|
 Boxes
of Cuban cigars are now being shipped with a new, updated
Warranty Seal. In a move
aimed at making it much more difficult for counterfeiters to
package and sell fake Cuban cigars, Habanos S.A., the company
which is responsible for the export of Cuban cigars, has
modified the look (both visible and invisible) of the familiar
green and white "Cuban Government Warranty Seal of
1912" which adorns all legitimate boxes of Havana cigars.
Historically, the Warranty Seal
has been one of the most visible methods of determining whether
Cuban cigars are the real deal... or not. Unfortunately, with
the advent of high resolution scanning technology, knocking off
fake Warranty Seals has been a real snap. Just scan a Warranty
Seal, take it down to your local FastPrint and bingo!... you've
got a stack of perfect looking Seals. As a result, the venerable
Warranty Seal has been nothing more than a box ornament, and
certainly not a guarantee that the cigars were genuine, as was
originally intended.
Worldwide retailers and consumers
alike have been insisting Habanos take steps to stem the
increasing blight of counterfeit Cuban cigars. The management of
Habanos knows bogus cigars cut into their profits, not to
mention alienating smokers who quickly become disillusioned with
expensive Cuban cigars that taste unremarkable and don't live up
to their lofty expectations.
The new Cuban Government Warranty
Seal may change all that. Here's what I found after spending
three hours with a magnifying glass and jeweler's loop under the
glare of a halogen lamp and the wispy glow of my trusty
blacklight (which, BTW, hadn't seen action since I took the
aluminum foil off my walls back in 1971 and cut my shoulder
length hair)...
Color
and Crispness
Under normal lighting, the
first thing I noticed about the new Warranty Seal is that it's
printed much more clearly, and the green ink used is several
shades darker than the previous version's. I'd call the new
green color a "currency green" as opposed to the old
yellowish-green. The Seal's new green color is very much like
the color green printed on the back side of US currency.
 
The clean and crisp printing is
a big change too. Although the Seal is printed offset, the
stark sharpness of its reproduction gives the distinct
impression it was printed the same way stock certificates and
currency are... by intaglio press. I wanted to run my finger
across it, to feel the raised ink... that's how good they
look.
Although the general design and
look of the Warranty Seal has not been significantly modified,
the overall artwork has been improved dramatically... using
much finer lines and darker solids. It appears carefully
engraved, just like currency.
The Cuban Government Warranty
Seal looks important and official once again. The last time I
got this impression was back in the 50s and 60s when the
Warranty Seals were still perforated like big stamps, and
produced by Cia Impresora de Cuba S.A., a renown engraver and
printer of fine, high quality documents. That look has
returned... it actually helps class up the box.
Design
Changes
Even though more than 95% of
the Warranty Seal is essentially the same, every square
millimeter of the artwork has been re-engraved and/or re-drawn
much more finely and professionally, yet without altering the
overall traditional look of the Seal.
The borders, background and
central area of the Seal are nearly identical in detail and
form, and the Cuban Republic Coat of Arms (or Shield), in the
oval on the left side of the Seal, is virtually the same too.
One piece of art has changed...
almost unnoticeable are the revisions to the Tobacco Field
Vignette which appears in the oval on the right side of the
Seal. That scene -- depicting field workers among rows of
tobacco plants, with a shack and palm trees on hills in the
background -- remains similar to the previous versions...
however, upon close inspection, you will find that it has been
completely redrawn. I can clearly count only five individual
field workers amongst the tobacco plants, with 12 palm trees
on higher ground in the background. FYI, the 1950s version
Seals depicted nine field workers; and the most recent (1990s
version) also showed nine workers (i.e., when their printing
was sharp enough to make them out.)
-
|
NEW
Seal - Tobacco Field
 |
|
OLD
Seal - Tobacco Field
 |
|
VERY
OLD
Seal - Tobacco Field
circa 1950's version
|
- Wording
Changes
The wording on the Seal has
been changed in three locations. Beginning at the top of the
Seal... the previous version's English wording "CUBAN
GOVERNMENT'S WARRANTY FOR CIGARS EXPORTED FROM HAVANA"
has been changed to now read: "ORIGIN
NATIONAL WARRANTY SEAL FOR CIGARS AND CUT TOBACCO."
