Cigar Extra: The Big Payback by Room 101

Vitola: Chavala (Robusto)
Size: 5” x 50 ring gauge
MSRP $4.95
Purchased at Burns Tobacconist

Background

It often is good to reflect on just how far a brand comes in a short time. Seems only yesterday that Matt Booth was beginning the Room 101 brand of cigars, partnering with Camacho at the time. In the years that have followed, Camacho has totally revamped their own branding, promoting Booth to the “Board of the Bold,” and the Room 101 brand has seen 12 other lines show up (according to Cigar-Coop, who states that this is their 14th brand…can we name them all? Original, Conjura, Namakubi, Namakubi Ecuador, Daruma, Daruma Gold, Connecticut, SA, HN, MC1, MC2, Big Delicious, and OSOK).

With this newest release, Booth wanted to “payback” the early support and dedication he got from good friends in the industry. To do so, he released a line of Nicaraguan puros in 3 sizes, all “priced well below where they should be.” We were a little late getting these at Burns Tobacconist, especially as we will soon be home to the first Room 101 Lounge, but on the other hand, with the remodel, things were so chaotic that the cigars may well have gotten overlooked if they had come in at the beginning of their availability. I opted for the 5 x 50 vitola and decided to just to a short take on the cigar at this point, with the possibility of a full review later on.

Notes

The banding is a throwback in a way to the original Room 101 release, with it’s black background and silver foil designs. Add in the black and silver foot band, with the more current Fu logo design, and you have a mix of new and old.

The wrapper was a milk chocolate shade of brown and had a earthy sweet aroma to it. From the foot, I got more earth, along with a little dried fruit and pepper smell. The prelight draw on the Big Payback was excellent and tasted of earth with subtle chocolate notes.

Big Payback fired up with a medium body and flavors of cedar and earth right up front, while semi-sweet chocolate and a bit of red pepper came up from behind. The retrohale had roasted nuts, cocoa powder and more red pepper.

As I burned through it, this stogie had a very pleasant flavor, slightly sweet, some earth and wood…a very good balance with just a medium-plus body.

All in all, The Big Payback is an excellent addition to the Room 101 lineup and one that I will be revisiting frequently.