Let's talk about Romeo y Julieta (and specifically the Romeo y Julieta Petit Coronas)

[NSXCIGAR]

6 hours ago, ElReyDel757 said:

I want to try the Short Churchill but have been advised against it many times.

I have no hesitation in saying the SC is the worst Robustos in current production. Talk about a cigar they put no effort into. I would take a Sports Largos over it 10 out of 10 times.

 

16 minutes ago, El Presidente said:

I will put my hand up and take a quality E4 over a quality Connie 1 every day of the week.  I love the profile. 

I do love the Connie 1, so I think we're at a personal preference difference there. But surely you'd agree consistency of the Ex 4, if not box to box, year to year, is seriously lacking. 

For me, there's always a better option than the Ex 4, not the least of which is that it's far from certain you'll get a high-performing box of Ex 4. 

But be honest--you'd take recent Regios over even a top 10% Ex 4 pretty much every time. 

RyJ PC, sure, I'd say it's on par with the BPC. But then again, I'm not a BPC fan either. 

RyJ just has an odd blend consistency issue. They can't seem to get the best out of the leaf they're using for the profile and the balance is off with a lot of murkiness in the flavors. In fact, the last two RyJ ELs were the first ELs in a very long time that I thought tasted like the old forest floor/mushroom ELs of old. 

[El Presidente]

Just now, NSXCIGAR said:

I do love the Connie 1, so I think we're at a personal preference difference there. But surely you'd agree consistency of the Ex 4, if not box to box, year to year, is seriously lacking. 

For me, there's always a better option than the Ex 4, not the least of which is that it's far from certain you'll get a high-performing box of Ex 4. 

But be honest--you'd take recent Regios over even a top 10% Ex 4 pretty much every time. 

It's a little unfair as I pick my own boxes of E4 and Reg. In Both cases I know what I am looking for and genuinely love the flavour profile of each. 

Since 2000 the best/most consistent years of E4 (memory don't fail me now!) has been  13/14 and 20/21.   That's a small window. As good as anything from 1996/prior. 

20/21 Regio has me spellbound at the moment. I can't recall enjoying them more at any time. 

 

 

[NSXCIGAR]

5 minutes ago, El Presidente said:

20/21 Regio has me spellbound at the moment. I can't recall enjoying them more at any time.

Indeed, this revised Regios is kicking butt. But my point is that how great would the Ex 4 be if they put that kind of effort into it? Honestly, I'd probably prefer the Ex 4 myself if they were delivering like the Regios are now.

As far as the 90s Ex 4, those were simply magical. Maybe my favorite cigar. Like eating a bowl of tropical fruit. I could literally chain smoke them. 

[El Presidente]

12 minutes ago, NSXCIGAR said:

Indeed, this revised Regios is kicking butt. But my point is that how great would the Ex 4 be if they put that kind of effort into it? Honestly, I'd probably prefer the Ex 4 myself if they were delivering like the Regios are now.

I think there is a special formula needed for Tabacuba to get things right.  the moon and stars all need to align .......+ a big lick of luck required as well. That doesn't bode well for consistency  

In the R&J Exhibicion 4's defence. 

I think it would have to be the hardest cigar in the Habanos line-up to consistently get right. 

At it's best it's flavour profile is so bloody unique. It requires perfect blending and then the attention of the rollers to execute. It requires those rosado wrappers.  Once you go a just a little way outside the requirements, the cigar doesn't work becoming papery/tasteless and often bitter.  It doesn't receive the care of the heavy hitters so pulling off a masterful batch of E4 would be almost a religious experience. 

If I could make anything close to perfect E4 in Nicaragua I would jump on it like donkey kong.    I can't even come close......and neither can Tabacuba consistently. 

Now in Cuba I could do it.  10 rollers in pairs, 30,000 cigars a month. 1/2 the team  just does wrapper and half just does blend. One supervisor to ensure the blend is right every time. No excuses. 

That is how you guarantee quality and blend integrity week after week, year after year. 

