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Home > What's New > Padron Adds Second Band To Anniversary Line
Posted March 2, 2001, 5 p.m. e.s.t.
If you notice something different about the Padrón 1964 Anniversary Series cigar the next time you walk into your cigar shop, don't be concerned. Be relieved. It's a way to know you're about to purchase a genuine Padrón cigar.
In an effort to stymie counterfeit operations that have plagued it for months, Padrón Cigars Inc. has added a second band to its sought-after Anniversary cigar. The new bands, which began appearing on February 1, will sport numbers to guarantee the cigar's authenticity.
Jorge L. Padrón, president of the Miami-based company, said that Padrón had been working on the anti-counterfeiting measure for a year. "We've been working on new ways to make the band more difficult to counterfeit," he said, "and to make consumers feel more secure that they are getting a genuine Padrón."
Numbered bands are fairly rare in the cigar industry, but Padrón already uses a numbering system for its Padrón 1964 Series Millennium cigars. The Millenniums have one number for each cigar -- if, say, cigar No. 1,100 has been smoked, it's gone for good. The numbers on the Anniversary bands may repeat, but never in the same box. The company said there was a system to the numbering to help track possible fakes, but it won't be revealed to the public.
For Padrón, the move is a logical one, as counterfeiting has been a growing problem over the last year and a half. In June 1999, the first fake Padrón Anniversary cigars surfaced in Nicaragua. In January 2000, police seized more than 3,000 counterfeit Anniversary cigars and 5,000 fake bands from a Los Angeles warehouse. Two months later, a seizure in Miami forced the Padróns to send a letter to retailers warning about the surge in counterfeiting. Most recently, undercover agents seized more than $60,000 of fake cigars in a September raid that took place in New York City.
Along with adding the additional band, Padrón has modified its Anniversary boxes: all of the box hinges will now be engraved. Other measures to hinder counterfeiters will be added. In the future, changes to the regular Padrón brand and the Millennium brand could also take place if necessary.
"We have to make it as hard as possible for someone to counterfeit our cigars," says Padrón.
--Mike Marsh
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