Tag Archives: Room 101

by Craig Vanderslice | April 25, 2021 · 8:54 am

Two Tissue Wrapped Cigars: an El Rey del Mundo and a Room 101 Uncle Lee

Yesterday I had another one of my theme days. I have those every now and then, I’m weird that way. I find an odd common thread between two cigars, usually off the wall. In this case it was the presentation, tissue paper. I have very few cigars in my humidors with tissue paper wrapping. I can think of maybe two more besides the two I smoked yesterday, a CLE and a very old Cuban Fonseca KDT Cadet, and I only just thought of those now as I’m typing this. what started it was yesterday afternoon when I picked out an El Rey Del Mundo Robusto Oscuro to smoke. This is a brand that’s been around for a long time, and was recently re-assigned to the new Forged Tobacco sales division of Scandinavian Tobacco Group. These are distinctive because they have the tissue wrapping over a dark, oily Connecticut broadleaf wrapper. I smoked a bunch of these in the ’90s, but I was particularly enamoured with the Rectangulares, a box pressed corona gorda, which still seems to be available. Minor rant: General Cigar has boogered up the Cigarworld website to the point where I can’t find simple product information anymore. It used to be a good resource, now it seems to be a “community” site with reviews of every cigar under the sun except for the cigars I’m looking for. I know they have dedicated sites for the major brands, Macanudo, CAO, etc., but the smaller brands, no. And I can’t find a site for Forged either, you’d think they’d have one of those, right? I realize there’s only a few dozen people that want the information I’m looking for, so maybe it’s not a big priority, but it used to be there, for years, it must have been important at one point, right? SO I had to go to a retailer’s website for information. The El Rey Del Mundo Robusto Oscuro is 5″ x 54 with the aforementioned Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper and Honduran binder and fillers made in Honduras. This cigar has a savory, meaty taste, not really the sweet maduro that one expects. It’s different, in a good way, and for a cigar that can be had for under $6, it’s a winner, and has stood the test of time.

I had no idea I was going to do the tissue paper theme until I went looking for another cigar to smoke last night, and came across a box buried deep in the humidor. Back around 2014, Matt Booth released the Room 101 Uncle Lee, a tribute to the uncle who got him into cigars. I bought a box a couple years later when they were clearanced, it was a “too good to pass up” deal. Sadly, they only came in boxes of ten. The cigar is presented in the “Ranfla” shape, a 6 ½ x 50 perfecto made in Danli, Honduras. The wrapper is Ecuadorian Habano, binder is Nicaraguan Corojo and fillers are Dominican Piloto Ligero & Honduran Corojo. While this cigar is not in my usual flavor spectrum, I really enjoy it! It’s got an unexpected floral component, which I find unique and endearing. Five years of age hasn’t done anything but good for these, they burn right, they draw right, and the flavor is spectacular. I have a few left in the box, and I buried it back where it was so I forget about it for a while again! I just remembered one more tissued cigar I have, a Room 101 Johnny Tobacconaut Ranflactic. I might have to find that one pretty soon! It’s funny how five year old cigars are suddenly “vintage”!

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, El Rey Del Mundo, Room 101, Uncle Lee

by Craig Vanderslice | March 7, 2021 · 10:24 am

Room 101 Cigar Dojo Noodles Cigar and a Papas Fritas

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!

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, Cigar Dojo, cigars, drew estate, Noodle, Papas Fritas, Room 101

by Craig Vanderslice | April 26, 2020 · 12:08 pm

Cohiba Royale, Providencia Barrel Aged Old Fashion Cigars

I had a busy week working on a side project, and I slacked of on original content and made up for it with a bunch of news pieces through the week. So I had the luxury of smoking some old favorites, some older than others. One notable cigar was a Fuente Hemingway Classic. For along time I preferred the Signature over the Classic, it seemed like the Classics I smoked all had a metallic flavor to them I didn’t like. Granted, this was in the ’90s, and several factors change. The box I’ve had in the humidor for the last three or four years has been spectacular. A La Sirena Trident (Churchill) from he first batch that La Zona made was equally enjoyable. Yesterday I smoked a Nica Rustica Belly from a bundle I bought at the release party in Louisville, KY in July of 2015 that was wonderful, and a Room 101 Uncle Lee from the end of Matt Booth’s Davidoff years. And then, there was the new stuff…

