Marlboro Red: the original vs the take, or how to spot a fake

Every third packet of cigarettes bought in Russia is counterfeit. That’s an official statistic. It’s even very generalised, just for ordinary people who are not in the know. And you and I know that yes, there is excise, and there are duplicates and the latter are cheaper than the original at times.
This is true when the dupes are sold as dupes, not as the original, but ‘a little cheaper’. Today I offer you another illustrated lesson on how to identify that you are offered a counterfeit instead of the original, and there are plenty of such cases.

The seller will have a lot of more or less convincing legends – from the sale of confiscated goods to some forgotten batch of cigarettes in the warehouse. And do not think that duplicates are produced in packaging so close to the original, purely for fun. The only goal is to pass them off as the original and sell them as expensive as possible. At what profit? Excise Marlboro Red now costs 239 rubles per pack, and the double from 67. Even if they sell the ‘as if original’ at a discount, for 200 roubles, the profit even from one pack is decent.

Here’s an example. Can you tell which of these packs is the original excise and which is a fake?

When Marlboro Red changed its livery to the look that we have now, the voluminous inscription of the brand name in colourless varnish was considered almost the main way to protect the brand from counterfeiting. But right now it no longer works, because it is perfectly fake, which the pack of doubles and demonstrates. In general, the more laconic the package design is, the easier it is to fake. The ‘yellow’ Camel has more details in its image, and you can tell whether it is a fake or an original:

Marlboro Red is a bit more complicated, but it is still possible to spot signs of counterfeiting before you buy the cigarettes. For example, a pack of fake cigarettes differs from the original in size, it is just a little bit shorter. However, to notice it, you need to keep the original under your hand. More obvious signs of a double – it is a crooked gluing pack, in factory production of such a defect simply can not be. And one more moment, pay attention to the ‘technique’: the original text block is oriented on the cut of the top of the pack, and the duplicate is not.

Another external difference is the surface of the pack itself. The original has a matte finish, while the dubbing has a glossy finish. However, this feature may not be visible through the outer film of the protective packaging.

It is worth paying attention to the text blocks of the pack. A duplicate has a different font size, and not all words can be read due to insufficient print sharpness.

The easiest way to identify a counterfeit is to punch its code through the Honest Mark system. But in this case, you don’t even need to run the application to understand where exactly the fake is. The thing is that the code of modern labelling has the form of a ‘square’ with small dots inside, while in the case of a fake it is not dots at all and looks like an ordinary QR code.

This is a fake excise stamp and all the subtleties, such as paper structure or inclusions of multicoloured threads can not be seen through the film. However, the original stamps are printed by GosZnak in impeccable quality and there can be no overlaps of colour blocks (on the letters ‘TAB’) or even less ink drips (in the area of the coat of arms and under the digital code) on the original.

Well, if you have made a choice and decided to save a little money, then here is what you will be waiting for inside. The appearance of the cigarettes of the duble does not even say, but shouts that it is definitely not the original) Purely constructively, the cigarettes of the duble may seem even more acceptable quality – the stuffing of the sleeves denser, no perforations, filter…

But the filter of the duble is not a filter) Two strips or it is a ‘sheet’, as on the photo, of tightly twisted synthetic cloth, that’s the whole filter)))))

While the original and the Camel dub of the bag appeared to be very similar in colour at least, this is not the case with the Marlboro. If you compare it with the duble, the excise version is simply a model for imitation! The composition of the fake is full of dry sticks of veins, crumbs, dust, and in terms of colour it is poorer than the original.

It is clear that modern Marlboro itself is not the ideal of the 90s, but believe me, the take is even worse. There is nothing else in the smoke except acrid notes of broom and stale sawdust. The strength stated by the seller as 9 mg of tar and 0.7 mg of nicotine does not correspond to reality from the word at all. And where can there be tar and nicotine if the whole blend is made of rubbish?

I hope that you will find my information useful. The desire to save money is understandable, but with such Marlboro Red you will not save money, but simply throw it away. Fakes are of course different, but this take pure water basement rubbish on which and fifty pity!

But of course this is only my opinion. Maybe this double will have its own fans.