Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano

Binder: Honduran Proprietary “Generoso” seed

Filler: Dominican and Honduran Vuelta Abajo

Size: 7 x 48 “Sucio”

Body: Medium/Full

Price: $8.00

I have become a big fan of Room 101 and Matt Booth, as well as his collaborators in crime. This man is unseating Pete Johnson and Tatuaje for popping out small batch, splendid blends with the same type of fanfare and quality of product. I’ve yet to smoke a 101 that did make me go Wow!

“The Room 101 LTD Namakubi Edition is small limited production of only 100,000 cigar total for all of the five sizes. A tribute to the history of the Samurai culture: “Namakubi,” is Japanese for “freshly severed head.” The Room 101 Namakubi cigars are packaged in boxes of twenty cigars that pack a good medium to full bodied punch.”

I got the Room 101 Ltd Namakubi Edition from Atlantic Cigar. Price was right on target and they had them while others did not.

Construction borders on being a bit rustic. Some sticks are very solid, others; with occasional soft spots. The stick is also a bit lumpy. And the triple cap’s quality of construction varies from cigar to cigar.

I received these sticks two weeks ago and have not smoked one yet. So I don’t know if I’m jumping the gun or catching the stick at the beginning of its parity with the blender.

I do some sniffing around and detect hay, barnyard, cinnamon, baking spices, spice, and leather.

I clip and light up.

The first flavor is of tobacco sweetness. A bit of red pepper tickles my tongue. The draw is perfect. Smoke spews vociferously. I was trying for some onomatopoeia.

There is graham cracker sweetness with those baking spices attached. Very mild and in the background. The body is on the mild side of medium at this early point.

The ash flowers and falls off at the ¾” mark. The ash flowers once more. The flavors are increasing along with the power. The spiciness increases in strength and is making my tip of my tongue tingle.

There is a coffee component now. Sort of creamy rather than the dark espresso type. The sweetness continues. The leather is also an integral part of the flavor profile.

At this point, I declare that this Room 101 is totally different from its brethren. The body builds slowly. As well do the flavors. It is my first cigar of the day and goes well with that empty stomach.

It’s nice not to be smoking a Nicaraguan puro for a change. The profile is completely different and it has your palate going, “Huh?” It keeps waiting for that chocolate flavor that is so redolent within Nicaraguan sticks.

It is also apparent to me that this long stick might need more time in my humidor. With many of the 101 sticks, a couple weeks brings out a strong flavor and blender’s intent. And as I type this, the flavors begin the beguine. I am close to finishing the first third and things are ramping up all over the place, flavors spilling over the sides.

No new flavors have enjoined the profile but they are now strong and bold. The tobacco sweetness now comes from a delicious caramel. I can taste the butter. The strength is at a solid medium now. The cigar fooled me. It needed the first third to prepare the smoker. Clearly, this cigar is about flavor.

Since this cigar is billed as medium/full, I would guess that the full part of the cigar won’t happen until the last couple of inches.

I hit the halfway point and a big smile forms across my puss. I bought an entire box of these and have another 19 to go! Woo Hoo! Sorry. Not behaving professional and might be reported to the Cigar Reviewer’s Union for excessive exuberance.

Going unreported is the creaminess that the cigar now attains. I wasn’t sure if this blend would acquire that component, but it did making the sweetness all the better.

I enter the last third.

The stick is really spicy now. My tongue has passed the tingling sensation inches ago. But that’s OK. I’m a huge spice fan. But let me add, that it is not out of hand or a pepper bomb.

The strength moves up and approaches full bodied. At this point, the cigar is extremely well balanced with a very long finish. Lip smacking finish.

There is no way, within my vocabulary, to describe how flavorful this cigar has become. I’m like a little kid watching out of the side of my eyes at my father who is getting ready to pull my lollipop away from me. I don’t want this experience to end. It’s that good.

