Tag Archives: Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust

by | September 6, 2020 · 11:12 am

Saka’s Taste For U’rself !!! Sobremesa Brulee Cigar Sampler Recap

For those who haven’t been following this particular cigar industry soap opera, let me set the scene for you. First, as the card included in this five cigar sampler explains, these are five Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Sobremesa Brulee toros. Soon after they came out there were allegations that they were sweet capped, much like a Baccarat, or many of the Acid cigars. This was flatly denied, and explained away as a natural sweetness in the Connecticut shade wrapper. I smoked an early version of the Brulee and never got the saccharine sweetness that I associate with a sweetened cap. If you go back to my very last podcast episode, Steve talks about the Brulee, I think it’s pretty interesting. So Steve was bored during the COVID pandemic, he decided to have some fun and put together this Brulee sampler and mess everyone with the whole sweet vs. not debate. I’ll post my findings below, but I have a few things to get off my chest first. I was questioned as to whether Steve was making me smoke these cigars, and I said that Steve doesn’t make me do anything, but I need to back off of that statement. After thinking about it, Saka is a master manipulator. A few examples: Steve and I have known one another for a long time, and Steve will tell people, unsolicited, that I am a cheap bastard (I have this on good authority). It’s true, of course, I admit it. That being said, when Steve releases a new cigar, I go out and buy a few. I know that if I see Steve, he’ll hand me a few, and if I were to asked him, he’d send me some, but I never ask for anything as a general policy. So he puts out $15-$20 cigars and, like a sucker, I go and buy a few because I want to smoke them, and partly because I don’t want Steve to think I’m a cheap bastard. Another way he manipulated me, in this case, is that when I buy a handful of cigars, I generally smoke a couple and set the rest aside for a while. Under normal circumstances, if I buy a fiver of cigars, especially dropping the coin I did on this fiver (I bought local, but with taxes and shipping it hit my wallet harder than my cheap ass prefers), I’d stretch out the purchase over the better part of a year, I bet. So, with a deadline posted, and an admittedly self imposed deadline for writing a blog post, I smoked the five cigars in four days. I rarely smoke the same cigar twice in a row, let alone five in a row. Can you see how I feel manipulated? It is a genius sales move, although I doubt the margins are great on Saka’s end (I’m sure Steve would whine about what a pain in the ass, money losing venture it was, but he’d be an idiot if this were the case, of course it has to have profit built in or he wouldn’t do it! Then again, there’s the three foot Sakaquatch statues, so maybe he does just do stupid shit  😆  ).  All that being said, spoiler alert, here’s my analysis of the five cigars:

 

All five cigars were the excellent Sobremesa Brulee 6″ x 52 Toro with an Ecuador Connecticut Shade Wrapper over a San Andrés binder and Nicaraguan fillers. This is, literally, meant to be your grandfather’s Connecticut shade cigar, a throwback to shade cigars from the ’80s and early ’90s. It’s got some body, it’s milder, but not mild, it’s great with a cup of coffee, like I’m enjoying the !!! right now as I write this. My process was to fellate (hat tip to Jon Carney for bringing this term into the cigar lexicon!) the head of each cigar to determine the presence of the sweetener used on the cap. Honestly, I could have cheated and put the cigars away after this, but that would have been gross, and I couldn’t have lived with myself. For the seven or eight readers who got this far, I soldiered on and smoked five great cigars back to back. I took that hit for you, faithful readers. Needless to say, I smoked them in order, I’m not an animal. The S – no sweet cap. The T – Sweet cap. The F – a slight hint of sweet, if this one is sweetened, then the T is the double sweet. The U and !!!, no sweet cap. So to me, three were straight up Brulee, maybe even four. I can only definitely say the T was sweetened, and I kinda liked it, to be honest, it was a nice change of pace, to the point where I was a little disappointed that none of the others ended up being sweetend.

 

One thing I did confirm is that there’s a reason I don’t smoke the same cigars back to back like this. No matter how great the cigar is, I really need the variety, and I’m looking forward to smoking something completely different later today, although it was a little bit liberating not having to make a choice. I look forward to Steve’s reveal to see how far off I was on my analysis.

