Vitola: Robusto- 5” x 50 ring gauge
- $11
- Cigar gifted to me
Background
Matt Booth’s presence in the cigar industry has been all of the map in the last couple years. He had his Room101 brand with Davidoff until late 2016/early 2017 when they cut ties. Then he started up a new batch of 101 offerings in collaboration with Robert Caldwell from Caldwell Cigars (Hit & Run) and Caldwell and AJ Fernandez (The T and T Connecticut)). After that he announced that he would have a Room101 not made in collaboration with Caldwell (The Farce and Farce Connecticut), but still made in the same factory as other Caldwell sticks, as well as Hit & Run Part Deux (Flush & Go? No…actually Rip & Dip). Somewhere along the line, he found time to take another trip with Robert Caldwell and scare up some Lost and Found Cigars.
“I am excited and honored to be involved with these upcoming releases from the LNF series,” said Booth. “I have always admired the Lost&Found concept seeing it as a truly unique project. Traveling with (Robert) Caldwell to the DR, I got bit by the vintage bug and wanted to develop a couple of cameo projects. The idea is to give consumers some vintage product that fits my palate.”
The Super Stroke was released in mid-2018 in Corona and Robusto sizes, in soft-packs of 10 sticks. It uses fillers from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Brazil, a Dominican binder, and an Ecuadorian Sungrown Habano wrapper. They released just over 5,000 total cigars between the two sizes.
I saw the Super Stroke when I was visiting California in October. I smoked one at Maxamar, bought another that I smoked a week or two later, and a friend back home asked me to pick up a pack of them for him. I did so and he gave me one of them, which is the review sample I’m smoking today. They are still available through Small Batch as of this writing. I got some background information from halfwheel’s news article.
Prelight
As with pretty much all previous Lost & Found projects the packaging on these is comical and fun. This one shows a bespectacled guy with an almost-mohawk and very large forearms…and apparel one arm with a very large bicep…but neither arms having much in the way of shoulder muscle mass. Both arms are tattooed up, including a “101” tattoo. The dude is holding a cigar…though with Booth’s involvement is it any wonder that he’s holding it like it’s a shake weight? The band has a cut down version of this artwork with a 101 logo at the back of the band. This “101” though, has the LNF parachute in place of the 0, signifying the collab between the two brandings.
The wrapper leaf was a light-to-medium brown color with a touch of red in it when held at certain angles. It was slightly oily in the light and to my touch, with an aroma of clean hay with a touch of sweetness. The foot of the cigar had mostly hay and cedar notes up front with touches of earth and vegetal aromas.
The cold draw was very good and had flavors of sweet hay and wood.
Flavor
When I lit the Super Stroke, I got initial flavors of dry cedar and earth, backed up with a little citrus and grassiness. There was just a touch of pepper spice on the palate, while the retrohale had a stronger pepper burn and a sweet nuttiness. As the first third burned on, the sweeter notes of citrus and hay started to pick up while the cedar and pepper slowly faded.
In the second third, the sweetness reached a new height with an almost molasses note mixing with the juicy citrus notes. Earth was a solid backing flavor and cedar was present on the finish. On the nose, the Super Stroke was nutty and woody.
The sweet notes continued strong in the final third with citrus definitely taking the lead. There was a small resurgence of pepper, which provided a nice counterpoint, while the woody notes vanished as the third finished up.
Construction
I had a great draw, very even burn line and solid ash the whole way.
Value
The price is a little steep, but not really out of line from other LNF projects or, indeed, other Caldwell or Booth projects…the cigar’s good, so I’m saying it’s worth the price.
Conclusions
I’ve only had a few of the Lost and Found projects, but this is definitely one of the best. It was complex and medium-bodied with an enjoyable flavor profile the entire way. This is one of those times I wish I knew which factory and blender to give the credit to, because this cigar was definitely worth applauding and worth repeating. But since that information is no disclosed, I’ll just have to credit Matt Booth and Robert Caldwell for finding these gems and getting them out to the world.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10
