First Cuban review: Romeo y Julieta Short Churchill

[zrotfus]

Hey y'all. So I ordered a 10 ct box of these blind before I (luckily) found my way to FoH. I was instantly anxious about this when I started perusing and saw Rob use these as an example of largely shoddy wrappers and box rejects but when mine arrived the wrappers looked to a be a lovely color with a nice red hue so I got excited all over again.

So I smoked one this morning and thought it would make a great opportunity to try my first review on here. This one had rested for 15 days in the coolidor at 65/62.

Cigar: Romeo y Julieta Short Churchill

Vitola: robusto

Box code: MOE MAY 14

Paired with: water

Smoking time: 75 minutes

I gave it a straight guillotine cut. Cold draw was fruity and woodsy, very nice. Seemed just the right amount of firm. Toasted with my single flame torch, lit up, and we were off.

Very nice and smooth opening. Lots of cedar, some oak, a light spice. Very pleasant.

The opening third saw this same smooth cedar and generic spice but I began to pick up those faint notes of cherry that I was hoping I'd find, on the retrohale. It was not quite what I expected though. I thought it would a dark robust cherry but it was a really bright, very fruity flavor that was really nice. It came and went though and I wished there was more of it.

Into the middle portion that spotty bright cherry slowly turned into the sort of dark fruit I was originally expecting. The cedar died down and the oak ramped up with sweeter notes that presented a nice balance with the more savory fruit notes.

As I worked into the final third the cherry note turned bitter and things got muted all around it for an inch or so but towards the nub things got interesting again with the cherry replaced all together by a savory spice I couldn't quite put my finger on, a smoky paprika of sorts but not quite.

All in all this was a really enjoyable cigar, one that I hope will only improve over time. I'll probably let them sit for at least 6 months before sampling another. Draw and construction were spot on, so I'm quite glad I lucked into what appears to be a very solid box of these.

Thanks for reading!

[garbandz]

Nice,looks like you got a good one........

[SofaKing]

I was a fan until recent years, I keep missing out when Pres has put a few up. Good to see you got a good box, thanks for the review.

[bradbrennan]

Nice review!

[JohnS]

Thank you taking the time to do this excellent review. I had a RyJ Churchill yesterday and my tasting notes and conclusions on the cigar were similar to yours.

[PuroDan]

Like garbandz said" it looks like you got a good one". I have had poor experiences with this stick, but have heard if you get a red hued wrapper they are very good. I personally have been enjoying the exhibicion #4 , and wide churchill lately. Great review

[Optic101]

Nice review !

[JohnS]

but have heard if you get a red hued wrapper they are very good.

Interestingly, I've heard the same thing.