Tag Archives: Room 101

by CigarCraig | September 28, 2016 · 9:19 pm

A Room 101 Event and a Cavalier Geneva White Series Cigar

Sunday I had mentioned that we were going to Cigars International‘s Downtown Bethlehem store where Matt Booth was having a Room 101 event. We got there (it’s about an hour and a half drive), to find out there was a Celtic festival going on, making it difficult to find a place to park! After driving around for another thirty minutes we finely found a place to park and made our way to the store. The Downtown store is a a small shop with a couple of chairs but a rather large selection. Fortunately, it was a nice day, and they had tables and chairs on the sidewalk. There was a lot of foot traffic, mostly oddly costumed folks in kilts and whatnot. They even had Celtic music playing on street side speakers. And then there was Matt Booth. This was a cool event, as there weren’t lines of people there for the event, so there was a lot of good one on one time with Matt. He even had his attorney there, which, if you follow him on social media, is what he calls his young son, who is about as cute as can be. I bought a hand full of cigars and lit up a Room 101 Big Payback Connecticut Hueso, the 6″ x 60 gordo in the line. This was a very good cigar, and to my surprise, Matt was smoking one as well, in the robusto size, and said that it’s his recent go-to cigar. It was a nice, smooth and very flavorful cigar, quite a nice smoke for a beautiful afternoon in good company. I had gotten some of the Nicaraguan wrapped Big Paybacks too and almost regretted not getting more of the Connecticut, although I like the original Big Payback as well. If you ever have occasion to spend some time with Matt Booth, jump on it, he’s one of the more interesting gentlemen in the cigar industry!

When I got home I lit up a Room 101 Uncle Lee, a cigar Matt made to pay tribute to his uncle who introduced him to cigars. I only bought a couple of these as they only had a couple left, I would have bought a 10 count box if they hadn’t already sold out. The Uncle Lee is only made in the Ranfla size, the 6½ x 50 perfecto size that you find in Room 101’s Johnny Tobbaconaut line, the new Chief Cool Arrow, and the Namakubi line. This was a really interesting cigar with an Ecuador Habano wrapper, Nicaraguan Corojo binder and Honduran and Dominican Corojo fillers, so lots of Corojo. There was a flavor sensation akin to mint that wound it’s way through the smoke. This was a really nice cigar, I enjoyed the crap out of it, and may have to pick up a box. Matt mentioned that CI bought the remaining inventory, so they might be the only game in town for that cigar. It was a really nice cigar day.

Last night I went into the IPCPR sample humidor and pulled out an interesting cigar from a booth we just happened upon on our last day at the show. Cavalier of Geneva is a Swiss cigar company, and their cigars feature a 24 carat gold diamond on the wrapper. I smoked the Cavalier of Geneva White Series Diplomate, a 5½ x 56 with a pigtail cap. the cigars feature a five country blend, Habano wrapper, Connecticut binder and fillers from Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and Paraguay. The cigar was a nice, well-balanced smoke, on the milder side in strength, but medium in flavor. It burned well, and the gold embellishment on the wrapper had no effect in flavor or burn, but it was kind of neat to watch it burn. These were supposed to be available in the US as of August 1, and are being distributed by Dallas Texas-based CigarArt. I’m very interested in trying the maduro in this line, and I should have smoked it tonight, but, for whatever reason, I decided against it. The San Andrés Negra wrapper over Arapiraca binder sounds quite intriguing.

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

CigarCraig

4 Comments

Filed under Events, IPCPR, Review, Stores

Tagged as Cavalier, cigar, cigar store, cigars, Cigars International, Room 101

by CigarCraig | October 25, 2015 · 10:52 am

Odds and Ends, a L’Atetier, A La Flor Dominicana and Room 101

First, a couple of items I’ve come across in the past week that I think are of interest. Since Halloween and Día de los Muertos are coming up, my friends at Custom Tobacco are offering two “Skull Candy” band designs to their portfolio of custom bands. Custom Tobacco specializes in custom banding, and the cigars they use are very good. I’ve had the pleasure of smoking their Briarmont Classic cigar a few years ago (here) and it was of excellent quality and flavor. Check these folks out if you ever need some custom banded cigars.

