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 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.)
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NEW Seal - Tobacco Field
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OLD Seal - Tobacco Field
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VERY
OLD Seal
- Tobacco Field
circa
1950's version
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- 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.)
| Serial Number |
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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.
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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.
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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).
 
Well, there you have it...
everything Habanos probably doesn't want you to know about its
new Cuban Warranty Seal. I hope it saves you the humiliating
and disappointing agony of a fake box. Now, don't you just wish
your Blazer jet lighter came equipped with a pop-out blacklight,
jeweler's loop and Captain Midnight Decoder? 
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