Romeo y Julieta Churchill PLA OCT 16 (OFRW)

[Guest Nekhyludov]

The Churchill is my favorite vitola so, needless to say, the past five years have been pretty grim. With only the Esplendidos, Sir Winnies, and RyJ remaining, my Old Faithful is the only one of the three that's still affordable and routinely available. 

Having just finished a box of PLA NOV 14, I'm currently smoking through some PLA 16 singles while my 2019s rest.

The '16 starts out in a fairly neutral place - the flavors are medium in body, but nondescript. I get a base of wet leather, a bit of cedar on the finish. But mostly just a simple, clean tobacco.

It isn't until the second third that I begin to appreciate some sweeter, floral fruit notes. And there's some light baking spice in the retrohale. But the leather note is still heavy - much more so than it was in the '14s.

The final third sees a dramatic increase in the cedar/wood note, which becomes heavy and oily. The spice becomes a little sharper, but is only noticable on the finish.

All in all, this vintage displays the characteristic RyJ rose/cherry note to a much lesser degree than the '14s. These are dominated by wood and leather, with only intermittent hints of other nuances. Still a very enjoyable Churchill that I'm happy to pick up any time.

Score: 90

 

[Derboesekoenig]

I would've written a very similar review of an early 2014 of the same stick. Very good cigar, but not past the 90 pts. A week after it, I tried a fresh (JUN 2019) Sir Winston, which was at least 92-93 pts for me. I guess I love them fresh