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Stogie Review: Romeo Y Julieta Reserve Real Verona's Court

Size: 5 1/2" x 44
Price: $4.50
Wrapper: Ecuadorian grown Connecticut Shade wrapper
Filler: Nicaraguan Long Filler added to a traditional Dominican blend

Vanity Profile: Light, tan wrapper with a nice smooth look and feel. Well constructed, but it's a Romeo so why wouldn't it be?

The Smoke: Nice and smooth cigar with some spice to it. Classified as a medium to full bodied cigar, but that's a stretch. I don't think it's quite strong enough to put it in the realm of a full bodied smoke.

Very consistent draw and good flavoring throughout...

The Verdict: If you can't handle the more powerful cigars out there, but want to try something stronger than your usual light cigar then The Reserve Real is for you. Very smooth and sometimes spicy you can't go wrong with this cigar.

Element of the Cut

Double blade cutter, cigar scissors, the guillotine, the punch, so many ways to cut a cigar how do we choose?

If you look at the end of the cigar which you puff from you will notice a circular cap. This cap is there for a reason, because way before the invention of the cigar cutter people were just biting the caps off of their favorite smoke. Quick, easy and you don't have to spend any money on a fancy cutter.

Now, I've used every method available to cut my cigars. All are effective although I hate the punch(some cigars are rolled tighter than others and if you punch a tight cigar you're probably not going to get the desired draw. so stay away). Choosing to cut or bite comes down to personal preference so don't let anyone try and tell you that there is one tried and true way of "cutting" a cigar....

History of the Smoke

For many, cigar history began when Christopher Columbus found Cuba during his first voyage in October 1492 and sent two men – Rodrigo de Xerez and Luis de Torres - to explore the island and meet with the natives. They introduced the Spaniards to the after-dinner practice of inhaling the smoke of burned leaves into the nose through a Y-shaped device called a “tobacco.”

The leaves and the “pipe” were taken back to Spain and over the next two centuries, the process was refined into the cigar we know today, produced primarily in Seville, Spain under monopoly of the Spanish Crown. Although there was tobacco grown on other Caribbean islands by the mid-1500s, Cuba was well established as the headquarters of the tobacco trade and cigars produced there carried the same notoriety they do today. Cigars continued to be made in other places, of course, and in the 20th Century, American consumers primarily enjoyed domestic cigars with some higher-end brands imported mostly from Cuba. When U.S. President John F. Kennedy imposed a ban on Cuban products in February 1962, the door was opened for producers from other countries. Cuba retains its tradition in cigars, but the sale of products from Cuba continues to be illegal in the United States.

Today, American consumers enjoy machine-made cigars manufactured in the U.S. and premium (handmade) cigars made in the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico and Indonesia, among others.

Churchill's Favorite Smokes

La Aroma De Cuba
Distributed by Ashton Cigars
La Aroma de Cuba, a famous turn of the century Cuban brand made famous in part by Sir Winston Churchill who often described the cigar as one of his favorites. Using proprietary Cuban seed Honduran tobaccos, the La Aroma de Cuba is one of the most popular boutique brands ever made in Honduras.


Romeo Y Julieta
Pepin Fernandez Rodriguez, who bought the Romeo y Julieta cigar brand from Alvarez y Garcia in 1903 is credited with introducing the "Churchill cigar" (Rodriguez entrepreneurially launched a number of "celebrity" cigars). At 7 inches long, with a ring gauge of 47, the delicious Romeo y Julieta Churchill cigar in its distinctive red and gold band is still a favorite today.