Room101 13th Anniversary

One of these days, I’m going to tally up how many times we write about a cigar celebrating an anniversary in the course of a year. It’s probably not quite as many as I think it is, but it certainly feels like I find myself trying to come up with some unique lead-in to these reviews.

Most of those anniversaries tend to come with familiar numbers, usually ending in 0 or 5, but in the case of Room101, the company has taken to celebrating its anniversary every year since 2019, when it celebrated its 10th anniversary. That meant that 2022 marked the 13th anniversary of the cigar company, and for it, Room101 returned to AJ Fernandez to produce the celebratory smoke.

The Room101 13th Anniversary is a 6 x 52 toro with an all-Nicaraguan blend, with all of that tobacco being grown by AJ Fernandez and the cigars produced by Tabacalera AJ Fernandez Cigars de Nicaragua in Estelí. AJ Fernandez also produced Room101’s 10th and 12th Anniversary cigars, while the factory that produced the Room101 11th Anniversary was not disclosed.

Production was limited to 1,500 boxes of 20 cigars and it shipped in late August. Pricing is set at $11.30 per cigar and $226 per box.

While 13th anniversaries generally aren’t celebrated in the way that Room101 did, this most recent year marked a historic one for the company, as in mid-June it was announced that Room101 Cigars—and not any of the other Room101-branded companies—had been acquired by Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG), the owner of General Cigar Co. As part of the deal, Booth joined STG as its creative director and has already put his touch on new cigars from the Sancho Panza and Los Status Deluxe brands.

• Cigar Reviewed: Room101 13th Anniversary
• Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Factory: Tabacalera AJ Fernandez Cigars de Nicaragua S.A.
• Wrapper: Nicaragua
• Binder: Nicaragua
• Filler: Nicaragua
• Length: 6 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 52
• Vitola: Toro
• MSRP: $11.30 (Box of 20, $226)
• Release Date: August 2022
• Number of Cigars Released: 1,500 Boxes of 20 Cigars (30,000 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

The Room101 13th Anniversary is a very dark cigar, a point emphasized by the contrast of the light pink band it wears, which is both a contrast of color and a contrast to the vast majority of bands found on premium cigars. The wrapper is a very earthy and rich brown, almost taking on the color of damp earth. The leaf has a lot of toothiness to it, while the veins are smaller and almost blend into the background. The cigar is firm and rolled well, with flat seams and well-applied caps. The foot has an aroma that reminds me of root beer or sarsaparilla and a bit of black pepper, then a finish that starts after a brief pause but really fills the nostril with a noticeable tingle. There can also be flirtations with a bit of red berry sweetness; it’s not as thick and pronounced as cherry, but raspberry feels a bit too light of a descriptor. The cold draw is smooth and fairly easy with a touch of resistance, while the flavor is rather subdued. It offers a touch of very light, loose earth as the first and most notable flavor. I could make the case for a very light expression of root beer or the chocolate you’d find in a brownie, though beyond the earth flavor I feel like I am searching for flavors. That said, more searching does produce a tingle on my lips from the tobacco.

The Room101 13th Anniversary starts out with a flavor that reminds me of a cherry-flavored cola and then explodes with black pepper once the first retrohale is taken. That pepper also appears on the palate, and once it does the cigar is suddenly alive and vibrant. If this review was based solely on the first inch of a cigar, I’d have to think this one would score quite well, as it is dynamic, rich, and very engaging, setting a high bar for the rest of the smoke. As the flavor continues to evolve, a bit of creaminess begins to emerge, a textural change to the smoke more than a flavor-based change, though there is some suggestion that it helps to mellow the overall flavor. What doesn’t change are the retrohales, which are still quite peppery and nose-tingling. The creaminess segues into a bit of a smoked chocolate flavor for a bit, both very subtle and an interesting combination. While the cherry aspect of the first puffs became overshadowed for a bit, it returns after the first clump of ash drops off, now lighter and more aromatic, making for a pleasant addition, particularly through the retrohales. Outside of a brief respite, the cigar is full-flavored, medium-plus body, yet mild in strength thus far. Construction and combustion are both very good, particularly in terms of smoke production.

The second third of the Room101 13th Anniversary starts off with less sweetness than it offered earlier, shifting towards the earthiness but still with a subtle chocolate undertone. The earthiness is a bit more robust than it was earlier, and the finish now lingers longer on my tongue. Meanwhile, the retrohales are more textured with an earthy smoke as opposed to simply being pepper-focused, as those two aspects are now more even in their impact. There are some puffs where the cigar simplifies and reminds me of a fresh cup of quality black coffee, though with the addition of black pepper both on the palate and through the nose. Around the midpoint, it is clear that the cigar has turned down the intensity of its flavor a bit, with creaminess returning to both thicken and soften the profile just a touch. Since the cigar started so vibrantly, this portion probably feels a bit mellower than it actually is; were I to take a puff from just the middle third on its own, I’d probably peg it as medium-full in flavor, if not outright full. The final puffs of the second third take on a decidedly woody flavor, specifically a dry, almost lumber-like that provides not only a different flavor, but it elicits a different response on the palate than the cigar has offered thus far. As noted above, this section is in the medium-full flavor range, while body is still medium-plus and strength has barely started to touch medium. Construction and combustion remain good, though some slightly uneven burn lines have me thinking about touching them up with my lighter, though they often resolve themselves before I need to intervene.

The final third sees the flavor takes on a bit of a smoky, almost charred flavor, which brings about more black pepper, and in particular one that tingles the front third of my tongue. The core flavor of the Room101 13th Anniversary alternates between being led by wood and being led by the dry, robust earthiness from earlier; either way the result is a dryness in my mouth that begs for some water to ease the sensation. The sweetness from earlier has now departed the cigar, and the pepper that has been a significant component now feels more like an accent component as opposed to a key driver. The final third seems to accelerate in terms of its burn rate, quickly getting to its conclusion as the drier flavors also seemed to contribute to a quicker burn rate. The cigar finishes medium-plus in flavor, medium-plus in body, and medium in strength. The cigar continues to burn very well, never needing a touch-up across any of the three samples.

Final Notes

• As I noted above, there aren’t a lot of cigars that use pink in their bands; there is the Arturo Fuente Rare Pink series, which are bathed in pink, and the Southern Draw Rose of Sharon line, which uses a good bit of pink on its bands.
• That said, a number of companies makes celebratory “It’s a Girl” cigars that use plenty of pink.
• The back of the bands on the Room101 13th Anniversary bear the message “No Good Deeds.”
• In another design twist, Matt Booth designed the inside of the boxes to be printed upside down.
• And in case you hadn’t heard, Booth refers to the Room101 13th Anniversary as “the stinky pinky.”
• You can hear Matt Booth talk about the Room101 13th Anniversary and his other new releases in our coverage from the 2022 PCA Convention & Trade Show.
• If you were a fan of the Room101 12th Anniversary, in late October 2022 the company released a limited edition 6 x 56 perfecto vitola in that line. Only six retailers received the cigars, with production limited to about 450 boxes of 10 cigars.
• The Room101 13th Anniversary doesn’t have a lot of outright strength while smoking the cigar, yet a few minutes after finishing each one, I did get a bit of a nicotine buzz.
• General Cigar Co. advertises on halfwheel.
• The cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
• Final smoking time was two hours and 20 minutes on average.
• Site sponsors Cigar Hustler and STOGIES World Class Cigars carry the Room101 13th Anniversary.