Romeo y Julieta Churchills (Cuban)

By Tony Casas | July 6, 2020

I hope everyone had a great and safe 4th of July! After finishing up the yard work I ventured out back with a Romeo Y Julieta Churchills paired with a can of TRVE’s Living & Dying mixed culture beer.

The Good Stuff:

Romeo Y Julieta has long been a staple in the Cuban cigar community. Their standard lines have stood the test of time as they seldom expand, or revamp them. The Churchills is one of the more popular sizes in that line. Coming in at 7 x 47 this all-Cuban blended cigar can easily be found in most connoisseur’s humidors around the world.

• Size: 7 x 47
• Wrapper: Cuban
• Binder: Cuban
• Filler: Cuban
• Body: Medium
• Strength: Medium
• Price: ~$17
• Pairing: TRVE Living & Dying (Saison 5.3% ABV)

Prelight:

The Romeo Y Julieta Churchills starts out with a very, very light, milky brown wrapper with a bit of a yellow tint which is insanely consistent in color for such a light-colored wrapper. The wrapper’s texture is silky smooth with no tooth in sight, and a decent amount of oils. The wrapper itself feels very thin and a bit brittle while it carries almost no veins and a good amount of natural tobacco webbing throughout the cigar’s long, slender body leading up to it’s round, triple-wrapped cap. The cigar is then polished off with a white, red and gold band which you can find in just about all the Cuban Romero Y Julieta varieties with Romeo Y Julieta crest, “Habana, Cuba” and “Desde 1875” embossed on the front. There is a second gold and black band which carries the “Churchills” vital label on the front.

The Romeo Y Julieta Churchills wrapper gives off a strong cedar and spice aroma while the foot of the cigar is much more mossy with natural tobacco notes. The cap cut like butter using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces a ton of cedar and nutmeg with some slight dirt flavors.

First Third:

The first few puffs off the Romeo Y Julieta Churchills carried a good amount of black pepper that I wasn’t expecting. Once that faded the cigar gifted me with a great, dominant cedar flavor over notes of pine, nutmeg, leather and dirt. The draw on the Romeo Y Julieta Churchills is absolutely brilliant kicking out a whole mess of thick, gray smoke which hangs around for quite some time before dissipating while the cigar releases very small amounts of stationary smoke while it rests in my ashtray. The burn line is razor thin and dead even leaving behind a trail of tightly compacted dark gray ash which held on for almost an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Romeo Y Julieta Churchills a great orange/lemon zest flavor has snuck its way into the mix. While cedar is still the dominant flavor the citrus addition married up extremely well with the pine, leather, dirt, and nutmeg which is extremely faint at this point in the experience. The retrohale brings out a ton of leather and some nice, bolder spice notes, however I am enjoying the mildness of this cigar so I don’t find myself doing it too often. The cigar is still burning like a dream and I close out the second third with no signs of nicotine.

Finish:

Into the final third of the Romeo Y Julieta Churchills and not much has changed and I am totally OK with that. The cedar has lead the flavor charge from start to finish backed by citrus, pine, leather, and dirt. The nutmeg has made its departure during the second third. It took me an hour and a half to smoke this faster-burning cigar down to the nub and I never once had to touch-up or relight it. I experienced no harshness nor extended heat while the cigar left me with only the mildest of nicotine kicks.

Overview:

Often times, Romeo Y Julieta gets looked over as their solid portfolio has been around for such a long time. Its always nice to pull one out, light it up, and realize just why the company has enjoyed such longevity. The entire experience is solid. The flavor profile is mild, yet comforting and enjoyable which means you don’t have to think too much about it. Just sit back and relax. This is a box worth purchase for sure and I am glad I have quite a few stacked in my humidor.

Pairing:

Brewed at the TRVE brewery in Colorado Living & Dying is a mix culture ale with peach blossoms, lemon peel, violet, mint and lavender. The beer leads with an awesome sweet citrus backed by a ton of floral notes, pine, and vanilla with a light creamy mouthfeel before finishing with a whole mess of sweet lemon and floral flavors. Romeo Y Julieta Churchills, but also this 105 degree El Paso heat.