Clearly, I highly recommend this cigar. Unfortunately, it will be gone soon. Since only a total of 100,000 cigars were made, I guess a month at the most and whoosh! I wish I were a rich man. “Yubby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dum.

“All day long I’d biddy biddy bum. If I were a wealthy man.”  Love that movie.

I’d buy a bunch of boxes and hide them away and just let them marinate.

Well, Matt Booth has knocked it out of the park again. Kudos and I bow to the Master.

And now for something way out there completely different:

1972

Dr. O. L. Jaggers (Universal World Church)

(The first church on the planet CERES)

The story of an insane preacher

DR. O.L. JAGGERS

MISS VELMA

We were the triumvirate. The Musketeers. The Horsemen of the Apocalypse. It was just me, Skip, and Travis. And we were roommates during our school days. We lived in a nice, 3 bedroom house in Santa Ana. On summer nights, we regularly went up to the hip and valley roof and watched the stars and passed the doobie. Marvelous times even though we were as poor as church mice.

We had a few indulgences on TV. Star Trek, of course. Saturday Night Live, absolutely. (This is where I got my nickname of Kohnhead). And Dr. O.L. Jaggers.

Jaggers was an odd creature and his wife, Miss Velma were a pair of evangelical preachers that scared the bejeezus out of us.

MISS VELMA STANDING ON THE EARTH

Jaggers was based out of South Central L.A. He had a huge church cluttered with massive photos/paintings of himself and his wife…they seemed god like in their poses. But the stage was the show.

Jaggers had built an 80’-0 long golden altar on that stage. The altar had to have been over 10’-0 high.

It was painted white with gold trim. It had gargoyles and angels and weird outcroppings of artistic impressions of Jesus and Mary. Above the altar were disco balls that were lit and spinning so that the golden altar sparkled like something that had dropped from heaven.

This thing was so big; it could fit 15 black Gospel singers on it. Directly in front of the altar, was a dazzling white grand piano with gold trim. Jaggers would play it by playing arpeggios and sang his songs of “I’m nuts, how are you?”

Back to the essentials of the Jaggers: They were insane. While Jaggers preached, there would be 8^th grade science and biology movie clips shown behind him. They had the scratches and stutter of old films. And had nothing to do with what he preached. Of course, no one had any idea what he preached because he was nuts. We would smoke a doob hoping we would understand. That didn’t help. He also wore a white garb that looked like it was made for The Commodores.

Our favorite part was near the end of the show when he grabbed his all white Fender Stratocaster and began playing Pete Townshend style, with windmill strokes. Mind you, this man was in his 60’s at the time and was very conservative. He told us TV viewers the only way our prayers could be heard by God was to send him money…and in return, he would send us a golden prayer cloth with the outline of his hand on it. So being the suckers we were, we sent the money and got a ratty, thread torn, golden cloth about 6” x 6” with a stamped hand print on it.

We decided to visit on a Sunday. Because of the location, we were the only white boys in his church. But we were welcomed with warmth and generosity.

We marveled at the golden altar in person.

The crowd loved him and Miss Velma. They cheered and repeated words he prompted them to repeat like lemmings.

And then the anointing of the oil. We got in line while the gospel singers tore the place up. I had a huge, monster afro. Skip had hair past his shoulders. And Travis looked like the Gorton Fisherman.

Women were flailing on the floors upon anointing. Convulsions. They got dragged away and out of the view of the TV camera. I wish I had a camera at the moment he looked at this hippie. I almost gave him a heart attack. But he still took the ketchup bottle with vegetable oil and squeezed it just a little extra for me on my forehead. There was pure hatred in his eyes.

He announced that Sunday morning that Jesus Christ would appear at his church for the Easter services in a few weeks. Travis went by himself only to report that Jesus was a no show.

Jaggers is such a nut, that there are several of his sermons on YouTube. Here are some links to give you an idea of what we were dealing with.

 http://www.youtube.com/user/universalworldchurch

Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS