|
 In just slightly over a year's time, Habanos S.A.
has modified the Cuban Box Codes three times much to the dismay
and dissatisfaction of the Cuban cigar consumers and retailers.
In this newest change the factory portion of the code remains
a secret, but the date portion of the code is easily decipherable.
This third revision of the codes seems to be a good compromise
between what Habanos desire to keep the production factories
a secret while satisfying those consumers and retailers who rely
on the date codes to assist in their long term storage of premium
Havanas.
For years the original "NIVELACUSO"
box codes remained the mainstay. It took years for the original
codes to be cracked, but over time they became widely known by
most Cuban cigar connoisseurs. Habanos S.A. had been threatening
for years to change the codes and in early 1999 they did so.
The new codes supercede all of the existing codes and were regarded
as "super top secret" by Habanos officials. Some boasted
they doubted they ever would be cracked.
In less than four months time we here at
CigarNexus.com had cracked the new codes and shared them with
the world via this website. Quickly other mainstay publications
like Cigar Aficionado and SMOKE published copies of our key and
soon the new codes were known by all. Habanos S.A. and cigar
insiders around the world were stunned by the power of the Internet
and our ability to break the codes so quickly.
Well much to Habanos S.A.'s credit, they
responded quickly by adopting even newer codes that began appearing
on boxes in May/June of 1999. Habanos remained much more secretive
with the codes this time given how quickly we broke them last
time. As of now there is no complete verifiable list of these
new codes, however most of the date portion has been cracked
and is included below for your reference. Rumor had it that Habanos
SA might possibly modify the codes as often as 4 times a year
to stay ahead of the codes being broken again. They claimed the
reason for these frequent changes were to provide an additional
deterrence to counterfeiters, but we here at CNX do not believe
this to be the case. Instead we contend that the Cubans wanted
to prevent consumers from exercising their bias against cigars
made in provencial factories. The common perception is that the
quality of these provincial made cigars is lower. In turn, this
impression would have a derogatory impact on Habanos S.A.'s overall
product status since so many of the cigars are now being produced
outside of Havana in an effort to reach 200 million cigars for
export. New codes would prevent the consumer from being able
to quickly determine where the box is made and short-circuit
this bias. However over the last year I have smoked some truly
first rate Habanas from some of the provincial factories and
I think that most hardcore Habana smokers are going to realize
the improvements that I have and not be so leery of purchasing
provincial made cigars.As for keeping the date codes a secret
we could see no benefit whatsoever in this action.
And we were not the only ones, as this
idea of continual code modifications was met with much criticism
from cigar consumers and retailers alike. Most consumers would
like to know the factory codes, but most conceeded that they
did not care in which factory they were produced as long as the
cigars were of high quality. As for the date codes however both
consumers and retailers were extremely put out with these would
remain secret since many use them to determine when the cigars
have been sufficiently aged for ideal smoking.
In response to these sentiments Habanos
S.A. appears to have instuted Year 2000 Codes in which the factory
code will remain a secret, but the dates codes will be easy to
decipher and shared as common knowledge. The news of these modified
date codes was first announced and published in alt.smokers.cigars
by fellow cigar smoker, Keith Rowson. He along with Mitchell
Orchant and Rafael Bernardo discovered the new codes
while recently in Cuba. The new codes are much simplier and utilize
5 digits: the first three represent the month abbreviated from
Spanish and the last two digits represent the year. Below is
a copy of the newest date codes, however it is important to for
me to emphasize that these have not 100% verified. Also included
are all the known codes to date from the newest to the oldest.
The post-05/99 Cuban Box
Factory Codes still remain a mystery for the most part. We have
some bits and pieces, but nothing substantial enough to publish
at this point. If and when, we or someone else breaks a complete
list of the post-05/99 codes we will be certain to inform you.
.
 |
