Well-loved for their mild-to-medium-flavour and their approachable nature, H Upmann cigars are fabulous. They are also historically rather significant, thanks to a popular legend involving America’s trade embargo on Cuba. The night before John F Kennedy was... due to sign the embargo, the story goes, he asked his aide Pierre Salinger to acquire as many boxes of Upmann Petit Coronas (the late President’s favourite cigar) as possible. Salinger managed to procure some 1,200 and Kennedy signed the embargo the following day! The Upmann marque was established in the 1840s, and is one of Havana’s oldest cigar brands. It is even rumoured that H Upmann was the first company to pack its cigars in cedar boxes. Today, the boxes still bear the same lithographed art that was developed in the early 20thth century, adorned with the seven gold medals the company won at various international exhibitions.