Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real Nicaragua Midnight Twist Twisted Toro

Today, we review the Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real Nicaragua Midnight Twist in the Twisted Toro. The Midnight Twist is a barber-pole offering, and it combines two extensions that Altadis U.S.A. introduced to its ever-popular Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real. These extensions are the Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real Nicaragua, and the second is the Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real Twisted.

The Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real Nicaragua was introduced in 2019. This was a Nicaraguan-made, all-Nicaraguan blend meant to complement the Dominican-made Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real. The Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real Twisted introduced a barber-pole offering on the Dominican-made Reserva Real. Midnight Twist is a barber-pole offering based on the Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real Nicaragua.

The following are the three barber-pole projects that Altadis U.S.A. has created over the past couple of years:

Let’s break down the Midnight Twist Twisted Toro and see what this cigar brings to the table.

Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real Nicaragua Midnight Twist Twisted Toro – Cigar Review

SPECIFICATIONS

Blend and Origin

The Reserva Real Nicaragua Midnight Twist features 100% Nicaraguan tobacco, including the two wrappers used in the blend. The binder and filler are the same as those found on the Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real Nicaragua. Like the Reserva Real Nicaragua, the Midnight Twist is produced at AJ Fernandez’s factory in Estelí, Nicaragua.

Wrapper: Nicaraguan (2 wrappers)
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Factory: Tabacalera AJ Fernandez Cigars de Nicaragua S.A.

Vitolas Offered

The Midnight Twist is available in two sizes, each packaged in 25-count boxes. These two barber-pole sizes are also found on the Dominican Reserva Real Twisted release.

Twisted Love story: 46 x 4 1/4
Twisted Toro: 54 x 6

Appearance (*)

The Dominican Made Romeo y Julieta Twisted is a classic light and dark contrast barber-pole. As the name indicates, the Midnight Twist is more of a darker contrast. The Midnight Twist Twisted Toro wrappers are best described as medium brown and dark brown intertwined. This cigar also had a slight amount of oil on the surface. Finally, there were also a few visible veins on the surface of this cigar.

PERFORMANCE

Pre-Light Draw (*)

A straight cut was used to remove the Midnight Twist Twisted Toro cap. Once the cap was removed, it was time to commence the pre-light draw experience. The cold draw delivered a mix of coffee and earth notes. Overall, this was a satisfactory pre-light draw experience. At this point, it was time to toast up the footer of the Midnight Twist Twisted Toro and move on to the smoking phase.

Tasting Notes

The Midnight Twist Twisted Toro opened up with notes of coffee, earth, and hay. As the cigar moved through the early stages, some pepper and a slight fruit note emerged as well. The coffee note moved into the forefront, with the earth, hay, fruit, and pepper settling in the background. The retro-hale delivered notes of wood and a touch of pepper.

Toward the latter part of the Midnight Twist Twisted Toro, the earth and hay notes increased. Once past the midway point, the earth notes joined the coffee in the forefront. At the same time, the pepper notes started to increase.

Once into the final third, the earth notes displaced the coffee. The coffee settled into the background with the hay and pepper notes. There were still touches of fruit providing sweetness. The one significant change in this third was an underlying harshness beginning to emerge. While it wasn’t an overpowering harshness, it still impacted the final third. The cigar finished with a soft, cool nub as the Midnight Twist Twisted Toro came to a close.

Burn

The burn of the Midnight Twist Twisted Toro required multiple touch-ups to maintain a straight burn path and burn line. While the touch-ups did the trick to keep things on track, there were more touch-ups required than I preferred. The resulting ash wasn’t overly firm, but it wasn’t loose either. The cigar had some occasional flaking. This was an ash that was light gray in color. The burn rate and burn temperature maintained ideal levels.

Burn of the Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real Nicaragua Midnight Twist Twisted Toro

Draw

Overall, the Midnight Twist Twisted Toro draw performed excellently. This draw had a touch of resistance, which was in a sweet spot in terms of my preference. At the same time, this was a low-maintenance cigar to derive flavor from.

Strength and Body

The Midnight Twist Twisted Toro started out with medium strength and medium-bodied flavors. Along the way, the strength and body intensified nominally. At the end of the cigar, there was slightly more strength and body compared to the start.

In terms of strength versus body, the Midnight Twist Twisted Toro’s two attributes balanced each other nicely, with neither attribute overshadowing the other.

BANDING AND PACKAGING NOTES (*)

The original Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real Nicaragua introduced a blue version of the original red-colored Romeo y Julieta Reserva line band. Regarding the Midnight Twist, it keeps the Reserva Real Nicaragua blue band but adds the “Midnight Twist” name to it.

The large band itself gives the appearance of a primary and secondary band pair, but it is a single band with the pseudo-secondary band effect. Overall, the blue band contrasted nicely with the barber-pole wrapper.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Final Thoughts

When it comes to barber-pole cigars, I find there often is a lot of hype, but they fall short of expectations. This was a similar case with the Midnight Twist Twisted Toro. It’s a good cigar, but it falls short of its sibling, the Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real Nicaragua – which was a Top 20 cigar in 2020. In the end, while my preference is for the original Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real Nicaragua, the Midnight Twist Twisted Toro comes in at fair price. This is a cigar I could still recommend to any cigar enthusiast. As for myself, there was enough going on for me to buy and smoke the Midnight Twisted Toro again. However, it isn’t at the box-worthy consideration level of the original Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real Nicaragua.

Summary

Key Flavors: Coffee, Earth, Hay, Fruit, Wood, Pepper
Burn: Very Good
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium
Finish: Excellent