Namakubi is one of the early blends from Room 101. It goes back to the initial blends that allowed founder Matt Booth to test the waters of the cigar game. And when we say, “test the waters,” we mean charge forward with the tenacity of a Marine because that’s what he is. He was deployed to Asia during his time in uniform, and his artistic side was influenced by what he saw there.
The original Namakubi cigars were made with a Dominican and Honduran long-filler blend and an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper. It was potent and made a mark on many reviewers, remembered for its interesting floral notes. The blend was shelved when Booth went into his short-lived retirement in 2017.
It didn’t last long.
Along with his return, the blend was eventually revived. With a decade of space between production runs, the Namakubi Ranfla is the updated, more modern release. It offers a complex, woody, and spicy profile that makes it quite the improvement on the original. It costs a pretty penny compared to the initial release, but a LOT has changed since those innocent years of 2011.
For the curious wondering about the name's origins, in Japan, a Namakubi is a tattoo of a severed head. Our best Googling tells us that this was once perhaps a way for a samurai to actually honor a defeated and beheaded opponent. A modern tattoo like this could symbolize any number of things to the worldwide fans of the art. Matt Booth has often described how Japanese flavor and imagery has influenced him since his time as a silver jewelry designer. Today, we see that the influence is still continuing.
Some of the proceeds from the sale of Namakubi cigars are donated by Booth to the Keep Memory Alive charity, a program in the Cleveland Clinic of Nevada that works on Alzheimer’s research and care.
We’re always happy to support a good cause along with our smoke sessions, and we hope you will be too.
