The Chingon by Room 101 was created exclusively for the retailer Famous-Smoke. Famous-Smoke is my favorite online retailer for cigars, I figured might as well give the Chingon a shot. I have loved everything Room 101 thus far. The only thing that hinders me, is some store elusive cigars are rolled with lesser quality, as they are generally lower priced sticks. Chingon translates into "the most epic" in Spanish slang.

Wrapper: Ecuador Habano 2000
Binder: Honduran Corojo
Filler: Dominican Republic, Honduras and Mexico
Size: 5.5 x 60
MSRP: $6.50

I find the purple and gold band a bit ugly next to the fat, somewhat veiny wrapper. It is just not a very appealing cigar to me. The larger ring gauge is also not my style. We eat with our eyes with food, the same goes for cigars. If it starts out ugly, the flavors, construction, smoke, etc. have to convince you. Somewhat like food taste, texture, temperature, etc.

The band reminds me of a Swisher grape cigarillo. :-P

A punch cut provided an open draw. I toast and light, let it mellow, and then find a flavor profile with a large amount of cedar, herbal notes, and a hot spice..., like a Tabasco. The Tabasco description is somewhat new to me, not just a flavor, it feels like it has actual heat. Overall my first impressions are that it's pretty one dimensional, and not very complex or well balanced.

The smoke output is pretty decent. The burn line has some issues, it has canoed a little. Oh well, touch up with the single flame torch, I will keep it nearby for this smoke.

My evening has been great and productive so far, The Seahawks killed the Rams, I decorated Christmas cookies, and my leg lamp is glowing in the front room window for all to see it's glory!

Anyway back to the El Mas Chingon...

Around mid point, the finish develops a nice deep, dark roasted caramel. This is what was missing, something that can tie all the other flavors together and give it some balance. It also has a weird, almost buttered popcorn nuance. The Chingon is becoming somewhat entertaining. I am not giving it the stink-eye that I was at the beginning.

There have been a couple more burn issues, nothing that big of a deal. When the burn is uneven it can get a flaky ash, but for the most part it just looks ugly, and it would be a pain if you did not have a lighter nearby. However with the Chingon, you can put it down for five minutes without it going out, that's pretty impressive.

The Room 101 Chingon is an interesting medium strength cigar. It has a pretty quick burn time for a larger smoke, about an hour and 20 minutes. The cigar provided a large amount of smoke, it did not get bitter in the end. I find the Chingon a good change-up to a regular rotation. The band makes the cigar look of cheap quality, but this isn't the case.

Even though The El Mas Chingon is not my cup of tea in many aspects of a cigar, I still found it enjoyable, and it is priced correctly.

7.75 out of 10

Stacking MOTA Hashking FR