Friend of mine snapped this in Europe. He said the band is also holographic. Even in Europe you get fakes so just thought I'd ask the experts?

Probably legit, but who cares?  The Castros drove the Cuban cigar businesses into the ground.  

Frankly, I'd rather have a Padron or an Ashton VSG before anything from Habana....

Looks genuine to me.

Agreed..I had some authentic Cubans my neighbor snagged for me recently on a trip plus a couple of the genuine article on my vacation. In short, 'meh.'

Looks legit except:
The wrapper looks pretty dry, maybe it was a camera phone and lousy lighting.
The triple cap looks good, but in one shot, the wrapper looks a bit crumbled, again, maybe it was because of the lighting.
The gold color and hue looks correct.

Edit: Apparently, I have no credibility to comment. Carry on

Looks real to me.

The one in your pic is a fake.

I guess so

Sorry man, but that band is a fake. Wrong font on the "C"uba. Cohiba does not use a cursive "C" where the tail crosses through itself.

Here's the legit band

BTW, here's a good site that has tons of info concerning Cuban cigars.
http://www.cubancigarwebsite.com/

Link below is to verify the serial numbers on the box seal
http://verificacion.habanos.com

well, shit.  Egg on my face I guess.

My very good friend, who knows more than me about these things, and from whom I procured these cigars, will be upset to hear this.  Without going into detail, he acquired them from a very reputable and authentic source outside of this country. No black or grey market, and not a place that anyone would think would distribute anything other than authentic goods.  

And for what it's worth, though I never found the site you linked and I can't get the verification tool to work on my computer, when I got these I looked at maybe 10 different 'How to Spot a Fake' websites. This box and the cigars held up to every other measure, until you noticed the "C".  (the label inside the box has the correct "C"uba)  I'm not sure how I missed the font on the C, but every other detail regarding the wrapper lines up with authentic specs.  Same with the box itself, from the stickers to the date and manufacturer stamps to the inserts.  And I watched him cut the sticker to open the box, saw them lined up perfectly.  I'm thinking I'll put some pictures up if I get around to it and if anyone is interested so everyone else can take a look.  I even measured everything when they were first given to me; it all checked out.

I'm pretty bummed about the whole thing to be honest.  They are very good cigars.

It happens. I consider myself to be really knowledgable about habanos and I purchased some fake vintage cigars. I got blinded by the opportunity and the story.

Anyway... If they're good, keep smoking them.


Besides the C font, I notice the warranty seal is on the wooden box.  With any Cohiba semi boite box, they'll come in a cardboard outer box. That's where the warranty seal would be.

This looks more in line with a Boîte or Varnished Boîte box.

I thought I had read that those do have the seal.  Is that incorrect?

ETA: The pic I posted was pretty crappy quality. I should post more pictures with my wife's nice camera, so we can all learn something.  But, I'm not sure my pride can take it.

Legit or Fake... still commie.

 
All Cohibas come in a varnished box. The Maduros are in black lacquer and Behikes are in a polished paino lacquered box. I did say semi boite box and meant that to mean anything other than slide lid box but my wording was incorrect.




The slide lid boxes are the only boxes that come with the seal directly on the box. That's the entire Siglo series and the Robustos. Everything else should come in an outer cardboard box with the warranty seal there.




Of course, it may have been different in the past... The above is the way it is with current production.


 

ETA:


Looking at a couple sites, it looks like at one point, the seals were on the wooden box. Don't know when that changed. I have several boxes of Maduros, lanceros, esplendidos ect ect and they all came in cardboard with the seals on the cardboard. The oldest of those are 2011 I think.