Romeo Y Julieta Reserva Real Petite Robusto Cigar Review

Cigar Review Posted By: avantgrade

Cigar Stats: The Reserva Real Petite Robusto is a 4.25" x 54 Petite Robusto with a
Connecticut Shade Ecuadorian wrapper.

Cigar Strength: avantgrade describes the cigar strength as being Medium.

Cigar Price: This Cigar was bought for $4.50 and was purchased Belicoso Cigar Lounge, Orland Park, IL.

avantgrade purchased this cigar on 2009-12-12.
It has about 4 months of additional aging.

Look and Feel: 19 / 20
Flavor and Aroma: 35 / 40
Burn Consistency: 28 / 30
Bonus Points: 4 / 10

Food: none

Beverage: none

Cutter type: Single blade generic cutter

Lighter: cigar matches

Appearance: The Connecticut Shade wrapper has a nice shine to it. The traditional Romeo y Julieta band beautifully contrasts with the cigar. Nice, solid-looking cap, too!

Presence of veins: a few prominent veins, some protruding significantly above the surface

Humidity: 66%

Cigar draw: medium resistance, gradually becoming more smooth towards the end, but the puffs do put you to work

Cigar feel: Medium

Oily or dry: Oily

Ease/quality cut: Absolutely effortless cut. The cap is solid, and even the generic single blade cutter that I keep in the lab got the jo

Pre-light flavour: There is a wondefull sweetness, almost like that of sugar canes (nothing artificial here). A slight presence of spice i

Country of origin: Dominican Republic

Origin of wrapper: Ecuador

Origin of binder: Nicaragua

Origin of filler: Dominican Republic and Nicaragua

Initial Light

It only took one match to get this short, pudgy stogie going. I am immediately greeted by a wonderful aroma, with the gentle zest of the Connecticut shade tantalizing the senses. The first few puffs coat the palate with an almost oily glaze, delivering natural sugar notes. Roast nuts and cedar make an early appearance as well. The cigar is drawing a little hard for my preference, but each puff is rewarded with ample white smoke.

First 1/3:

I was not expecting this smoke to be as smooth as it evens out to be. The nice Connecticut spice carries well with the woody tones of cedar. The sugars are caramelizing very nicely, but puffing more often than once a minute tends to make the cigar burn quite hot, killing any of the flavors. Having found that out, I eased up on the puffing, and the flavors became fairly consistent.

Second 1/3:

The burn has been sharp thus far. The cigar holds its light gray ash for about 1.5 to 2 inches, and has a beautiful cherry once it falls. Given the flavors of the first 1/3, not much has changed. Cedar slightly overtakes the zest from the Connecticut shade, and the medium body helps keep it all together. The draw has eased up a bit, but you still need to work the puffs a little bit more than what I would like.

Final 1/3:

Getting down to the nub (and the final 1/3 is literally that, on a cigar that’s only slightly more than 4 inches long), the flavor profile gains complexity. Hints of roasted hazelnut appear, along with very define bursts of caramel and nougat. This hit me fairly unexpectedly, but it was a welcome delivery. The cigar happened to go out before, what I felt was, its time, and I quickly relit it to enjoy the wonderful surprises. It delivered the combination of nuts, cedar and caramel all the way until my fingers felt the heat a little too close.

This is a great cigar, but I do wish that there was more complexity to the flavors throughout the length of the cigar, not just at the nub. There was definitely plenty of rich smoke to go around, and the burn was fairly consistent, except for the time the cigar extinguished near the nub.