Cigar Review: Room 101 Master Collection Two

Vitola: Mutante (Lancero)
Size: 7” x 38 ring gauge
Price $10.99
Purchased at Burns Tobacconist

Background

Time passes quickly in the cigar biz these days…skip putting out product for a year or two and consumers might just forget all about you, then treat you with complete apathy once you get active again. On the flip side of that, though…if you initial release turned out a little disappointing, and you can weather a bit of time, you can keep producing blends until people forget that initial release and only have time to focus on the great stuff you’ve done.

Room 101 seems to have followed the second path. These days, even insiders will say the initial release wasn’t what they intended…but so what? Since those days, the Namakubi (original and Ecuador versions), Daruma, Connecticut, San Andres, and Honduras releases have just about drive the original release off the shelves…hey! most stores just don’t have enough room to carry all those cigars! Now comes the Master Collection One and Two; MC1 came out near the end of 2013, MC2 near the beginning of 2014. I tried MC1 two or three times and I honestly just didn’t care for it, although the local rep said to try the Churchill (Sucio) vitola because it’s the best of the blend…and I will do so). Still, I’ve been a fan of most of the 101 releases so I eagerly tried MC2 when it came out…and found it much more to my liking.

According to this report at halfwheel, the MC2 is made up of Honduran and Nicaraguan fillers, a Honduran binder, and a Criollo (no country of origin stated) wrapper. Also reported was the fact that this cigar was supposed to be limited to 100,000 total sticks, split among 4,400 boxes. As limited editions go…that’s really not that limited. For comparison, the Namakubi was also supposed to be limited to 100,000 cigars…it came out in the second half of 2011…and there are still plenty out there. Is it “limited”? Yes, it’s supposed to be…is 100K units a small number? No, not at all.

Before this review sample, I had smoked at least 2 of 3 of this blend in this same size. I bought them all at Burns Tobacconist.

Prelight

The band of the MC2 is a gold foil cherry blossom surrounded by a circle, and flanked by stripes…all on a duller gold foil background. Yes, it can be difficult to make out details, especially in photographs. The cherry blossom has become a new logo for Room 101, used on the MC1 as well as apparel…and I’m sure other things in the pipeline. Investigating the meaning behind the symbol, I found this on Wikipedia:

image courtesy Room 101 Brands

The wrapper was a tawny brown color that I would have easily mistaken for many of the Ecuadorian Habano leaves used recently. On closer inspection, it has a little different texture than that varietal, but otherwise it’s similar. It was finished off in a careful pigtail on the cap and had a rich sweet aroma with a bit of earthiness; the foot had a more pungent earth note. After clipping the head, the draw was good and tasted very earthy.

Flavor

The Master Collection Two started out crisp and flavorful. I immediately got notes of cedar, earth, citrus and hay, as well as a medium dose of black pepper on the nose. As I got into the cigar further, I started to get a little pepper burn on the palate, too, though nothing too fiery.

As I puffed my way to the second third, I got more grassy notes with the earthiness toning down just a bit. There was still plenty of cedar and mildly sweet citrus, though the pepper notes had dropped off a bit, too. Toward the end of the cigar, I continued to get grassy and citrusy flavors; the peppery notes started coming back a bit, too.

Construction

I found construction to be good to very good on all the samples of the MC2 that I smoked. As it normal with most lanceros, there was some touching up to keep the burn even, but the draw was excellent and the ash was not flaky.

Value

The price on these is just a touch higher than I would like to see. Yes, they are “limited” but as far as I can tell, no more so than the Namakubi or Daruma, which were less expensive if I remember correctly. But maybe that’s just inflation at work. At any rate, I did enjoy the cigar so I’m willing to pay the price.

Conclusions

I really enjoyed the Master Collection Two from Room 101. It was medium in body, but delivered full flavor throughout along with a pleasing complexity. When set beside the Master Collection One and the plethora of other “LTD” releases from Matt Booth’s brand, it shows there can truly be something for everyone when the line matures.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10