Tag Archives: romeo y julieta

by | June 2, 2024 · 9:52 am

Crook of the Crown, Romeo y Julieta, Villiger Limited Release and Silencio Cigars

I had last weeks cold kicked by Monday, but it seems to have come back a bit.  I haven’t had a cold this bad since I quit smoking cigarettes (and had sinus surgery) back in 2007. Anyway, I didn’t have any trouble tasting this week, not that I have the greatest palate anyway, but I know what I like.  I think Lee Marsh of Stolen Throne Cigars is still mad at me because I didn’t really like the Yorktown Fleet (although I admit it’s growing on me, I’m due to pick up another one and try it), but I hope I redeem myself a little here. I picked up a few of the new Stolen Throne Crook of the Crown 5th Anniversary cigars this week, and had to smoke one right away.  I’ve been a fan of the Crook since the first one I tried, so I was excited to try it in what they are calling a Corona, but I’m not sure on what planet a 6″ x 46 is a corona.  Gran Corona, perhaps, but a corona is 5½” x 42.  It’s too long to be a Corona Gorda.  Whatever it is, I like it.  It has a Pigtail cap, a partially closed foot, with a San Andrés wrapper, Indonesian binder, and Nicaraguan fillers, made at the Rojas factory.  This one has the same Cocoa and spice as its namesake, with a little more focus given the smaller ring.  Burn and draw were perfect, this was an amazingly good smoke.  

 

Thursday I lit up the Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real Nicaragua Midnight Twist Toro that was handed to me at the Smokeonos event by Charlie Watson of Altadis USA. I don’t have a great track record with Altadis Cigars, many of them just don’t appeal to me.  The exception is those that are made by AJ Fernandez, almost universally.  The Reserva Real Nicaragua line is made by AJ Fernandez, and I like it. I quite enjoyed the regular Reserva Real Nicaragua and really liked this one.  It’s a 6″ x 54 (also comes in the “Love Story” 4½” x 46 perfecto size), with a barber pole wrapper consisting of Nicaraguan Habano & Maduro leaf.  It has the same binder and filler as the Reserva Real Nicaragua, which, you guessed, is Nicaraguan.  I almost liked this more than the Crook of the Crown…almost.  This is a rich and decadent cigar, I got some creamy cocoa and spice.  It was really good and I want more.  To be fair, if it just had a maduro wrapper, and wasn’t presented as a barber pole, I’d probably like it, but obviously they can’t call it Midnight Twist if it doesn’t have the contrasting wrappers.  I believe I enjoyed the Twisted Love Story too.

 

Also at the Smokeonos I spoke with René Castańeda of Villiger Cigars, who handed me this Villiger Limited Release No. 39 Torpedo.  I can’t find any information about this cigar, and my message to René went unanswered.  I will update this post when I get a reply.  My assumption is that it’s made at the Villiger de Nicaragua factory, which I also assume is a subfactory within the Joya de Nicaragua factory.  I also assume that this is a Nicaraguan puro.  I can only find info about a No. 29, and a No 41, no No. 39.  I was really hoping to hear back from René.  One thing I’m not going to assume is that I really liked this cigar, and the fact that I may never find another one is disheartening. I took limited notes as I was enjoying the cigar too much (OK, I always take limited notes).  I liked the Chocolate and spice I got, it was really nice.  The torpedo shape was well made and it had a good burn and draw.  I was quite happy with this cigar, it was a nice way to wrap up the work week.

 

One of my favorite Saturday afternoon activities is sitting in my screen porch and watching TV with a cigar, after all the chores are done.  Yesterday it was “Clarkson’s Farm” season 3, the first three episodes. Jeremy Clarkson is a hoot.  Anyway, I chose one more cigar that I was handed at the Smokeonos, a Silencio toro.  This is a cigar that Sean Williams, Cohiba brand ambassador, uses as his calling card.  Silencio is also the name General Cigars/STG uses on the Cohiba line in Europe, as they can’t use Cohiba there.  The cigar has a Nicaraguan wrapper, a Cameroon binder, and filler tobaccos from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.  I found the smoke to be rather drying, which is odd for me.  It seemed leathery with some interesting spices. I felt like this would sit well with a European palate for some reason.  I always like seeing Sean Williams, he’s just about the nicest guy you’ll want to meet, and he’s cooler than the other side of the pillow.  If you see him at an event, maybe he’ll give you one of these.  I enjoyed it, but I like the Cohiba Riviera more!

