Romeo y Julieta Primer Lote 770

Today I am reviewing the Romeo y Julieta Primer Lote 770 – a special RyJ shop exclusive for Mike’s cigars. The Romeo Y Julieta Primer Lote is a first run, small batch cigar, made from exclusive bales of limited-availability tobacco.

I am smoking the 6 x 52 belicoso. The look and feel is what you’d expect from any of the Romeo lines; firm with a creamy, chocolate-colored Nicaraguan wrapper. It is seamless, with minute veins – quality is never an issue with Romeo y Julietas. The binder is made of Indonesian and Nicaraguan tobaccos and the filler is all Nicaragua.

The pre-light draw tastes and smells of sweet tobacco and chocolate chips. Before toasting, I remove the foot band—a two inch band that reads “Primer Lote” and the Lote number – in this case 0770.

After toasting, I am already in love with the way this cigar jumps into flavor! Rich, chalky, leathery smoke, with cedar notes and a hint of white pepper fill my mouth right away. An excellent first impression! There is a sweet sensation on my tongue with each puff, similar to a rye whiskey. The profile is definitely not your atypical Nicaraguan – I am really enjoying a nice change of pace with notes and flavors I didn’t anticipate with this cigar.

I’m an inch in and the flavors are the same. I’ve had to do some minor touch ups, but there is a slight breeze in the air so I am attributing it to that. My teeth, tongue, lips and throat are all coated with leathery, spicy, sweet tobacco that won’t go away. All of the white pepper is exclusive to the retro and some minor hints of dark chocolate have crept in.

Into the second third, and the burn is razor sharp. The leather and cedar notes are still the dominant flavors, with rye and dark chocolate hanging in the back. I have nothing bad to say about this cigar – great draw, great burn, and full flavors. The strength is a medium, but I would still recommend smoking this later in the day.

Right at the halfway point, the flavors start to blend, making it harder to decipher each individual flavor. The sweetness I spoke of earlier is the main focus at this point and pepper is now fairly noticeable.

The final bits of the cigar’s flavors, right before the band, begin to dwindle, and in come the typical “end resin” flavors; telling me this love story has come to an end. Overall, I’m extremely pleased with the Romeo Y Julieta Primer Lote 770 and look forward to my next one.

Would I smoke this cigar again?

Yes. This cigar is priced at $7.70, but the real savings come when you buy the 5-pack ($26.50) or the box of 20 ($100.50). There are also two other sizes that are priced under $7 per cigar ($4.59 and $4.70 with the 5-pack purchase). From beginning to end, it performed beautifully and left my mouth coated with flavors. This is a nice “value cigar” in my opinion, one I certainly wouldn’t mind smoking again.

Short Link: