Romeo y Julieta Churchill BEL MAY 20 (XNYRW6)

[saltbox]

I haven't had a RyJ Churchill since my first one over a year ago, where I was wowed by one from the Christmas sampler of 2020. Finally cracked the box open today to give one a try.

First third: draw starts off a bit tight but loosens up just enough to a nice firm draw. Flavors start out with nice creamy cedar, spices, and almond and peanut nuttiness. None of that RyJ cherry is coming through at all yet and the flavor profile is almost Punch-like, though the spice profile is a bit different. Punch reminds me of some southeast Asian cooking whereas RyJ has a more floral, perfume-like spice bouquet.

Middle third: more of that creamy almond and peanut nuttiness, spices on the retrohale. Halfway through, a touch of that spiced cherry comes through on the retrohale, but it's intermittent.

Last third: the spiced cherry continues fading in and out, as rosewater, spices, and cream keep chugging along. The creaminess at this point is almost eggnog-like. The last inch really amps up the rosewater and perfume through to the finish.

Overall: construction was great and the flavor profile was good, but that exciting spiced cherry note wasn't prominent enough throughout the smoke to make this one excellent. 90/100

[traveller]

Sounds similar to the first RyJ Churchill I ever smoked over 10 years ago, except I remember vanilla and cinnamon and the constant changing. Still one of the the top 10 if not top 3 cigars I ever smoked. I never heard of a association of RyJ with cherry until this forum.

Thanks for the review!

[saltbox]

Tasting notes are so subjective and seemingly easily influenced. It’s interesting seeing the tasting notes from other sources, like other vendors or reviewers, and how different they can be from the FOH groupthink. The ones commonly cited on FOH seem to be the most accurate to me, though.