 

That’s all for today, until the next time,

 

CigarCraig (word count 887 😀)

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by | August 30, 2020 · 8:06 am

A Couple More Cigar Bundles of Miami Cigars, a Padron 1926 and a Unicorn

In the later part of the week I smoked a few more cigars from Cigar Bundles of Miami, both from the Tampa Blend line. The first was the Candela. I approach all candela cigars with some curiosity, they can go one of several ways, they can be quite good, mild to the point of flavorless, or grassy to the point of being nasty. I really enjoyed this one. It was flavorful, not overly grassy, but refreshing, which is a characteristic I  look for in a good candela cigar, and medium bodied. It was a pleasure to smoke, something I’d keep on hand for a change of pace, or a nice cigar for a hot day, which it was the day I smoked this one. I think these are around $20 for a fiver, so they are quite reasonable. I think this is a great value, and definitely worthwhile if your curious about candelas, or like them and want some good ones to add to your rotation. This one was a 6″ x 50 toro. I think the folks at CBM should add some details to their website.

 

I followed the candela the next night with the Tampa Behike Habano, the 6″ x 56 pigtailed fat toro. I actually liked this one better than it’s Maduro sibling, oddly enough. I think it was mostly because it had a little more open draw, but the flavor was very nice and well balanced. Like the other two, the burn was even and it was an easy cigar to smoke.  This cigar had a nice spice and some sweetness. I’s love to know what the blend is on these cigars, perhaps most people buying cigars from this company don’t really care about the details like I do. I suspect it’s a Nicaraguan based blend, but that’s purely conjecture on my part. I’m not even sure where these are rolled. I’d love to get more details, perhaps Alex will read this and weigh in in the comments.

 

Yesterday was my 57th birthday, so I smoked a couple decent cigars. First, I smoked a cigar that has been around for a long time but I’ve never gotten around to smoking one. I’ve long been a fan of the Padron 1964 series, but I’ve never smoked a Padron 1926 Serie! Weird, right? This cigar has been around since 2002, and I’m just getting around to trying one. I smoked the No. 35 Maduro, a little 4″ x 48 box pressed beauty. This cigar was included in the CigarProp Smoke Inn Battle of The Bands pack, which I received on Friday. Knowing Kevin, and after smoking this cigar, I’m a little surprised he included this, it seems a little outside his usual wheelhouse. This little cigar is a powerhouse! It’s peppery, it’s got a kick, and it’s nothing at all like the 1964. It was a bit of a surprise! I’m not saying I didn’t love it, it was a spectacular little smoke, and it smoked for about an hour, which was perfect, as I lit it up after my daughter and her family left after spending the day with me. I’ve heard some people prefer the Natural in the 1926, I’m curious now. I’m a cheap bastard, I’d have trouble dropping $12 or so on a little cigar like this. Of course, amortized over the cost of the Battle of the Bands pack, it felt OK, and I think Kevin’s sampler is a great value. It certainly was a treat and I enjoyed the crap out of that little cigar. I think it would kick Kevin’s ass though. By the way, I linked to Padron’s website, and on the off chance anyone from Padron reads this, it might be a good idea to redesign your site and get away from the Flash site, I have a feeling that after December it might be a problem for you. If you try to go there on iOS you probably won’t have any luck.

 

Finally, I wrapped up my circum-solar anniversary with a Muestra de Saka Unicorn. I received this Unicorn from the Sakas a year or so ago, it was from the original batch, a very generous gift. This is a Broadleaf wrapped cigar with all of the tobaccos hand sorted by Saka himself, and have a retail price of $100. Steve wanted to see how goofy he could get making a stupidly expensive cigar. These are made by one pair of rollers at the Joya de Nicaragua factory, and they only make a little over 1000 a year. When they have cigar that don’t meet the ridiculously high standards, they cut them down and smoke them in the office and call them “horn of a dead unicorn”, true story. I figured combining my birthday with my recent new job, it was a good enough time to slay the Unicorn. Of course, a cigar like this inherently comes with some expectations. First, the cigar is beautiful, it appears to be without flaw, the shape is very unique, as Steve went out and bought a lathe to make the prototype for the molds for these. It’s a 6¼” x 60 diadamas, but because of the proportions, or maybe because the head is so pointy and you end up cutting quite a bit off, it doesn’t seem like it’s that long. That being said, it smoked for over two hours, I lit it before the hockey game started and finished it (with about a half an inch or about $6.25 left) at the end of the second period. I think if I ever had the good fortune of having another one of these I’d remove it from it’s coffin, because I’d be really interested in seeing if the cedary flavor I got was a result of having been in that coffin for as long as it was, as I suspect. It was delicious, sweet broadleaf cocoa, with that woodiness. I enjoyed the crap out of it, and am glad for the opportunity to have smoked such a masterpiece. Honestly, if I were spending my money, I’d buy a whole bunch of Umbagogs and be much happier, but, as I mentioned above, and Steve Saka will tell you, I’m a cheap bastard. I wouldn’t trade the experience of sitting on my porch on a summer evening, watching hockey (except that the Flyers would win in the best case scenario), and smoking a special cigar like a Unicorn for anything. It capped of a very nice day.

