Whether you are an avid collector or an aficionado, there is the same feeling of excitement when you find that old or rare box in a small shop in the middle of nowhere. It is that exact feeling, Lisa a well respected aficionado from Toronto felt when her dad showed up with something he found in his basement. It was two boxes of cigars he had got from Cuba in a trip in th late 80’s early 90’s, Cohiba Lanceros with the Diplomatic packaging.

Original wax paper wrapping:

Matching seals:

The cellophane sleeves are looking yellow/brownish

Older Cohiba bands:

I can only imagine the feeling you get from seeing your dad walk in with two boxes of Diplomatic Cohiba Lanceros from the early 90’s. So Lisa took her treasure to our common cigar community forum and showed her treasure. Her joy and surprise was immediately shared with members from across the world. Auction records were quoted (1900 £) moochers were looking to get their hands on samples, doubters doubted but everyone had something to say.

As any true collector should do, she decided to verify with experts the authenticity of these older cigars. After a quick call to the Toronto La Casa del Habanos, she was on her way to meet with an experienced cuban roller, Arnaldo, that had worked during the time these were made in Cuba.

Arnaldo, Cuban torcedor

Checking with reference book:

Here came the ultimate test to any cuban cigar, the disection to see if they are rolled with long filler tobacco.

Alas, these were just 20 something years old fakes rolled with short filler tobacco. Here are some observations a fellow member posted on why he had doubts about the authenticity of these:

If these cigars were acquired in 1990-1992 they should not have the habanos strip on the top right hand corner. Habanos was created in the middle of 1994 and that is when the strips started appearing on the boxes.



The B25 boxes were used in conjunction with the vBN25 boxes until 1994. The cellophane was supposedly stopped being used on hand made cigars in 1989/1990. Also whenever cellophane was used on cigars it was slightly longer then the actual cigar so that it could be folded over. The cello was then folded over the bottom of the cigar and put in boxes. The center cigar in cello boxes had the cellophane folded in front so that the shop or the end user could lift out the center cigar without ruining any in the box. The cellophane is also a bit light from my experience but that is not the tell tale sign.



The bands on the cigars are cut at different points above the last row of dots. Up until the early early 1990s (not sure if it is 1993 as Trevor puts it on CCW) the bands had circular dots like the following band. Lastly when you look at the seal of 99% of boxes the seal should be folded down the middle of the left hand crest.

After learning the sad news, Lisa was not a bit disappointed and took the whole thing as a learning experience. When I contacted her about writing about the events, she agreed that it was a great story that others could benefit from reading.

Nonetheless, this story showed us the passion people have for Cuban cigars but also, the magic moments they can produce.