The wording on the bottom left
side of the certificate was in the French language, and means
the same as the English statement on the top of the Seal. That
wording has similarly been changed (still in French) to now
read: "SCEAU DE GARANTIE
D'ORIGINE NATIONALE POUR LES CIGARES ET LE SCAFERLATI."
Finally, the German wording on
the bottom right of the Seal, relating the same notice, has
also been modified to now say (in German): "ORIGINAL
GARANTIESIEGEL FUER ZIGARREN UND GERISSENE TABAKBLAETTER."
Micro-Printing
Additions
A new anti-counterfeiting
feature has been added to the Seal's design... making it
difficult -- hopefully impossible -- to reproduce using modern
scanners and color copiers.
There are two lines of
micro-printing on the new Seal. To the unaided eye, they
appear as hair thin green lines in the border designs... yet,
under a jeweler's loop (14x) these lines are actually made up
of letters/words which translate to, "Seal of Guarantee
of the Republic of Cuba." Micro-printing is similarly
employed on US currency. However, the Seal's micro-printing is
not nearly as perfectly formed as that of US currency. Its
micro-printing suffers from a less exacting printing
process... producing letters which are blurred, blotched and
unevenly spaced... yet, for offset printing, it's still quite
a nice trick.
The location of the
micro-printing lines are: (1) immediately above the central
large words "REPUBLICA DE CUBA" across the center of
the Seal, and (2) beginning immediately below the words "SERIE
A NO. 1" and extending across the center of the Seal
ending under the words "LEY DE JULIO 16/1912" on the
opposite side. (See diagram below -- red
lines indicate the location of micro-printing.)
In Spanish, as it appears on
the Seal, the micro-printed words which repeat continuously
and form both lines are, "SELLO
DE GARANTIA REPUBLICA DE CUBA." (Note: Spaces
between words are non-existent and/or minimized on the Seal.)
Another totally
new feature is an eight digit serial number which is
printed at the bottom center of the Seal in red ink.
The first two digits are letters, such as
"AR" and the last six digits are numerals,
such as "072164". This red serial number
is printed over a white background.
|
|
Havana
House's Ugly Seal
Many
national distributors of Cuban cigars have
taken even quicker action on their own...
Canada's distributor, for example. In 1998, in
an effort to frustrate cigar counterfeiters
and gray market importers, Havana House, the
key importer and distributor of Cuban cigars
in Canada, created it's own "seal of
authenticity" to be affixed to all boxes
of Cuban cigars retailed in Canada. The white,
purple and teal seals are plasticized and
actually self-destruct if they are removed
from the cigar box. In theory, this prevents
them from easily being reused or reproduced.
 Personally,
I think they are the most hideous thing I've
ever seen grace a cigar box. Fine, handmade
Cuban cigars and their boxes are works of
art... classy and upscale. In contrast, Havana
House's stickers are way too commercial
looking, garishly colored and insufferably
ugly. Oh well, I guess it's easier to tell if
you're getting the real thing in Canada
nowadays. Progress isn't always pretty... I
guess.
|
|
Under
UV Light... Secrets Are Revealed
In a darkened room, under a
blacklight (i.e., a UV light source), the Seal reveals two
more anti-counterfeiting measures.
The first measure relates to
the serial number... under UV lighting, the numerical part
(i.e., the last six digits) of the serial number appears
black, while the letters part (i.e., the first two characters)
still appear red... a neat trick.
The second measure appears in
the center of the Seal, positioned directly above the serial
number. Under UV light, it glows as a faint pinkish watermark.
The image density is extremely light, as you would expect with
a watermark. However, if you spend enough time squinting at
it, you will see it is, in fact, the Cuban Republic Coat of
Arms (i.e., the same Shield which is also pictured in the oval
on the left side of the Seal and printed in green).
 
|