 

I almost forgot to mention that today officially marks the 11th anniversary of CigarCraig.com. Not as long as a few, but longer than most! That’s all I have for today, until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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by | June 21, 2020 · 10:49 am

Providencia Spectrum and Espinosa Comfortably Numb Cigars and Other Stuff

Happy Father’s day. Later today I’ll smoke the last cigar from a box of cigars I bought for Father’s Day in 2000. It’ll be a hard cigar not to save, but I’m going to bite the bullet and light it anyway. I didn’t smoke the whole box one every Father’s Day, it took a few years for me to develop that tradition. I had smoked a few and shared a few, but over the years I had a few gifted to me as well to supplement the inventory, thanks to Mike Perry for extending my tradition for a few years by sharing some of his aged stash with me! So today will see the last Esperanza Para Los Niños toro, a cigar made by Christian Eiroa in 1999 with the help of some guys from a usenet group who met up in Danli and selected this blend and sold it with proceeds going to children orphaned by hurricane Mitch. $85 a box was a fortune for me at the time, a bargain now for an excellent cigar, which was heavy bodied, not unlike the old Camacho Triple Maduro. It’s always an adventure smoking a 20 year old cigar, I’m rather looking forward to it, but it’ll come with some sadness as I’ll never have another! I still have the box someplace though! 

 

On to some cigars I actually smoked! I went on a brief Southern Draw bender on the heels of their press release announcing the cancelation of all of their public events for the rest of the year due to pandemic concerns. Personally, I find this to be a responsible decision, as areas that seem to be lax in their preventative measures seem to have a higher infection rate, and who amung us doesn’t want to protect their families? I think the Rose of Sharon Desert Rose is one of the top Connecticut shade style cigars out there, and the Kudzu Lustron is definitely a top notch cigar as well! I smoked both, they are the same box pressed torpedo vitola and are delicious. Speaking of box pressed torpedos from a Texas-based cigar company, I also smoked a cigar from Providencia Cigars. This cigar is called Spectrum, and my assumption is that it has an autism charity connection, considering the colorful puzzle pieces on the band. I can appreciate this theme. If I were to guess, I’d say it was 5″ x 52ish, and the only information I have on it is that it has a Sumatra wrapper that was characterized as delicate and thin. I was advised to avoid wind and humidity due to the fragility of the wrapper, so I did. This is an abso-friggin-lutely delicious cigar! As with just about every Providencia cigar I’ve ever smoked, the cigar burned perfectly. This was the rival of another Sumatra wrapped, honduran made cigar I love in flavor, balance and overall enjoyability (Don Juan Calavera). There’s a sweetness that I really dig, I really have to buy a mixed bag of old-timey hard candy and try to isolate that flavor, but there’s a candy sweetness that makes this cigar a great desert smoke. Absolute joy. I don’t have any idea what the availability of this is or was, but try it if you can. 

 

I believe the Espinosa Comfortably Numb Vol.1 is a Meier and Dutch distributed brand, which is the distribution arm of Cigars International. I picked this one up a few years ago at the CI store in Hamburg when Erik Espinosa was there the day Cigar Fest tickets went on sale. I was just there for the spectacle of it all, hundreds of people lined up outside for hours in the freezing cold for tickets, not my bag, baby. This is a toro with an Ecuador Habano wrapper, Corojo binder and Nicaraguan fillers and is surprisingly mellow. It almost smoked like a shade wrapped cigar. It doesn’t have the grassy flavor, but it does have a sweet, nutty flavor that is pretty nice, and it seemed to have aged pretty well. I say “aged”, it was February of 2018 when I picked this cigar up, so, it’s hardly aged compared to a lot of things, but it held up. Tasty cigar, and not badly priced. I’d be very tempted to sample the madur version, the Vol. 2, the next time I happen to be in a CI store, or if I see it in a shop. Older folks will note the Alton Kelley/Wes Wilson inspired band design.

