Provenance would help, as in where did the gifter get it from? A friend that has a cousin in Cuba, or a well established B&M in Canada? And is the original gifter a well versed cigar enthusiast that can afford to routinely gift out cigars worth $100+. The C in Cuba has a curly-q that breaks the bottom of the C, a big tip off toward it being a counterfeit, and the EL band looks a little funky. The cap looks pretty rounded and poorly constructed. Keep in mind the Cohiba DC 2004 EL is one of the MOST commonly counterfeited Cuban cigars. If the provenance were good on this I would chalk those inconsitencies off to it being from Cuba and sh!t happens, but unless you KNOW that it came from somebody who has a lot of experience with high end CCs I wouldn't get your hopes up.
