Got a pair of Montecristo and Romeo Y Julieta edicion limitada 2001 fromn a friend thats known to be kinda shady, besides looking at the boxcodes is there a way u can tell if they are fakes?

Have you tried smoking one yet to see if they taste like the real Habanos?

nothing beats a quality shady friend!

if they were free, smoke'em and who cares.
if you paid, you shoulda known better.

not all cigars are created equal, choose wisely.

Again, I must agree with Kendo. This forum often is pretty passionate about declaring suspicious cigars fakes without tasting them. Obviously, some sticks can be pretty dodgy looking and should be avoided. But if you have some already, might as well smoke them to see if they taste like the real thing. If you have no experience with a particular brand, check out the various websites and compare color, bands, etc. But tasting is the only way really to tell. Everyone's information is not always accurate or up to date. For instance, many knowledgable posters swear all Mex duty fee cigars are fake, and I'm sure they have their reasons, but I've bought many CoRos from Mex City duty free and have compared them to CoRos from Argentina, Brazil, Canada and Switzerland and they all have looked and tasted very similar. Go figure.

There is reason for suspicion, especially when a US citizen is trying to vouch for a cigar. We simply do not have enough experience and day to day exposure to the product to enable us to ascertain what is legitimate and what is not. So, if you're content smoking cigar from Mexican 'duty free' shops, then by all means continue. Whatever turns you on. Until you smoke a real one, you'll never really know. Maybe you have. Maybe you haven't.

___________________
Santa Cabilla...patron saint of Quericæstan. VIVE COULTER! VIVE CPD!

It might be beneficial if geevee put up a discription of the cigars. How the wrapper looks, how the bands look, etc. Also, how does the cigars feel and smell.

I've never had the Monte but I did smoke one RyJ EL from 01. The wrapper had a marbled color in different shades of brown. The cigar was firm and had that nice barnyard smell.

If I'm not mistaken, the El band should have embosed lettering and detail (although I'm not positive of this).

Nonetheless, even if all these add up, the true test is in the flavor of the cigar.

As a great philosopher once put it - if it looks like sh1t, feels like sh1t, smells like sh1t, and taste like sh1t, it's sh1t.

number 9 ... number 9 ... number 9 ... number 9 ...

Beatles, 1968