November 9, 2011 — General Cigar announces that federal and Florida state law enforcement officials yesterday seized more than 3,000 counterfeit COHIBA(R) cigars from seven tobacco retail stores located in prime tourist areas of Key West, Florida.

Individual cigars were sold at approximately $20 apiece. Based on current estimates, the approximate street value of goods seized was more than $60,000.

The counterfeit cigar seizures followed a lengthy investigation conducted in cooperation with General Cigar Company, which is the exclusive owner of the COHIBA trademark in the U.S. The lead law enforcement agency for yesterday’s seizures was the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, assisted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Florida Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco Bureau of Law Enforcement, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Dan Carr, president of General Cigar said, “The seizure of counterfeit COHIBA cigars yesterday represents a clear victory in General Cigar’s fight to protect our cigar bands from counterfeiters and trademark infringers. We look forward to continuing to cooperate with federal and state law enforcement officials in Florida and have offered to assist in any prosecutions and future investigations.”

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Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.