Noodle | CigarCraig's Blog

Yesterday my wife and I took a little drive to Connecticut. My wife bought a really cool antique rooster cigar cutter in an auction, and it would have been a big hassle to have it shipped, so we decided to drive up and pick the thing up. A bit frivolous, I realize, but these days just getting out of the house to do something is something! We did manage to have our first Popeyes chicken sandwich on the way, and picked up a White Castle Crave Case to nibble on on the way home! That’s kind of a Russian roulette move, isn’t it? Eat White Castle sliders on the road and see if you can make it home in time! I paced myself, one every two exits (credit to Jenn for the idea, btw. I may not have had the willpower). By I guess I have a strong constitution, it wasn’t a problem. While the cutter isn’t sharp enough to be functional, I think it’s really cool, and Drew Newman, of J.C. Newman, commented on Instagram that they have one in their museum, so that’s kinda neat. When I got home, I was ready for a cigar, I was going to have one on the drive, but I was too busy navigating the traffic to take the time to cut and light, I figured it would be less stressful to just wait until I got home.

I selected a cigar that was new to me, and was shared with me in a Secret Santa pack last Christmas. Many thanks for that! The cigar is a Room 101/Cigar Dojo collaboration that was made in the William Ventura factory in the Dominican Republic and didn’t really seem to have a name, but was called “noodles”. I thought I saw a comment from Matt with a more specific name, but I can’t find it, and who knows with him anyway, he’s a little loony! It’s a good sort of loony, mind you, but loony, nonetheless. This has a natural colored San Andrès wrapper, Sumatra binder and Criollo ’98, Corojo ’99, and Havana Vuelta Abajo fillers. Oddly, as much as I like a Maduro fermented San Andrés wrapper, Natural San Andrés rarely does anything for me. Such was the case with this cigar. One would think the Sumatra binder would be a saving grace, sadly no. While technically the Belicoso shape was a perfect delivery system, the flavor didn’t excite me, it was sour to my palate, and, except for a short stretch where I got an interesting flavor of something I couldn’t put a finger on, but liked. For the right palate, this would be a great cigar.

Since the Room 101 was only a 5½” x 52 Belicoso, and seemed to smoke pretty fast, I was left wanting. Since I had been chowing down on White Castle burgers non-stop all afternoon, I figured what goes better with burgers than fries, right? So a Drew Estate Papas Fritas was the obvious choice, and since I had one out for the ride, I fired one up. These little 4½’ x 44 mixed fill cigars, while a little pricey for what they are, they are exceptional. They aren’t too far off in flavor from a Liga Privada, they use the same Broadleaf wrapper and Brazilian binder and filled with trimmings from the benches where Ligas are rolled. The original version was presented in four count tins, somewhere I have a Havana Romeo y Julieta tin of the same design from the 60’s or 70s. They used to offer these tins on transAtlantic flights! Those were the days! Anyway, great little cigars!