Assessment Update: Room 101 Serie HN (Honduras)

Assessment Updates will be posted on this web-site to: 1) Assess “pre-review” cigars that were not given a rating or score (typically pre-release cigars); 2) Provide numeric ratings to cigars previously assessed prior to the implementation of the numeric scoring system; 3) Provide a re-assessment and re-score of a previously assessed/score cigars. Today, we re-assess Room 101 Serie HN (Honduras). This was a cigar we assessed exactly one year ago on September 12, 2013.

Wrapper: Criollo 98 (Honduras)
Binder: Brazilian Mata Fina
Filler Honduran Criollo Ligero and Dominican Navaratte
305: 5 x 50
Price ~$6.00

The Room 101 Serie HN made its debut back in 2013. It is the tenth blend to be launched under Matt Booth’s cigar brand. The cigar is intended to be a core line. The Serie HN means “Honduras”, but this gets its name from its Honduran Criollo ’98 wrapper. The cigar itself also features tobaccos from Brazil and the Dominican Republic.  The version we smoked was purchased this past August from a brick and mortar in the “305” (Robusto) size.

The profile to the Room 101 Serie HN is very similar to what last year’s delivered.  This cigar retained most of the characteristics of its flavor profile.  Like last year, the Serie HN delivered a lot in the way of sweetness.  I found this cigar started out with a lemon sweetness along with notes of natural tobacco and wood.  A chocolate note surfaced in the second half,  rich chocolate notes became dominant.  I found the chocolate this year to be sweeter as opposed to last year when it was more bittersweet.

The flavors started out medium to full-bodied and progressed to full-bodied in the second half.  As for the strength, it started out medium and became medium to full in the second half.  Overall I thought the body had the advantage of the strength – something consistent from the original assessment.  However I did notice a slight dialing back of both the strength and body on the smoke this time.

Overall great value and great flavor for a $6.00 robusto.  While it achieved the same numeric score as last year, our scoring criteria has gotten tougher, so in reality this can be considered an increase. This is real “under the radar” cigar in the Room 101 line. This cigar is easily worth a box split.


Summary