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.