2006 Romeo y Julieta Churchill

This is one of the most famous cigars of the long and remarkable history of habanos.  Nowadays, it's good to have a few on hand of reasonable vintage, because the bands and packaging have changed markedly, and having one or two to take forward into the coming decades, to me, is important.  This 2006 model is not too pretty.  It's well rolled, and oily enough, but a closer examination reveals a few gips in the wrapper which will come into play negatively once we get underway. 

Which we quickly do.  It lights right up after a nice clean cut.  At first it's a bit of a double-puffer, with some air coming in through the tiny imperfections of the wrapper, and it's flavor is muted.  It has a typical Romeo charcter with a leathery, fruity taste, with some light tea on the finish.  It burns straight and slow for a few inches.  Nothing special happens throughout the first third. 

That's some nice tooth on that wrapper......

And as soon as we enter the zone of the 2nd third, the flavor becomes very rich and loaded with complex additions to the general flavor profile.  I taste light coffee along with the fruit, and the tea becomes more intense, as does the overall strength.  The cigar can now be puffed at a normal rate, and offers up plenty of smoke without heating up the cigar.  The burn is dead straight and the cigar is extremely rich.  This is where the age of the cigar shows itself to best advantage.  This is a really great smoke.  I prefer the full, intensely fruity flavor of a fresh Romeo y Julieta, but this cigar can hold it's own with the best, trading subtle, smooth and complex flavors for more stark ones.  And there is some coconut flavor just there.  Interesting. 

I know one other smoker who has had a few from this box, and I hope his experience ends up being as good as mine.  These old churchills don't always perform up to expectations, but thank goodness for the occasional superstar.  I would rate this particular cigar at 91 points.  Had it been excellent from first to last puff, it could have crept up to 93, I think.