JFK cigar—which one was it?

[zeedubbya]

It’s been said by Pierre Salinger, Kennedy’s Press Secretary and former US Senator, that the President sent him after as many Petit Upmann’s as he could find the day before signing the embargo.  What I want to know is what cigar exactly was this in reference to.  Does anyone know?  Have a good educated guess?  May be a project for FOHrehnsics?  CCW cites two different Petit Upmann in production in the 60s—a handmade and a machine made, one a Cadetes size (handmade) and one a Petit size (machine made).  Which one was it you think?

My reason for asking is because I have seen people post up the HUPC as being the one Kennedy smoked, but I don’t think this is correct at all.  I have a friend who is a big Kennedy fan and would like to find him a couple of the correct cigars he smoked, and it’s always been a bit puzzling to me.  Let me know what you think please.  

 

[mt1]

It was the Petit Upmann.  The Petit Upmann was discontinued in 2002 and was the exact same size as the Petit Corona (hence probably why the confusion), which itself was discontinued last year.

I think the closest you can do is the Petit Corona, unless you find some vintage Petit Upmanns.

[NSXCIGAR]

I would assume it was the hand-made Cadetes.

[Stump89]

I also think it's the handmade cadetes size.  I'm assuming Kennedy knew his stuff in order to buy every box possible. 

[zeedubbya]

17 minutes ago, mt1 said:

It was the Petit Upmann.  The Petit Upmann was discontinued in 2002 and was the exact same size as the Petit Corona (hence probably why the confusion), which itself was discontinued last year.

I think the closest you can do is the Petit Corona, unless you find some vintage Petit Upmanns.

It’s not same size as the Petit Corona.  The HUPC is a Marevas, the others 2 are smaller.  The closest in current production is the Coronas Junior, which is a Cadete size, the same as the Handmade Petit Upmann.  

[mt1]

28 minutes ago, zeedubbya said:

It’s not same size as the Petit Corona.  The HUPC is a Marevas, the others 2 are smaller.  The closest in current production is the Coronas Junior, which is a Cadete size, the same as the Handmade Petit Upmann.  

Oops, I must have mis-remembered.  Better check my box of petit upmanns...in any case, I doubt the blend will be the same as any regular production today.

[bpm32]

I’ve always wondered where all of JFK’s cigars ended up—the actual boxes that Salinger bought—assuming JFK couldn’t have smoked them all before his death.

[NSXCIGAR]

1 hour ago, bpm32 said:

I’ve always wondered where all of JFK’s cigars ended up—the actual boxes that Salinger bought—assuming JFK couldn’t have smoked them all before his death.

Salinger claims he was able to procure 1,200 Petit Upmann around June 1961. Kennedy lived another 29 months or about 870 days. Kennedy could have smoked them all at a rate of 1.38 cigars per day--easily attainable. I doubt there were that many left in all likelihood.

[PapaDisco]

8 minutes ago, NSXCIGAR said:

Salinger claims he was able to procure 1,200 Petit Upmann around June 1961. Kennedy lived another 29 months or about 870 days. Kennedy could have smoked them all at a rate of 1.38 cigars per day--easily attainable. I doubt there were that many left in all likelihood.

I think someone has just identified the next big counterfeiting opportunity! ?

[Ken Gargett]

33 minutes ago, NSXCIGAR said:

Salinger claims he was able to procure 1,200 Petit Upmann around June 1961. Kennedy lived another 29 months or about 870 days. Kennedy could have smoked them all at a rate of 1.38 cigars per day--easily attainable. I doubt there were that many left in all likelihood.

i thought shanken had purchased one or more old kennedy humidors and that it/they came with cigars? 

[zeedubbya]

3 hours ago, SenorPerfecto said:

Petit Upmann.

Which one do you suppose, the machine made (a 31 ring gauge) or the handmade (a 36 ring gauge)?  Looking at some pictures it appears Kennedy is oftentimes smoking cigars which look like a smaller ring gauge machine made cigar.  They look closer to the size of a ERDM Demi Tasse.  I suppose the final answer is likely lost to history, but it seems the machine made Petit Upmann was a much more prevalent cigar of the times.  CCW lists multiple packaging types for the machine made, even in the box pictures at the top of the Upmann listing is a box of 100 Petit Upmann in Petacas of 5 cigars.  

[NSXCIGAR]

17 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

i thought shanken had purchased one or more old kennedy humidors and that it/they came with cigars? 

You may be referring to the humidor given to JFK by Milton Berle bought at auction by Shanken in 1996 for $574,000. No reference to any cigars being in it however. Berle himself was at the auction and tried to buy it back for the JFK Foundation but wasn't prepared to bid above $100,000.

 https://www.cigaraficionado.com/article/jfk-americas-legendary-cigar-aficionado-7125

 

 

 

[SCgarman]

17 hours ago, zeedubbya said:

Which one do you suppose, the machine made (a 31 ring gauge) or the handmade (a 36 ring gauge)?  Looking at some pictures it appears Kennedy is oftentimes smoking cigars which look like a smaller ring gauge machine made cigar.  They look closer to the size of a ERDM Demi Tasse.  I suppose the final answer is likely lost to history, but it seems the machine made Petit Upmann was a much more prevalent cigar of the times.  CCW lists multiple packaging types for the machine made, even in the box pictures at the top of the Upmann listing is a box of 100 Petit Upmann in Petacas of 5 cigars.  

Most likely the machine made one. Looking at pics of him it looked like a panatela sized cigar. And you could get boxes of 100 ct. , so would be very easy for the press secretary to buy 12 boxes of 100. He definitely did not smoke the HUPC which is a 42 ring x 5 inch Mareva