Romeo y Julieta Short Churchill (courtesy of Don Candido)

[northo]

Great review. I've never been the biggest fan of these myself, but dammit if they aren't the best looking robusto I've ever seen. From that fantastic tube to the unifrmly silky wrappers to the double band. (Yes- I'm very shallow, I know)

[MaltPointer]

» Great review. I've never been the biggest fan of these myself, but dammit

» if they aren't the best looking robusto I've ever seen. From that

» fantastic tube to the unifrmly silky wrappers to the double band. (Yes-

» I'm very shallow, I know)

Agree with you, northo. . . these are terrific looking sticks, and when they're on, they're dramatically good. So far, of the two I've smoked, each of them has had moments of absolute brilliance, with dried cherries and leather and toasted bran and coffee goodness.

But when they suck, you just end up staring at them in puzzlement, like, "what did I do to deserve THIS? Turnips?!? Cheese?!?!"

[ColtM1911A1]

» Great review. I've never been the biggest fan of these myself, but dammit if they aren't the best looking robusto I've ever seen. From that

» fantastic tube to the uniformly silky wrappers to the double band.

Ditto the about quotation...

FWIW, I've never found many sizes of the R&J that I enjoyed; I guess my taste buds just don't slant in their direction...good luck

Jack

[Chicago]

» Another great review. Your are correct about the way these look, and about the youth as well. I have tried about 4 of these and nothing, blah. Soooo, the rest are buried for a year or so. Maybe we'll have one at Thanksgiving if we all make it to Roswell.

Suggestion, try the R&J Exhibition #4. Classic R&J flavors, Hermosa #4 I believe is the size, 48 ring gauge. This cigar has been overshadowed since the intro of the Short Churchill but one of the better robustos, IMHO.

[MaltPointer]

» Suggestion, try the R&J Exhibition #4. Classic R&J flavors, Hermosa #4 I

» believe is the size, 48 ring gauge. This cigar has been overshadowed since

» the intro of the Short Churchill but one of the better robustos, IMHO.

I think I have one of those #4's from the Czar's Robusto Sampler. I'll check. And Thanksgiving would be a good time to try the SHort Churchills again.

[MaltPointer]

More generosity from board members--I received a couple of Romeo y Julieta Short Churchills from Don Candido, one from a dress box, the other from a 3-pack of tubos. Here's what Peter wrote about the box codes:

"The Dress Box (pressed cigars) come from the Czar with a box code of SOA Jul 07. The Tubos came from another retailer (through 5th Avenue - the German Distributor,) but they did not come with codes on the Tubo 3 packs. They are likely from around the same time frame as the dressed box, perhaps younger."

I received these a few weeks back, and they've sitting in the humi, waiting for my travel mania to subside and allow me a quiet weekend at home. That weekend finally arrived, so I selected the Tubo, and went to work.

Blew the hatch on the tubo, and removed the stick.

Wrapper was in great shape, with some slight veining. Very well constructed, with a nice cap, nicely bunched foot.

Aroma at cold was slightly cedar-y (big surprise, of course, due to the cedar liner in the tubo), with a raisin/prune/dried fruit note. Pre-light draw was a little loose, but not disturbingly so, and tasted of raisin bran . . . that lightly toasted, dried fruit combo.

Center-punched using my new favorite Swiss Army cigar knife, toasted the foot, lit up with a cedar spill, and away we went, accompanied by a wee tottle of Red Breast Irish Whiskey.

First Third

• The predominant flavor from the very beginning with this smoke is a raisin bran/dried cherry combo.

• The burn is pretty good from the beginning, but I note a slight angle burn. A little detective work ascribes this to the fact that I made my punch slightly off-center, and the cigar is burning faster on the tight side. I continue to be fascinated by how much there is to learn and know about this art . . . learn it, live it, know it, love it.

• To my palate, the flavors are just kind of sitting there at this stage. They aren’t jumping out at me, and the cigar seems oddly . . . complacent.

• I would describe this as an inconsistently medium bodied smoke; the smoke seems wispy at times, and lush at others.

• There’s an occasional hint of sourness during this stage.

Second Third

• I’m settling into this smoke, and accepting the fact that it’s going to be what it’s going to be. I write in my notes, “mellow.”

• Flavors are still straightforward and simple . . . this is not a cigar that requires fancy adjectives, it is a cigar that requires another sip of Irish Whiskey.

• It’s a beautiful day outside in my backyard, so I settle in for what I feel is going to be a mellow, enjoyable smoke.

Final Third

• As I enter the final third of this cigar, some of the early sour notes return in earnest. The flavors I’m getting now are best described as:

o Vegetable (almost a turnip green taste)

o Parmigiano Reggiano cheese toast

o Earthy

• The next 15-20 minutes turn into a duel of competing flavor notes—the dried fruit bran vs. the sour turnip cheese taste.

• Finally, just as the end is drawing nigh, the cigar settles down, and the final 5 minutes or so consist of simple earthy toasted flavors, all the way through to the end.

All in all, I'd give the good parts of this cigar a 90 or so, with the sour parts pulling it down to an 87 or so. My guess is this cigar is still quite young, and needs some nap time. This is my second RyJ Short Churchill, and I have one more to go (Peter's other contribution). I'm looking forward to that smoke as well, and will post a comparative review as soon as I can get to it.

Thanks again to Don Candido for this opportunity to enjoy what will probably end up being a very solid cigar!