Wrapper: Cuban
Binder: Cuban
Filler: Cuban
Size: 5.125 x 55
Strength: Medium/Full
Price: $30.00
Box Date: November 2019

THE WHOLE MEGILLAH:
Rated 96 by Cigar Aficionado.

While I don’t believe there is 100% transparency when CA reviews a cigar approved for American sale, common sense tells us they have no skin in the game when they review a cigar from the verboten isle of Cuba.

Hence, with only one sample for review, my knees are shaking, and my ankles are doing the Locomotion. Will I get it right? There’s always a chance.

The wrapper is a gorgeous chocolate copper color. Dripping with oil like my Uncle Sid who loved eating gefilte fish without a napkin. Aromas are devastatingly floral with sidecar notes of buttered toast, peanut butter, fresh brewing coffee, strong cedar, and grape jelly.

My PerfecPunch works flawlessly as usual. The blow hole is wide open without the added noise of the crunch when using a cutter. The cold draw does me a solid with notes of strong cedar, black pepper, momma’s spice cabinet, black coffee, butterscotch, and a scoche of fruitiness.

I dawdle as I type because the cigar is poised between my lips, and it tastes damn fine. I realize I must eventually put torch to foot, but what’s the hurry?

Down by the bayou….my palate is attacked by wild marmots fleeing as the best of Credence plays in the background. Soupy creaminess is on the sales floor. The black coffee gets a dollop of dairy. Due to the strong attack of black pepper in the warmup stages of smell, and then cold draw, I am relieved that my fears are without merit…like the worrisome and constant terror that immigration may come through the door and spirit my Irish terrier away to Gitmo.

Strength is just a bit taller than mild while on the edge of solid medium.

I can count on one hand the flavors my palate interprets. But the wonderful rich quality is hopefully a tribute to what is to come. (I wrote ‘cone’ and then had to backtrack).

In the middle of his second tour with Elvis, my cousin Fred Selden was taken up to the Man’s suite to meet him. Words were sparse but the praise was real. Nothing was mentioned about Fred’s jazzing up the middle 8 of “Dixie.” The band leader had already threatened him with dismissal if he didn’t play it as written. Fred told me that the parasites around Presley were drunk, amped up on speed, and hovered around the King like mosquitoes. Selden relayed to me how sad he felt. On the upside, my cuz received heaps of women’s panties from the crowd asking that they be delivered to Elvis Presley. There is always a balance.

The cigar felt light prior to lighting. Good cigars always plump up as is the case with this RyJ. The burn is a bit uneven but doesn’t cause arrythmia.

The flavors morph into what I would call a great Hendrik Kelner blend…or maybe a Fuente’s OpusX. Faux Nicaraguan influence is nil. The great old blenders try to mimic the Cuban cigars of their past using Dominican, Ecuadorian, Peruvian, and African leaves in order to get them close enough for jazz.

To make a short story long, I taste mild lemon, light spiciness, vanilla, boutique coffee, leather, rich earthiness, cashews, and cinnamon. This is a nice cigar. Sometimes the Cubans rise above the dire conditions of their island and knock it out of the park.

$30 is a hellacious amount of dough to spend on one cigar. Obscene. I can’t believe the gall of some American cigar manufacturers who sell a stick for a C note. And it goes up from there. Rich guys think they’re getting something special if they pay more. But how long does the magic last after you’ve told your herf friends that the stick of dead leaves in your manicured paw set you back a smart $1000.

The first third comes to an end. Professional critics say the fun is about to begin. There is a transitional quality that reigns supreme when smoking a Romey y Julieta Wide Churchill.

A crack forms. My PerfecRepair is at the ready. A couple of brush strokes and the evil deed is stopped in its tracks. This shit is liquid gold.

The creaminess is dead nuts perfect. Floral notes make a wafting gesture to my massive schnoz. The lemon turns into sweet orange. Harmony and understanding become the blend’s credo. The cinnamon gets a leg up by adding graham cracker. And then the graham cracker gets the nod from a light honey quality. Moon River.

Balance is platinum.

I finish the first half. Manna from the gods. Matzoh from Manischewitz. Moribund responsibility from the vomitorium.

A sip of coffee and it splurges with the suggestion that there are caffeinated notes. The richness is like outrunning a cop.

This fat bastard will be a two-hour dream come true. (I spelled ‘cone’ again).

It is clear now that the first half was a gentle precursor, the tip of the iceberg, the cone on the nose, (I got that one right) as to how my palate receives the second half. It is decimating my sense of good and evil. What a killer cigar.

Is it worth an arm and a leg? Hell yeah. I’ve smoked and reviewed cigars in this range that don’t come close…making it a selfish exhibit of grabbing the ring of corporate greed by the neck and not letting go. Give the Cubans your dough. Give them the money.

Strength has been an easy going medium extant. All those that matter declare it a robust blend with the tendency to hit medium/full.

The last couple of inches must slaughter the beast. If not, all is lost.

I can list the flavor wheel. But then you know it by heart. The blend is about complexity and transitional richness. Depth is that well with little Johnny in it. Do we help him or let Darwin do his thing.

They were correct-a-mundo. The last 30 minutes is about strength. But a delicate wire walker and not a ball peen hammer. This ain’t Stulac strength where the last third has you becoming a puddle on the carpet, asking for your mommy.

I’m ruined for the rest of the day. Color me squashed. The art of the deal is carefully planning my next cigar. Do I attempt to find a match…or go the opposite direction with a full-strength Padrón?

Know the best part of being retired? Never wake up to an alarm clock again. True dat. And the blessed opportunity to smoke multiple cigars.

The Romeo y Julieta Wide Churchill deserves every bit of the 100 I should rate it. They don’t get better than this.

RATING: 100

Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS

Tags: cigar reviews, cigar reviews by the katman, cigars, cuban cigars, Cuban Romeo y Julieta Wide Churchill | Cigar Reviews by the Katman, katman, phil kohn, romeo y julieta cigars