Room 101 12th Anniversary

By Tony Casas | October 18, 2021

As temperatures continue to drop in El Paso, so do releases. And this week I take a look at Room 101’s newest release the 12th Anniversary paired with a bottle of Founder’s KBS Espresso Imperial Stout beer.

The Good Stuff:

This year one of my favorite characters in the cigar community, Matt Booth released an anniversary cigar celebrating the 12th anniversary of Room 101 Cigars. Created at AJ Fernandez’s factory the 12th Anniversary is aimed at being the boldest anniversary release today showcases pure Nicaraguan tobacco, including the Maduro wrapper from AJ’s farms in Esteli, Nicaragua. The cigar is released in a single 6 x 50 format which comes packaged in boxes of 25 running $11 a cigar. There are only a total of 1,001 boxes released. I purchased a handful of these over from our friends at Neptune Cigars.

• Size: 6 x 50
• Wrapper: Nicaraguan Maduro
• Binder: Nicaraguan
• Filler: Nicaraguan
• Body: Full
• Strength: Full
• Price: $11
• Pairing: Founders KBS Espresso (Imperial Stout 12% ABV)

Prelight:

The Room 101 12th Anniversary cigar starts out with a crazy dark brown, crazy consistent wrapper. It looks like a chocolate bar. The wrappers texture is extremely toothy and gritty while its covered in a whole mess of thick oils. The wrapper itself feels very hard as the cigar itself is dense and heavy without any soft sports. The wrapper is laid so perfectly over itself you have to struggle to see where it meets. You can find some light veining and tobacco webbing in the cigar’s body as it leads up to the cigar’s round, double-wrapped cap. The cigar is then completed with a gorgeously elegant pastel green wrapper with white and gold embossed print containing the words “12TH ANNV”, “2009/2021” and “ROOM 101”.

The wrapper on the Room 101 12th Anniversary gives off some light coffee and cedar aromas while the foot of the cigar carries mostly musky, earthy, natural tobacco aromas. The cap cut clean and easily using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces very spicy and musky flavors over light coffee.

First Third:

The Room 101 12th Anniversary starts out with a huge cayenne pepper blast that really left my lips and tongue screaming for a bit. Once the pepper faded the cigar left me with lots of up front musk, oak, espresso, graham cracker, spice, and vanilla with some great dark chocolate that tends to come and go. The draw is absolutely flawless. Each tiny puff kicks out huge clouds of thick white smoke which really take some time to dissipate while the cigar releases a good amount of stationary smoke while it rests in my ashtray. The burnline is dead even and razor sharp leaving behind a trail of tightly compacted white ash that held on for an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Room 101 12th Anniversary and the flavor profile is being dominated by tons of rich dark chocolate and espresso backed by oak, vanilla, and musk. The retrohale really pours on the spice and pepper so I don’t find myself doing that too often. The burnline is still dead even and razor sharp as I close out the second third with a decent little nicotine kick already.

Finish:

Into the final third of the Room 101 Anniversary and this thing is pound on the flavor. Again, the dark chocolate and espresso lead the charge with notes of strong oak and musk along with light vanilla and graham cracker. The burnline has been perfect the entire experience and I never one had to reach for my torch to touchup or relight. It took me almost 2 hours to take this cigar down to the nub as it burned very slowly. I experienced no harshness nor any extended heat but the cigar did leave me with a whopper of a nicotine kick. Be ready for it.

Overview:

When they said this was the boldest anniversary release in the Room 101 portfolio to date they weren’t joking. The cigar is packed full of flavors which I think will appease any cigar smoker who prefers a stronger profile, but may be a bit too much for someone who tends to gravitate towards something lighter. The cigar preformed perfectly and flavors were complex enough to keep me entertained. The price is perfect, and being that it’s so limited I didn’t have a hard time getting my hands on them.

Pairing:

Founder’s KBS Espresso is a 12% Imperial Stout brewed with coffee and chocolate aged in oak bourbon barrels. The beer leads with a ton of dark chocolate, roasted malt, bright espresso and caramel with a shockingly light mouthfeel before finishing with more espresso, chocolate, oak, and caramel. This beer is incredibly easy to drink despite the ABV. As soon as I tried the Room 101 12th Anniversary I know I would be pairing with this beer as the espresso and chocolate were the dominant forces in the cigar as well resulting in a beautiful pairing.