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 ei
ther.
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” wa
s pissed because he did l
eave 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
