Tag Archives: Room 101

by | September 22, 2024 · 9:28 am

New Big Payback and CAO Cigars, a Jaime Garcia and a Vegas Cubanas

This week I smoked some cigars I received from General Cigars and Forged, along with a couple cigars I picked up locally that I hadn’t smoked before.  I couple of them were obnoxiously large!  First off was the Room 101 Big Payback 70s Maduro.  I rather enjoyed the Olancho San Augustin (which they are now referring to as Sumatra, I never made that connection!) wrapped version that came out last year, despite its size.  This one has a US Broadleaf wrapper (Connecticut? Massachusetts?  Pennsylvania? My guess is the PA) over a Nicaraguan binder with fillers from the DR and Honduras, and it’s made at their factory in Honduras. I smoked this cigar for about two and a half hours and it burned well and had a pleasing flavor.  It’s pretty much what one would expect, although the excessive ring gauge makes it fairly mild. It has earthy cocoa and some sweetness.  Very nice cigar if you have a long time to do something like chat with friends or watch a game or a movie, as it doesn’t necessarily demand your attention. It has a $9 MSRP so it’s a good value.

 

I smoked a couple of the new CAO Arcana Thunder Smoke this week.  After the Arcana Firewalker debacle, I was a tad concerned.  This is an interesting blend, it has the Olancho San Augustin wrapper, a San Andrés binder and fillers from Africa: Zimbabwe, South Africa and Cameroon.  I watched the final episode of The Grand Tour on Prime yesterday, and it just made sense to smoke a cigar with tobacco from Zimbabwe. I watched this on the recommendation of Nick from The Cigar Pulpit podcast, and a great recommendation it was. I’ve been a big fan of Top Gear, The Grand Tour, and many of the presenters offshoot shows for many years. This cigar, third in the Arcana series, the first was the Mortal Coil, followed by the abysmal Firewalker, then this one.  This was a really enjoyable cigar for me. It’s got a unique Mesquite flavor going on, something rather different and pleasing.  The band is oversized, but that’s about the only bad thing I can say about it!  I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed the Mortal Coil, which I liked a great deal. 

 

I realized that My Father cigars were severely underrepresented on my site, and in my rotation, so I decided to branch out and pick something I haven’t tried before up every now and then.  I grabbed a Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial Super Gordo a week or so ago at a local shop.  The Super Gordo is 5¾” x 66, in a torpedo format so the excessive girth isn’t quite so unwieldy.  This does come in a 7″ x 70, which they didn’t have, nor would I have bought.  It has a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, an Ecuador binder and fillers from the Garcia farms in Nicaragua. Now that I remember, I smoked one of these last May in the Toro size and, although I had a cold, recall enjoying it. These are reasonably priced, hovering around $10 depending on the size. This Super Gordo might have been around $11.  This was an exceptional cigar, I really liked it.  It started out spicy, and the strength built up as it smoked, to a pretty full bodied cigar near the end. It had the sweet coffee/cocoa that I like in a Broadleaf wrapper. This was excellent. I want more.

 

Finally, I spied the Don Pepin Garcia Vegas Cubanas on the shelf, the green band is ey-catching.  This is another line that has been around a while, but has eluded my attention. This is another reasonably priced cigar, I think the Generosos (6″ x 50) was under $9.  Funny, ten years ago buying an $9 cigar to me was like buying a +$15 cigar today, it was very hard for me to justify!  This cigar has a nice looking Habano Rosado wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers. This is one I’ll pass on revisiting, I’m afraid.  It was nice enough, although it had a floral component that didn’t really do it for me.  Maybe it would be better in the morning, although floral isn’t ever really in my wheelhouse. I tolerate it, but it’s not a preference. If you enjoy floral cigar, this is for you!  Next time I’ll pick up some other cigars in the Don Pepin line, I haven’t had any of them in a while.

 

That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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by | April 28, 2024 · 10:16 am

Two More Panacea Cigars, a Room 101 and a Diesel Vintage

I finished off the sampler of Panacea Classic line cigars I bought from them a couple weeks back.  I’m to understand there are a few shops that carry the Flatbed Cigar Co. line, but they mostly are selling direct via the website. I’ve placed a couple orders and both were easy transactions and the cigars came well packaged, presented well and in a timely manner.  Of course, the company is located barely an hour from me, which helps with the shipping.  I’m going ot have to arange a visit one of these days!  I had the Blue Label and Black Label left, and smoked the Panacea Blue Label on Thursday.  This was the Toro size, a 6″ x 52, with a Cameroon wrapper.  I had thought that the Green Label was my favorite, bt I might have to amend that after smoking this Blue Label.  This was a delicious cigar, it had a nice white sugar sweetness, along with the nuttiness I get from Cameroon.  This was a fine, medium bodied cigar that I really enjoyed.  I might have to see if they offer a sampler of these like the Green Label sampler I got!   

 

The Panacea Black Label, which I keep wanting to call the White, I guess because I associate Connecticut wrapped cigars with white. Probably something Davidoff and Montecristo put into my head.  The Black Label was their first line launched in 2007, If I’m not mistaken.  Like I mentioned, it has an Ecuador Connecticut shade wrapper, and the rest is Dominican and Nicaraguan.  I had the Perfecto shape, which is 6″ x 51.  I was impressed with the flavor, it had a hint of that white sugar I got with the Blue Label, along with some of the classic shade grass and nuts.  I wish this had a better draw, I thought it would open up after the tapered foot burned down, but it really didn’t.  This would have been an outstanding cigar otherwise, certainly a Connecticut I’d smoke again.  After smoking thought the line, I think I’m most looking forward to sampling the Green and Blue Labels again, or maybe I’ll explore their Panacea Grande line.  Good stuff.

 

Yesterday I got some yard work and errands done, and spent a little time i the afternoon with a Room 101 Hit & Run Redux Robusto.  This 5″ x 50 has aSan Andrés wrapper, Ecuador Sumatra binder, and Nicaraguan and Pennsylvania fillers.  This is made at the William Ventura factory in Tamboril, DR.  I have to start out saying two things:  Is it weird that a 5″ x 50 seems like a small cigar now days?  It used to be y go to size, now I avoid them because they seem to smoke too quickly.  I suppose an hour isn’t that quick, but I guess I like to spend a little more time smoking now than I used to.  Second, I have not historically cared for a lot of cigars from William Ventura. I’m not entirely sure why that is, they seem to smoke well and have a large following, I just can’t seem to get into them.  Given the blend, I should have really liked this cigar, and I did like it, just found it a little underwhelming.  It had a nice toasty cocoa, almost a dark chocolate flavor.  The presentation is nice, and I’ll give another one a try after a while.  

 

Finally, I smoked the Diesel Vintage Series Natural in the Robusto Gordo size. This is 5″ x 56, made by A.J. Fernandez in Nicaragua, with an Ecuador wrapper, Nicaraguan Habano binder and five to seven year old Nicaraguan Jalapa fillers. I’ve smoked a lot of Diesel cigars over the years, And I really liked the original Diesel Vintage, which had a San Andrés wrapper. I have a rather basic palate, I got some saltiness, along with some citrus and nuts. Burn and draw were exceptional, it was a pleasurable smoke.  I would suggest you read my buddy Kaplowitz’ review of this if you would like a more colorful description.  I hit the basics, Kap digs deep into the flavors.  This probably falls near the bottom of my list of favorite Diesel cigars through no fault of the cigar, it is a more refined Diesel, which misses the point of the brand in my eye.  I think there’s some 13 year old Unholy Cocktails in the humidor, I might have to smoke one later.

 

That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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by | October 15, 2023 · 11:25 am

Some Foundation Cigars, a Big Payback and a Little Papas Fritas

I went and got a flu shot and a Covid vaccine yesterday and the combination has really kicked my ass.  Can’t recommend that pairing. Not sure which one gave me the fever and chills, but it was a miserable night last night, and I’m not exactly Mr. Happy this morning. We’ll see if the grass gets cut today or not, or if any cigars get smoked. Anyway, I stopped in to Cigar Mojo Thursday for their Foundation Cigars event with Eduardo Aguilar and Miguel “La Chaveta” Montanez for a quick visit. I probably could have stayed for a while, but I wanted to watch the Flyers game in the comfort of my own lounge, and I was fighting off a migraine, and a smokey lounge isn’t great for that.  So I did the grab and go thing, and went home and fired up a Tabernacle Havana Seed No. 142 Doble Corona and watched some hockey. The Doble Corona is a 7″ x 54 cigar, good for the pre-game show and into the second period. The wrapper is a Connecticut grown Havana No. 142, obviously, which is a hybrid seed which is dark and oily and really quite beautiful. The binder is San Andrés and the fillers are from Estekli and Jalapa in Nicaragua and JAmastran in Honduras.  This is a rich, spicy cigar with some sweetness. I also picked up a toro and a lancero, which I haven’t gotten around to smoking yet.  really looking forward to those. I love the original Tabernacle, but this one is something special.

 

Friday I grabbed a Foundation The Wise Man Maduro in the Robusto size. I like their Robusto because it’s 5½” x 50 and skirts the line between toro and robusto.  This was the sequel to the El Güegüense, which people fumbled over pronouncing. It seems it was easier to just call the maduro version by the translation: The Wise Man. Hard to argue the logic. This has a San Andrés wrapper, a COrojo 99 binder from Jalapa and fillers from Nicaragua. Being a fan of the Mexican wrapper, it’s hard for me not to love this cigar, it’s one of my favorites in the Foundation line.  It checks all the boxes for me, coffee, cocoa, some spice. I dig it.  I was disappointed that the new offerings from Foundation were a couple weeks out at the time they had this event. I was hoping to get the new Charter Oak offerings, even though I’m not sure I get the trend of budget lines coming out with premium offerings (Rocky Patel Edge, Brick House come to mind).  I still want to try them, I’m desparate for anything new at this point!

 

So desperate I am for something new that I decided to smoke the new Room 101 Big Payback Redux while watching hockey yesterday afternoon.  I figured this would be good for the better part of the game. Here’s what Matt Booth has to say about this cigar: “It has been my life’s mission to produce a combustible vessel so engorged and far more magnificent than its standard counterpart in cylindrical presentation, and it’s my greatest honor to offer our people such a product that overflows with both girth and grandeur.” If you’ve ever heard Matt, you just read that in his voice. This is a 7″ x 70 cigar, outside my usual comfort zone. I’ll do a 60 no problem, but a 70 is just unwieldy. I can count the number of 70 ring cigars I’ve smoked on one hand. This is a $9 cigar, and that’s the point of the brand, to give back to the loyal Room 101 supporters with a good cigar at a reasonable price.  I have to say, mission accomplished, it’s a tasty cigar. This is made in Honduras, using a Honduran Olancho San Augustin wrapper (STG must grow a crapload of this as it’s been popping up on just about everything in their portfolio for the last dozen years, including Cohiba), a Connecticut Broadleaf binder and Nicaraguan, Dominican and Honduran fillers. I actually really enjoyed the cigar, which is good, because it’s a three hour commitment (a colleague noted a smoking time of 4½ hours!  In a row?). Smooth, sweet nuts and creamy coffee notes.  I can’t say this will be a regular for me, but if I find I need a three hour cigar, I won’t hesitate to grab one of these.  

 

In an effort to balance things out, and since the effects of the vaccines were beginning to kick in, I decided to have something small for mey Saturday evening smoke. I hadn’t gotten around to smoking the Drew Estate H99 Papas Fritas yet, and I had bought a few several weeks ago.  I figured I had smoked a behemoth cigar earlier, might as well off set things with something on the small side.  This is 4½ x 44 with a pigtail cap, and made from the trimmings of the Liga Privada line. Steve Saka launched this line when he was at DE to utilize some of the valuable bench trimmings, and named it after one of his favorite things.  Oh, I know, you think I’m being mean, but I’ve known Steve for over 25 years, and his favorite things are cigars, food and booze, gimme a break.  Anyway, the H99 version came out last year as one of the Freestyle Live packs, and I’m not sure it would have been a big mystery, although I never saw the Freestyle Live pack, it’s a fairly distinctive format.  This isn’t a pretty cigar, but it is tasty, and it burns well for a short filler cigar.  I like having some short smokes around, and this and the original Broadleaf version are good ones to have. I still haven’t had the Nasty Fritas.

 

That’s all for today, I feel like the fever has made me drone on a bit.  I’ll read this later and maybe do some editing (probably not). Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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by | June 11, 2023 · 8:53 am

New Cigars from CAO, Room 101 and Punch

I’ve been working through some samples I’ve had in the humidor for a bit.  Starting out with the CAO Amazon Basin Extra Ańejo.  The Amazon Basin came out first in 2014, and used a Brazilian Bragança leaf, which is processed what I imagine to be similar to the andullo process of twisting the leaf into tobacco sausages. They allegedly move the tobacco out of the Amazon Rainforest by canoe,  which sounds a little far-fetched.  The cigar has a Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, Nicaraguan binder, and the Brazilian, Dominican and Colombian fillers.  The Extra Ańejo was rolled in 2021 and left to age, I suppose, longer than the original batch. I’ll be honest, of the four original Amazon Basin blends, I was not a big fan of the original (or the last, I loved the middle two!).  This one was pretty darned good.  Although it isn’t one hundred percent up my alley, it was a tasty smoke.  I smoked it through the tobacco-cord “band” with no discernable flavor difference. It had some sweetness and some spice, and something unique.  I suspect if you were one who loved the original, you’ll really like this.