My wife likes to point out unique cigar related items to me when she sees them, and this item falls under the “for the man who has everything” category, and is truly an over the top cigar accessory. The Emperador Cigar Chest has over 2,600 individual part to deliver a luxury cigar accessory. On top is a tourbillion timepiece (I don’t know what that is) made from over 300 pieces by a Swiss watchmaker, and surrounded by 24 individual glass tubes, each of which comes pre-packed with a Grand Cru cigar wrapped in four gold leaves (not sure what the cigar is either). This compartment is secured by a passcode, while the included cigar cutter, table lighter, and ashtray sit securely in a front drawer (apparently unprotected by any advanced security features). It pays equal attention to the care of your cigars, incorporating a world’s first self-regulating humidity system that needs neither water nor human intervention to keep a constant humidity level of 70% and an internal temperature between 61º and 65º F. I don’t quite understand the science behind something that controls humidity without water, but OK. I don’t expect to be reviewing this item.

So I had some great cigars this week and a disappointment or two, and I’m not going to name names on the disappointment, lets just say I’m not the only one I’ve heard of being let down. I moved on to something else that night, and may (or may not) revisit that cigar another time. I don’t see any value in posting negatives as, with all cigars, your mileage may vary. One of the highlight cigars of the week was one I picked up on a recent visit to Holt’s store in Philly. I ended up buying various Pete Johnson cigars and one was the L’Atelier La Mission 1989, which is a 5 5/8″x 54 with a nice little pigtail cap. I had a feeling about this cigar when I picked it up, it just looked like it would be in my wheelhouse. It has a dark, oily San Andrés wrapper, binder from Nicaragua and Nicaraguan fillers. which includes Sancti Spíritus leaf, which is a hybrid of Pelo de Oro and Criollo. This cigar started out with the spice one expects, and really develops into a rich, complex cigar that is a pleasure to smoke. I loved the espresso-ness of this cigar, I’d smoke this one again for sure.

The next night I replaced my disappointing cigar with a La Flor Dominicana 1994 Tango, a neat little Rothschild size, 4½” x 48. There are times when I have a cigar that lets me down and I just move on, and there are times when I just need another cigar to un-piss me off. This was such an occasion. The 1994 line is the company’s 20th anniversary cigar, commemorating two decades of doing things the right way and making great cigars. This little LFD is a nice little cigar, rich, smooth and tasty. This one also has a San Andrés wrapper, although not fermented to the maduro shade that many are. Like many LFD cigars, it’s a Dominican cigar with a punch, it’s not a mild cigar by any stretch, but full of flavor. I smoked their new La Nox earlier in the week too and was quite impressed, more on that another time.

Saturday we had tickets to see Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys in Atlantic City, but on the way there we stopped at the Wooden Indian for a Room 101 event with Matt Booth (and his area rep “Tom Smith”). I was really looking forward to picking up a few more Johnny Tobacconauts, and got a few in the Ranflactic and Fileriod sizes. I lit up a Ranflactic and we hung out in the Wooden Indian’s Liga Privada Lounge as we had arrived quite early for the two o’clock event. Matt says that he has originally wanted to call this Johnny Tobaccoseed, but ended up going with the astronaut theme instead, and who can argue that the astronaut on the box doesn’t look just like Matt? Ironically, it turns out that Matt’s father is second cousins to the Wilsons of Beach Boys fame, and he was actually being serious when he told us that. The cigar was great, seeing Matt again was great, and Dave at The Wooden Indian always has great events. If you were wondering, Matt didn’t make an appearance in my IPCPR Secret Question video, but I asked him what his answer would have been, and he said that Dave Lafferty (of Drew Estate) embodies the essence of Matt Booth, so he would play him in the Room 101 movie. I was expecting something more along the lines of Johnny Depp, but OK. The event was great, then we went to AC, where I enjoyed a Room 101 San Andrés before the great concert, which my wife reviewed on her website here. While Brian Wilson may not be the best singer, and the years have not been kind to him, he is a legend, someone that artists like the Beatles idolized, and has surrounded himself with a great bunch of musicians. It was a treat hearing all the Beach Boys classics (Al Jardine was also there, so there were two of the original Beach Boys there). It capped off a great day, although the slot machines were not kind to us.

