Initial Thoughts
I’ll be honest, I haven’t smoked too many non-Cuban Romeo y Julietas. I tend to pass them up in the B&M shops and head towards the boutique section. As of late though, I’ve been finding myself smoking more Altadis & STG owned brands or Big Box brands. I supposed that’s just the evolution of cigar smoking. You bounce around and find other lines that you just pick up and explore.
However, I didn’t do any browsing of a B&M to find this Primer Lote by Romeo Y Julieta. In fact our sponsors BestCigarPrices.com hooked me up with a sample. This particular blend is handmade just for their online shop. It comes in a 20 count box of 6in by 56 rg Toro-sized cigars. The outside is a rare Habano 2000 wrapper and they use a Dominican Piloto binder to contain all the inside goodness. Not much detail on the filler leaves other than they’re Dominican.
Not much more info about this particular line of cigars from RyJ. However, I did some quick Google translating and Primer Lote stands for First Lot. So that’s kind of cool, not sure what else that really means though, but I’m digging it!
Looks
Since I only received 2 sticks for review I can’t dig into the packaging of the Primer Lote by Romeo Y Julieta too much. However, the box image shown on the BCP website looks pretty nifty. It’s a subtle white box, but under the lid on the inside is a nice image of a tobacco plant. It looks hand sketched which is even more impressive and imprinted in a nice offset maroon / red color.
The band of the Primer Lote by Romeo Y Julieta is fairly simply as well. In fact there is no band denoting the Primer Lote name. I had to find it by looking at the stick / barcode on the back of the cellophane wrapper. Something that appears to be consistent on most Romeo y Julieta cigars is the 1875 date as well as the Medallas de Oro. The 1875 is a homage to their Cuban roots and they can trace their heritage back to 1875 which is pretty impressive. As part of their storied history they collected numerous honors across the globe as a premier cigars amongst many world fairs. Those honors were distributed as Gold Medals, or Medallas de Oro. So it’s a nice way of keeping that heritage front and center for the new world of cigars smokers to see.
This Habano 2000 wrapper is absolutely fantastic looking. Nice and smooth texture with one small vein running down through. It has a very oily and shiny chocolate color to it. In fact it’s making me hungry so time to dive into this Primer Lote by Romeo Y Julieta and see what it’s all about.
Smoking
There is something about the Toro size vitola that I both love and dislike. I know I’m going to be in for at least an hour and a half smoke. Usually, I don’t have any draw issues with this size. I think the 56 ring gauge allows great draw ability even if the manufacturer isn’t the best with their quality assurance. I think this size is very forgiving and incredibly easy to smoke. So I’ve got good feelings about this Primer Lote by Romeo Y Julieta.
Coming out of the gate this cigar is wide open and producing a ton of smoke. I had to open up my garage door all the way to help run some smoke out. I lost my first 1/2″ ash on the floor, luckily not in my lap this time! Overall this Primer Lote by Romeo Y Julieta smoked very well. I never had any draw issues. At a few different points I did struggle with an un-even burning wrapper though. It never canoed or go too crazy just didn’t look great for pictures. Let’s be honest, if it doesn’t look great in pictures then what’s the point of smoking it right? I’ve gotta make sure people like my instagram posts. Seriously, though great draw and a very easy smoking experience, so nothing to complain about here.
Flavor
Digging into the flavors on this Primer Lote by Romeo Y Julieta had me surprised. I’m not sure why I’m surprised by every new cigar that I smoke. I guess I have a certain idea of what I’m going to get into, and usually I’m set up to think I’m not going to like a cigar and then I end up really enjoying it. I have had a bad run over the years of being sent cigars that I’m not a fan of and plowing through them for the review. So maybe I just have that going on in my head when I sit down. Nonetheless, that’s not this cigar!
Right out of the gate while nosing this cigar I picked up a nice dose of tobacco and barnyard. Some hints of cedar and nut notes, I kept going back to walnuts. Not sure if it was that particularly but thats where my mind kept going. When I first lit the Primer Lote by Romeo Y Julieta I was getting notes of caramel and coffee with some backing of cream and leather. Not a ton of spice, but over the course of the cigar the strength built to a nice medium strength offering up some clove and black pepper with that backing of cream and I feel like I detected some notes of citrus as well.
Overall, it was very well balanced and I really enjoyed it. Lots of flavors kicking around which is fun to try and pick out. When you have an hour and a half you get a lot of time to sit and enjoy your retrohale and try to figure those flavors.
Would I Buy It Again?
Yes, of course, at $6 a stick I think it’s a pretty good bargain.
Is It an Every Day Smoke?
Potentially, maybe in a smaller vitola. A toro sized everyday cigar would be tough for me to smoke.
Would I Buy a Box?
I would consider it, for a box of 20 you’re looking at $5 a cigar. That’s a pretty solid buy in my opinion. These might be worth aging and seeing how they mature with time.
Conclusion
I was pleasantly surprised with this Primer Lote by Romeo Y Julieta. For some reason I always have a feeling I’m going to be let down by these ‘Big Box’ brands but then they always come and surprise me. You would think with their rich history and years of honing their craft they probably know what they’re doing. So if you’re looking to try something new and just pick 1 or 2 cigars give this Primer Lote by Romeo Y Julieta a try! I think you might find a new cigar to put in your rotation. Don’t forget it’s only available at BestCigarPrices.com in this particular size. So do yourself a favor and go snag one or a box.
