Kennedy's New Leaf

YES, WE STILL HAVE HAVANA, boasted an ad last week in the New York Times Magazine and other newspapers for the Garcia y Vega, Inc. cigar company, which has access to nearly half of the pre-Castro leaf still warehoused in the U.S. And yes, Garcia y Vega has the promotional services of one of the more fascinating authors in the nation. In return for mailing in ten bands from the company's Elegantes or Gallantes (list price: two for 250), a cigar smoker can get a free copy of To Seek a Newer World (list: $4.95), a slim volume of essays by Senator Robert Kennedy.

The Senator gave his permission for such a puff even though the book seems to be doing well enough in the cash-and-carry market. In print only a month, the volume--which accuses President Johnson of having "cast away" a chance to negotiate an end to the Viet Nam war early in 1967--has recorded almost 40,000 sales. That's not yet sufficient to recoup the advance of about $150,000 that Doubleday & Co. paid to Kennedy, but still it seems to be a brisk beginning.

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