RYJ Petit Royales LGR JUN 18 (MPCRW)

[slowsmoke]

Pres started a thread not long ago about MMC vs. HUHC vs. RYJPR, and what I took as rather strong response for the RYJ convinced me to order up.  This is one of those boxes that has lived up to the hype.  ROTT they felt crispy and ready to go, so I gambled, and it was great.  Now barely a month later and a third of the way through the box, they are just getting better.

In the spirit of the weekend comp, some pontificating on the half corona format.  I have come to love them.  Much of it is psychological.  With young kids etc., I rarely have more than an hour to burn.  On the occasional weekday where I get home a little before the circus, it is exactly what I reach for.  These royales aren’t significantly cheaper than a beloved BBF or RASS, and I am tempted to reach for one of those.  But I tend to smoke them faster because I feel rushed, and then I feel bad when life intervenes and I have to scuttle it after 30 mins.  For whatever reason I feel more satisfied if I only get 30 minutes with a half corona.  And if I do happen to get the full hour, nice and slow, these will go the distance.

Full disclosure, the first one I clipped today was plugged solid.  Not even hint of air through it.  I was surprised, because every other one has been flawless.  I set it aside and grabbed another, which was as expected, perfect.  Poured a healthy Diplomatico, with a few ice cubes, cuz I’m classy like that.

First puffs are crisp aromatic cedar, and light toasted tobacco.  The finish has a little twang, that melds with the sweet rum.  Those flavors don’t change much at all for the first half, continue to get better.

Halfway, the finish develops a wonderful rawhide thing, like a big suede jacket.  I also get some dry tobacco leaf.  I think I’m imagining things, I’ve never held a raw tobacco leaf.  Then, ah yes, we did occasionally use them for other purposes, many, many years ago.

In the last half, there is some sour/bitterness, but nothing offensive.  Nothing I would call elbows or youth.  Only at the very end does it start to get hot.  And hey, the thing was only three and a half inches to start with.

I change my mind on the best scale to rate cigars just about as often as I smoke them.  But I’ll say this was a 90.  Or a 9.  Or very good.  Here’s to hoping two more boxes from a recent 24:24 deal-o-rama continue the hype 

[NSXCIGAR]

I've yet to have a bad one of these. Very nice RyJ blend. Should be the Ex 3 blend. 

[MountainMilG]

These were a huge treat, love them.  And for that price, can't be beat