Ive smoked the secretos, genios, and magicos - and have owned boxes of the genios multiple times. Your pictures show no indication these are fake in my opinion. The band is also correct, if there are three dots, if the gold cohiba rectangle border doesnt overlap any of the dots, and the gold lettering is slightly embossed you are good to go on the esthetic end. Look inside the box on the top half, all maduro 5s boxes have a cohiba maduro sticker inside the box.. yours is covered with the cedar sheet so I cant see...
Color of the cigars look fine too- may be the cause of lighting in the pic that make them seem darker- but they look good. The construction of the foot and overall length being consistent with all of them also indicate real.
Although exact construction may be replicated, and real used boxes may be used- the only real way to tell is to smoke them. I did this with a few other suspect Cubans I was questioning. The maduro's I bought from the same place looked great and authentic, but after educating myself on the looks and how some fake manufacturers and replicate exactly- the taste test gave it away. The ones I questioned were definitely fake.
The tobacco was surely cuban, it had that distinct cuban taste. But it must have all been from the same farm, as the tobacco was just so mild, green tea leafy, no real punch power or complexity either.
If you taste a mildness in the Maduro 5, youre not smoking the real thing. If it tastes like green tea and slightly tarry, you know youve been owned. If you have rich, creamy, evolving taste with a sweet undertone you definitely are smoking the real thing. Youll find chocolate, espresso, spice on the lips (which fakes wont have). You won't have to look for that dark chocolate and cocoa/sweet taste- it will be there upon first draw. Keep these things in mind when you smoke em and let me know what you find
