This Just in From Padron via Holts

[DriftyGypsy]

[worr lord]

Thanks! I'm always buying Padron boxes, good to know I should keep an eye out for fakes.

[Warren]

I don't get why a barcode on the box or a serial number on the band is supposed to prevent counterfeits. I mean is there a way to check which barcodes are valid and which serials are valid? What if it's a barcode or serial that has already been used? Who's to say something has been smoked or not.

I appreciate that they are taking some steps but just like the Cuban box codes I don't see how any of this really does much to prevent counterfeiting.

[DETROITPHA357]

Thxs 4the Info. Good 2know.

[carni]

why dont i just smack the vendor in the face if he/she ever tries to sell me a fake. then take my money back and grab some real cigars. sorry but fakes make me crazy.

[IrishCorona]

THe great thing about buying from my B&M is they've been doing buisness with Padron longer then I've been alive and I know I'm always getting the real deal @ great prices.

Ya'll are reffering to the generic bardcode padron puts on left side of the boxes?

FYI...Padron bands are probably a hot product on ebay for scumbags as the Padron band is very hard to fake. Thanks for the post bro.

Peace

[Cigar Lover 101]

Fake cigars piss me off as well. Wish people would stop but I don't think that will happen.

I agree, what is a barcode going to do really?

The best adivce from a lot of people I've heard to combat fakes are:

1) Buy from a vendor you trust. If you've bought real ones before, good guess is they'll be real again.

2) Not a lot of places do this but I've heard that if you open a brand new box and smoke one cigar to see if it's real, then buy it, you'll save yourself a lot of cash. Another idea is to buy a single and see if the single is real or not.

3) Kinda ties in with step 2, if you smell and smoke one right away and you regularly smoke them, you should know if it is real. To sum it up, don't buy a brand new box of cigars you've never tried before. Pretty simple. This message mostly goes for the tourist smokers who go to Cuba or somewhere tropical and just buy a box because it's cheap. If it's cheap, most likely it's a fake.

Hope this hasn't already been covered in another topic, but I thought it would be useful for some of the newbie's.

[DJM]

Come on guys, there's no way anyone could ever fake a barcode on a box.

[donp]

Yeah I got one too. The only place I bought padrons from is Holts so, I have no worries. Still, it is a stand up thing for the Padron folks to do though.

[Cigar Lover 101]

Come on guys, there's no way anyone could ever fake a barcode on a box.

Barcodes can be messed around with if you have the time and effort, and money.

I'm sure for a while there will be no problems but give people time to fool around with creating their own barcode.

If they can do the hologram, I can't see why they can't do a barcode?

[DJM]

Originally Posted by Cigar Lover 101

Barcodes can be messed around with if you have the time and effort, and money.

I'm sure for a while there will be no problems but give people time to fool around with creating their own barcode.

If they can do the hologram, I can't see why they can't do a barcode?

Sorry, the sarcasm in my statement didn't translate to the posting.

[Tour De Cigar]

thx for the heads up

[Mr. White]

The only way I see barcodes working is if Padron opens up a website that allows you to punch in the barcode of a particular box to verify if it is real or not. They would also have to display the information as to what vendor that product was shipped to and the date of the shipment. This also only works if they list all of their authorized retailers and keep the list updated.

Otherwise someone could simply go buy a box of Padrons and reproduce that barcode and sell tons of boxes all with that same barcode. When Padron gets wise they could just rinse and repeat.

[Marlboro Cigars]

Imitation is just a form a flattery.
Those Padrons must be good.

[papajohn67]

How about they list the vendors selling the fake sticks?