Room101 15th Anniversary celebrates Matt Booth’s 15 years in the cigar industry. He’s come a long way from doing Jagermeister shots at Burns Tobacconist in Chattanooga at a TweetUp.
The 15th Anniversary is released a year late which seems to be the normal in the latin culture and the cigar industry. The cigar company was born in 2009 and Booth has has a relationship with Davidoff and Caldwell before selling the brand to STG where he serves as the creative director.
According to a press release Matto Booth states, “I am both honored and humbled by your belief in and support of our brand. You have made this milestone possible for Room101. We have traversed several lifetimes, surfing the highs and lows of this journey together and I wouldn’t change a thing.”
The cigar is made at AJ Fernandez who also made the Room101 10th, 12th, 13th and 14th Anniversary Cigars
Cigar Review: Room101 15th Anniversary
Size: 6 x 52 (Toro)
Wrapper: Nicaragua
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler Nicaragua
Factory: Tabacalera AJ Fernandez
Release Date: February 2025
Production: Limited Edition (2,000 Boxes)
Box Size: 20 Cigars
The Cigar: Featuring its eastern look design the Room101 15th Anniversary utilizes colors of yellow and red. Featuring the logo of a lotus flower the band denotes 15TH ANNV. I don’t know if I have been smoking bigger cigars lately but in the hand the cigar feels thinner than a 52 ring. The darker Nicaraguan wrapper has some visible magnesium spots on the wrapper which has me anticipating what is to come on the well packed cigar.
The Taste: The cold draw serves up hints of earth and kola nut along side a subtle amount of cashews while the foot has a nice amount of spices that almost elicit a sneeze. Once the cigar is toasted and lit the initial notes are earthy.
Moving into the first third there are unbalanced notes of earth and leather along with a fair amount of spice to it. Thankfully around a half-inch in the the Room101 15th Anniversary begins to balance itself out. The earth and leather become more of an afterthought with developing notes of mocha and cayenne pepper that work well with each other. The retrohale which is very clean and smooth enhances the cayenne on a long finish.
Moving into the second third the mocha sweetness has disappeared as notes of black coffee become dominant and the earthy note begin to ramp up in intensity. Around the halfway point of the cigar the mocha returns slightly along with a subtle cedar and nuttiness while the finish is a dry earthy component. The retrohale continues to serve up cayenne pepper while added to the earthy notes creating a long finish.
The last third seems to lose some of its balance with leather and earth emerging as the dominant flavors. Every now and then some nuttiness and cedar show up on the palate but they are fleeting at best. As we remove the band the cigar becomes heavy on black pepper that is noticeable on the aroma as well. The retrohale enhances the spice and creates a long finish.
Conclusion: STG has acquired some well known brands over the years including CAO, Alec Bradley and Room101. For me the company is known as a brand killer, but their sales say otherwise. This mostly thanks to Cigars International, Thompson, Cigar Bid, Cigars.com and Pipes & Cigars. It has allowed them to market direct to consumer and increase a brands visibility to their massive customer base. In turn the brands are in my eyes and of my opinion a shell of what they once one.
I expected more from this AJ Fernandez produced cigar in terms of depth, complexity and flavor though it isn’t a bad cigar. It is however a bit pedestrian and I wanted more from a cigar that is celebrating the 15th Anniversary.
Score: 88
Price: $15.00 (Before any local or state taxes)
The Room101 15th Anniversary along with other Room101 Cigars are available at SmallBatchCigar.com which is a site sponsor. Use the coupon code BARRELBURNER to save 10% off your order.
