Mike's Cigars is one of the oldest Cigar distributors in the United States and has been serving cigar consumers in America and over the world since 1950. After 45 years of operating from its original location on Arthur Godfrey Road, in 1995 Mike's Cigars moved its operations to its current location where they still hold Postal Permit. Founded by Mike Mersel in 1950 decades before cigars became the domain of the common man. Mercel first sold socks and other goods from a pushcart in New York City on Manhattan’s Lower East Side in 1930s. To escape the northern winters, Mersel and Brother Albert “Ossie” relocated to South Florida where they began building their iconic cigar outfit in some unlikely places. For two years, the Mersel brothers sold hot dogs and peanuts in Flamingo Park. Next, they opened Mike’s News and Sundries on West Avenue and 17th Street in the early 1940s until they both were drafted to serve in World War II. After the war, the brothers reopened the business as Mike’s Cigars at 465 41st Street in Miami Beach, selling cigars at a time when few cigar shops existed. When Mike’s Cigars was opened, the Yankees were still the World Series champions and George Mikan was leading the Minneapolis Lakers to the championship of a young league called the National Basketball Association. Mike’s Cigars was selling mostly Cuban cigars until the U.S. embargo was imposed on Havana by President Kennedy in 1963 after Fidel Castro overtook Havana and nationalized the cigar industry in Cuba.