The embargo prohibited US residents from legally purchasing what were advised the finest cigars on the market, and Cuba was deprived its chief customer for Padron Cigars tobacco.

In 2001, the Arturo Fuente and J.C. Newman cigar families created the 501(c)(3) Cigar Brood Charitable Foundation to help the impoverished communities surrounding the Fuente's Chateau de la Fuente cigar tobacco fields. To date, it has built schools, medical clinics, recreations facilities, and clean water filtration stations.