 

That’s all for now.  Please take notice to the Daily Deal graphic on the left sidebar courtesy of Panacea Cigars.  It changes daily, and there’s always something good offered.  They are great cigars, I might have one today!  Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

 

 

 

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by | August 1, 2023 · 9:11 pm

Romeo y Julieta Devocion Lust Toro Cigars

A few weeks ago the folks at Cigars.com sent me some of their exclusive Romeo y Julieta Devoción Lust Series Toros to try, and try them I did.  I’ve been hot and cold with Romeo y Julieta cigars over the years. Of course, it’s one of the best selling brands out there, and there have been some I’ve enjoyed, and I’ve had a sentimental attachment to the brand, as it was the brand I had to commemorate my daughter’s wedding nearly 16 years ago. I like to try Romeo y Julietas when they come along, and there have been some I’ve enjoyed.  This one is made in Honduras, where the post-revolution Romeos were made. It has an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper that is a nice, light brown.  The binder and fillers are all Honduran.  

 

 

I first thought that this was a mild cigar, but it must have been what I had eaten or something, because subsequent examples were far more flavorful, and solidly medium bodied.  Of course, there’s a creaminess, with some leather and nuts.  There’s also a nice Café con leche sort of flavor.  I take my coffee black, but I’ve had Café con leche when there was nothing else offered.  The several cigars I smoked all burned perfectly and were quite enjoyable.  If you have an interest in trying these, or anything else from Cigars.com, you can use CCRAIG10 for a discount, and click though the link on the left side of this page to get to the site (it’s an affiliate link, which I, historically haven’t had a lot of luck with, please help me turn that around!). The Romeo y Julieta Devoción Lust Series is a tasty cigar.  

 

That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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by | July 23, 2023 · 9:22 am

Romeo y Julieta, La Gloria Cubana and Diesel Cigars

Summer is whizzing by way too fast for my liking.  I’ve been enjoying a lot more cigars, three of which were just yesterday, which I plan to tell you about! I started the day with a Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real Twisted Love Story.  This came to me in a sampler of barber pole style cigars I bought from Fox Cigars, I had set this small cigar aside for an appropriate time, and that time came yesterday morning.  It was a toss up between this and a Rojas Breakfast Taco Maduro, but I kinda remember the Sumatra Breakfast Taco being a bit of a powerhouse, and I wasn’t feeling like a strong cigar yesterday morning. I wondered in a previous post how Altadis got away with making a cigar this shape with the name “story” attached to it, because it’s very close to the same size as the Hemingway Short Story, although it’s a few ring gauges slimmer at 4″ x 46 as opposed to 49.  The Romeo has Ecuadorian Connecticut & Habano wrappers, Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers.  It’s a very pretty little perfecto.  It started off with some bitterness for me, until it burned past the “nipple”, then it smoothed out and had some nice butter and spice.  It was pretty good, but I liked the toro presentation better.  I think it smoked for nearly an hour, which is pretty good for a little cigar.  

 

I had a couple other cigars lined up that I was going to write about, but then I was out running errands and stopped in my nearest cigar store and picked up a few cigars I hadn’t smoked before.  This store honestly didn’t have much in the way of new stuff, but they are a TAA store, so I picked up the La Gloria Cubana 2023 TAA Exclusive, a 7½” x 54 double corona.  If the size sounds familiar, it’s the same size as the Hoya de Monterrey Excalibur No.1 (and the SakaKahn).  You might be saying ” but CigarCraig, La Glorias are made in the DR, and Excaliburs are made in Honduras, what the heck?”, but it seems that this La Gloria was made in the STG Danli factory back in 2019 and have been aging there.  Weird, huh?  This cigar has a Ecuador Sumatra wrapper with a Honduran Habano binder and Fillers from Honduras and the DR.  The wrapper is very dark, verging on maduro.  While I didn’t find this cigar very La Gloria like (and with all the various iterations of the brand, I don’t know what that means any more), I really like the cigar, and feel compelled to pick a few more up to add to the La Gloria humidor for later consumption.  It had dark dried fruit and espresso tones, bittersweet chocolate, and wasn’t without some strength.  It was amongst the better La Glorias I’ve had in recent years.  

