Romeo y Julieta Short Churchill SEP 19 (FUTRRW)

[Gorangutang]

This is the first full box of Cubans I have ever purchased. All of my other cuban purchases have all been singles or 5 packs. I had one of these out of a sampler that I bought somewhere else and LOVED it. Made my top 5 list. So I went online and bought an entire box from the same place. Its been sitting in my humidor for at least 30 days, so I thought I would have another and see how it measured up since the RyJ SC has not been getting glowing feedback here recently.

Remember - I am a new member here. Until discovering this site I didn't know that box codes mattered. I didn't know that Cubans had consistency issues. I just didn't know.

So lets get into it.

Unfortunately I don't have the box anymore and I don't have the full code - I just made note of the box date only in my cigar journal. 

This cigar spent a little over 30 days in one of my tupperdors.

First thing I noticed when I got this box is that the cigar is pressed. The first one I had was round - it came in a "Robusto" Cuban sampler with 6 different cigars that weren't ever pressed in a box. Wrapper itself looks ok. Would like it to be a little darker with more oil apparent. Wrapper was very tight - not enough give. Was immediately concerned for the potential for a bad draw on this cigar due to overfill.

Cut it and lit the foot. Took a draw - it was very tight. Tried cutting a bit more of the cap off and nothing, still too tight. Shoot! It was smokeable though so I pressed on.

1st third - All pepper. Thats the only flavor im getting. Pepper and ashtray. Not pleasant and very harsh.

2nd third - Very thin smoke. Still not an appealing flavor. Almost like breathing in the smoke let off by a firecracker. Harsh ash flavor.

Soft grey ash - drops off easily after half inch build up. The cigar has been burning evenly the whole time.

Beginning of the last third - Starts to burn a little unevenly. Smoke starting to get a little creamier and less pepper. Slightly more enjoyable but still no great discernible flavors coming off. The cigar went out twice at this point and I gave up right before the band. Wasn't an enjoyable smoke so I wasn't going to waste my time fighting to keep it lit.

Overall - now I am thinking that I got a bad box of RyJ SC. I may try to get another if they ever come up on 24/24 here. I bought another 6 sampler that arrived a few days ago and have the RyJ SC from that and I got a single RyJ SC coming form FoH also. Will be interesting to see how those burn as a comparison. Will let this box sit and age at 65% until next year and try again - hopefully they get better, but not sure that will happen since the box date is already a year old on these. Worst case I have Cubans on hand that I can offer to my FIL when he comes over! 

The funny thing is I got some Monte 2's from the same vendor at the same time and sure enough, as this forum predicted for the 2020 box dates on Monte 2's (although again I didn't know about this forum before buying or trying it), it was a GREAT smoke. 

Lesson learned. Box codes matter. Do some research and buy from a trusted source with an inspection process that I can trust. One good Cuban had doesn't mean the next of the same will be the same.

 

 

 

[Meklown]

Nice review! Sorry to hear that it was a dud. Don't give up just yet; 1 year is still young for a cigar and many on this forum consider 0-3 years as "rested", 3-10 "young", 11+ "aged". It was, however, good to get a reference point for the box and have notes to compare when you next pull another out. 

[mprach024]

Wait 60 days, try another!  “Hope...is a good thing.”

Welcome btw!!

[Gorangutang]

I’ll give the box another shot. Also planning on doing a review comparing this to RyJ SC’s from other sources. To see how much of a difference there is.


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