Is pipe tobacco ever counterfeited?

A most interesting question? I totally get why a maker would claim a cigar is Cuban when it is not. Many probably wouldn't know the difference or perhaps care even if true. If we claimed a pipe tobacco was Esoterica or McClelland when it was not, the negative pushback would be rather swift and immediate.


There's also another way to consider this one. Sutliff's Red Va Crumble Kake is pretty nice smoke and worth cellaring IMHO; however, it's not McClelland #5100 which I have in abundance in the five to twelve year range and don't understand how or why anybody would ever attempt to substitute one for the other. It wouldn't fly with smokers and blenders have far more to gain in making their own mark than counterfeiting other efforts.


This having been stated, anything is possible on eBay these days which is the primary reason I closed my twenty year account.

I have 20 pounds of 10 year old Penzance to sell. It's all in 6 oz Ziplock bags, but I will give a good price.....

Good question. It must exist somewhere, but don't think I've encountered it.

See, I can go without taking the bait......sometimes.😁

The best argument against jarring tinned tobacco. 

With that in mind I've kept certain tobaccos such as Motzek Strang and boxes of Ennerdale(in their original bag/box) and placed them into Mylar bags and heat sealed them. I even have 47 tins of Escudo that are in their tins.. in Maylar bags. For the most part though, everything gets jarred.

Wow, 47 tins of Escudo, 20 pounds of Penzance. Do you guys ever plan to smoke that? 

Gents- To be sure, my comment on 20 pounds of Penzance in zip lock bags was t.i.c.. For one, it'd be all dried out. For another, it would have lost a great deal of its value due to the absence of the original tin or bag, unopened. Only meant to illustrate why you wouldn't do that!

I have one bag from 2017 that I am smoking, and one unopened plastic tray that's about 20 years old. ¡No mas!

Great question. I'm relatively certain if you go to your local B&M there are probably blends being sold under different names; however, I don't see anything sinister in the practice. 

There was a paranoid rumour after the McClelland closure that people were selling McC tins with the wrong labels, but I never saw anything substantiated. I don't see how it would benefit anyone to put, say, a 40th Anni label on a tin of FMC or whatever because just about any McC blend is going to find a buyer. I also don't think a McC label would fit a C&D tin, though I may be wrong.  So it's hard to imagine how someone could exploit this situation when it comes to tins.

As for bulk, I meant to start a thread of warning about this but got sidetracked. I recently traded a few oz of 2015 for an equal amount of 2050 - at least, that was the plan. What I received was some syrupy sweet all-black cavendish aro. It was definitely not 2050. I wrote to the guy, trying not to be irate and give him the benefit of the doubt, and I'm glad I did. It turned out that he received it from a guy who had also been cheated on some fake Christmas Cheer, and then again on the 2050. Neither guy had ever smoked real 2050, and since it's called Oriental Cavendish, they both assumed it was legit but just a poor McC blend. Fortunately, the guy made good on the trade.

This was not on BP, by the way. But if you look on some of the fb pipe groups, you'll see a lot of noobs who have bought into the hype of McClelland even though they've never had any.  Instead of exploring blends that are currently available, all they want is Esoterica and McClelland.    So I guess that's leaving them open to being cheated.  

I have 20 tins of frog Morton that I'm willing to sell. They're all stored in sealed tins with a captain black grape label on it, but never worry about that.

😁

I only buy from reputable sources.

Pipe smokers seem to be an honest lot, by and large.  I've had many trades on different forums and have never been ripped off (knock wood!).  In fact, many times a few extra samples or even a surprise tin is thrown in.  But there's always a bad egg or two lurking out there....  And I have seen box passes go astray on cigar forums.

I would be surprised if tobaccos were being counterfeited.  Plenty of ultra high grade pipes are faked as there's much more of a monetary return for the effort. 
My Cuban cigars came into this country through diplomatic pouch.  I had a friend who was a member of the British aristocracy who would call her brother, who was a Duke, and he would arrange it for me.  Nice to have friends in high places!

In the case of counterfeiting cigars I would never advise smoking a counterfeit Cuban because it's not as if they took an otherwise good cigar and put a fake Cuban band on it. They are actually wrapping a cigar Leaf around anyting! It could be floor sweepings rat droppings or anything they can find to put inside that wrapper.

I suspect that the entire issue with Cuban cigars is that they are illegal and we as Americans are willing to pay through the nose for something we're not allowed to have. The vendor who is selling fake Cuban cigars from somewhere out of United States isn't the least bit concerned about repeat business.

There is really nothing magical about Cuban cigars. Just like every other country that produces cigars they make everything from complete trash all the way up to Exquisite cigars. Cuban cigars have a slightly different flavor than others because of the high content of lithium in the soil in Cuba.