You may have heard the story of President John F. Kennedy sending his press secretary, Pierre Salinger, out to buy a stockpile of Cuban cigars the night before he signed the Cuban embargo into law. You might have wondered if the story was true, or simply an urban legend.

Well, it is true.

Here, courtesy of Janson media, is some archival footage in which the late Pierre Salinger recounts the incident in his own words Just click on the player (you might have to click twice if you are using Internet Explorer) and you’ll learn some things not only about that incident, but about some cigars smuggled into the White House after the embargo became law:

More about the Cuban Petit Upmann and President Kennedy’s favorite cigar below the fold.

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Cigar Jack has a brief guest review of a Cuban Bolivar Petit Corona that rates it a 9.5 and has some very positive things to say about it. The review is based on 1990 cigars.

There is also a more detailed review of this cigar over at My Cigar Blog , based on 2003 cigars, that says the brand “lives up to its hype” and is “highly recommended.”

So, if you are not a U.S. citizen and if prime Cuban cigars are legal for you to “consume,” you might want to take note of it.

This is a very sweet deal from JR Cigars on two five-pack samplers of two very good cigars. It is only good for a week.

But for one quarter of an inch, this deal wouldn’t exist. You’ll understand that better later on. Let’s talk about the cigars.

The TTT Trinidad Corona is rated an 87 by Cigar Aficionado. They said that it was “a well-made cigar with a dark, toothy wrapper. It has a smooth, easy draw. It’s woody, spicy and smooth, with a few harsh edges.”

This cigar has a best online price at the moment of $25.00 per sampler of 5 cigars at Atlantic Cigar. The next best price is at Mike’s Cigars for $36.00 for 5 . The suggested retail price on the sampler is $40.00, so the Atlantic price would ordinarily be quite good. And next week it will be good again if it is still priced that way. This special deal from JR beats it though.

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