Cigar Preview: Room 101 Johnny Tobacco Naut

Vitola: Ranflactic (perfecto)
Size: 5.5″ x 30/50 rig gauge
Price $12.99 MSRP
IPCPR show sample from SmallBatchCigar.com

Background

Room 101 who is known for his distinctive products and personality has decided to introduce a space themed cigar at the most recent IPCPR show.  The space man image he uses and the name makes me think that this is a retro-themed release, like something that would have been introduced in the ’50s or ’60s.  This is a limited edition with only 3,500 boxes of cigars total.  This cigar comes in three perfecto sizes; Fileriod (4.5″ x 52/45), Ranflactic (5.5″ x 30/50) and Chingonova (8 x 60/44) and prices range from $12-$14.  This cigar is a Nicaraguan puro as well.  This was the first one of these I smoked.

Prelight

The wrapper on this cigar is very dark brown with a slightly reddish tint to it.  The wrapper also had a good amount of oils and tooth to it.  The band clearly lets you know what cigar you’re smoking with its classy copper on black.  While I didn’t notice this until I took the band off, it is actually two bands; the bottom copper band with the black and copper band on top.  When I gave it a squeeze there was a slight amount of give with no soft spots.  The wrapper smelled of barnyard and the narrow foot smelled the same.  When I clipped it and took a cold draw on it I got a good draw with some sweet and cocoa powder flavors.

Flavor

The cigar starts off with the flavors sugary sweetness, spice, earth and coffee.  After a few puffs I started to get some cinnamon, graham and marshmallow flavors as well.  The cigar was medium-full bodied and strength to start.  The spice did mellow out by the end of the first third.  As I moved into the second third the flavors changed a bit to coffee, earth with hints of anise all with a slightly sweet finish.  The strength stayed the same.  The final third saw the flavors pretty much stay the same with the spice returning but not as much as it started off as.  I did get a slight nicotine hit from it as it moved into the full strength range by the end.

Construction

The draw was pretty much perfect throughout.  The burn was slightly wavy and needed a couple corrections, but it might have been due to me not lighting the cigar evenly.

Value

To me the price, while out of my everyday price range, isn’t a bad price for a limited edition.

Conclusions

I definitely enjoyed this cigar.  I also think it was the strongest one I’ve had from Room 101.  While this won’t be in my regular rotation I will pick some up when the show up at my local shop.