 

I think the Room 101 Daruma is the first Room 101 cigar to be released since the brand was acquired by Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) and put under the Forged umbrella of brands.  This is a Nicaraguan puro, oddly enough, it’s made by Oliva for Matt Booth.  I suppose this shows that nothing is really changing with the Room 101 brand, STG could very easily made this in one of their several factories.  The only criticism I have is that the fancy-pants outer sleeve on the cigar doesn’t have any identification on it save for the Fu and lotus symbols, which, if you aren’t familiar with Room 101, you won’t know what it is out of the box.  Once stripped of the outer wrappings, the band makes it clear.  I got a sweet wood profile from this cigar, and I really liked it.  It burned well, and was completely enjoyable. I dig it, and my wife wants all the outer sleeves.

 

I was hesitant to even include this last one, because I find just about everything about it to be silly.  If I  didn’t like it’s predecessor, the Punch Champion,  so much, I might have just passed on this one. Punch has been doing novelty releases for a while now, which I guess fits with the branding, which is based on the puppet Mr. Punch from the UK in the 1600s.  He was a clown, and presented slapstick comedy. The Punch Dad Bod is presented with a silly necktie band, packed 5 cigars per can in a 4 -pack.  I suppose it’s supposed to be like beer cans, but it comes off looking more like energy drinks to me. All that, and four of the five samples I received were damaged, and I’ve heard from others they they were damaged as well (both samples and in the wild).  Now, this does have a fragile Cameroon wrapper, over a Connecticut broadleaf binder, with Nicaraguan Condega, Dominican Piloto Cubano, Honduran La Entrada and Brazilian Mata Fina fillers.  This is a six country blend in a fairly small cigar.  Once I get passed all the silliness, it’s a pretty tasty cigar, with some nuttiness, some sweetness and some earthiness.  I rather enjoyed the couple I’ve had, one had some foot damage that wasn’t an issue at all (the other one exploded!).  I have a dad bod, but I’m not particularly proud of it, so this is a Father’s Day “pass” for me, but it’s a good smoke, and it’s priced very nicely, so give it a shot.

 

That’s all for today. I’m so happy that the weather has warmed up and I can sit on the porch and write my Sunday post with a cigar, today it’s a Protocol Themis Churchill, a delicious shade cigar.  Hopefully I will see some of you next Saturday at Battleship Beef Part II on the Battleship New Jersey!  If you like food and cigars, it’s the place to be. Looking forward to seeing some great friends there!  Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

 

 

 

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by | March 8, 2023 · 5:37 pm

News: Room101 Cigars Daruma Returning

I think this is the first Room101 brand to be released under STG ownership.  I remember smoking the Darumas when they came out, I don’t remember them being in the Ranfla perfecto shape with paper wrap.  It’s a nice presentation! 

 

ROOM101 RESURRECTS REVERED DARUMA BLEND

 

Room101 originally released Daruma in 2012 as a follow up to Namakubi to reflect the authentic heartbeat of the Room101 cigar collection. Nearly a dozen years later, Daruma is back to begin a new chapter of perseverance and good fortune.

 

For those of you who aren’t up on Japanese talismans, a Daruma is a small papier mache figure used in Japan and around the world as a goal setting tool. Its egg-like shape is connected to perseverance: if a Daruma is knocked down, it will stand right back up. When setting a goal for the year, one of the eyes of the figure gets penciled in, and when the goal is achieved, the second eye gets penciled in and the Daruma gets lit on fire in celebration of the achievement. It’s not dissimilar to lighting a cigar to mark a special occasion.

 

Matt Booth said, “The return of Daruma is symbolic of the relationship with STG and Room101 moving forward. It represents the opportunity for Room101 to spread its wings which has always been our goal. And just as goals change and times change, Daruma has evolved. The Daruma of 2011 would not be the Daruma of today. The blend is correct and appropriate for now and begins a new chapter for both Daruma and Room101. This cigar is exactly what it needs to be, and it gives people exactly what it needs to give them. Light up a Daruma and celebrate how far you come and set a course for your next big adventure.”

 

Daruma is a Nicaraguan puro made proudly in Nicaragua in partnership with international sex symbol Cory Bappert and Room101’s friends at Oliva.

Daruma will be available in one size, 6” x 50 Toro that will sell for an SRP of $12.99 per cigar. The brand will be distributed by Forged Cigar Company.

Coming soon…

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