Brilliant analysis but I gotta ask..... Did anyone bother to smoke one to determine their "authenticity".... :laugh:
Wilkey has smoked more fakes for the common good than anyone I know. He can best answer on this case, but if you follow his link for fake ISOMs you'll see tons of information not only on the packaging but the cigars themselves.
Anthony is spot on. I received a pair each of the RASS and JL in question and I have smoked one of each. They are exactly as expected. I've been smoking a fair amount of RASS and RASCC lately and it was right in line. I dissected the internals of the stub and they were normal. Same for the JL except that that marca is not one I have a lot of experience with. It did strike me as quite similar to but milder than a JL Corona I recently sampled.
I do smoke a fake occasionally just to stay calibrated. The most recent was a HdM DC from 50-cab bought from SoloCigars. It was inoffensive but completely, completely one dimensional. The tobacco was about the blandest I had ever tasted in any burning cigar. The internals showed very dried out, fragmentary leaves with some quite oddly colored. I do keep all my counterfeit specimens under RH control as my real sticks so they are in "good" condition.
I am really excited but also very stunned by a recent acquisition of some
unused bands, seals, and Habanos inserts. These are, upon initial inspection, perfect in every way. Right down to the proper paper, UV coat of arms, everything. This rocked my world.
Wilkey