Romeo Y Julieta Churchill ‘98

[Mark Twain]

The wrapper is muted tan in color and contains several veins. There is no rich barnyard smell coming off the stick that you expect from a fresh cigar, only a light tobacco scent can be detected when I put my nose to the foot.

It burned very well and the ash as you can see was a fluffy gray with nice black lines throughout. The draw was fine and the taste was exceptional.

There was a nice bit of strength to the cigar but nothing that would push it into a full-bodied smoke. The initial flavor was a bit underwhelming because of its one-dimensional woody characteristic. Thankfully this changed after the first inch into a wonderful pattern that was slightly sweet and almost citrus in nature to complement the woody taste of the smoke. There was also a thin vegetal quality that reminded me of how dead flowers smell. The finish was still predominantly woody but the other flavors came through nicely and I got to say that this was truly a tasty cigar. I cannot begin to describe to you the wonderful mellow feeling which came over me as I sipped three fingers of 14yo scotch and enjoyed this smoke.

I’ve got to thank my brother for gifting me five of these for my graduation. I’m interested in hearing from others on their taste experience with RyJ Churchills old or young.

 

[Michal]

Nice review Mark, as always

 

[Ginseng]

Very nice review! Mature RyJ Churchills are one of my favorite big cigars. Your perceptions of the flavors is not far off from mine. It's got a great woody base with a lot of floral and aromatic tones. The perfect cigar for a relaxed and contemplative smoking experience.

Wilkey

 

[fenian'98]

Great review. I just smoked one of these about a month ago. Mine was dated Dec '05, so it didn't have the age yours did. The things you noticed like the woody flavors and the slight vegeal notes were spot on with what I tasted, but the draw was much too firm on my end, even after poking it several times. I hope that has something to do with how young it was, as I have four more sitting in the humidor. It's funny you mentioned it starting off underwhelming, as I thought the same thing, only it didn't develop into much at all. These will go into deep sleep for sure.


BTW, was this the same 14yo scotch you drank with another recent review? I loved the deep color of that bottle.

 

[Mark Twain]

Great review. I just smoked one of these about a month ago. Mine was dated Dec '05, so it didn't have the age yours did. The things you noticed like the woody flavors and the slight vegeal notes were spot on with what I tasted, but the draw was much too firm on my end, even after poking it several times. I hope that has something to do with how young it was, as I have four more sitting in the humidor. It's funny you mentioned it starting off underwhelming, as I thought the same thing, only it didn't develop into much at all. These will go into deep sleep for sure.


BTW, was this the same 14yo scotch you drank with another recent review? I loved the deep color of that bottle.

It was. I just finished the bottle off the other day. Clynelish 14yo. Not to bad for $40 a bottle.

 

[fenian'98]

Great review. I just smoked one of these about a month ago. Mine was dated Dec '05, so it didn't have the age yours did. The things you noticed like the woody flavors and the slight vegeal notes were spot on with what I tasted, but the draw was much too firm on my end, even after poking it several times. I hope that has something to do with how young it was, as I have four more sitting in the humidor. It's funny you mentioned it starting off underwhelming, as I thought the same thing, only it didn't develop into much at all. These will go into deep sleep for sure.


BTW, was this the same 14yo scotch you drank with another recent review? I loved the deep color of that bottle.

It was. I just finished the bottle off the other day. Clynelish 14yo. Not to bad for $40 a bottle.

Could have been a lot worse than $40. I'll have to search that one out.