It seems like every blogger and his brother has been reviewing the new Cohiba Royale. I apologize for being another one of them. I suppose when General Cigar sends a bunch of folks samples in the mail, and people can’t get to stores to buy new cigars to review or talk about, this sort of redundancy, repetitiveness, repeating oneself, saying he same thing over and over, will happen. I know that my inventory of newer cigars is running low. Enough excuses. This new Cohiba is interesting. It’s also expensive. Granted, it’s less than one third the price of the Cohiba Spectre, but it’s still not a cheap date. The Royale runs from $23.99 to $28.99, which is much more than my usual cigar budget, so smoking this falls into “treat” territory. I suppose the special occasion is surviving another day of global pandemic madness. Anyhoo, this particular Cohiba hits a few milestones for the brand. It’s the first to be made at HATSA in Honduras. This factory makes Punch, Hoyo and the like. This is also the first to use a Nicaraguan Broadleaf wrapper, and this is what really makes this cigar special in my opinion. The binder is Dominican Piloto Cubano and the fillers are from the Jamastran Valley in Honduras and Jalapa and Esteli in Nicaragua. I personally find the cigar to be quite delicious, and I can’t wait to see what some age does to this blend, even though they say that the tobaccos have five to six years age already. It has some sweetness and spice, but there is a little sour note here and there that makes it interesting. I smoked the toro, which is the largest size, and I would have liked a better burn and draw from a cigar in this price range, but that should come with some humidor time as these samples were only about a week off the truck. I look forward to the day when I can catch up with Sean Williams and smokes one of these with him.

The other new cigar I smoked was another one from Providencia Cigars. This one gave me pause, being a non-drinker. It’s the Barrel Aged Old Fashion, and had a pronounced “boozy” aroma to me. After almost thirty years of not drinking, it’s not like something like this is going to make me fal of the wagon, there’s nothing to worry about there. I actually have some liquor in the house for guests, it’s never a temptation. What it means is that I really have no frame of reference for booze related flavors. I don’t think I have ever had an Old Fashion, if I have it was over 30 years ago. I was more of a beer and shots guy than a cocktail guy when I drank. So this cigar was a toro sized cigar, wrapped in a San Andrés wrapper with an Indonesian binder and Honduran and Nicaraguan Ometepe in the filler blend. The magic happens when they age the cigars for four months in barrels that contained Old Fashion cocktail drink from the Little Water Distillery in Atlantic City, NJ. I was a little surprised that the cigars were in the barrel in cello, but that goes to show you that cello

is permeable, and I’m sure it reduces damage to the cigars. The cigar smoked beautifully, like every Providencia cigar I’ve ever smoked. There are a couple small Honduran cigar factories that are making exceptional cigars, and Providencia is one of them. I suppose an Old Fashioned has some sweetness, because there was a nice sweetness to this cigar. This is basically the Providencia Bloodshot blend, aged in the barrels, so the cocoa and dark chocolate are enhanced with the sweetness. I enjoyed it, even if I couldn’t relate to the liquor aspect of the cigar. I may have to root around and see if I have a Bloodshot to compare it to! Providencia Cigars never seem to disappoint, and I am so grateful to Ray for sharing his new blends with me.

That’s al for today, be safe out there, support your local retailers so you have somplace to go when things open up again, and enjoy your day. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Barrel Aged Old Fashioned, cigar, cigars, cohiba, Hemingway, La Sirena, Nica Rustica, Providencia, Room 101, Royale, Uncle Lee

