ALL PROFITS FROM THIS LIMITED-EDITION LUXURY CIGAR COLLABORATION WILL SUPPORT ARTS EDUCATION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

J.C. Newman Cigar Co. has released the LeRoy Neiman 2026 Collector’s Edition cigars which is the birthday of President John F. Kennedy. This year’s release features LeRoy’s painting, “The President’s Birthday” which depicts Marilyn Monroe serenading President Kennedy on his birthday at Madison Square Garden in 1962. Each cigar also features a foot band bearing the official America250 logo.

“We chose this patriotic birthday image because this year is the 250th birthday of the United States,” said Drew Newman, fourth-generation owner of J.C. Newman. “Bobby Kennedy, Ted Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson, among others, are also featured in LeRoy’s painting.”

This is the fourth year that America’s oldest family-owned premium cigar maker and the LeRoy Neiman and the Janet Byrne Neiman Foundation have collaborated to create a luxury, handcrafted cigar honoring the late, iconic, cigar-smoking American artist, LeRoy Neiman.

“‘The President's Birthday’ is one of LeRoy's most luminous works — a painting that captures a singular, electric moment when art, celebrity, and American history converged in one room,” said Tara Zabor, LeRoy Neiman and Janet Byrne Neiman Foundation Executive Director. “LeRoy had an extraordinary gift for being present at the defining moments of our history and translating them onto canvas with an energy that made you feel like you were standing right there beside him. He was fiercely proud of being an American, and his body of work is essentially a chronicle of America at its most iconic—its champions, its cultural giants, its greatest celebrations. His brushwork was a love letter to American life in all its vibrancy and spectacle. With this collaboration, we are honored to see 'The President's Birthday' take on new life and reach new audiences.” 

LeRoy Neiman Collector’s Edition cigars are handcrafted at J.C. Newman’s historic El Reloj cigar factory in Tampa, Florida. The 2026 edition is a 6.5” x 56 Toro Grande rolled with a Havana Rosado wrapper, a Florida Sun Grown binder, and a blend of aged filler tobaccos from Latin America. This year’s edition is limited to 15,000 cigars, packed in 750 cabinets of 20 cigars.

Inside each cabinet is an authentic lithograph of “The President’s Birthday.” The image is also wrapped around each cigar. The bottom of each cabinet includes a surprise print of Neiman’s paint-splattered New York City studio floor. All of the packaging was printed by Vrijdag Premium Printing in Holland.

As in past years, J.C. Newman and the Foundation will donate all profits from this collaboration. Since the first edition in 2023, LeRoy Neiman Collector’s Edition cigars have raised $117,000 to support arts education in Tampa’s public schools, including those surrounding the El Reloj cigar factory.

“Every cigar from the LeRoy Neiman 2026 Collector’s Edition directly supports our ongoing mission at the Foundation,” noted Tara Zabor. “The profits help us improve arts education in local public schools, keeping LeRoy's passion for nurturing creativity alive and thriving among the next generation of artists.”