Anyway, that wraps up the week. I did smoke a tasty Leaf by Oscar Maduro also this week too, and there was a Asylum 13 Ogre Lancero that was great as well, although not as complex as it’s chubbier siblings. I have plenty more interesting cigars to smoke this week, hopefully there will be some great ones! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

6 Comments

Filed under Accessories, Events, News, Review, Stores

Tagged as Brian Wilson, cigar, cigars, Custom Tobacco, Emperador, Johnny Tobacconaut, L'Atelier, La Flor Dominicana, Matt Booth, Room 101, wooden indian

by CigarCraig | September 27, 2015 · 3:20 pm

Big Delicious, Villiger San’Doro and Southern Draw Kudzu Cigars

Following on the heels of the Johnny Tobacconaut, I came across a lonely Room 101 Big Delicious that is a Smoke Inn exclusive and was released with much fanfare a year or so ago. This is a cool 6¼” x 52 figurado with a dark Habano 2000 wrapper. You don’t see “Habano 2000” used that much any more, it got such a bad rap for not burning when it came around in the early part of the century (that makes me feel old…, it was around 2000). The wrapper hangs over the foot so one really gets a nice taste of it off the light. When I see a wrapper folded over the foot, or some variation of that, I tend to just stick the cigar in my mouth and light it up, I figure toasting will burn off that extra wrapper leaf before I get to enjoy it! Anyway, this cigar was sitting in the humidor, all alone and needed to be smoked, so I smoked it. It was still big, and still delicious. It burned well, had loads of deep, rich flavor and was quite satisfying. These are still available from Smoke Inn and aren’t too expensive compared to a lot of other cigars. I don’t know that age has really improved this cigar, so if you get some, smoke them, I don’t believe they are regular production so they are what they are, still Big, still Delicious! The Website calls it the “The bastard child of Matt Booth and Abe Dababneh!”, I prefer to think of it as their “love child”.

While looking through the IPCPR samples, my eyes landed on a Villiger San’Doro Maduro in a toro size. This year they released the San’Doro line in three wrapper, the Maduro, the Colorado and the Claro. While the Colorado and Claro are made at Tabacalera Oliva in Esteli, the Maduro I smoked is a Brazilian puro made in Viliger’s factory in Bahia, Brazil. I’ve smoked Brazilian puros before, and when I smoked this one I didn’t know it was a puro. This was a nice, sweet maduro with lot of great flavor. I have samples of the claro (Ecuador Connecticut) and Colorodo (Habano from Nicaragua) in the humidor and I’m looking forward to smoking them, although I expect them to be completely different. I’m not entirely sure when or if these are going to be offered in the U.S., there seems to be a lot of information pointing towards a European release this month. I suppose someone will let me know!

I smoked a really nice Sindicato Hex Perfecto, and another Leccia Luchador Frogsplash this week, but i’ve discussed those before and there’s nothing really interesting to report. I did receive some goodies from Southern Draw Cigars and couldn’t wait to dig into the Kudzu after having a good experience with the Firethorn a week or so ago. The Kudzo Toro is 6″ x 52 and has the covered foot again. Both the Kudzu and Firethorn come in four sizes, a Pigtail capped Petite Corona, a 5½” x 52 Robusto, the Toro and a 6½” x 60 Gordo. The Kudzo has a dark Habano Oscuro wrapper and Binder and fillers from Nicaragua. It starts off with a punch, and I began to question the wisdom of lighting this up before I had dinner. While it was a stronger cigar, my poor dining judgement didn’t come into play, as it smoothed out and was a solid medium to full cigar which I found to be quite enjoyable. It had some wood and chocolate flavors and smoked evenly until I put it down with under an inch left. I’m quite impressed with this line in my limited experience with them, although they are made at the A.J. Fernandez factory so I shouldn’t be surprised. Thanks to Robert Holt for sending some samples along, very good smokes.

