $40-60/cigar.
I remember a similar scam when Mitchel Orchant from Cgarsltd was selling cigars claiming they were from the 1996 Espesialidad humidors that Christof Wolters had specially commissioned from Habanos SA. That was back in 2004. Orchant was selling "humidor #80" of the 100 humidors made for Wolters. Problem was that he was also selling singles from that humidor #80. Question #1 was how can you sell singles from Humidor #80 and still sell the intact humidor. Well a few people purchased singles and low and behold they weren't 1996 Espesialidad Salomones at all. How did they know that? Well in order for Wolters to get the OK from Cuba to make these cigars he had to cut the feet 10mm. In addition, the humidors themselves had to be manufactured to hold these cut feet cigars. The ones sold by Orchant didn't have cut feet. He eventually claimed that while these weren't actual 1996's they were rolled at the same time by the same rollers with the same tobacco as the 1996's. Basically they were custom Salomones which tasted very good. If not for the discrepancies set forth above, they would have passed muster with buyers like the Trinidads that Triple Ligero was selling. Orchant was exposed as a fraud (yet many people continue to buy from him and he somehow has kept a decent reputation in the vintage cigar community. For more info you can visit [url=http://www.cigarweekly.com]www.cigarweekly.com[/url] and visit their Club Habanos Archives.
The point being there are some great tasting cigars out there which are being sold as something that they are not. If you don't care about provenance and only care about taste then you are fine. If provenance is important to you then take those steps to verify. If it looks too good to be true it probably is.
[/quote
I remember that well. Pretty sure it was me who called him out on it. Big shitstorm surrounding it but I did get my money back.
Back to the Jonny O's to keep this on point.. Received my order from him last week. If you have ever owned boxes of cohibas you are aware of the special aroma they have that only they have. Nothing else even comes close to the real deal. Unmans are like that too. They have a very distinctive aroma to them..
That being said, if the EL's I got from Jonny are not cohiba then someone went through a lot of trouble to fake it. I haven't smoked one yet. they are resting for at least another week or 10 days.. The aroma is dead on for Cohiba though. If not the actual viola then at the very least they are all a cohiba blend which is fine by me. The wrappers and construction is absolute perfection. These were rolled by someone that has some definite skills. I've been to the island a bunch of times and had some very good cigars made. These are as good as any i have ever had made myself.