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Swiss Cuban Cigars reviews the Romeo y Julieta Short Churchill

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When you think about famous cigar smokers, the chances are Sir Winston Churchill is high on the list. Frequently pictured with a cigar in hand, Churchill lived life in a way that didn’t preclude his love of alcohol and smoking. And his favourite brand of Cuban cigars was Romeo y Julieta.

This led to the brand decided name a cigar after the great man himself. This turned into a whole range of Churchills, and the latest to be added to the range in 2006 was the Short Churchill.

Since hitting the market, Short Churchills have become one of the most popular cigars with aficionados. Let’s take a deep dive into the Short Churchill and find out why smokers love it so much.

Swiss Cuban Cigars Reviews | Short Churchill from Romeo y Julieta

While the Short Churchill was launched in 2006, the Romeo y Julieta Cigars brand has been around for far longer.

The brand began in 1875 when Manin Garcia and Inocencio Alverez decided to launch a bid for the Cuban cigar market. Named after Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy, the Romeo y Julieta cigar brand started off strongly.

Up until 1900, the brand won loads of awards – you can see this represented in its logo showing gold medals. It was the acquisition by Jose Rodriguez Fernandez in 1903 that really sent the brand stratospheric within the market.

Utilising his experience as the former head of the Cabanas factory in Havana, Cuba, Fernandez took the brand on the road across the Americas and Europe. This led to it becoming very popular everywhere around the world, appealing to wealthy smokers.

Romeo y Julieta | the Churchill connection

Sir Winston Churchill became the brand’s most famous fan, leading eventually to the naming of the most popular vitola after him. He acquired his love of cigars after serving in Cuba, after which he refused to smoke any other kind.

So important were Cuban cigars to his daily life, he set aside a dedicated room to store up to 4,000 cigars at Chartwell, his home in Kent.

As a lover of cigars, Churchill smoked a number of different brands but Romeo Y Julieta remained his favourite. According to historians, he smoked up to ten a day during WW2, and some say he credited his strong and steadfast leadership during the war to smoking regularly.

Over the years, Churchill and his cigar became synonymous. Rarely pictured in any memorabilia without one, Churchill waves lyrical about smoking Cuban cigars in a collection of essays in 1932.

Flavours and depth of the Short Churchill

Today, there is a cigar on display in the Cabinet War Rooms in London. The cigar is part smoked by Sir Winston himself, and is a classic Romeo y Julieta Churchills. Had the Short Churchill been around at the time, we have no doubt that he would have smoked these as well as the classic.

Romeo y Julieta Short Churchills have a ring gauge of 50 and are 4.9 inches (or 124 mm) long. Ranked consistently high smokers, Short Churchills are medium strength and are packed full of flavours – the kinds of flavours you might expect someone like Sir Winston to enjoy!

Expect flavour notes that include earth, leather and honey that belie the relatively new status this cigar holds in the market. Short Churchills are one of the newest in the range of Romeo y Juliete cigars, and has become exceptionally popular in the 17 years since it hit the market.

How does the Short Churchill smoke?

Well known for its smooth and rich flavour, the Short Churchill has hints of herbs and grass in the first and third parts of the smoke. The middle has more earthy tones, and a hint of spice.

When you first light a Short Churchill, you get an immediate combination of earthiness, a touch of pepper and an undercurrent of woodiness. You’ll find that the pepper cuts through the smoke, which is produced in creamy clouds.

The middle of the smoking experience will leave a hint of saltiness on your palate, with some darker hints of espresso and a minerally leather tone. And finally, the last section of the smoke is by far the richest, moving into a more full bodied smoke.

An accessible and enjoyable choice

The Short Churchill provides an easy, relaxing but medium to full bodied cigar smoking experience. And, thanks to their relatively good value when compared with other cigars in the Romeo y Juliete range, they’re a consistent best seller.

We estimate the smoking experience as around 60 minutes – possibly around 45 minutes – making it an accessible cigar for just about any occasion.

And if you’re wondering how Sir Winston Churchill managed to smoke 10 cigars a day with no ill effects, it’s at least partly down to the fact that he didn’t smoke them to the end. In fact, he would smoke a cigar for only a few minutes, before allowing it to burn out.

Later on, he would pick up the cigar to chew it rather than smoke. He always left around two inches on each cigar, and in later life discarded so many that his staff at Chartwells would collect the ends to regift to a gardener on the Estate.

Short Churchills represent excellent value and a great smoke

The Romeo y Julieta Churchill range now includes a regular Churchill, the Short Churchill which we are reviewing here, the Petit Churchill and the Wide Churchill.

Ideal for the casual or new smoker, the Short Churchill has a clear flavour profile that remains pronounced throughout the smoke. However, the flavours never dominate or compete in the mouth. Instead, it’s a balanced and mellow, yet rich, smoking experience.

Whether you choose to smoke a Short Churchill like the man himself – and end up with lots of cigar ends at the end of the day – or you want to find the ideal cigar for a special occasion, you can’t go far wrong with this choice.

Accessible enough for occasional smokers, but well crafted and flavourful enough for the cigar expert, the Short Churchill has a lot to offer for just about anyone who likes cigars. We highly recommend it, particularly for its good value price point.