by CigarCraig | June 17, 2018 · 9:44 am

Todos Las Dias, Farce and Truth and La Aurora at the Track

Happy Father’s Day to all the Dad’s out there, I know later today I’ll be digging out my traditional father’s day cigar for the 19th or 20th year (I’ve lost track…the cigars came out in 1998, but I think it was 1999 by the time I bought a box, can’t remember). I refer, of course, to the obscure Esperanza Para los Niños, which was made by Christian Eiroa when he owned Camacho as a charity project to help children orphaned by hurricane Mitch. The cigars have held up extremely well, and it’s through the kindness of several friends that I’ve been able to continue the tradition of smoking one on Father’s Day every year this long, and I might be good until 2020 when the last toro from the box I bought will go down. Until cigar time rolls around, I got some typing to do, so lets recap some notable smokes I had this week! I smoked another Todos las Dias from Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust this week. It’s no secret that I’m a fan of the brand, everything Steve has produced has been a win for my palate, but this liga has been a slow starter for me. Maybe it’s because the first three examples I smoked didn’t draw well enough (moisture…ironic given Steve was checking internal humidity of each sample at the trade show, video here, and they came from multiple sources, they just have to be kept dryer, I guess). To recap, the Todos las Dias Double Wide Belicoso is a 4.75″x 60 figurado identical in size to the Joya de Nicaragua Antaño Gran Consul and the Rosalones 460, using the same molds and made in the same factory. It’s a Nicaraguan puro, with a sungrown Nicaraguan wrapper, and fillers from Esteli and Jalapa. This blend is growing on e finally, I’m starting to get the cocoa and a hint of the chili spice reported, and the cigar was great to the last drop. This is a cool shape, I still think I’m reaching for the TlD fourth in line in the regular DTT production, but it’s good, I like it.

Friday was a special day in the small village of Frazer, PA. The CigarCigars store, just 1.7 miles from my home, was host to a cigar event featuring Matt Booth of Room 101 Cigars, and, as is their custom at this shop, the event was from noon to 3. Normally this would cause me problems, life has not been normal in recent months. So I was able to be present for this auspicious event and hang out with Mr. Booth, although, culturally, Frazer, PA is pretty much polar opposite of what Mr Booth is used to…it’s not Amish country, but it’s not the Sunset Strip either…anyway, I had occasion to smoke the new Farce. This is important, and I can’t stress this enough, it’s Farce, not THE Farce…just Farce. Very important to note. Farce is made in the Ventura factory in the DR, it’s a full flavored, complex and sophisticated blend and was very nice. I liked it, I picked up a couple and will smoke another very soon in a non-event environment. I also smoked The T, not Mr. T, it the Toro size. I had previously smoked an IPCPR sample of this collaboration between Booth, Caldwell and AJ Fernandez made in Nicaragua and really liked it, and this one was no different. It’s dark and rich and heavy and right up my alley. My biggest regret was setting it in an ashtray with a couple of inches left and Steve, the manager cleaning up after the event thinking I was done with it, which I was not…my bad. Watch for the next CigarCraig podcast in the next few days, by the way. I highly recommend attending an event featuring Mr. Booth if you have the opportunity, he’s a gentleman and a scholar, and one who’s earned every one of his eccentricities.

Another annual family tradition which may seem odd to some is celebrating our granddaughters birthdays at the horse races. There is a track that’s reasonably convenient to both sides of the family free to park and get in, had a family friendly picnic grove with tables and bounce houses and slides and playgrounds for the kids, of course, horse races, and is cigar friendly! We try to get there early to get a good spot and have a cigar before everyone gets there. I lit up a La Aurora Preferidos Emerald Ecuador Corona, and there’s a reason I usually light up something from La Aurora at family events. My daughter’s name is Aurora, and I figure she’s not going to get upset at me for smoking a cigar if it’s got her name on it. Clever, eh? She’s a great kid, got me cigar related coffee for Father’s day! Anyway, I really was enjoying the crap out of that corona, what flavor and balance! Nice tobacco sweetness I didn’t want to put down, and I felt bad standing off to the side after people started showing up. I wanted to join the party, eat lunch, but I wanted to enjoy the cigar too, it was one of the few times I wished I had chosen an even smaller cigar! We stuck it out until the Ninth (last) race, because Smoke En Fire was running, and we put $5 on it to win, which it did, and paid $9.50! It was a beautiful day with family at a great horse park. I don’t know if Delaware Cigars still has their cigar festival there in the fall or not, but the coupe times I attended that event it was a good time!

That’s all for today. Time to get some stuff done! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigar store, CigarCigars, cigars, Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust, Farce, La Aurora, Matt Booth, Preferidos, Room 101, the T, Todos Las Dias

by CigarCraig | June 4, 2017 · 9:41 am

A Fratello Cigars Event, a La Aurora, a L’Atelier and a Contest!

