One of my first real responsibilities in the cigar business, starting in 1957, was inventory control for the country’s biggest importer and distributor of Cuban cigars. Since I signed the Purchase Orders for reordering the ten best Cuban cigar brands of the day, the Cuban manufacturers thought I was more important than I really was, so they made sure I received my personal supply and learned what I needed to know about their cigars. The major Cuban manufacturers had their own representatives in the US in those days. These fellows made sure, whenever they were in our offices, which was about once a week, to drop off some cigars and give me a lesson in blending and smoking. It was in this way that I was weaned on Cuban cigars.

Those Cuban manufacturers I was ordering from were:

F. Palicio y Cia, makers of Belinda, Hoyo de Monterrey and Punch. Owned and operated by Fernando Palicio. His son, Jorge, was my contemporary and we became good friends. Last I heard he was out of the business and living in Venezuela. Today, while still being made in Cuba for the rest of the world, these brands are controlled in the US by Swedish Match, managed by General Cigar Corp. after they acquired them from Villazon & Co., who acquired the US rights from the Palicio family.

Cifuentes y Compania, makers of Partagas and Ramon Allones. This company also made Bolivar, imported in those days by Nat Sherman. The owner, Ramon Cifuentes was an extraordinary spokesman for the Cuban cigar industry and, after he fled that country, and sold his brands to General Cigar Corp., for premium cigars in general. In the 1950s, The Ramon Allones Ramondo was the best selling premium cigar in the US at 1.2 million cigars per year. It was a machine made Corona, 42 x 5 ½, and it sold for $0.35, 3/$1.00.

Menendez y Garcia, makers of H. Upmann and Montecristo. The company I worked for imported H. Upmann, but Montecristo was then controlled in the US by Alfred Dunhill. This Cuban company was owned and operated by Alonzo Menendez Sr. and Pepe Garcia. Their representative for the US was Alonzo Jr., whom I knew well. His brother Benjamin was on the production side and is still heavily involved in the industry today, as is brother Felix, now a cigar maker in Brazil. After Fidel Castro’s government “intervened” the Cuban cigar industry, Alonzo Sr. sold his interest to Pepe Garcia, who started to make cigars again in the Canary Islands under the trademarks, Don Diego, Flamenco and Montecruz, which was a copy of Montecristo and until very recently sold exclusively in the US, once again, by Alfred Dunhill or one of its sister companies. In the US today, all the brands of the former Menendez y Garcia are controlled by Altadis, the huge tobacco conglomerate formed by the merger of SEITA and Tabacalera, the former French and Spanish, cigarette, cigar & tobacco monopolies.

Tabacalera Cubana, makers of La Corona, Cabañas and La Meridiana. This subsidiary of The American Tobaccco Company was the only major Cuban cigar company owned by an American firm. It was run by Felipe Silva who oversaw the manufacture of Cuban La Coronas that were marketed in the world outside the US. The La Coronas sold in the US were made in Trenton, NJ, of 100% Cuban tobacco. The La Corona cigars, made in Cuba, were exported to the US under the trademark, Cabañas. Tabacalera Cubana had the distinction of making the most expensive cigar sold in the US in the 1950s, the La Meridiana Kohinoor in its own wooden “coffin,” $1.50 each. Today, since the cigar assets of The American Tobacco Company were acquired by Consolidated Cigar Corp in 1986, and since Consolidated became part of Altadis, with the brands of Menendez y Garcia and Tabacalera Cubana, plus the two that follow here, this corporation has become one of the two major European holders of former Cuban trademarks in the US.

Por Larrañaga, maker of the cigar of the same name, run in the 1950s by Gonzales Arellano, but the majority shares of this company were owned by Menendez y Garcia. In the US, before the Cuban Embargo, the Por Larrañaga Cetros was the best selling expensive cigar at $0.70 each. As mentioned above, today the brand is owned in the US by Altadis.

Romeo y Julieta, was not a major brand in the US prior to the Embargo, but it was on the market and it did command respect. Today, it, too, is controlled by Altadis and, made in The Dominican Republic, has become a major factor in the premium cigar business.

We can summarize today’s ownership of all the major Cuban trademarks in the US under two corporate entities, both European:

**Altadis, through its acquisition of Consolidated Cigar Corp, Hollco Rohr & Hava Tampa owns Montecristo, H. Upmann, Por Larrañaga, Romeo y Julieta, La Corona, Cabañas, and Santa Damiana (not imported into the US prior to The Embargo).

Swedish Match, through its acquisition of the majority of General Cigar Corp., which had acquired Villazon some years before, owns Belinda, Hoyo de Monterrey, Punch, Partagas, Ramon Allones and Bolivar, as well as Cohiba (This brand was created in Cuba after the Embargo).

**Altadis also owns a controlling interest in Habanos, the Cuban company holding all Cuban cigar trademarks in Cuba and the world outside the US. The company was recently exonerated of the accusation by its competitor of attempting to use this relationship in Cuba to induce US customers to better feature their existing range of premium cigars, as an incentive to receive the Cubans, which they claimed to control, once the Embargo is lifted.

The Cuban Embargo was signed by President John F. Kennedy in February 1962

Who could have known that this Embargo of all things Cuban would still be in effect forty years after its inception—although food and medicine are now allowed. I personally owned 1500 Por Larrañaga Cetros, then retailing for $0.70 each, and 1200 Belinda Fancy Tales, worth $0.65 each, the day John F. Kennedy signed the Embargo. I either smoked or gave away all of them. I wonder what they would be worth today.

JFK, himself, had a stash set aside, too, having sent his Press Secretary, Pierre Salinger, out to obtain as many H. Upmann Petit Upmanns as possible prior to his signing the ban. At a Cigar Association of America Annual Meeting one year, Mr. Salinger, the guest speaker, telling the story, said he was able to find 1200.

Here’s a little aside on the story. Mr. Salinger did say H. Upmann Petit Upmann, which was a small 28 ring (11 mm diameter) x 4 ½ in. (114 mm) long, short filled, machine made cigar, and the Petit Upmann is the size mentioned whenever the story is told. But, I was still doing the inventory control for the importer at the time and we were not importing this size as a Petit Upmann. Instead, it was called, Demi Tasse, as it still is today.. The cigar was sold under the Petit Upmann frontmark (subtitle) in Cuba and the rest of the world. I’ve wondered ever since where JFK had been obtaining his supplies.