 

Another cigar I picked up was another TAA cigar from the Forged portfolio, the Diesel Disciple 2021 TAA Lancero.  Considering it wasn’t long ago that Diesel was a catalog brand, it’s interesting that the top of the top (in their eyes, i imagine) retailers are getting a Diesel exclusive. In keeping with the Diesel line, this was pretty fairly priced at $8.99, and is a 7″ x 38 panatela, no pigtail cap.  The cigar has a San Andrés wrapper, Ecuador Sumatra binder and Nicaraguan Habano fillers and is made at Tabacalera AJ Fernandez. I’ll state my opinion like I do every time I smoke a Lancero, this wrapper/filler ratio thing is a myth, the reason Lanceros have a sharper, stronger flavor is because the burn hotter due to the smaller ring gauge.  Smoke a Lancero slowly, sip the smoke, it’s a very elegant presentation.  If it’s drawn upon at the same pressure as one would draw on a rubusto or toro it’s going to burn hot and the flavor is going to seem sharper.  I’ve learned this by sitting at the feet of masters.  Anyway, I smoked this while watching one of my favorite shows (the Grand Tour on Amazon Prime) on the porch and it was delicious.  Dark, strong espresso with some sweet earthiness.  The burn and draw was perfect and it was quite enjoyable.  I don’t know how many of these are still out in the wild, I know there are still at least nine of them at the store near me, but if you come across them, and you like Diesels and Lanceros, give one a try.

 

That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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by | June 25, 2023 · 9:18 am

Smoking Through The Twisted Tasting Kit From Fox Cigars

Yes, Fox Cigar advertises on this site, but I purchased the Twisted Tasting Kit from them unsolicited, kinda for five reasons. I really like the Araposa Negra, and never mind having one more in the humidor (I’m smoking one now as I type! It’s absolutely delicious!), and I was quite curious to try the other four cigars. I started with the Araposa Blanca, a Fox exclusive made by Black Label Trading Co..  This is the Ecuador Connecticut answer to the Negra, and one thing BLTC does exceptionally well is make aesthetically appealing barber pole cigars. Another thing they do exceptionally well is make great tasting cigars, and this is a great tasting cigar. We know that shade cigars are low on my preference list, but this one was really, really good. It had a wonderful roundness to the flavor, if that makes any sense, it was full flavored without being overpowering, delicious without too much spice, it was very good. I may need to put more of these in the humidor, and I might need to sample Black Label’s other shade offerings.

 

In addition to the two Fox BLTC exclusives in the Twisted sampler, the other three were new cigars in the Altadis USA line up presented in a barber pole format. Historically I have not gravitated toward a lot of the Altadis cigar that are not made by A.J. Fernandez.  I have a relatively open mind, although I’ll admit there are some cigars I have no interest in even sampling. Legacy brands such as the H.Upmann and Romeo y Julieta don’t fall into that category, I’ll give them a shot, even though I have pretty poor track record when it comes to liking cigars from the Tabacalera de Garcia factory in the DR.  I gave the H. Upmann Barbier a shot first.  This was a Toro, 6″ x 54, has Ecuador shade and Ecuador Sumatra wrappers, Indonesian Java binder with Nicaraguan, Dominican and Pennsylvania Broadleaf fillers. This was a very enjoyable cigar.  It was smooth, rich, and had plenty of flavor.  There was some sweet, bready flavors, and maybe the PA Broadleaf gave it a little oomph.  I finally found a Dominican Upmann I like.  Very nice.

