Cigar Review: Hit & Run by Caldwell Cigars (and Matt Booth)

• Vitola: Corona Gorda
• 6” x 46 ring gauge 
• $11.49
• Purchased at Burns Tobacconist

Background

Around the beginning of the year, the air was abuzz with the news that Matt Booth was leaving the cigar industry. There were rumors and accusations, hints and allegations about why…and about what he might do next. I, for one, figured he was done with cigars. He had recently had a child and seemed content to travel the world with the baby (aka “My Attorney”), hawking his signature silver jewelry. He signed a deal with Nordstrom and it was plain that Room101 Silver was really going big-time.

A funny thing happened on Booth’s way to cigar-industry retirement, though…apparently he ran into Robert Caldwell during the trip. Caldwell went with Booth to the William Ventura factory in the Dominican Republic and the A.J. Fernandez factory in Nicaragua and produced a couple of new offerings that were unveiled shortly before this year’s IPCPR show. The first one to hit the ground is the Hit & Run, a limited edition made at William Ventura. We got it in at Burns Tobacconist shortly after the show ended.

Hit & Run uses Dominican fillers, an Indonesian binder, and an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper. It comes packaged in 10-count boxes and they made a total of 5 vitolas…one of which is restricted to events. I’ve smoked a Corona Gorda and an “Almost Robusto” before this review. I purchased all these sticks at Burns Tobacconist. And, if you’re wondering, the latest I’ve heard for a ship date for the Caldwell/Booth/AJF collaboration (called “The Truth”) is October.

Prelight

Booth starts off this latest collaboration by re-establishing that he is Room101 and the brand is not part of the Davidoff/Camacho family. The dominant image on the box and band is the exact same sakura (cherry blossom) used in old Room101 branding…ashtrays, lighters, cutters, etc. This time it’s rendered in multiple colors…looking quite fall-like, actually…but it is indeed the same artwork. The flower is rendered in orange brown, and gold on a cream background, accented with gold foil, while the secondary band is gold with cream type…”101” with the “0” being the giant bike wheel from the Caldwell logo…so “this is Robert and Matt together” in other words.

The wrapper leaf was a milk chocolate brown with an aroma that mixed earth and leather. The foot of the stick had notes of earth, cedar and dark roast coffee.

After clipping the head, I got an excellent cold draw, though the flavor on it was very odd…the only thing I could think of was modeling glue…some kind of chemical note, anyway. I wasn’t deterred, though…that flavor on the cold draw seldom makes any impact when the cigar is lit.

Flavor

After lighting up the Hit & Run, I got a solidly cedar flavor up front, with a touch of Dominican earthiness and some grassiness coming in behind. There was a touch of pepper on the palate, but it was felt more strongly on the nose, where it was accompanied by a chewy nuttiness. Some nuttiness and sweetness worked its way into the profile on the palate before the first third was done.

Deep into the second third, I was getting sweet and slightly sour citrus notes, hay, earth and red pepper on the palate, while the retrohale was giving me cedar and more pepper spice.

The last third saw the sweetness die off a bit in favor of increased earth and grass notes. There was still a bit of citrus and pepper in the background.

Construction

The draw was good the entire way. The burn line was a little wonky at times, but nothing too dramatic. The ash was not flaky.

Value

The price point here is basically the same as other “Caldwell Collection” cigars, the premium lines from Caldwell, also made in the William Ventura factory. Based on that measuring stick, I’d call this a decent, though not great, value.

Conclusions

On the one hand, this is a surprising cigar because it signaled Matt Booth’s return to the cigar industry after a very short absence. On the other hand, I didn’t find anything “spectacular” about it…it’s a good cigar, but it really ended up tasting like something that belongs solidly in the Caldwell camp. I bought the Corona Gorda to review before smoking the Almost Robusto vitola; that vitola impressed me more than the first CG that I smoked…but this CG was better than that first one, as well. In the end, I feel a little conflicted about this smoke. Like I said, in this size, it is good…but it still might be better in the slightly larger ring gauge size.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 3.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 8.5/10