This is a nice-looking cigar, with an earthy-brown wrapper showing thin veins and mottled with oils. It is quite firm to the touch, but upon cutting the head, it draws very easily – almost a bit too easily. The initial taste is of spicy cedar, probably due to its being packaged in a cedar-lined aluminum tube (which is quite handsome, by the way). The band is a clean, matte gold strip with black lettering which simply reads, “ROMEO Y JULIETA” and, in smaller print to the side, “DOMINICAN REPUBLIC”. A well-presented cigar.
The first puff of smoke from this stick is very reminiscent of its Cuban namesake (which happens to be one of my all-time favorite cigars): cedar and a certain graham cracker sugariness in a very smooth package. As it gets going, this stogie gains some more strength, adding a bit of leather and spice to the profile, but it never loses its sweetness completely. The one real drawback to this smoke was that as I got around halfway in, it started to burn a bit erratically and I found myself puffing a bit too hard to keep it going. That said, I will be buying this again. It stands up favorably in comparison to the Cuban brand of the same name, both in packaging and in content, and it’s a lot of cigar for $6.50. For those who like a warm, sweet-but-not-cloying medium-bodied smoke, this will fit the bill nicely.
4 out of 5 stars.
