Some people will unknowingly buy fakes, and still not know they are fakes when they smoke them because they aren’t that bad. However, they are still not the real thing, nowhere near as good, and you are still getting ripped off buying a cigar for $25 that should cost $8 or less.

In addition to the extremely authentic looking fakes, there is a plethora of tremendously bad fakes. These still fool many people, and in this case you are getting ripped off even worse.

Notice the Cohiba picture above. The band’s yellow color is incorrect, the font on Habana Cuba is wrong, and there should be three rows of square dots above the word Cohiba. Those are the glaringly wrong aspects, and there are more. The colors, embossing and poor print quality are also evident, and I don’t even want to know what that cigar tastes like.

If you’re going to Cuba, or any other country besides the United States, go to an authorized Habanos S.A retailer to make sure you get authentic Cuban cigars. They will have the Habanos S.A. decal in the window. Duty-free shops can also be trusted.

On the other hand, buying them off the street is most likely to land you fakes. If the price is too good to be true, they are most likely fakes as well.