Friday evening we took a family trip over to the Wooden Indian cigar shop in Havertown, PA to have a visit with Omar de Frias and his amazing Fratello cigars. When I say family, my wife sometimes joins me on these trips, but this time my son Corey came along, and, at the invitation of the shop owner, Dave, Macha joined us too. Macha loves these outings as she gets a lot of attention and loves everybody. She was well-behaved, most of the time just laying down and relaxing, something I wish she’d do at home when we get back from a long walk and I just want to finish my cigar and she wants to play in the yard! Anyway, she had a great time, and I smoked one of my favorite cigars from last year, the Fratello Bianco Boxer. This is a box pressed torpedo wrapped in a beautiful San Andrés wrapper, Dominican binder and fillers from Pennsylvania, Nicaragua and Peru. What distinguishes the Boxer from the regular Bianco line, and this holds true with the regular and Oro Boxers as well, is that they use a little extra ligero in the blend. Not only does the cigar smoke perfectly and taste amazing, it’s got a little extra kick! I picked up a few more for the humidor, along with some other goodies, and enjoyed a great evening at the Wooden Indian with my buddy Omar. It was the fist time I’ve seem Omar without his goatee, is that the breaking news here? Omar Shaves Goatee!…only at CigarCraig.com, Sorry Halfwheel and Cigar-Coop, I was first with this bombshell!

Yesterday was a beautiful Saturday to go to the track, and my daughter decided to have our grand-daughters joint birthday party in the picnic grove at Delaware Park. We got there early to secure a spot, and while we were waiting for everyone I smoked a La Aurora Preferido Corona in the Diamond or Broadleaf wrapper. Since I smoked this the first time over two years ago the pungency and cloying flavor I got then has settled down and it’s more like what I would expect from an aged Connecticut Broadleaf. It was a little over the top the last time I smoked it, but it was slightly underwhelming to me yesterday. Honestly, I forgot that I didn’t really like this cigar the first time around, but was looking forward to a tasty Broadleaf cigar. I usually don’t choose my granddaughters events to enjoy a cigar, but when it’s reasonably appropriate, like at the track 45 minutes before they arrive, I go for it, and it’s usually something from La Aurora because Aurora is also my daughter’s name and how could she get mad at me, right? It works in my head. Anyway, I didn’t lose all my money, had a nice day playing the ponies and hanging with the family.

Last night I rummaged through the Lancero tray and came up with a L’Atelier LAT 38 Special. This 7½” x 38 Lancero was a beauty, with a dark, Sancti Spíritus Ecuador wrapper, binder and filler from Nicaragua rolled at the My Father Factory in Nicaragua. I wanted to smoke something from the Johnson family of cigars, but I was only finding rubustos, and I craved more than that. I have a ton of rubustos in the humidor and should probably just go on a rubusto bender and work them down. There was a time when that was my vitola of choice, but I’ve either gotten more patient or have more time because I want a toro or larger more times than not. I digress, theLAT 38 was a beauty, and the flavor was outstanding. It had the savory and sweet flavor I’d expect more from the Broadleaf than the Sancti Spiritus that the L’Atelier line is known for. I can’t remember when I got this, it may have been at an event at a shop in Colorado I was at back in 2014, but it was good. I haven’t found many cigar in any of Pete Johnson’s portfolio that don’t satisfy my palate. My only complaint with this cigar was that it suffered from Nomex Wrapper Syndrome (Nomex is the stuff that electrical wiring is wrapped with so it doesn’t burn) it required a lot of attention with the lighter, and I was being careful not to overheat the cigar since Lanceros can easily be ruined by smoking too aggressively. The humidor these are in stays in the mid to low 60s so it wasn’t wet.

Contest!

Since we got to the track early yesterday they were giving out hats, and since I’m not a huge hat wearing guy, I figured it might be a good time to have another giveaway. I’ve assembled some odds and ends that have been collecting for a while to go with the Delaware Park hat. There are a couple of bottle openers including one for your key chain from Nomad Cigars, a torch lighter from El Artista, a couple cutters, a highly collectible Matt Booth Room 101 punch cutter, a Ninety Degree magnetic cigar holder and a nice Balmoral flask. As always, a few cigars might fall into the box as I’m packing it up, it happens, I can’t help it! So the usual rules apply, must be of legal smoking age in your municipality, one entry by way of leaving a comment on this post, and have fun! I’ll pick a winner next Sunday, June 11, 2017.