REAL vs FAKE: Here's How to Tell the Difference
If you’re a consumer in 2021, you know that counterfeits are no joke.
Tedious and frustrating for some, high-risk and dangerous for others, they’ve been inciting alarm from all directions over the past decade. And for good reason. Across regions and industries, their prevalence has been surging.
Year after year, counterfeits have been gaining even more traction -- while their producers have been gaining even more brazenness.
In the vape industry alone, counterfeits have been wreaking havoc. In 2020, we were first exposed to how serious an issue counterfeiting was for our community -- but after taking steps to learn more and combat the problem, we realized a more substantial game-plan would be necessary.
If we really wanted to affect change -- if we really wanted to protect our community -- we’d need to think bigger. To act bigger. So that’s exactly what we did.
In January of this past year, our team got together to compile a vivid, no-holds-barred look at what our industry -- and Puff Bar specifically -- was facing. And that picture was nothing short of daunting.
...95% of all vapes on the market claiming to be Puff Bars were counterfeits…
...34,000 fake Puff Bar products had been seized in December 2020 by US Customs, from 42 different shipments -- all coming from China...
...Independent retailers were motivated to buy in from counterfeiters because of prices as much as 50% cheaper. And if they weren’t motivated to buy in, they were, at the very least, motivated to ask fewer questions...
What became immediately clear was that these producers, these fakes, were determined to keep profiting off of our customers. They were determined to keep using our products’ designs to sell fraud, and they were determined to keep putting our community at risk.
So we said, enough is enough. We looked inwards -- at our own business, at our own capabilities -- to figure out a way to better prepare you. And what we decided is that it all starts with giving you answers to some basic, but crucial, questions:
How can you tell the difference between a genuine Puff Bar product and a fake one?
How can you know if what you purchased is really what you intended to purchase?
How can you know whether you’ve been duped?
The answer, though detailed, is straightforward: through Puff DNA.
See, we’ve been hard at work developing a fool-proof system for you to be able to identify the authentic from the not. And now, we’re here to illuminate it.
But before we get started, a little backstory. When we first realized Puff Bar counterfeits were running wild, we looked into a variety of options for equipping our products with anti-counterfeit features. We researched, we tried some out -- but we didn’t have success. When we implemented a feature, counterfeit producers wouldn’t take long to catch up, imitating the anti-counterfeit scratch code on their fake products too.
We were frustrated. We were exasperated. Until our eyes landed on Cypheme.
The Paris-based AI company that’s leading the global charge in anti-counterfeit technology solutions, Cypheme had created an award-winning, unparalleled, AI-driven label to fight counterfeits. And after connecting with them, we knew immediately that their label could change everything.
Chemically unique, impossible to replicate, and tracked (and stored) in a secure cloud. Produced with a special ink and proprietary code, and outlined with a one-off color -- a shade of orange -- that can’t even be found in the Pantone references. This label had pulled out all the stops.
It was proven, it was technologically grounded, and it was seamlessly able to affix onto our products. But most importantly, it would give you -- our community -- the simple answer you deserved.
How can you tell if the Puff Bar is fake?
Pull out your smartphone. Take a picture of the round label -- without needing to download an app to do it. Submit the picture online, and within seconds, you’ll get AI-driven verification of whether its unique signature has a match in the cloud.
If it does, your product’s genuine. If it doesn’t, it’s a fake.
But what if the Puff Bar doesn’t have the Puff DNA circular label? What if it has a scratch code, or some other coded label?
If it doesn’t have the Cypheme circular label, it’s a fake Puff Bar. 100%. Guaranteed.
Every one of our Puff Bar products comes affixed with a best-in-class Cypheme label, as part of our Puff DNA system. That consistency ensures that we’re doing everything we can to keep our community informed and protected -- while keeping our industry safer as a whole.
In March 2021, Cypheme conducted their own case study of Puff Bar counterfeits on the market. They found that 70% of the products calling themselves Puff Bars were fakes. In September 2021, six months after we’d implemented our Puff DNA system (with Cypheme’s labels), they tracked the market again.
This time, they found a market-wide Puff Bar counterfeit decrease of 82%.
Our goal is to keep our customers satisfied, yes, but more importantly -- it’s to keep you prepared. To keep you defended, to keep you looked out for, and to keep you safe.
Puff DNA allows us to do that -- without the complexity, the guesswork, or the variance. It keeps things seamless and it keeps things predictable. And it lets us continue to do what we do best:
Offer you the creme de la creme of vape products… in the most Satisfyingly Simple of ways.