 

I took a short break from this series to visit the Wooden Indian yesterday where they were hosting Erik Espinosa for the afternoon.  I smoked, and very much enjoyed, a 601 La Bomba Warhead VII.  I should buy more of these as I really enjoy the flavor. As always, the Wooden Indian staff was great, it was great seeing Erik, Mark, Jose, Bobby, and everyone else.  I went home and took a nap.

 

After dinner I lit up the Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real Twisted Toro.  The Twisted Tasting Kit included both the Toro and the Twisted Love Story, which is the 4¼” x 46 perfecto version. I’m shocked that they were able to get away with using the name “story” with this shape cigar, although it would come down to who has the bigger lawyers, I guess. Still seems weird to me. I’ll get to the little guy when I need a small cigar, but the 6″ x 54 Toro works better for me.  Regarding all of these dos capas, or barber pole style cigars, all four have burned perfectly, and often the dual wrappers can cause a meandering burn line, not the case.  They all burned perfectly.  The Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real Twisted Toro has Ecuadorian Habano and Ecuadorian Connecticut wrappers, Nicaraguan binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers, with the Ecuadorian Habano wrapper seeming to be the only change from the Reserva Real blend.  I haven’t had a Reserva Real in forever, like I said, it’s not something I reach for (it kinda has two strikes against it for me, it’s DR Altadis, and it’s a shade wrapper). All that being typed, it was an enjoyable smoke, with the Habano knocking the grassi/nuttiness off of the shade a touch. It was good.  For my palate, the Black Label offerings in this sampler were better, but I like a nice “theme” week now and then, and this was a good one.  It was a good deal too, I was happy with the purchase.  

 

That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

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by | January 6, 2022 · 9:27 pm

A Romeo y Julieta Crafted by AJ Fernandez Nicaragua Robusto and Some List Thoughts

Tonight I smoked a cigar I picked up at a new shop I had stopped in to a few weeks ago that I hadn’t seen before. It was the Romeo and Julieta Crafted by AJ Fernandez Robusto. This cigar had a cedar wrap, was nicely presented, and I want to say it was on the higher side price wise. Historically, most of the majority of Altadis cigar I find myself enjoying are  those made in conjunction with AJ Fernandez, Montecristo, Upmann, Trinidad, you get the picture. This cigar was really good. It has a maduro Habano 2000 wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and fillers. It’s got cocoa and some woody spice flavors. Like I said, I recall it being a little pricey, and doing some research, I think I overpaid, but it gave me some insight into this particular shops buying habits. I won’t name names, but it’s my theory that this shop bought these cigars by mail order and keystoned them, because I feel like I paid about twice as much as I see them on JRs or CI. After smoking it, I’m not mad, I feel like it was a great smoke, thoroughly enjoyable. It was probably the best Romeo I’ve smoked. I won’t buy a lot of cigars at this particular shop. 

 

It’s list time, and everyone is posting their best of lists. As I mentioned, I toyed with the idea of posting a list, but it would be for selfish reasons. I could easily say that my favorite cigars of the past year, in no particular order, were the Stolen Throne three Kingdoms Toro, the All Saints Saint Francis Churchill,  the Casa Cuevas Patrimonio, the Undercrown 10 Toro, the La Sirena Mexican Mermaid Toro, the Perla Del Mar Corojo Toro and the Partagas Decadas 2021. I suppose if I put them in a numbered list it would get some attention, and, perhaps, qualify for the Halfwheel Consensus, but I don’t I don’t need the validation. It could be said that I just listed my top seven favorite cigars of the year here, I guess I did, and for the purposes of letting my readers know, now you know! No fanfare, no trolling for shares or recognition, just sharing with my readers.  I applaud everyone who puts the time into making their lists, and making the rules that go along with them, I don’t have time for that. I’m just a guy who loves cigars, and I write stuff about them.  There’s no spreadsheets or process or stuff, that’s too much work. Cigars are good, when it becomes work, it’s not as much fun. 

 

That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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