Time to Lift Off- With the New Johnny Tobacconaut Cigars
With twenty-six years in the Stogy Business, I’ve seen a lot of premium cigar brands come and go. I’ve seen countless cigars that, for one reason or another, just didn’t catch on with the public and disappeared. I have come to the conclusion that many of these smokes although delicious, either had bland names, bland packaging, bad price points, and in many cases-all of the above.
Today the market is saturated with an ever-growing list of new brands, especially in the boutique segment. In my humble opinion, for a start-up company to survive, they not only have to produce and outstanding product, it seems that they also “gotta’ have a gimmick” to stand out from the crowd.
Nowadays cigar store shelves are lined with brands named Asylum Schizo, Blind Man’s Bluff, Boneshaker, Insidious, Primal, Psyko Seven, and Warped, just to name a few. If my father, an avid cigar smoker were alive today, he’d probably say – What’s with the Mashugana names already!!
That brings me to the cigar that I will be discussing today- Johnny Tobacconaut Cigars – Or as dad would have said- One small step for man- One giant leap for mashugana cigar names!
All kidding aside, Johnny Tobacconaut is a really a fantastic smoke, unfortunately it doesn’t come with a plastic ray gun or a magnetic asteroid shield.
I said I was going to be serious – I apologize …
This intergalactic stogy comes to you from the talented and slightly eccentric mind of Matt Booth who set out to create an “out of this world” edition to his premium blockbuster Room 101 line. – And boy did he succeed. Every box of these smokes portray brand mascot Johnny Tobacconaut, the shovel-wielding astronaut, marching through the galaxy in a space suit with a backpack filled with tobacco leaves. Booth, who created the character, describes him as “the intergalactic Johnny Tobaccoseed”.
Tobacconaut is available in three “Booth-esque” named s sizes. The Chingonova is a huge 8 x 60 rocket, Fileroid a 4.5 x 52 Perfecto, and a larger Perfecto, the Ranflactic that weighs in at 5.5 x 50.
All have a medium- full-bodied strength profile, but I found the Chingonova to be more on the medium side due to its massive circumference.
These Nicaraguan puros are impeccably constructed, and the dark oily sheen of its seamless chestnut brown wrapper will make your mouth water. Immediately upon lighting, heavy notes of pepper and a slight floral component greet your palate. This sharpness quickly subsides, giving way to a buttery smooth and fragrant smoke with abundant notes of cocoa, coffee, salty caramel and cream. The cigar holds all of these intricate flavors until the very end, along with a sweet well-aged tobacco finish that makes it very hard to put down.
In other words – It was good! In fact, this is the best Room 101 I’ve had to date.
I recommend that the next time you are ready to lift-off with a great premium cigar- you make it a Johnny Tobacconaut.
Until then – ‘Smoke long and prosper’
Comments