These Partagas Serie D cigars appear the same until you take a close look. Can you spot the fake?

Sure it’s illegal and if these highly skilled cigar makers are caught they know that they’re going to go to prison but that doesn’t stop them working day after day in rough conditions to produce those ‘fake’ cigars. They do it, not because they can’t get work in the government factories, but because they can earn a heck of a lot more income working in the black market cigar industry than they can in the government controlled factories.

Many in the legitimate cigar industry only earn around $17.00 a month - yes that’s right, they earn just $17.00 a month … but if they were out there in the black market they’d be making a whole lot more. And that’s why many of those guys who are turning out the ‘fake’ cigars are working in those back rooms.

Almost all of them have learned their trade in those legitimate factories but the lure of much better money - despite the constant threat of arrest - is too hard to resist. Think about it for a moment and I’m sure that if you were in the same situation you too would have difficulty resisting all that extra money each month.

So they labor day after day turning out around a hundred cigars a day that translates into four boxes each day that sell for somewhere between $25.00 and $30.00 a month. Most of that production seems to be snapped up by tourists who then have to somehow get them out of the country.

While tourists are allowed to take 2 boxes of cigars out of the country the authorities are very careful to check those who are leaving and confiscate any cigars that are not genuine. In fact it seems likely that very few of those ‘fake’ cigars actually make it past the border control. The authorities claim to confiscate somewhere between 1500 and 1700 boxes of illegal cigars every month so if you’re thinking of taking a trip to Cuba be careful where you spend your money.

 
The threat of imprisonment doesn’t seem to stop the makers and it’s unlikely that the authorities will ever totally eradicate these black markets. There are far too many people who depend on income they derive from the ‘fake’ cigar industry for it to be ever completely shut down and the old management techniques in place in the factories mean that the theft of all that genuine packaging will never be stopped either.