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Swiss Cuban Cigars: reviewing the Wide Churchill from Romeo y Julieta

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Romeo y Julieta is a brand much loved among cigar aficionados, and its Wide Churchill cigar is equally popular.

Before we look more closely at the Wide Churchill itself, it’s worthwhile delving into the history and development of the overall brand.

Romeo y Julieta – the birth of a Cuban cigar brand

Named, of course, for Shakespeare’s most well loved tragedy Romeo and Juliet, the brand of cigars was launched in 1875 by Manin Garcia and Inocencio Alvarez.

Today you can see on the logo references to the gold medals that the brand won during the first decades of its existence. Between 1885 and the turn of the century, Romeo y Julieta won lots of tasting exhibition awards.

Despite this early success, the brand itself didn’t establish itself more widely until it was bought by Jose Rodriguez Fernandez (aka ‘Pepin’). Prior to the acquisition Fernandezz headed up the Havana based Cabanas factory under his company name: Rodriguez Arguelles u Cia.

He bought the Romeo y Julieta brand in 1903 and took it overseas. A keen traveller throughout the Americas and throughout Europe, Fernandez was able to spread the word about his brand of Cuban cigars.

Clever marketing and a great brand

Due to Fernandez’ exceptional sales ability, the Romeo y Julieta brand became very very popular among wealthy customers all around the world during the first decades of the 20th century.

The brand became known for its special editions and personalised cigars created for individual customers. And you may already have guessed this, but the most famous lover of Romeo y Julieta cigars was none other than Sir Winston Churchill himself – quite the accolade!

Today, the brand’s leading vitola (size) is named for Sir Winston, and continues to be extremely popular. Fernandez died at the grand age of 88 in 1954, after which Cuban cigars were nationalised following the revolution.

While we are now going to look in more detail at the Wide Churchill, it’s worth pointing out that Romeo y Julieta has a vast range of vitolas in its line.

Sir Winston Churchill loved Romeo y Julieta cigars

Just as Sir Winston Churchill was a larger than life cigar lover, the Cuban named after him is also extremely large. The Wide Churchill was added to the brand’s range in 2010 in order to provide customers with a larger ring gauge.

The original Romeo y Juliet Churchill was first named for Clemenceau. Following Churchill’s visit to 1946, it was swiftly renamed after the Prime Minister. It was another 60 years before the Short Churchill was introduced, followed by the Wide.

The Wide Churchill is hand-rolled using the same high quality tobacco hailing from the uelta Abajo region in Cuba that the other Churchills use. It’s a perennial favourite with cigar lovers, particularly those looking for something that really feels meaty in the mouth.

How does the Wide Churchill smoke?

So, we’ve had a look at the history of the Wide Churchill and we know the tobacco used to hand roll it. But what does it actually taste like when you smoke it?

Because it’s such a large ring gauge (55), the Wide Churchill naturally offers the smoker a cooler and slower experience. This actually allows the rich flavour to flourish and develop as you smoke it. Before you even light it, the Wide Churchill is extremely tactile and pleasing.

Wrapped in a very dark wrapper (Colorado leaf), the cigar’s outer has the appearance of distressed leather, which helps to add to its rich and luxurious feel. It’s the perfect addition to a celebratory event, such as a wedding, as it allows for a slow, relaxed communal smoking experience. And, of course, it’s such high quality.

Complex yet balanced flavour profile

When you first draw on a Wide Churchill, you immediately experience floral, spicy and sweet aromas. On the mouth, you will taste hints of pepper with and underlying earthy quality wrapped in a nutmeg and toast flavour.

Once the smoking is fully underway and you’re making your way through the first third of the cgar, you will taste complex flavours comprising caramel, nuts and leather with a hint of sweetmess in a blackberry flavour.

While the smoke remains largely medium bodied throughout the smoke, you will get hits of full bodied too. And, as you smoke the final third of the Wide Churchill, the flavours become even more complex.

This complexity doesn’t disrupt the overall balance of flavours, however, but just adds to the diversity.

A satisfying smoking experience

Expect the flavours to deepen as you reach the end of the smoke and also expect the sooth quality of the experience to continue throughout.

While it’s the taste that brings cigar lovers back to the Wide Churchill over and over, the price point also helps. It gives you a lot of great smoking for the price, which obviously increases its appeal with keen smokers.

The Romeo y Juliet Wide Churchill really is the whole package. It’s the kind of cigar that newcomers to Cubans recognise as a classic, just from its looks. And, while it’s much loved by aficionados, it’s also a great entry level cigar for those new to smoking.

Incredibly satisfying to hold and to smoke, the Wide Churchill may be one of the younger additions to the Romeo y Julieta line, but it’s one that’s most definitely here to stay.

Swiss Cuban Cigars reviews the Wide Churchill

The team at Swiss Cuban Cigars are primarily based in Spain, but the site sells a vast range of authentic Cuban cigars all around the world. And while much of the store’s appeal is in its ease of use, fast delivery and simple payment options, the Swiss Cuban Cigars team also has a lot of love for the products they sell.

They regularly review the most well known and most loved Cuban cigar brands in order to help their customers select what’s right for their needs. The review for the Wide Churchill is consistently positive, with customers regularly citing them as a favourite thanks to their slow, rich smoking experience.