 

Speaking of “aging”, I smoked one of the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Famous Smoke Shop 80th Anniversary cigars from last October last night and it was spectacular. There’s not a lot of Saka’s cigars I don’t like, but this one is pretty special. Well, on with the day, have a great one, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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by | May 24, 2020 · 10:04 am

Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust Muestra de Saka Unstolen Valor and Umbagog Cigars

I did some searching around locally last week for Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust‘s latest release, the Muestra de Saka Unstolen Valor. The closest practically local source was only selling by the box, and as much as I’d treasure having seven of those in the humidor, and as much as I trust Saka’s palate to line up with my own and not get stuck with cigars I don’t like, It’s hard to drop over $100 on seven cigars right now. I just can’t do it. Heck, I’m a cheap bastard (and Saka is well aware of this), it was hard enough for me to shell out the 18 bones each for two of these. I finally ended up buying them from 2 Guys Cigars in New Hampshire, and I have a bone to pick with them! I should have called Barry and ripped him a new one (listeners to The Cigar Authority will appreciate the following). I placed the order on Tuesday and, once again, being cheap, I chose the least expensive shipping option, USPS. This was a 3 day option, which ended up with a Saturday delivery commitment. No problem, I thought. Friday rolls around and what shows up in my mailbox but a parcel from 2 Guys, a fricking DAY EARLY! What the heck? I mean, they promise a guy it’s going to be delivered on Saturday, and it shows up on Friday, doesn’t anyone do what they say they are going to do any more? Do they want my cigars to be delivered in better condition than I expect? Am I supposed to smoke these sooner than I planned? What if I hadn’t made room in my humidor yet? C’mon guys!  Of course, I kid, 2 Guys always provides exceptional service, Dave has always been a great friend and I’m happy to through a little bit of business his way here and there. I did try shopping locally and it didn’t work out, so I shopped Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust’s local. 

 

I normally would have let the cigars rest in the humidor for a while, and one of them will spend a while with some other Muestra de Sakas hanging out, but I checked the cigar with the Humidimeter and it was in great shape, having arrived in a timely manner, and I decided to smoke it yesterday. It rained yesterday so instead of taking a walk I parked my butt on the porch with this beautiful cigar that was blended not by Steve Saka, but by Raul Disla, who oversees the NACSA factory where it is rolled along with the Mi Querida and Umbagogs. I’m sure this is common knowledge among my readers,  but Raul Disla is the brother of Esteban Disla, who is a partner in RoMaCraft’s Nica Sueno factory. He also has quite a pedigree, having worked for Cuevas y Torano, Davidoff, AJ Fernandez, and British American Tobacco. Saka had Raul make some blends and they each chose their favorite, and Saka chose his favorite to release under his banner. This is a Nicaraguan puro, from what I can gather. It seems Saka has been too busy fishing and being the guest on podcasts to update his website  😂.  I can say that the burn and draw were what I expected from an expensive cigar, perfect. it had a flat ember that tells me all the components are burning at the same rate, no small feat. It helps that I smoked it slowly, savoring every pull. It had a fascinating flavor. There was a sweet component that was reminiscent of the Mi Querida, but then there was a savory, barbeque/mesquite almost flavor that was there. I’m almost…almost regretting not putting myself into debt to get the box of seven, although seven wouldn’t be nearly enough. 

 

After dinner the skies cleared and I was able to get my daily walk in so I grabbed an Umbagog Toro Toro and hit the bricks. I love the Umbagogs so much. I look back and am surprised at how many Mi Queridas and Umbagogs I’ve smoked, but I shouldn’t be, because they are just so darned good and hit my palate perfectly. There’s not much more to be said that I haven’t said before, so I’ll let these pictures say it.

