Myth Two: Pure, white ash from a burning cigar is a sign that it is high quality.

Let’s take a look at this one for a moment. First, what causes some cigars to have that white ash in the first place? Not all cigars do. The answer is simple: the amount of phosphorous and calcium in the soil where the plant is growing.

So does this affect the quality of the cigar?

Fact or Fiction: Fiction. No, it does not. The simple test is to grab yourself a Cuban cigar. Most of them do not burn white, as they are not cultivated in an environment with a lot of calcium and phosphorous. Yet Cuba is known as producing some of the greatest cigars in the world.

Myth Three: John F. Kennedy and the Cuban Embargo

In certain circles you will hear tale that John F. Kennedy, who was an avid cigar smoker, not only tried to exclude Cuban cigars from the embargo, but the day before it was to go into effect sent his press secretary to procure as many Cuban cigars as he could.

This story is hard to buy; what sort of message would it send to the American people if a) the President of the United States tried to limit an embargo simply because he liked a product (and was willing to support a country he asked Americans not to support in the process), and b) the same President stock-piled items that he knew were going to become illegal the next day?

The message it would send is simple: Cuban cigars are awesome, and people want to smoke them.

Fact or Fiction: Fact. The secretary of the press did indeed fly over to Cuba and purchased a boat load of the president’s favorite cigar: the H. Upmann Petit Corona. 1,200 to be precise.

Interestingly enough, and probably to their own detriment, the cigar companies in Tampa, Florida at the time did not want Cuban cigars to be exempt. This was both a good and bad move on their part; it was good because now they would not have to contend with Cuban cigars in the United States. It was bad because they lost the ability to use Cuban tobacco in their own cigars.

In the end though, it worked out for the Tampa cigar makers, because it forced them to find other tobacco from different regions, bringing us some of the greatest smokes in the world. And eventually, Cuba stopped selling its tobacco for use in other countries.