The highest priced cigars in that market are Cubans, and the counterfeiters are perfectly willing to appear to satisfy the aficionados with bogus stogies, and they are getting better at it…
By Egon E. Mosum
Rudyard Kipling said, ‘a good cigar’s a smoke.’
Can’t argue with that, and you also can’t argue with the current reality that a good cigar costs a small fortune.
In any luxury market, there is a lot of money to be made, whether it is wine, jewelry, gourmet food, or cigars.
In that market, there is also a lot of money to be made by skillfully providing the ersatz item, the bogus Bordeaux, the spurious sapphire, and the counterfeit Cuban cigar.
While not quite up there in the numbers generated by illicit narcotics, the phony cigar market is a multi-million-dollar industry.
Anybody who smokes handmade cigars knows they cost a bunch more than a buck a stick. ‘The United States imported 430 million premium, handmade cigars in 2024.’[1]
Even if we made the incorrect assumption that each one of those cigars cost only a dollar, that would be four hundred and thirty million dollars in the 2024 United States market alone.
Of course, hand-made imported cigars cost more than a dollar a piece, more likely ten times that, depending on the brand and whether or not the particular state selling them has a pile of taxes added to the product.
Depending on the country of origin, hand-made imported cigars can run from about eleven dollars each to over one hundred and fifty dollars each (2024 prices-pre tariff), so even if we used the low figure, we’d be talking about a four point seven plus billion-dollar market — in the United States alone.[2]
Of course, the highest priced cigars in that market are Cubans, and the counterfeiters are perfectly willing to appear to satisfy the aficionados with bogus stogies, and they are getting better at it…
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In a Summer 1994 article in Cigar Aficionado, it was estimated that ninety percent of the Cuban cigars sold in Miami were fake.[3]
That was thirty-one years ago, how about a figure more recent?
In a May 2025 video from Newsbreak, it was estimated that the percentage of phony Cubans in the United States was ninety five percent.[4]
That’s the under the table market, because Cuban cigars are still a naughty no-no in the United States. But what’s the market like around the world where Cubans are legal to own and smoke?
From an article this year in the bible of the industry, Cigar Aficionado, we learn ‘ranked by dollar volume, China remains the No. 1 market for Cuban cigars, accounting for 27 percent of revenues. Spain ranks No. 2, followed by Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Germany. The U.K. market supplanted Germany this year; in 2023 Germany ranked fourth.’ [5]
So how are those markets doing with respect to counterfeit Cuban cigars?
While an exact percentage of fake cigars in China, the world’s largest market for Cubans, isn’t available, it’s a safe bet that it’s pretty high. ‘There are Cohiba shortages in official channels…and it is impossible to find certain lines, but counterfeiters are very creative and don’t hesitate to market Cuban lines that have never even existed.’[6]
China is perfectly set up to make fakes because a lot of the legitimate packaging materials are made in China for the Cubans.[7]
China has a kinda sorta reputation for not only being the ‘central kingdom’ it is the world’s counterfeiting center.
But lest the reader think it is only Cubans being counterfeited in the cigar world, let us correct that misconception.
Cuba might produce some of the world’s most expensive cigars, but there are other countries that charge an arm and a leg (and perhaps later on a lung or two), for their tobacco rolled up in a cylinder to be puffed on by the pretentious and the pundit alike.
For those who have vacationed in Punta Cana, the Dominican Republic, and have worked on their future melanoma at the beach, being offered premium cigars while you tan is a common experience.
The prices are amazing — and there is a reason for that. The cigars are fake, taste like a dog rocket, and contain worms that you don’t want in a humidor of your cigar collection.[8]
So, in this world full of fake cigars, what are some of the guidelines the consumer can use to reduce the chance of being ripped off by buying that deal that seems to be good to be true, and definitely is counterfeit?
First, what is the brand claimed to be real? The most expensive brands, like Cohiba, are the ones most likely to be faked. Being offered top of the line for bottom of the barrel prices is a guarantee you are being sucker punched by what you thought was a legitimate Cuban Punch.