 

That’s all for now. It’s Memorial Day Weekend. This seems a little surreal from my standpoint, three day weekends mean nothing to me right now, I’ve had about a 192 day weekend and I’m a little bit tired of it. We are doing a little something for the neighbors today, so I need to get to picking out cigars…er…setting things. up for that, and getting that contest together I promised last week. Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig 

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by | December 8, 2019 · 10:39 am

Random Cigars and a Dunbarton Event at BnB Cigars in Philly

I already posted this week about the new cigar I smoked,  and I’ll get to the other one in a bit, but first I want to recap a few other cigars I revisited during the course of the week. I’ve been busying myself helping out a friend and continuing my job search. It’s a bad time of year for this sort of thing, but I did it once in 2002, so I should be able to pull it off again. so I’ve been continuing my evening routine of having a cigar and taking a walk, weather permitting. It’s been cold (or advancing age has reduced my tolerance), so I’ve been choosing more robustos, so one day this week I grabbed a La Aurora 1962 Corojo Robusto. Since I bought my first box of cigars in 1996 (La Aurora Bristol Especiales), I’ve always had some La Auroras in the humidor. It’s a sentimental choice for a few reasons. My celebration cigar when my grandchildren were born was the 2003 Puro Vintage, and I have two stashed for the next two grand children, but I suspect they will be very well aged by the time I’ll be smoking them. My daughter’s name is Aurora, which might be important information in this story, ties it together, I suppose. She may still have that old box from 1996 someplace. Anyway, the 1962 Corojo uses a Dominican Corojo wrapper, Ecuador binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers and is a medium bodied cigar with nice flavor. It’s one of those cigars that I can’t really pinpoint flavors but it’s flavors I like, and I know I can just grab one and have a good experience. Honestly, I’ve only ever smoked the 5″ x 50 robusto, so I’d solve to try this in the toro or Churchill size one of these days. I want to say the the 1903 Cameroon and 1987 Connecticut have the same binder and filler, with only the wrapper being different, I like all three.

 

If I were going to do something crazy, like have a cigar of the year, my next cigar would be in the running, or at least the brand would. I might just do it, because the Don Juan Calavera line from Danli Honduras Tabaco has really captured my corozón! I smoked the Connecticut this week, because it’s hard for me to not smoke these all up. I’m at a serious crossroads as to which of their three offerings is my favorite, Connecticut, Sumatra, or Maduro. The Connecticut is atypical, it is creamy, but not grassy, and not at all mild. Like every cigar I’ve smoked from the line, the construction has been excellent, burn and draw have been perfect. I’m trying to find out the best pathway to purchase these, so far e-mailing them, using the form on their website, or contacting them via Facebook seems to be the only way to buy them. As soon as can provide an easy to follow guide to purchasing these I’ll post it, because everyone should be enjoying these. Edit: I just received word that at this time contacting the manufacturer is one way to get them, but two stores in Virginia carry them, Blacksburg Pipe & Tobacco (Blacksburg VA) and Milan Tobacconists (Roanoke VA). Try calling these stores to purchase the cigars.  I should save some gushing for that cigar brand of the year post! Shh…don’t tell anyone! 

 

Yesterday I finally had the opportunity to smoke the Mi Querida Triqui Traca, and I did so at BnB Cigars in Chestnut Hill, PA. They were having an event there with Steve Saka and Dave Lafferty (Cindy Saka was there too) of Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust, with a bunch of test blends that Steve had accumulated over the years as add-ons to purchases. I smoked one which was obviously a Mi Querida Gordita with some variation of the wrapper, although who could tell? It was delicious. Of course, I always learn stuff hanging with these guys, and the store is a cornucopia of boutique cigars. I highly recommend a visit there, if not in person, check them out for your online shopping, as Vince has curated an amazing selection of cigars. The lounge is comfortable and the clientele is friendly as well (which will mean nothing if you shop online). Anyway, the Mi Querida Triqui Traca I smoked was the 648, which is a clever name, as it’s 6″ x 48. This blend is based off of the Mi Querida Firecracker blend that Steve made for Two Guys Cigars last year, so it’s got a little more oomph than the Mi Querida line. I really enjoyed it, although it’s too early to tell if I like it more than the regular line, I don’t think I really need to have a preference actually, I can like them both equally! The Triqui Traca had the great espresso and spice that I love with more of the ligero power. I was told that the strength manifests itself more if you keep it in your mouth while smoking, which I don’t, so I guess I missed out on that aspect. It, as always, is great seeing my friends and spending time with them. I was surprised there weren’t as many Saka fans there, but I’m sure many wish they could have been. 

 

That’s plenty for today. I have a Sobremesa Brulé on the menu for today, I actually haven’t smoked regular production versions yet, so I’m looking forward to it. If I have the time there might be other goodies from yesterday to smoke. Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig 

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