I got sold fake Montecristo Sublimes, and was asked by the seller

[mikemets]

to prove it.  I thought I clearly did, but the seller, aes8, said I should take my issue here.  First, even the thought of making a post like this turns my stomach as cigars, the collecting, and smoking of them have been pure enjoyment for me.  I'm very easy to deal with, please review my numerous trader comments, and have made well over 20 good deals here on OLH.

When I first received the cigars, they just seemed off to me, too dark for starters, and the box itself was a bit cruder than I had seen before.  I contacted Aaron, and he offered to return my money.  Now I really wanted these cigars, and had never had one before, so I decided to smoke one.  Very harsh, and spicy. 

I contacted a friend who is a big Sublime fan, and described the cigars...he said his had gotten too melow for him, and once I told him who the seller was, he said "seems trustworthy, lets trade for the 6 I have"

When he got my package, he told me "these aren't good.  Too dark, don't smell right, and the upper brown band is wrong"

I received his package the next day, and smoked one of his real ones.  So creamy, and couldn't be more different than what I received from Aaron.  I contacted Aaron, and he said that smoking one basically "voided my warranty"

Here's a pic with the real one in the middle of 2 of the ones I received from Aaron:
[IMG]http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r92/mikemets/sublimes.jpg[/img]

Further investigation on "cubancigarwebsite" confirms that the upper band on the ones I received were from 2006 or earlier.  Sublimes are a 2008 production.
[url=http://www.cubancigarwebsite.com/brand.aspx?brand=Montecristo]http://www.cubancigarwebsite.com/brand.aspx?brand=Montecristo[/url]

Didn't taste right, and the bands are wrong, isn't that proof enough?

[mikemets]

I'd like too add that I do not beleive that Aaron knowingly sold me fakes, and his TCs are excellent.

I just know I have nasty fakes, and want the money back to buy real ones.

[Knuck42]

[quote]Didn't taste right, and the bands are wrong, isn't that proof enough?[/quote]If not you're certainly well on your way.  Sorry to learn of this.  I hate to see guys get burned.  This hobby of our can be so rewarding but one needs to be wary which I admit dones take some of the joy out of it, at least for me.  Hope you get made whole.

[mikemets]

[quote author=Knuck42 link=topic=11636.msg61777#msg61777 date=1320800918]
If not you're certainly well on your way.  Sorry to learn of this.  I hate to see guys get burned.  This hobby of our can be so rewarding but one needs to be wary which I admit dones take some of the joy out of it, at least for me.  Hope you get made whole.

[/quote]

Doesn't the pic tell 100% of the story?  Fake band = fake cigar.

[Reino]

Sorry to hear of this Mike. He did do the right thing and offered a refund upfront but to refuse because you smoked one doesn't sit well.
Hope it gets made right.

[mikemets]

[quote author=Reino link=topic=11636.msg61781#msg61781 date=1320803506]
Sorry to hear of this Mike. He did do the right thing and offered a refund upfront but to refuse because you smoked one doesn't sit well.
Hope it gets made right.
[/quote]

At the time, I had never seen a real one, and if I liked the cigar, I would have never brought it up, even if it wasn't real.  Just not worth it, but these are awful.

Shame is that I LOVED the real one, but had to send them back since my end of the trade wasn't right.

[Cozy]

He offered to return your money right away. Why didn't you take it? Now if you were in his shoes, would you want cigars back that were shipped around, sampled, and then brought back together? Now, the bands.....

[mikemets]

[quote author=Cozy link=topic=11636.msg61784#msg61784 date=1320804395]
He offered to return your money right away. Why didn't you take it? Now if you were in his shoes, would you want cigars back that were shipped around, sampled, and then brought back together? Now, the bands.....
[/quote]

This is true.  Having never seen a real Sublime in person, combined with Aarons outstanding trader comments, well, even though they didn't look right to me, I really had nothing to go on, so thought smoking one was a prudent thing to do.

If I simply checked out the bands right away I would have sent them right back.
I understand your point, but its a 100% fact that they are not real, isn't that the bottom line?

[mikemets]

[quote author=Cozy link=topic=11636.msg61784#msg61784 date=1320804395]
He offered to return your money right away. Why didn't you take it? Now if you were in his shoes, would you want cigars back that were shipped around, sampled, and then brought back together? Now, the bands.....
[/quote]

Also, if they were real, they would still be with my buddy, and not on their way back to me.

[Cozy]

I don't want to seem like I'm picking a side here. Did you send all the stcks to your buddy? If so, how is the seller to know he didn't swap them out with a bogus box he had? Did you keep the band from the one you smoked?