If you are using httpclient 4.2, then you need to write a small bit of extra code. I wanted to be able to customize both the "TLS enabled protocols" (e.g. TLSv1.1 specifically, and neither TLSv1 nor TLSv1.2) as well as the cipher suites.
public class CustomizedSSLSocketFactory
    extends SSLSocketFactory
{
    private String[] _tlsProtocols;
    private String[] _tlsCipherSuites;
    public CustomizedSSLSocketFactory(SSLContext sslContext,
                                      X509HostnameVerifier hostnameVerifier,
                                      String[] tlsProtocols,
                                      String[] cipherSuites)
    {
        super(sslContext, hostnameVerifier);
        if(null != tlsProtocols)
            _tlsProtocols = tlsProtocols;
        if(null != cipherSuites)
            _tlsCipherSuites = cipherSuites;
    }
    @Override
    protected void prepareSocket(SSLSocket socket)
    {
        // Enforce client-specified protocols or cipher suites
        if(null != _tlsProtocols)
            socket.setEnabledProtocols(_tlsProtocols);
        if(null != _tlsCipherSuites)
            socket.setEnabledCipherSuites(_tlsCipherSuites);
    }
}
Then:
    SSLContext sslContext = SSLContext.getInstance("TLS");
    sslContext.init(null, getTrustManagers(), new SecureRandom());
    // NOTE: not javax.net.SSLSocketFactory
    SSLSocketFactory sf = new CustomizedSSLSocketFactory(sslContext,
                                                         null,
                                                         [TLS protocols],
                                                         [TLS cipher suites]);
    Scheme httpsScheme = new Scheme("https", 443, sf);
    SchemeRegistry schemeRegistry = new SchemeRegistry();
    schemeRegistry.register(httpsScheme);
    ConnectionManager cm = new BasicClientConnectionManager(schemeRegistry);
    HttpClient client = new DefaultHttpClient(cmgr);
    ...
You may be able to do this with slightly less code, but I mostly copy/pasted from a custom component where it made sense to build-up the objects in the way shown above.