 

[99call]

For me R&J really suffers from having:

A, Such an unusual interesting blend profile

B, Only being able to exhibit it,  in a small stable of their portfolio, i.e  Royales, Cazadores, Ex4, Churchills, Mille Fleur, 

Long overdue a deep cull.   Bring back the Shakespears, Celestiales Finos, 

[JohnS]

14 hours ago, El Presidente said:

I will put my hand up and take a quality E4 over a quality Connie 1 every day of the week.  I love the profile. 

Regios have been on a hot streak of late. Famosos same but still not up to recent Regio Levels. 

Plenty of great R&J Churchills around. That's a good thing given your choice of Cuban Churchills is extremely "limitada". 

R&J PC? when on they were every bit as good as a Boli PC.  Same stength/body, but coming from different flavour angles. They have been off Habanos buying lists for a few years. I have a few boxes and will check the codes.  PC's (except the Monte 4) are under threat. Boli PC would be a little nervous. PC's are going the way of the Corona's. 

R&J have an issue and it related to the closure of its spiritual home in 03/04. 

Tabacuba fixed Trinidad quality (for the time being) and have made a good fist of QD (HSA marketing + TC quality control). R&J is ripe for a refurb and it is the perfect vehicle to do it with.

Petit Coronas are going the way of the Coronas. Well said, El Pres, as this was my predominant reason for bringing up the thread in the first place. You see, there was once a time when seemingly every marca had a Coronas vitola but those days are long gone. And I remember Trevor Leask (founder of Cuban Cigar Website) telling me about it even as I type this out like it was yesterday. The heyday of the Coronas might of been the 1980s and its smaller brother, the Petit Coronas (or Marevas if you want to be technical) the 1990s. Yes, it doesn't seem that long ago, indeed.

I asked around on ZOOM chats recently, with other cigar enthusiasts, about the Romeo y Julieta Petit Coronas and I barely registered a response, so I wondered where it's meandered off to in the last four or five years. I concur, apart from the Montecristo No.4, I fear for the future of the other premium vitolas in that size; namely, the Por Larranaga Petit Coronas, Bolivar Petit Coronas and Rafael Gonzalez Petit Coronas. I think the Cohiba Siglo II is safe. After all, no Cohiba has ever been discontinued since Habanos S.A when into partnership with foreign distributors after 2000. (The only Cohiba deleted from regular production was the Coronas in 1992 due to a size overlap with the introduction of the Linea 1492 Siglo Series)

When it comes to Romeo y Julieta, I admit that I have a wider range of tolerance when my cigars in this marca don't perform than the average person I would say. I can safely live on Romeo y Julieta Churchills, Exhibicion No.4s and Petit Royales for quite some time. Interestingly, the RyJ Churchills and RyJ Exhibicion No.4 are the only cigars that register an average rating (out of 5) of over 4 on Cuban Cigar Website. The RyJ Petit Royales is third with an average rating of 3.86 at the current time. That being said, I lament at the thought that the Romeo y Julieta Petit Coronas is not around, or could be discontinued. I might not ever reach for it, but it would be comforting to continue to know that I can if I want to, unlike the H.Upmann Petit Coronas, Sancho Panza Non Plus or Diplomaticos No,4, for example.

[Nico]

Petit Coronas are going the way of the Coronas. Well said, El Pres, as this was my predominant reason for bringing up the thread in the first place. You see, there was once a time when seemingly every marca had a Coronas vitola but those days are long gone. And I remember Trevor Leask (founder of Cuban Cigar Website) telling me about it even as I type this out like it was yesterday. The heyday of the Coronas might of been the 1980s and its smaller brother, the Petit Coronas (or Marevas if you want to be technical) the 1990s. Yes, it doesn't seem that long ago, indeed.

Maybe the petit Coronas (marevas) will survive through the retro series. I really hope so. If the retro series sells I could see habanos adding a retro to every global brand. Unfortunately I think that’s where it stops. Maybe they’ll add one from the portfolio brands if the sales are really high but I’m not gonna hold my breath for that one.

Such a shame that all these vitolas like the (long) conronas, lonsdale, CG, churchills have been cut. They were good vitolas and many of them had a great flavor profile too.
Lol I remember hating the PC when I first started smoking and now 10 years later I’ve come to really love them.