Romeo y Julieta

About

Romeo y Julieta Cigars The decision to name Romeo y Julieta cigars after Shakespeare’s most famous play was made by the torcedores themselves. The lectors of Havana – those who read to the cigar rollers while they work – are among the Cuban cigar industry’s most famous institutions, and at the end of the 19 th century one of their favourite works to recite was the tale of the star-cross’d lovers. So enraptured were the factory personnel that in 1875 they elected to name a new marca in honour of the play, and so began one of the most famous stories in the Habanos lexicon. Today’s Romeo y Julieta boxes still wear an image of the young lovers’ famous meeting on a balcony in Verona, surrounded by the gold medals won by the brand’s cigars over the years. This image is an example of the strong and successful branding created in the early part of the 20 th century by Don “Pepin” Rodriguez, the shrewd businessman who built the profile of the cigars to the global level it sits at today. Rodriguez also built on the strong example set by Ramon Allones cigars in having bands placed on each stick – in fact, he expanded on the practice by allowing clients to commission their own, personalised cigar bands. It is estimated that over 20,000 such bands were in use at the peak of the trend. The Romeo y Julieta style is for medium-strength cigars, hand-rolled with premium tobacco from the Vuelta Abajo region. They share their literary heritage with Montecristo cigars : in 1935 Montecristo’s rollers followed the example of their colleagues by choosing their favourite book as the source of their name. The connections do not end there - almost 100 years later, Romeo y Julieta reversed the roles by following Montecristo’s example of having different strength profiles for different sections of their vitolario. The 145 th anniversary of Romeo y Julieta was marked by the release of the Linea de Oro – The Golden Line – in 2020, a medium-to-full strength blend in 3 new vitolas and exquisite lux