Romeo y Julieta Viejo R

My first impression was CHOCOLATE. Wrapper is a satin brown but more importantly - What a delicious first taste, but there was no draw. So, I could lick it but could I smoke it? After removing a twig and compressing the box press out it was indeed very smokable. It burned mostly straight and the ash was strong. I don't agree that this is the strongest RJ but I guess it is approaching medium. Nice dry short finish on each puff with consistent flavor and aroma. I have other sizes and will try those next.

I agree with the tough draw issue, but the flavor and appearance are great.

I won a 5-pack on CB and decided to sample one yesterday. While I'm not exactly a fan of box pressed cigars, this one is really a beauty to look at with it's nearly veinless deep maduro wrapper and hints of cocoa and spice pre-light. Having read previous reviews about draw issues, I used a wedge cutter lengthwise to create a big "V" cut to get as big of an airway as I could with jeopardizing the cap.

After lighting, the flavors continued and became quite prominent on my palate. Very pleasing. Even with the V cut I found the draw to be challenging and required a much deeper pull than I like. I could tell how tightly this stick was packed when my first dark-gray ash exceeded 2.5 inches. With the final half of the stick, I decided to try an experiment. Since the cigar had opened up and was more pliable, I carefully rounded out the head with my fingers. This immediately improved the draw dramatically. Conclusion: It appears the box pressing of this tightly packed stick while visually appealing, actually detracts from the execution.

Talk about flavor! Sweet and rich, tasted carmel and berries through a part of it. Started great and continued on down. The only drawback I found with these numbers is that they're rolled a bit tight - you gotta work to keep em up and going and the amount of smoke is less than what I'd prefer. Still... yummay