Tag Archives: Room 101

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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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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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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Crook of the Crown, Triqui Traca, and Room 101 Cigars

As the holidays and year end gets closer things seem to get busier. As I mentioned in last Sunday’s post, I went to Son’s Cigars and hung out with the crew from Stolen Throne Cigars, less brand-owner Lee Marsh, who’s wife has been expecting their son to be born any day and felt that being five hours from home would be less than prudent. What a wuss. 😀. I got past the initial disappointment, and hung out and smoked cigars with them, and my friend Greg, whom I’ve known since high school. I smoked another Three Kingdoms Toro, and a Crook of the Crown Robusto while there, and during the week I smoked a Crook of the Crown Toro. These are some outstanding cigars. The Crook of the Crown has a San Andrés wrapper, and is exactly my kind of cigar, it’s down and dirty, reich and earthy, but I think I like the Three Kingdoms a little more! I love the sweetness it has. They both have a place, and I think I smoked more of those two cigars last week than I’ve smoked any one brand of cigars in a week in a long time. I just got hooked on them. Great stuff from the Rojas factory in Esteli. I’m still looking forward to meeting Lee, I’m told there will be another event in the Spring at Son’s, hopefully he doesn’t have another lame excuse! Meeting Kevin, JR, and Josh made up for his absence. 

 

I know a lot of seasoned cigar smokers like smaller cigars, and I do consider myself a seasoned cigar smoker. Heck, I’ve been smoking cigars for 25 years, that should count, right? I actually prefer larger cigars, smaller cigars don’t satisfy me. There are times, however, when time doesn’t allow for a larger cigar. If I don’t have 45 minutes, Im just not even going to have a cigar, if I have 45 minutes to an hour, I figure I can squeeze in a petite corona or a short robusto or one of the smaller formats. Such an occasion presented itself Friday. My youngest son (27), graduated from Nursing school Thursday evening, so we celebrated Friday evening with a family dinner. I snuck in a Montecristo No. 5 which I had purchased at the Duty Free in the Rome airport back in 2018 when one could do such things, before dinner (which was a very nice little cigar) and then when everyone had gone, I sat down with the new Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida Triqui Traca 448. Steve (who still hasn’t shared my Stillwell posts, while sharing everyone else’s!) had given this one to me when we saw him in South Carolina a few weeks ago, it’s basically his regular production version of the Firecracker, which was the genesis of the Triqui Traca blend. This is a bold little smoke, and there’s really nothing unsatisfying about it. It’s got some pepper to it, along with the espresso that I love. It’s definitely the Mi Querida on steroids, and I love it. I was afraid that smoking it as late as I did would give me problems, as sometimes happens (trouble falling asleep, weird dreams, etc), but I was OK. If you loved the Firecrackers and can’t get any more, this is a reasonable alternative. If you never had the Firecracker, and like small, delicious cigars, you’ll like this one.

 

I like listening to podcasts, and one of the ones in my rotation is the A Cigar Hustlers Podcast. Ironically, there’s a cigar store called Cigar Hustler, and the guys on the Podcast are also involved in the store, one of them even is one of the owners! I suppose this helps to avoid trademark infringement. It was on this show where I heard about the Room 101 Who Shot Ya, which is an exclusive for Pospiech, which is, ironically again, owned by Mike Szczepankiewicz of the aforementioned Cigar Hustler. I saw these on the counter at Son’s and had to give one a try, or a shot, I guess. Like the Bangarang, which is the other non-Powstanie cigar in their portfolio, it’s also a pretty strong cigar, and starts with a heavy pepper flavor. It’s a well behaved torpedo, it burns well and was a nice smoking experience throughout the 5″ x 52 of the cigar. The components of the cigar are not disclosed, but it tastes good, definitely worth a “shot”. The podcast is fun too, I recommend it, and Mike and Mike are nice guys, I’ve met them, and they’ve met me!

