| ring: | 39 (medium-thin) |
| length: | 129mm |
| beginners: | recommended |
| price: | $11.95AUD |
| summary: | mild & enjoyable with variable flavours. |
I wasn’t expecting much from this small cigar, my opinion of the cheaper varieties of Romeo y Julietas being recently distorted by a couple of no-so-great Romeo y Julieta experiences. However, this time around, I was pleasantly surprised.
Physically, the cigar was quite good. The wrapper was a medium brown shade with only a few small veins and bumps. The stick itself was straight and even. It has a faint aromatic smell and quite a nice red and gold coloured band.
It only took a couple of draws for the welcome realisation to dawn that this was a much nicer smoke than the past two I had experienced from this company. The smoke was mild and smooth with a pleasant hint of cigar-box-cedar throughout. But it got even better yet and a touch of unexpected complexity built as the smoke went on.
In the first third, the mild cedar-ish flavours were gradually replaced by pleasant milk coffee undertones, which gradually built towards the half way point of the cigar. At this stage I began to detect very slight nutty characteristics which, in turn, increased in strength to form a surprisingly strong nuttiness which was the dominant and unmistakable taste towards the end of the cigar.
It wasn’t all sugar and roses however. The draw was slightly too tight from start to finish, and at times was severely restricted. The stick also suffered from a lopsided burn that got totally out of control through the last quarter. However, at this point I was already satisfied that overall, it was a better-than-adequate experience and was past caring to correct the burn problems as I had several times in the beginning.
This smooth, mild and unexpectedly varied little stick has certainly restored my faith in the cheaper “everyday” varieties aof the Romeo y Julieta brand, and I could certainly recommend this smoke to anyone who enjoys theses panetela styled cigars. I would have had no qualms giving this a 7 had it not been for the overly tight draw and burn problems.