Romeo y Juliet 1875 Churchill

Size: 7 x 50

Tobacco: Dominican, with Indonesian Shade Grown wrapper

Price: $5.25

I saw this cigar laying on Bob Dean's kitchen counter several months ago when I dropped Kedron off for the day. I told him I hadn't realized he was a cigar aficionado. He assured me he wasn't; his son-in-law gave it to him to celebrate the birth of another grandchild. Bob insisted he was not going to smoke it, and he gave it to me.

I let it relax in my humidor for several months, then decided to give it a fitting send off last Tuesday, on my drive from Memphis to the Courtland Mill.

It tasted much like the Cedro Deluxe #2 I reviewed for Memorial Day: mild nutty taste, white ash, creamy smoke. The churchill does not come wrapped in cedar and has a looser, hotter draw. Other than that, the taste did not change much. Like the Montecristo (also owned by Altadis),the non-cuban RyJ brand suffers in comparison to its Havana namesake, but it is still an enjoyable experience.