 

Wednesday I posted the link for the CigarCraig.com Secret Santa, so get in on that if you would like to!  I need  to get a few giveaways together for the holidays I suppose, I have a few goodies laying around! That’ll do it for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig 

 

 

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La Alianza Rosado, 1881 Perique, Murder Hornet and LCA Thoughts, and Ortega Serie D Connecticut Cigars

While roughly half of the cigar industry is in Las Vegas at the PCA show, I’m here maintaining the status quo. I have my reasons for not going, ranging from not being ready to travel, to being unwilling to commit resources to something that has failed to appreciate it in the past. I hope everyone has a great show and enjoys themselves, and there’s a lot of folks I miss seeing and meeting. I have been scounging to find new cigars to smoke, so one that was new, to me, at least, was a La Alianza Rosado which was gifted to me by my friend Patrick. I’m not sure if this is a catalog exclusive or what, but it was the Churchill Extra at 7″ x 54, and has Nicaraguan binder and filler with an Ecuador Sungrown (?) Rosado wrapper. Of course, this wrapper description doesn’t really tell us much. Rosado is a color, Ecuador is known for its cloud cover so the sungrown part is sketchy, unless it’s grown in a sunny part of Ecuador, which is could be, I suppose. I don’t know Ecuador very well. It’s made by Ernesto Carillo, so that’s good enough for me. A little shopping around tells me it’s a reasonably priced cigar, at around $7, and I’d have to say this is an outstanding value. I really enjoyed the cigar, it burned well, and reminded me a little bit of the third iteration of the El Rico Habanos, the ones Holts sold in the paper bundles around 2000. They weren’t like the strong ones in the mid ’90s, they were more medium bodied, and had a nice, sweet flavor. This was a nice smoke! Thanks PJ!

 

My next selection goes back about five years into the humidor. Since Saka is going on and on about making cigars with pipe tobacco, I thought I’d smoke a cigar with some Perique in the blend. I wrote this in 2016 about the 1881 Perique Maduro by Tabacalera Incorporada: “The cigar has a Dominican maduro wrapper, binder form the Philippines (from a 1997 crop), and the filler is 18% Perique from a farm in Louisiana owned by Daughters & Ryan and Philippine leaf. Perique is typically a pipe tobacco, it’s usually blended because it’s very strong, and has a distinctive flavor. This type of tobacco was being cultivated in Louisiana by the local Native American tribes when Europeans wandered into the area in the 1700s.” At that time Daughters & Ryan was distributing this line in the U.S., but I don’t think that’s the case any longer. After five years in the humidor, the cigar is still very good. The fruitiness and sweetness I noted five years ago are still there, it’s still a unique cigar, although the flavors are less distinct, they’ve melded a little over time. It was a very enjoyable smoke, and that’s not something I thought I’d ever have said about a cigar from the Philippines! 

 

While I was at the LouLiga Lounge last week I picked up a Room 101 Murder Hornet, which is a Limited Cigar Association release. The LCA is part of the Privada Cigar Club, which is directly associated with the LouLiga Lounge, I would venture to guess they are partners in some manner. That’s irrelevant to this. I’m going to be a little controversial. The LCA is the company that put out cigars like the Cigarbon, Cookie Monster, Death Bucket, etc. They create a stir, always sell out, in kind of a hit and run sort of fashion. I  assume it’s the same model as Caldwell’s Lost and Found and a lot of Cigar Federation’s cigars, short runs that they pick up in factories and repackage. I’m sure there’s great margine and these are really good for retailers. I personally don’t care for the branding, especially the stuff which could potentially be perceived as having appeal to children. Hate groups like Tobacco Free Kids would be all over the Cookie Monster and you could explain it until you’re blue in the face (yeah, I know), and it wouldn’t matter, you’ may as well be injecting babies with heroin. Anyway, I’m not a fan of the whole thing, I’m sure the Privada Cigar Club is great, and I’m sure retailers love the LCA, but as a consumer, and a fairly traditional old dude, I’m not feeling it. that being said, the Murder Hornet was excellent. It’s 5 ½” x 44 corona  and is made at the Raíces Cubanas factory in Honduras.  It’s a bit of a throwback (sic) to the old Room 101 cigars, I suppose, as it’s Honduran, at least I suspect some of it is. It wasn’t killer strong, it was well balanced, some sweet leather and nuts, and enjoyable. Not a huge corona fan, but I smoked it slow and rather enjoyed it.

 

Finally, I had forgotten to smoke the Ortega Serie D Connecticut that I had bought a while ago in the sampler. I corrected that problem last evening. This was new to me, I don’t think Eddie had a Connecticut in his original Serie D line up. This one has an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper, Ometepe binder (that’s interesting!) and Nicaraguan fillers. I would recommend going on the Ortega website and buying these, because they are very good. I have a few shade cigars I really like, but most of them are on the lower tier and I put off smoking them, as evidenced by this one. Ones I like a lot, coincidentally, are made in Honduras. This one is rich and creamy. It is smooth with no bitterness or grassy flavors. It’s like a good coffee with cream and sugar (I drink mine black, so call it an iced coffee with cream and sugar).  I really enjoyed it and ordered more. Eddie’s cigars are really good!

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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