United States embargo against Cuba

The cigar became inextricably intertwined with U.S. political history on February 7, 1962, when United States President John F. Kennedy, intending to sanction Fidel Castro's communist government, imposed a trade embargo on Cuba. Americans were thus prohibited from purchasing what were at the time considered the finest cigars on the market, and Cuba was deprived of a large portion of its customers. According to Pierre Salinger, then Kennedy's press secretary, the president ordered him on the evening of February 6 to obtain a thousand Petit H. Upmanns Cuban cigars; upon Salinger's arrival with the cigars the following morning, Kennedy signed the executive order which put the embargo into effect.

Cigars obtained prior to the embargo are not considered contraband, and became known as "pre-embargo Cubans."

As of 2006, it remains illegal for Americans to purchase or import Cuban cigars. As is usual with embargoes, there exists a lively smuggling trade, coupled with elevated prices and rampant counterfeiting.

Cuban cigars purchased in ports overseas such as Aruba and other Caribbean islands are often counterfeit. The cost of Cuban cigars range dramatically.

In the United States, Cuban cigars not only have the mystique of being a "banned" item to purchase but they are more importantly considered by American cigar aficionados to be the best "smoking experience" of all cigars.