Romeo y Julieta Aniversario No. 2 Review
Romeo y Julieta is arguably the best-known brand of cigars out there. The first time I bought cigars for myself and a friend (ahh, the good old days when you didn’t have to be 21 to buy tobacco!), our interest was inspired by the fact that his father smoked Romeo y Julietas. The brand is also one of the oldest still in existence. Today, we’re taking a look at the cigar that Romeo y Julieta parent company Altadis created to celebrate its 130th anniversary with a Romeo y Julieta Aniversario No. 2 review.
Going into this review, I’ve never had this cigar before. Off the bat, I’m intrigued by the complex blend. The wrapper on this cigar is an Ecuadorian Sumatra, a leaf I’ve loved on other cigars in the past. The broadleaf binder is an interesting addition, and a touch of Peruvian tobacco in the filler promises something exciting and different.
Critical Stats
- Vitola: Belicoso
- Size: 6.1×52
- Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra
- Binder: Connecticut broadleaf
- Filler: Dominican, Nicaraguan and Peruvian
- Strength: Medium
- Smoking Time: 1 hour
First Third
Before lighting, a cold draw offers up notes of nuts, a bit of cedar and a very slight hay. The draw is a bit tight, but may well relax once the cigar is burning.
In the initial puffs, I find that the nuttiness is most of what carries over from the cold draw. The hay note is completely gone, and the cedar, if present at all, is quite reserved. I do get a rather pleasant coffee note and a generic toastiness to start the Romeo y Julieta Aniversario No. 2 . As I smoke, touches of chocolate and leather begin to emerge, though neither one is particularly prominent.
During the first third, I find that the cigar teases me with the occasional bit of tobacco sweetness. When the sweetness shows up, it adds a great deal to the flavor of the cigar. The problem, however, is that this sweet tinge is both elusive and inconsistent. Some draws I get it, others I don’t. This presents a slightly frustrating smoking situation, as I find the sweeter note quite pleasant. I keep expecting it to become more consistent, but it insists on remaining hidden most of the time.
Second Third
As the second third begins, I find that the coffee note that made the initial puffs of the first third quite appealing is receding into the background. Nuts and toastiness dominate, and a bit of cedar lurks in the background as a supporting note.
Again, the sweeter quality plays with me in the second third. I can’t help but think that the cigar is really going to “take off” at any minute with some combination of tobacco sweetness and either a more pronounced cedar or a resurgent coffee note. Alas, this turns out not to be the case.
Construction-wise, the cigar is doing very well. I did require one touch-up in the second third, though it was a very minor one. The draw remains just slightly tight for my taste, but it presents no real issues at all. This cigar is fairly well-made, as you might expect from Romeo y Julieta.
Final Third
By this point in the Romeo y Julieta Aniversario No. 2 review, I’ve given up much hope that the cigar is going to amaze me. The sweetness that has teased me to this point largely disappears, giving way to a somewhat dull dominant toastiness with more coffee also coming into play. Touch-ups did become a bit more frequent here but were still manageable. The cigar comes in for a mundane landing, smoking reasonably well until the end.
Romeo y Julieta Aniversario No. 2 Review and Closing Thoughts
Flavor
To be honest, the Romeo y Julieta Aniversario No. 2 is a bit of a perplexing cigar for me. The blend on this cigar is undeniably complex. However, my experience is best summed up by a phrase I jotted down on a whim somewhere in my notes on the second third while smoking: “decidedly simple.” This cigar doesn’t evolve very much as I smoke, and while the flavor is reasonably enjoyable and not off-putting in any way, it never really jumps out and grabs me. This leads me to wonder why Romeo y Julieta went to the trouble of putting together such a fascinating assortment of tobaccos for this blend.
Construction
In terms of construction, the cigar performs a bit better. The draw may have been just a tiny bit tighter than I like, but it was extremely consistent and never interfered with my smoking in any way. Despite needing touch-ups here and there, nothing stands out as a serious negative here.
Value
I bought this cigar for about $11, which seems to track with prices I see online. Given the final rating (see below), I can’t say it’s a great value. There are several cigars in the same price range or below that I would much rather smoke. The value proposition here isn’t bad enough for me to deduct a point, but I might if I had paid any more for it.
Final Verdict
5/10
The biggest stumbling block for this cigar is that I just expected….more? Up until about halfway through the second third, I believed that the “take off” point for this cigar was just around the corner. I caught glimpses of something interesting when the sweeter notes came in. This was especially true in the first third, which was by far the most interesting. However, the moment when the Romeo y Julieta Aniversario No. 2 would dazzle me with layers of flavor remained elusive.
In the end, this cigar strikes me as precisely average. Nothing objectionable, but nothing to write home about either. I’m normally a fan of Romeo y Julieta, so this cigar might get another review to see if another sample does better.
