Romeo y Julieta Petit Piramide EL 2005

Measures: 124 mm x 20 mm

Age: I bought three of these new cigars in September. By the time of smoking, they had spent almost three months in my humidor.

Setting: This Sunday turned out to be a nearly perfect early winter day, with clear skies and temperature just below freezing. Thus we were able to enjoy sunshine for the whole day; very nice indeed after the stormy and rainy final weeks of November. This encouraged me to brave the cold and have a good cigar after lunch. I was already fingering a Partagás P2, when the three Petit Piramides I had got some months ago caught my eye. Why not indeed? The whole idea of buying a few was to try them out and determine if I should by a whole box.

The format of this cigar is unique: a short piramide it is, more than an inch shorter than the regular ones. In my eyes, the result is a cigar with attitude just like a small sports coupe is different from a big GT vehicle, as if the cigar was saying "let's go for a ride". The external characteristics of the cigar match what one might expect from a limited edition Habanos: dark, oily wrapper, very solid construction with a perfectly shaped cap. The cigar felt very densely packed to my fingers, having hardly any resilience. This made me worried about the draw, but it turned out to be ideally resistive. The pre-draw aroma reminded me of cocoa over lightly roasted tobacco. The cigar lighted easily and burned well, only requiring slight assistance at one-inch point.

The cigar started with a measured pang of floral aromas that soon settled to a more understated expression. During the first half of the cigar, I was reminded of the high-register herbal tones of the regular RyJ's; this cigar nevertheless had more body and depth. A modest amount of spice blended with the core tobacco in a nicely integrated manner. The aftertaste tingled nicely my nose and middle palate. Unfortunately, after the half-way mark these flavours became increasingly subdued: first, the herbs vanished, then the spice, until just the tobacco remained. At this point, the cigar lost the competition against the quite aromatic coffee I was drinking, and I abandoned it with more than one inch remaining.

Despite this low-key ending, the Petit Piramide yielded a very pleasant smoking session of little more than one hour, time-wise perfect for the less than ideal circumstances. I was glad that I took the chance with this cigar, unplanned as its choice was. All in all, I found myself thinking that the cigar probably was still at an early stage of its evolution, and that its aromas still were masked and muted even during the first half. How far will it go? My limited experience does not suffice to answering this question.

Will I buy a box? Based on this experience, no; I may change my mind after I have tried the other two after a good further rest. At any rate, of the two EL's of 2005, my vote as for now goes to the Montecristo D that I have found to be good literally down to the last millimeters.