Take a look at the printing on the band of the supposed real deal. Does it look professionally printed or are there obvious faults in the design or even the spelling. (Not all counterfeiters are graduates from Yale and Harvard).
Look at the construction of the cigar. Is it well rolled, is the wrapper a uniform color? While you can’t see it without dissecting the cigar, fake fillers can lead you to giving up the habit entirely.
What the counterfeiters put in their cigars can consist of floor sweepings from a factory floor, and that could contain dust, hair, insect parts, and maybe even rat droppings.
On the box of the supposed Cubans, does it contain the guarantee seal, the green seal from the Republica de Cuba? If not, don’t buy the smokes.[9]
Those tips might save the consumer when it comes to crappy counterfeit cigars, but the good fakes, the crème de la counterfeits are getting very hard to tell from the real thing, until of course you smoke them, and start seriously contemplating the advantages of vaping.
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE
As a consumer of any product, luxury or otherwise, you want to purchase the real thing and not get ripped off by some counterfeit item.
When it comes to the luxury market, and premium cigars are certainly a part of that market, you do not want to pay for ‘gusto’ when you are expecting, and paying for, gold.
However, given the legitimate profits in the luxury market, there are many who, not being so legitimate, seek to make profits from the sale of fake versions of those luxury items which many times are nowhere near in quality to the real thing, although to be fair, the quality of even counterfeit items is improving.
So, as a consumer, you must do your research, educate yourself, and remember the old saying, ‘if it’s too good to be true, it probably isn’t.’
[1] CIGAR IMPORTS RISE David Savona, 4/8/25 CIGAR AFICIONADO https://www.cigaraficionado.com/article/cigar-imports-rise-2024-ends-with-small-gain
[2] 2024 YEAR IN REVIEW Papalardo 4/25 CIGAR AFICIONADO https://www.cigaraficionado.com/article/2024-year-in-review
[3] BUYER BEWARE COUNTERFEIT CIGARS Suckling Summer 1994 CIGAR AFICIONADO https://www.cigaraficionado.com/article/buyer-beware-counterfeit-cigars-7757
[4] NEWSBREAK https://www.newsbreak.com/hello-new-day-292835796/3996783840591-up-to-95-of-cuban-cigars-in-the-us-can-be-counterfeit-insider-cigar-travel-cuba
[5] THE STATE OF HABANOS 2024 Savona, 2/25/25 CIGAR AFICIONADO https://www.cigaraficionado.com/article/the-state-of-habanos-2024-was-a-record-year-china-still-the-no-1-market
[6] CHINA 1 BILLION CIGAR LOVERS L’AMATEUR CIGARE 8/11/21 article https://www.cigars-connect.com/en/china-1-billion-cigar-lovers/
[7] IBID.
[8] THE BIG BUSINESS BEHIND COUNTERFEIT DOMINICAN CIGARS LPC TOURS https://livingpuntacana.com/the-big-business-behind-counterfeit-dominican-cigars/
[9] FIVE TELLTALE SIGNS OF A FAKE CIGAR GENTLEMEN’S FLAVOR https://thegentlemansflavor.com/5-telltale-signs-of-a-fake-cigar/?srsltid=AfmBOoqX4QT8zpUXUU3JYZ0EChbk98bFfBIJyKTvlxmeZef_Acg-1EyE
*Mode Mobile recently received their ticker reservation with Nasdaq ($MODE), indicating an intent to IPO in the next 24 months. An intent to IPO is no guarantee that an actual IPO will occur.
The Deloitte rankings are based on submitted applications and public company database research, with winners selected based on their fiscal-year revenue growth percentage over a three-year period.
The gain figures are based on Palantir Technologies’ IPO in September 2020 and its share price as of August 2025, using adjusted closing data from Yahoo Finance.
In making an investment decision, investors must rely on their own examination of the issuer and the terms of the offering, including the merits and risks involved. Mode Mobile has filed a Form C with the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with its offering, a copy of which may be obtained here:https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1748441/000164117225025402/ex99.pdf