One of three Limited Edition Series for 2009 (the other two are the Bolivar Petit Belicosos and the H Upmann Magnum 48), the Duke is another jawbreaker at 54 x 140…(There will be a rant post about that next week)…

The Romeo y Julieta Duke 2009 LE itself is and attractive looking stick, with a smooth reddish brown wrapper that has that great Cuban smell, a mix of tobacco, Hay and Earth that is quite unique…It is also nicely spongy when squeezed…

However, that is where most of the enjoyment ends…This cigar, while having some nice flavors of Wood, hay, earth and spice, changed very little through the entire smoke, and I got bored with it about halfway through…I still finished it, but if I was not smoking for a review, I would have pitched it with about 1/3rd left and sparked up something better…I kept waiting for the cigar to change flavor profiles, or ramp up in strength, but alas, no such luck…

The draw was a bit loose (which is fairly standard for such a Large RG), but the burn was abysmal, and I had to touch the wrapper up multiple times throughout the smoke, to the point where I lost count after 10…

The Bottom Line: The Romeo y Julieta Duke 2009 LE is the very definition of a “Young Cuban” and a prime example of the plague of “Limited Edition” smokes coming out of Cuba that leave quite a bit to be desired…the flavors were ok (albeit one dimensional), but the complexity was severely lacking, and the construction was horrible…I am not sure this cigar will benefit greatly from aging (most cubans do however), but in my humble opinion, if you smoke one now, you are wasting the cigar, especially at the price you are going to pay for them (about $11 to $17 a stick)…There are much better cigars, for much less money…

Final Score: 83