That’s it for today, I don’t usually do two posts in one day, so don’t get used to it! While I’m thinking of it, next Saturday, October 3rd, from Noon to six is The Smokin’ Goose festival in Limerick, PA. This was a great time last year, and this year they are having it right at the store instead of off site. I plan to be there and am looking forward to it. Check out The Smokin’ Goose website for tickets and information. A portion of the proceeds go to Cigars For Warriors. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

4 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Room 101, Smoke Inn, Southern Draw, Villiger

by CigarCraig | · 10:01 am

Room 101 Johnny Tobacconaut Ranflactic Cigar Review

I smoked some good cigars this week, but the week started off on a really positive note when I sat down with a selection from a sampler of Davidoff sampler from the IPCPR show. Funny story about the sampler. On our way out of the hotel on out last night at the show we ran into our local Davidoff rep who doesn’t like to be mentioned on the internet, so in deference to his wishes I’ll refer to him as “Tom Smith”. “Tom” said he’d leave me a sampler at the front desk at the hotel that night, and when we got back late I asked at the desk and concierge, and there was nothing there. No big deal, maybe he hadn’t gotten back yet. I checked at 5am when we left and it wasn’t there either. When I got back home I dropped “Tom” a note telling him it wasn’t there, just so he knows I’m not the guy that takes samples and you never hear about them again. “Tom” was pissed because he did leave the samples, and some lowlife hotel employee probably took home some great cigars. I arranged to meet “Tom” at a local shop that he happened to be passing on his way home the next weekend, missed him by about 5 minutes and had forgotten my phone, so I had to go back the next day and pick it up. It was very kind of “Tom” to go out of his way, I should have hunted him down at the Davidoff booth at the show, but they were always busy. I didn’t even get to include Matt Booth in my secret video…a disappointment. What wasn’t a disappointment was the fist cigar I picked, which was the Room 101 Johnny Tobacconaut Ranflactic.

As I find with Room 101 cigars often, there’s little to no information on the Room101Brand website, nor the Camacho website, nor even the Davidoff website. This continues to confound me, so I turned to a reliable source, my buddy Will at Cigar-Coop.com. If you want the poop, go to Coop. There are three sizes of this Nicaraguan Puro, the three perfecto shapes he’s used in his other lines, with a spacey twist to the names. The Filero has become the Fileroid, the Ranfla is the Ranflactic and the enormous Chingon is the Chingonova. Interesting to nobody but me probably, is that the Ranflactic I smoked is marked Ranfla in the sampler box. The Ranfla (and Ranflactic) is incorrectly listed many places as 5½” x 50 (and tapers at each end). I can assure you without a doubt this is a 6½” cigar. Retailers have it wrong, the media has it wrong (Even Coop), and I can only assume this was a typo in the product literature from Davidoff. I have it right, that’s all you need to know :-). I am very happy that they decided to put two of these in the sampler, because it was a stellar cigar, and I’d say that even if it didn’t have a space theme. This was probably the best cigar I’ve smoked this year, and those who know me know that I don’t gush about many cigars. The cigar was buttery smooth, creamy, but with rich, savory flavors. For me, it lacked any of the “pop” one generally associates with a Nicaraguan puro, but had the deep, smoothness of well aged tobacco. This is easily the best I’ve smoked from Room 101, or any of its sibling brands. While I haven’t smoked may Davidoff cigars, it’s better than any I have smoked as well. I enjoyed this cigar so much, I think I’d spend the $12 each on more. Holy crap this was a great smoke.

I enjoyed this cigar so much, I’m going to give it its own post today. I should have done this mid-week, but I didn’t get around to it. I’ll be back a little later with my usual recap, and there were some other great smokes I had this week that deserve mention, but this cigar deserves the spotlight. In keeping with the theme, it was “out of this world” good, and, as I said, I don’t usually get this excited about a cigar. Great job Matt Booth and his team, it’s a wonderful cigar. Thanks again to “Tom Smith” for going out of his way to get me the sampler, I’m looking forward to smoking the others, especially the new Avo Syncro and Camacho American Barrel Aged.

Until a little later,

CigarCraig

8 Comments

Filed under IPCPR, Review

Tagged as Camacho, cigar, cigars, davidoff, Johnny Tobacconaut, Room 101

by CigarCraig | June 14, 2015 · 8:23 am

Fratello Cigars, a Room 101, A Vega Fina Do-over, and a Fuente at Holts

Welcome to another week of cigar stories! Â I started off the week with a couple cigars from Fratello Cigars, a Robusto and the H-Town Lancero. The Lancero came first. This cigar is exclusive to Stogies World Class Cigars in Houston (check the ad in the left sidebar for a discount code!). Stogies has a series of store exclusive lanceros from several notable manufacturers and the Fratello joined the ranks earlier this year. I followed the Lancero with the robusto to get a sense of what might have been different. They both share a woody spice, probably due to the Peruvian leaf. The Lancero is a bit milder because of the lack of Ligero in the blend. Both cigars are loaded with flavor and burn perfectly. Omar is a terrific guy, very passionate and charismatic. If you get the chance to hang out with him and smoke his cigars, jump on it. Stay tuned for more on the H-town series as I will be probably working through the line up this week.

