Beware of Massphatness/Vin

[nanilla]

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up about massphatness. I purchased a box of cohiba sublimes from him.  He sent pictures of the inner box, which only had the habanos sticker (not the LE or the warranty seal), I asked about it and he said it was on the outer box which he no longer had.  Fast forward two months, a friend is interested in the box and after looking it over and getting a few more opinions the box is definitely fake (inner box should have all three stickers).  I contact Vin and even offer to split the difference, or replace the sublimes with other smokes and he refuses and says that I could have replaced the smokes (replaced fake cigars for fake cigars?).  Just wanted to let anyone know who may in the future deal with him or who have dealt with him to check what he sent.

Thanks all and thanks Wade.

[khomeinist]

You will need to make a very specific list detailing the precise reasons for your accusation. If you want to make such a charge in a public forum, you better have your evidence ready. 

[PartagasIV]

I know Vin personally, as some here do.

I would vouch for him anywhere, anytime.  You're going to need to be extremely, extremely specific and have complete documentation for anyone to look twice at what you've posted.  You and your friends' opinions of whether or not a box is legitimate holds little water; his reply to your accusation seems just.

You can't just raise the pitchforks two months post-sale with no bona fides or credibility established on your behalf.

[TheLostGringo]

My guess is you and your friends do not have a clue about what you speak.

As stated in other posts hope you have some good evidence, Vin is one of the good guys in the Cigar World.

[nanilla]

I did my due diligence and was very cautious to post and wanted to be 100% sure the box was fake before posting, I also tried multiple times to reason with Vin and resolve the issue off the boards to no avail.

I have all the emails between Vin and I. 

The issue is that the photos did not show the left hand side of the box (where the barcode is) when I asked Vin about it he responded, "The warranty seal was on the cardboard outter shell - I no longer have that as I had cracked this box last year & hadn't really intended to sell it."  This alone makes the box fake as the barcode is on the inner box.  I have all the emails that I can post as well.

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[nanilla]

Here is a picture of the entire inner box I sent to a friend:

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[michaels]

Bad situation...3 problems.1. Vinny is stand up and well respected 2. You waited 2 months to start this thread ...lastly you sold me Hamelet Robusto's...news flash they were nice customs..they were 1000% not rolled by Hamelet....and this was discovered by a group of 5 expirenced members...would not have brought this up...be :cop: :cop: smart.

[nanilla]

Michaels, sorry that you believe they are fakes, they were purchased from CAmaverickdrinker who I have dealt with on multiple occasions and who I trust.  I have also smoked them and thought they were fantastic.  Either way this issue should have been addressed to me and not here and not like this.  I would be more than glad to refund you.  Lmk if that is the route you want to go.

Agree, 2 months is a long time.  At this point I do not expect to get my money back, but irregardless of time the smokes are fake and wanted to give everyone a heads up.

[cmitch]

The bands have the required 3 rows of dots above Cohiba, the yellow appears in registration to the embossed foil and looks great. I can show you fake bands where the Habana, Cuba looks like it was written with a sharpie marker. The 2004 Limited Edition labels in yours appear embossed but without better close up picture of the 2004 LE label, it's hard to say. Where fakes were distributed, the LE labels  were not embossed. I don't think you can yell fake simply because the warranty seal is missing off the box since I've found numerous images of Sublimes that do not have the warranty seal directly on the box. If this box was sleeved, then I could see why it wouldn't.

Do these things: Smoke one and check if the flavor is on par. Look on the underside of the clasp and see if "Schmale Germany" is on it. Not a 100% but it would certainly lend to your worries if it's missing. Look how bad this clasp is:
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[nanilla]

The bands also look fine to me, all the necessary embossing, etc.  "Schmale Germany" is on the clasp.  However, the clasps are not nailed on they are clipped in.  Thanks for your help cmitch.