Romeo by Romeo y Julieta Cigar Review

While Daniel is getting his ass kicked getting ready for his wedding. I’ve been scrambling to find time in between work projects to kick out some reviews. I have a ton of cigars lined up but this week, the Romeo by Romeo y Julieta was just calling my name.

The Good Stuff: Romeo is the newest offering by Romeo y Julieta, or as the company calls it, “the latest act in their love story”. Is the Romeo love at first smoke? Lets find out.

Romeo y Julieta is known for is mass marketed, mild cigars. Romeo is the first venture, that I know of by the manufacturer into a more full bodied experience. Rolled by a special team of only the finest artisans at the famed Tabacalera de Garcia factory, the Romeo is jam packed with some of the rarest tobaccos the company has ever offered. The Romeo is stuffed with Dominican Piloto and dark Olor tobaccos, bound by mountain grown Dominican Olor, and wrapped in specially selected dark Ecuadorian Habano grown in a region filled with rich, volcanic soil.

The Romeo will come in four traditional sizes: Churchill (56 x 7), Toro (54 x 6), Robusto (54 x 5), and the Piramide (52 x 6 1/8). These cigars were sent as pre-release samples from our good friends at altadis, but you should be able to find these at your favorite local B&M. If I’m not mistaken they were due out for release in late May.

Size: 54 x 6  –  Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano  –  Binder: Dominican Olor  –  Filler: Dominican Piloto/Olor  –  Body: Full  –  Strength: Medium

Prelight: alright, I’m obviously going to start off with the strange band on this Romeo by Romeo y Julieta. I’ve heard lots of people complain about how ugly it is, and while I don’t totally agree with it from a design standpoint, I can’t help but applaud Romeo y Julieta for doing something completely different then they have in their past portfolio. The crazy juxtaposition of the “ROMERO” on the front of this gold, while, and red band is sure to catch the attention of any smoker looking through a sea of cigars to make a purchase. Hell even the boxes look awesome.

That being said, the construction the cigar carries should help back up the decision to purchase. The cigar is rock solid with no soft spots and only a few smaller veins running the length of the wide bodied cigar up to the cigar’s round triple cap. I say triple cap loosely too, I am not totally convinced that these are triple cap cigars from the samples I have received. One looks like a double, one looks triple, while one falls in between. Either way, that shouldn’t really change the experience. The wrapper is hard as a rock and gives off a very, very sweet, cedar infused tobacco aroma while the foot of the cigar only puts out a very mild molasses and tobacco smell. Despite the larger ring gauge and thickness of the wrapper the cap cut very easily and clean using my Palio double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces just a ton of earthy, natural tobacco flavors. Nothing really more than that.

First Smoke: There is a lot of tobacco in this cigar and it took quite a bit of fire from my single flame butane torch to get the foot lit properly. The Romeo actually started out with a little burst of black pepper that I wasn’t really expecting. Underneath the pepper was a subtle spice, a bit of that molasses I picked up, some vanilla, and a really pronounced leather all centered around an earthy tobacco flavor. I really wasn’t expecting the cigar to start off with as much flavor as this Romeo is. The draw is just beautiful kicking out massive clouds of thick, white smoke with every puff.  Despite all the smoke on the draw the Romeo by Romero y Julieta gives off very little in the stationary smoke department. The burnline is razor sharp and dead even producing a really nicely compacted, grey and dark grey zebra striped ash.

Halfway There: Talk about a drop off in flavor. The pepper is gone, most of the earthy tobacco flavor is gone, and I am left with a leathery vanilla with some sweet molasses and only a bit of tobacco. The flavor carried like this through most of the second third until the cigar really started to ramp up in the cedar department. It got me anxious to get into the final third. As far as the burn goes, this cigar is still burning very even and clean. The retrohale really helps pronounce the cedar flavor that seems to be fighting it’s way through the cigar. I am barely feeling anything at all in the nicotine department. I think the slight bit of haziness I am experiencing is actually heat stroke. Kidding. Kind of.

Finish: As expected, the flavors really ramped up in the final third of this Romeo. This has to be the best portion of the cigar as the cedar really took over backed by that vanilla and sweet molasses. Even the spice made a brief reappearance. All in all the Romeo took me almost two full hours to take down while it required absolutely no touch ups or relights, the cigar burned perfectly all the way through. A big plus was that the huge band slid right off without any effort. Gotta love that. I finished it only feeling a very slight bit of nicotine.

Overview: The Romeo by Romeo y Julieta is a decent cigar. Not bad by any means, just not great. Primarily, I think this cigar is a gem for any mild cigar smoker looking for something really flavorful that won’t hit them hard in the nicotine department. It does have a slightly higher strength than most other cigars is the Romeo y Julieta portfolio, but not by much. This is something I’d smoke when I’ve had quite a few and want something decent that won’t put me under the table. Will I buy I smoke it again? I’m sure. It’s just not something I am going to be stocking up on.

Pairing: This is another classic example of a pairing that really brings the most out of a cigar. When I think mild cigars, one of the first beers that come to mind is Samuel Adams cherry wheat ever since the successful pairing with the EP Carrillo New Wave Connecticut. This beer’s sweet almond and cherry flavors really did the cigar a favor by uplifting the vanilla and sweet tobacco flavors the cigar produced. This is also the perfect summer beer. I really can’t think of anything besides some nice iced black tea that would have went better with this cigar.