Cigar Reviews
Room 101 Johnny Tobacconaut
As I try to wrap up my list of cigars that I’d like to get reviewed by the end of the year, I found myself in the middle of a very busy weekend. That being said, I was able to sneak out back and toast up a Room 101 Johnny Tobacconaut despite the action going on inside the house.
The Good Stuff:
Matt Booth, creator of Room 101 is always up to something, and this year he’s come out with what I think, is the greatest cigar name to even hit the market. The Johnny Tobacconaut is a limited edition blend which features all Nicaraguan tobacco, and all figured formats which is created by Davidoff in Danli, Honduras. Here is Matt’s representation of the blend:
One small puff for man, one giant cascade of flavor for mankind is what our dear friend and comrade in arms Johnny Tobacconaut seeks to deliver unto you. We escape the day-to-day ether we know so well in search of intergalactic adventure with our latest offering hailing from the Room101 family. Unsheathe this smoke wagon of funkadelic flavor and afford yourself a micro escape from your day. The mini vacation you are about to embark upon, should you choose to accept it, will bring you one step closer to becoming that gentleman or gentle-lady of leisure we all know is within you.
Elevate and emancipate in a cloud of delicious smoke, mined and procured from the depths of the seventh planet from the sun. Johnny Tobacconaut is passing you the torch
The Johnny Tobacconaut comes in three sizes: Fillerroid ( 4 1/2 x 52 x 45), the Ranflactic (5 1/2 x 30 x 50), and the Chingonova (8 x 60 x 44) which all carry Matt Booth-style names. This a very limited run of only 3,500 boxes total and each stick will sell between $12 and $14 a pop. Matt Booth has mentioned that if these cigars sell well he’d considering making it a full production line. I picked mine up over from our friends at Smoke Inn who still had them in stock last time I checked.
Size: 8 x 60 x 44
Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Body: Medium/Full
Strength: Medium/Full
Price: $14
Pairing: Stone Farking Wheaton W00tstout (Imperial Stout 13% ABV)
Prelight:
The Johnny Tobacconaut Chingonova is a beefy cigar. The wrapper is absolutely gorgeous as I can almost see my reflection off the sheer amount of oils coating the cigar. The wrapper is a pretty consistent, medium brown with some darker areas around the natural webbing in the leaf as well as the foot. The texture is very oily and very toothy. As it’s a figurado the Johnny Tobacconaut starts out with a very small gauged foot which quickly expands and stays wide all the way up to the pointy, tapered cap. The Johnny Tobacconaut is very tightly packed, and very firm and the wrapper is as hard as a rock. This cigar is a heavy one. The cigar is polished off with a beautiful copper and black back which elegantly states “Johnny Tobacco Naut” in the front with a very small Room 101 logo in the back.
The wrapper on the Room 101 Johnny Tobacconaut gives off a very sweet molasses, soft cedar, and slight spice aroma while the foot of the cigar is more heavily spice-driven backed by some soft pepper. Despite the wrapper being so dense, the Johnny Tobacconaut cut like butter under my double bladed Palio cutter. The cold draw was very heavy on the cedar and sweetness with some great spice, and some slight pepper.
First Third:
The Johnny Tobacconaut starts out with more pepper than I was expecting, but it didn’t hang around for two long. After the pepper began to fade the cigar showcased some great cedar, brown sugar, honey, spice, and musk notes. This is a great mixture and is pretty bold right off the bat. The draw on this bad boy is incredible. Each little puff kicks out a massive, massive cloud of very thick, white smoke which feels like it hangs around forever before dissipating. The burn line started pretty wavy, as is the case with most figurados, but has been quickly correcting itself. I close out the firs third with a razor thin, decently straight burn line which leaves behind a trail of semi-flaky white and dark gray ash which held on for about an inch before falling into my ashtray.
Second Third:
Into the second third of the Room 101 Johnny Tobacconaut and the cigar is burning fantastically. I am really digging on this flavor profile as now it’s balanced out a bit. The cigar still leads with sweet brown sugar, cedar, honey and spice backed by cocoa and musk with a great oaky aftertaste. The retrohale is quite smooth coating my nasal passage with some sweetness, cedar, and spice. The burn line is still rocking with some very slight waves, and I close out the second third feeling zilch in the nicotine department.
Finish:
The body starts to ramp up quite a bit in the final third of the Room 101 Johnny Tobacconaut. The flavors are still rockin’ with the cedar, honey, and sweetness leading the charge backed by musk, cedar, and spice. This is a great, long burning cigar. It took me about 2 hours to take it down to the very nub and I enjoyed every second of it. The Johnny Tobacconaut finished with absolutely no harshness, and not heat at all. The cigar left me with only a mild nicotine kick, in fact, I felt much more from the beer I paired it with.
Overview:
As soon as I saw the packaging and branding on the Room 101 Johnny Tobacconaut I was intrigued. I’m happy to report that the experience lived up to the hype. The Johnny Tobacconaut is a great Nicaraguan Puro which showcases the tobacco’s sweetness, flavor, and boldness without creating too much strength, nor being over the top. The price is a bit steep, but it’s what you’d expect from the manufacturer, and something I’d gladly pay for how much I enjoyed this cigar. Box worthy for sure, especially since this may be a limited run, but let’s just hope that Matt keeps this one going.
Pairing:
Stone’s Farking Wheaton w00tStout has a strange name. But when you realize Drew Curtis (founder of fark.com), Wil Wheaton (yes, THAT Wil Wheaton), and Greg Koch (CEO & Co-Founder of Stone) is behind this beer, it starts to make a little more sense. Coming in at 13% ABV this massive Imperial Stout isn’t for the faint of heart. Stone’s Farking Wheaton w00tStout leads with a very bold palate of dark chocolate, roasted malt, espresso, and spice with a very heavy mouthfeel before finishing just as bold with loads more dark chocolate, espresso, and a bit of booze with a cocoa aftertaste. This beer is bold, and strong, and I love it. What made this a perfect pair with the Johnny Tobacconaut was the chocolate, sweetness, malt and spice which married up wonderfully with the flavors in the cigar. This cigar would also pair great with a nice malty porter, marzen, or sweet iced tea.
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