Going around from tobacco shop to tobacco shop, during my vacation in southern Spain, I finally managed, on the last day of our trip, to find an offering of Cuban leaf in down town Sevilla. Interestingly, they only had Romeo y Julieta No. 2 Tubos. Of course, I jumped at my first sighting of a decent cigar and got five for the way home. So happy was I to come across these at last that I figured I’d smoke one as soon as I got back to the hotel. Well, I wish I could tell you that my nightmare was over, but “Alas!” the stick was moldy inside the tube! I opened a second tube and would you believe it too was moldy?

Well, it was… and I started getting slightly nauseous at the thought that the only lot of Cuban cigars I’d found in all of Cadiz and Sevilla were all moldy. I opened four tubes before I called it quits, preserving the last one untouched, if only so that I could hold on to some hope during my seven hour long trip back to Madrid. It sat in my pocket for the whole ride back and as in a strange twilight zone kind of twist it was completely fine, so I decided to do a review.

Now, I should mention that there are some older R&J No.2 tubos which are gray and are actually not as good as the ones that come in white tubes. These little guys are not very powerful but are rewarding with their unique aroma and flavor, which I would characterize as slightly sweet and floral initially. I would characterize the entire Romeo Y Julieta line as light to medium bodied.

The wrapper on the petit corona is somewhat sweet but not without the peppery taste of a good Cuban wrapper. Though I found the draw to be a bit on the tighter side, the cigar produces a good volume of smoke after a quick light. I got a few different notes in the first few puffs, sweet nutmeg, butter, white pepper, and maybe a little bit of leather. The smoke generally has a very creamy and smooth texture overall.

Into the 2nd third you can sense the darker aromas and flavors come to the fore. The leather notes come up a bit, with new emerging coffee and a little cacao. The smoke is still slightly sweet, perhaps less so than at the onset.

I corrected the burn on this stick slightly a couple of times, but in general I would say that they burn well. If you feel like taking these down to the last inch, you won’t have a problem. The coffee notes will pick up and a sweet cedar note should appear and eventually embody the medium finish. This is a little cigar that is definitely worth the price; just make sure that, unlike me, you are able to get your money back for a ruined batch!

It used to be that the only claim to a Cuban Maduro cigar came from infamous online shops claiming to sell pre-embargo Cuban cigars. To me, the entire claim was ludicrous on the surface, if only because until now, there has never been a genuine Cuban “Maduro”, and if may say so, I never expected it.

So you can guess how surprised I was to see that, after all these years, during this past Habanos festival Cuba unveiled their Cohiba Maduro 5; yes, they are actually labeling these cigars “Maduro” right on the label and bands!

I’m still a little intrigued as to why they would do it now. After all, Cuban wrappers are so uniquely different on their own that I had just grown to accept the proverbial Maduro as uniquely a non-Cuban thing.

Nevertheless, Habanos S.A. is introducing the cigar as the “heir of the best tradition of Cuban dark wrapper cigars”. At first I said: A tradition of Maduro cigars? But they define their Maduro 5 wrappers as the upper leaves of the plant bearing a characteristic range of dark colors and textures brought on through their long, complex process of full natural fermentation, which, I suppose, is meant to say that they’ve not really done anything new, but just taken their fermentation process to the edge to come up with a very dark and rich wrapper, darker than they have until now. Reportedly, it takes five years of natural fermentation to produce the new wrapper, free of any chemical or temperature manipulation of any kind.

In case you haven’t guessed it just yet, these cigars are expensive, prohibitively so in most cases, costing up to $ 650.00 a box depending on the format: Genios, Magicos, or Secretos. Hmmm… I see a review forthcoming.

There’s no hiding the fact that I’ve been spending more time at work in recent months, but it is with great elation that I report the completion of a major project of grand importance in my company which has entitled me to a couple months vacation!

I already went away to Andalusia for a two week escapade where I came to a startling realization: the typical Andalusian cigar smoker doesn’t smoke premium cigars!

I wanted to do an “off the beaten path” trip through the southern provinces and had decided not to bring my humidor; my logic being that I’d be able to find properly humidified premium cigars at every corner. Boy was I wrong. I ended up touring the utterly stunning Andalusian landscape, and I mean stunning, while smoking dollar cigars that came wrapped in aluminum foil.

I did visit numerous tobacco shops along the way, but most didn’t have a proper humidor. Even the ones that had something resembling a humidor, used it for keeping their dollar cigars: cheap coronas made with tobacco from the Canary Islands blended with Sumatra or Brazilian leaf. Eventually it did begin to make sense to me. I mean, the Canary Islands produce tons of tobacco every year, and so, being practically neighboring provinces, people just have a natural tendency toward cigars made rather “locally”.

I was still surprised to find out that they didn’t carry the Canary Islands’ most well known brands like Condal or Peñamil. Not that they are great, but at least they are recognizable. What little they did have was usually machine made. I looked and looked, but finally gave up.

So, what did I end up smoking, you ask? Haha… meet the Don Julian No.1: A foil wrapped, precut, corona made with a blend of Canary Islands and Sumatra tobaccos.

The thing opens like pack of gum to reveal a slightly box pressed cigar that is precut in a v-shape. You can tell right away that it tastes largely of “blond” tobacco. It’s very mild, the ash doesn’t hold up worth a dime, the draw is too lose for my liking, but it did have a redeeming quality: the thing never goes out. I mean I could just as well smoke one while surfing in the Mediterranean and the persistent little stick will burn to the very nub every time.

I couldn’t help thinking of George Burns’ famous line about cheap cigars not going out during his act. Here’s one last interesting detail for such a cheapo, a folded foot!

Toward the end of the trip I did manage to get me some actual hand made Habanos from a shop in Sevilla, but that is a story for another day, believe me; besides this post is already overloaded with photos. Here’s a short clip of what’s it’s like to open one.

I want to take the time to answer a very frequent email question from all across the spectrum. The question generally is, “What online Cuban cigar shops have you used and can you recommend a few?” The short answer to that question is simply that I have very seldom purchased Cuban cigars online. The main reason for this is that I just walk to the town tobacconist, walk into the humidor and pick my Habanos one by one. If I want an entire box of a particular cigar, I just order it in advance from my local shop.

That said, I have on a couple of occasions bought Cuban cigars from a German shop called ZigarrenBugge, my usual non-Cuban cigar dealer. As you can imagine, quality non-Cuban cigars are very, very hard to find in the E.U.; so when i make an online purchase of some of my favorite Nicaraguans, Hondurans, or Dominicans, I may throw in a few Cuban cigars as well, if the price is right. I can definitely recommend them.

Another reputable online shop is CigarOne. These guys have been around for a while, sell genuine Habanos, and offer good deals on occasions. Take for instance their current advertised deals—I like their Punch-Punch box of 25 for $219; expensive? Well, Cuban cigars are expensive. Don’t expect to find cheap or even affordable Cubans anywhere on the net, if you find them, they are 100% fakes. The online counterfeit Cuban cigar operation is huge; and the fact is that no one in their right mind will sell a box of Cuban cigars at 1/2 price!

I expect that Cuban cigar prices will skyrocket yet, when the “beloved leader” of the Cuban people finally assumes room temperature. Take my word for it.