Romeo y Julieta Churchill - Now I'm puzzeled

[David67]

At the moment I'm smoking a Romeo y Julieta Churchill (from Rob). Pre-light Classic Cuban taste, yet on lighting and now having smoked about a 3rd of it, it taste like a great non-Cuban cigar but NOT a great Cuban cigar. Truly if you had given this to me without a band I would has sworn it was a good non-Cuban. I have never had this happen before. Has anyone else.

(Note to Rob - this is no reflection on the cigars you sell which are very good)

[David67]

Just finnished the smoke. Same nice but same flavour all the way through (nice but not what I would have thought as as a Cuban cigar). As I said like a good non-Cuban but not a good Cuban.

[Munts]

Personally i would not say that a Romeo y Julieta Churchill was a great Cuban cigar to begin with in the first place. But that is just my tastes.

On a more serious note. Can you expand on what you mean by "great non-cuban taste" that you are identifying.

[David67]

Personally i would not say that a Romeo y Julieta Churchill was a great Cuban cigar to begin with in the first place. But that is just my tastes.

On a more serious note. Can you expand on what you mean by "great non-cuban taste" that you are identifying.

Thanks so much for your thoughts. The last time I had a Romeo y Julieta Churchill was in 1998. When I said "it taste like a great non-Cuban cigar" I mean just what I said in that had it been given to me as a non-Cuban cigar I would have though OK this is a Honduran Cigar and it's good for that. However there was nothing, other than the pre-light taste, that made me think of a Havana.

[Wil]

I once had a Monte 2 that tasted like a Nicaraguan. Not good. Have had some stellar Monte 2s. Was obviously just a bad stick.

[celtmick1984]

I get where you're coming from. I've smoked a few RyJ churchills and not yet had one that was on. The draw on one was too tight, the burn rather wonky on another, the third, while it smoked okay, just delivered very muddled flavors, with very little balance or refinement. Hoping the last few I have will develop with time into something more refined, but I'm not holding on to them for a special day.

[1LegLance]

Well the first problem is that you are comparing it to a 1998 RyJ Churchill. I remember the days of smoke cigars from the the 90's and it was very much a different cigar. The plant was a different seed, the aim of the blenders was different and all in all the cigars were stronger, more flavorful and since there were no Edicion Limitadas and such we could just enjoy the classics

I have given up comparing cigars from now to what I remember. Much better to judge things on how they stand today. At least we aren't suffering from the 99/00 years. I was scared to order much of anything except the low volume sticks like Rafeal's, Allones, SLR & Sancho's during that time.

I am expecting a R&J Churchill in the March sampler I ordered and I might just smoke it without the band so I don't mentally compare it to those great years.

[mk05]

Well the first problem is that you are comparing it to a 1998 RyJ Churchill.

You are comparing one of the holy grail cigars of its time to recent production. But! Who know how the '09/'12 RyJ Churchill tubos will taste like in 2040?

[godpheonix]

have to say i'm surprised how many people are trashing this cigar.

i bought a 10 box count of RyJ churchill tubos from '08 last year and i must say it was one of the best smokes i had last year, tasted like cookies and cream ! very well balanced and smoked it t'ill it burned my fingers, it just got better and better as i smoked it . i still have 9 of them and i think i'll let them age a bit more, maybe smoke one every year to see the evolution. the taste actually took me by surprise, i've never had a stick that had such prominent great flavours. a very unusual, rich decadent cigar.

i guess i just lucked out !

[anacostiakat]

Yea. 1998 was a good year. Had some fine specimens from that year.

No comparison to current production.

[Surucipe]

Had a '11 RyJ Churchill last week and it was an absolute disappointment. 1st half was plugged and took major efforts to work through, it opened up in the 2nd half but even then it failed to really deliver nice flavors. I really like the Churchill's size but for construction and flavor much prefer a Sir Winnie, Punch or for a more festive occasion an Esplendido.