Midweek I selected a Room 101 Namakubi Ecuador Ranfla from the humidor. I bought this cigar a couple of years ago at an event at a local shop with Matt Booth in attendance. I still hesitate to spend $10 on a single cigar, but I apparently did it due to the price sticker on the paper sleeve. I suppose when Matt tells you should buy that cigar, you listen. Every time I smoke a Room 101 cigar I have to bitch about the same thing: finding information on a website. Davidoff has made such a huge push in the last couple years you’d think it would be easier to find solid info. What is mystifying to me is that there is conflicting information on retail websites as well as reputable blog sites. I measured the cigar at 6Â½ inches and many sources list the Ranfla at 5Â½.Â Seems odd that a well oiled machine like Davidoff wouldn’t provide the right information to retailers (an easy to find website would help!) I wasted too much time searching for info on this cigar, and bitch about it! It was a very tasty cigar, the salamone shape is cool and the cigar worked as it was supposed to.

I picked up another of the Vega Fina Nicaragua Gran Toro for one of my evening walks. A couple of weeks ago I put one of these down about two inches in because it pissed me off. This one burned great, I’m thinking over humidification was the problem. Â Now that I’ve had a chance to smoke the cigar properly I enjoyed it quite a bit. It’s on the milder side for a Nicaraguan, or maybe “smooth” is a better description. Â It was a good cigar, not great, or really distinctive, but solid in flavor and balance. Â While there wasn’t really anything that grabbed me by the collar and shook me around, it would make a good cigar to keep on hand for newbies, or the occasional smoker. I don’t think it was priced unreasonably (or I wouldn’t have picked some up I’m pretty sure!), so you could certainly do worse. There are other cigars in the Altadis portfolio that I would reach for before this one, but it’s better than a sharp stick in the eye.

Yesterday was a pretty good day for my wife and I. Â My wife had received a very generous gift from a friend for a Beatles themed massage at a salon in Center City Philadelphia (she has a Beatles blog atÂ Beatles-Freak.com), which just happened to be directly across the street from Holt’s Cigars. Â So I was forced to sit around a cigar shop while waiting for her to get her hour-and-a-half massage. Tough, I know. I picked up a few cigars at Holt’s, although they didn’t have the couple specific cigars I was looking for, much to my surprise. I grabbed some Arturo Fuente Hemingway Signatures in maduro, just because I like them, and you don’t see them everywhere, especially priced at $7.65 each. I also grabbed a few RoMaCraft Cromagnon Mode 5, since I’ve heard good things about them. I sat down in the empty lounge in the rear of the shop and lit up one of the Hemingway maduros. I love that gnarly broadleaf wrapper on that cigar. Don’t get me wrong, the Cameroon wrapper on the regular line is great, as I said, you don’t see the maduros all the time and I’ve got a soft spot for the maduros!! I had a great time conversing with a travelling gentleman (Vince? I’m terrible with names!) who was visiting from South Carolina, once again proving that you can always find a friend at a cigar shop, whether you are there for the first time or a regular. Â That Signature was great down to a half-inch nub, and went real well with the espresso we were offered by a staff member. Â After both my wife and I were done with our “treatments”, we walked a block away to Alma de Cuba for dinner. No smoking at this “modern Latin cuisine” restaurant. Â One of the highlights was an appetizer of dates, wrapped in bacon with an almond and blue cheese, which was an orgiastic feast of the senses. The service was spectacular, the Cafe Cubano was pretty good, and the food was a flavor explosion, almost overwhelming. Â Quite the spot if you find yourself in Philly, but you’ll have to head to Ashton Cigar Bar for after dinner smokes (which we did not do). I should have poked my head in the door while I was there, but I didn’t, something for another time. It’s directly above Holt’s. Â So it was a great night out, we each got to do “our” things, and then had a nice dinner.