In the Dominican Republic last Friday, the National Tobacco Institute (INTABACO), the Attorney General’s Department, and Dominican state security institutions impounded 2,871 boxes of counterfeit cigars from tourist centers and stores in that nation.

The latest raids, part of a crack-down by Dominican authorities, netted 40,000 cigars counterfeiting famous brands that included Romeo y Julieta, Cohiba, Montecristo, Davidoff, Partagas, Gloria Cubana, Macanudo, Punch, Troya, and others. The cigars were seized in shopping centers, stores, beaches and tourist plazas in Santo Domingo, Bayahibe, Higuey and Bavaro.

Yesterday, on August 9, INTABACO incinerated 7,000 boxes of confiscated cigars, most with fake Cuban brand labels, seized in this most recent round of raids. The incineration took place in a lot next to INTABACO’s offices, located in the community Villa González, in this northern province.

INTABACO director Adalberto Rosa said that with these actions against the fake cigars, the national tobacco sector will obtain a market free from irregularities that will allow the development of healthy business practices. “These actions represent a hard blow for the cigar forgers who have affected the image of the Dominican Republic abroad,” he said.

Would that it was true and it was that easy.

More on the counterfeit cigar problem after the jump.

Though the efforts of Dominican authorities to stamp out counterfeiting of cigars are laudable, they are not going to be able to stop the problem for a very simple reason. Many of the Dominican counterfeits that wind up in the United States were legal cigars brought into this country perfectly legally.

It is what happens to them after they enter the United States that is the problem.

“We see people bringing bulk quantities of cheap cigars into the United States, finding a print shop and getting a label for whatever they want to call them,” said Zachary Mann, a spokesman for the U.S Custom’s Service in Miami. “At that point, it becomes a local economic crime — counterfeiting — instead of, potentially, a smuggling crime.”

Not everyone who buys counterfeit Cuban cigars is being cheated, either. Sometimes, it is the consumer who wants to do the cheating.

“I had one bad guy who was selling counterfeit Cubans — and that’s what he told his customers. He said they knew what they were buying, but the wanted to take them home to the Midwest somewhere and show their friends that they had Cuban cigars,” Mann said.

Not all the cigars being couterfeited are Cuba, either.

Arturo Fuente Cigars has trouble with the counterfeiting of its Arturo Fuente brand in the Dominican Republic, although the counterfeits don’t frequently show up in the United States in large quantities as do Cuban marques. The Fuente Fuente Opus X is the most counterfeited of their brands.

“They sell to tourists, who bring back a few cigars or a box,” said Wayne Suarez an executive with distributor Fuente & Newman Premium Cigars. “Usually it happens to somebody who doesn’t know much about cigars. People buying them figure they were made in the Dominican Republic and Arturo Fuentes are made in the Dominican Republic so they must be authentic. As soon as they show the counterfeits to someone who smokes cigars regularly, they know immediately that they are not authentic. They are not going to fool anyone who smokes Arturo Fuente.”

While counterfeiting may appear to be an economic crime, Suarez said the loss of revenue is insignificant. “ We are not concerned about the money we are losing,” Suarez said. “We are concerned much more about our reputation. Our cigars have the family name on them. That’s very important to us. If someone pays $40.00 for a Fuente Fuente Opus X and basically ends up with something that is unsmokable, that reflects on the Family — even if we didn’t make the cigar.

“I get calls from consumers who tell me that they bought a bad Opus X. I have them send me the band, and ten out of ten times, it’s a counterfeit. We very infrequently get complaints about legitimate Fuente Fuente Opus X.”

Jim Colucci, Senior Vice President of Altadis U.S.A., Inc., said counterfeiting affects the whole industry, not just the brand being counterfeited.

“If you are a new cigar smoker and end up smoking substandard counterfeit cigars — pieces of garbage that you paid a lot of money for — you are going to say, “why should I smoke cigars and get ripped off?” Colucci said. “It could ruin the whole industry.”

Some counterfeiting operations, in an effort to slip under the radar, have gone to extreme lengths to fool consumers. Fuente has found some fake Opus X bands that are embossed and even stamped with metallic inks, just like the original. On closer inspection, the differences can be seen. But you almost have to compare the bands side by side and know what you are looking for to spot the fake. Unsuspecting consumers could easily be fooled.

Other counterfeiters take a more direct approach. Cohibas and Montecristo counterfeits produced by Monte Cristi de Tabacos in the Dominican Republic are quite easy to spot…if you are looking.

The Monte Cristi Cohiba clearly states that it is manufactured in the Dominican Republic. The packaging and label of the Monte Cristi Montecristo, however, are a direct knock-off of the Montecristo manufactured in the Dominican Republican by Altadis USA.

That isn’t legal either.

General Cigar Company previously obtained a permanent injunction against a U.S distributor of Monte Cristi’s Dominican Cohiba, and recently won a suit against Cohiba Caribbean’s Finest cigars for trademark infringement. Altadis received a US $2 million judgment against Monte Cristi for shipping counterfeit Montecristos into the United States.

Altadis also received a $1 million judgment and permanent injunction against two Canadian companies — J.J Habanos Importers and the House of Salgado — for advertising the sale of Cuban Montecristo and H. Upmann cigars, infringing on Altadis’s U.S trademark on those marques.

Altadis polices the shops that sell its cigars as well, training their sales representatives to spot counterfeits.

“We’ve been very tough with our retailers,” Colucci said. “We let them know that if we find them selling a Monte Cristi cigar, we will stop selling to them as a direct customer.”

That threat notwithstanding, Colucci said, Altadis has canceled the accounts of fewer than a half dozen smoke shops. “We haven’t seen very many counterfeit Montecristos since we got the judgment,” Colucci said.

Aiding counterfeiters is the relative anonymity of the Internet, where fraud can easily occur.

Several years ago, after police seized 3,000 counterfeit Padron 1964 Anniversary Series cigars and an additional 5,000 bands in a raid on a Los Angeles warehouse, Padron sent a letter to his customers, urging that they be wary about purchases they make on the Internet — particularly from unfamiliar websites or through auctions.

The ultimate moral of the story dates back to Roman times.

Caveat Emptor.

Let the buyer beware. Know who you are buying from, and if a deal seems too good to be true…it probably is a fake.