Well, we guess that you are all waiting for us to weigh in on the Lewinsky affair. We've carefully analyzed the Special Prosecutor's report. Perjury and obstruction of justice notwithstanding, we believe the President's fate hinges on the Cigar. It reportedly was a Montecristo. Was it Dominican? Cuban? Or was it a fake? If it was Dominican, it was a legal cigar and he can probably survive. If it was Cuban, then he was guilty of breaking the Trading with the Enemy Act and will likely be impeached. If it was fake, then he simply does not have the judgement to be president and should resign. He should be touring the Caribbean with Bill passing out $50 bills in exchange for poorly made cigars with bogus Trinidad labels. We encourage Ken Starr to get to the bottom of this. America deserves to know.

Speaking of fakes we recently read an excerpt from Cigar Aficionado Online that interested us. The excerpt, which appeared in the June issue and was attributed to David Savona, told of a recent encounter with counterfeit Cohibas and offered some hints for recognizing fakes.

..... The label had only one and a half rows of white squares above the Cohiba logo - there should be two and the words "La Habana Cuba" were too small and not positioned properly. The wrapper was spotty and gritty, and the cap was all wrong for a Cuban cigar. It was rounded, not flat, and the seams were ragged rather than uniform.

It sounded like practical advice, especially the part about the labels. Our Cohibas were long gone but we typically save each band along with a little note about where we obtained the cigar and how it tasted. We performed a quick inspection of more than a dozen labels to see how frequently we had been taken.

A $20 Esplendido from Monterrey had three and a half rows of squares. (Nonetheless, it wasn't a bad smoke.) A pair of $20.00 Lanceros from a "friend who got the from a friend who guaranteed their authenticity" had only one row.

(Joe suspected these were fakes from the beginning, but Bill, as usual, couldn't resist. They were terrible.) The balance of the labels had the prescribed two rows. Some of these were from the Caribbean, some from Canada and one from France. Much to our surprise, the labels from two Robustos we bought from a small shop in Miami looked OK.

Next, we inspected the "La Habana, Cuba" notation. The labels having two rows of squares had identical script. The two "phonies" not only differed from the "real" ones, they differed from each other. The labels appeared to be a dead give-away.

Obviously, the right label doesn't guarantee authenticity, but it is a start. It would probably be a good idea to carry a legitimate label in your wallet when you travel and check it against your potential purchases. After all, there is no greater pleasure than sitting on a tropical beach, watching the surf and relaxing with a real Cohiba.

It just doesn't get any better.

The Cigar Guys

You can The Cigar Guys at: tbill@enter.net for any comments or questions.

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