The Royal Jamaica Oro Rojo (or ‘red gold’ in Spanish) is a far better looking cigar than it is a smoking cigar. The size that I smoked for this review was the 6” by 52 ring gauge Toro. The cigar is made by Altadis USA in the Dominican Republic with a Nicaraguan natural red/brown wrapper and binder, and filler with a blend of tobaccos from Nicaragua, Honduras and Jamaica (which is how it gets the name ‘Royal Jamaica’). This is a medium to bold cigar and not for beginners (or anyone else as far as I am concerned).
Flavor, Construction and Whatever…
I smoked one right after I bought a few, with a very disappointing experience. I thought that perhaps letting it sit in my humidor for a couple of months might help. It did not. In fact, it might have made things worse. The gold foil wrapper around the cigar gives it a flashy look but is not easy to remove. The cigar was hard to the touch in some spots and soft in others, showing inconsistent rolling techniques. This cigar was difficult to punch and I have a good punch, too. The draw was almost not there and I had to use a spike (a tool I don’t like to use) to open the draw just so I could light it. The cigar lit easily (one good point) but the first several puffs were very metallic tasting. The aroma reminded me of a pair of smelly old shoes I keep in my garage for yard work. I did smoke this cigar for a while hoping it would get better. The ash fell off at 1 ½ inches and the draw was closing up again. Suddenly at 2” in and 20 minutes of smoking time the draw got very light and easy. I thought that perhaps it just took a while for the cigar to come to life. To my chagrin, I noticed that the wrapper had split and was starting to un-roll itself. I just gave up on it and put it down. My first smoking experience fresh from my local cigar shop was not much better. After letting the cigar go out by itself I decided to cut it open and perhaps see what the problem was. I found some leaves with large veins, many with spots from insect damage or mold and the tobacco had a strong chemical odor.Value
No, a definite no on the value of this cigar. The Toros sell for $26 for a 5 pack and $83 for a box of 25. Even if these cigars were $2 a stick it would not be a good value. I have to say this was one of the worst smoking experiences of my life. I have smoked many more short fill cigars that were much better than this one. My wife said the cigar would have been much better if I never lit it. Even the troops at Camp Eggers in Afghanistan would not have smoked this one. Save a tobacco plant and do not smoke these.
