Cigar Reviews
Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida Black PapaSaka
As I attempt to wrap up the last of the reviews in my list for the year, the El Paso weather is offering me little breaks. Today is a bit warmer, but also quite breezy. Sheltering under the patio today I am accompanied by a The Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida Black PapaSaka.
The Good Stuff:
Steve Saka, founder of Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust unveiled the third installment to the Mi Querida line, the Mi Querida black at last year’s PCA show with the SakaKhan which we reviewed later in the year. Produced at the NACSA factory in Nicaragua the blend features a US grown Connecticut Broadleaf No.1 darks wrapper over a Mexican San Andres Negro binder and fillers from Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic.
“Black” is the third iteration of this style of blend within our Mi Querida family of puros. It retains the soul of our two other ligas within the line, however with the addition of a very select grade of Honduran grown Habano Seed tripa incorporated into the blend. Only the finest materials are utilized from the exhaustively “creamed” tripas, to the very best grade of dark Connecticut-grown Broadleaf capas with acute attention paid to their craftsmanship. Robust, rich, and decadently satisfying, the Limited Production Mi Querida Black is the apex of broadleaf cigars.
https://www.dunbartoncigars.com/marca/mi-querida-black/
This year’s release comes in a single 5 5/8 x 48 format packed in boxes of 10 with only 3,500 boxes being produced. Each cigar runs $15.95 per stick and we are extremely grateful to the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust team for sending a few of these our way to enjoy.
- Size: 5 5/8 x 48
- Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
- Binder: Mexican San Andres Negro
- Filler: Honduran, Dominican, and Nicaraguan
- Body: Full
- Strength: Medium/Full
- Price: $15.95
Prelight:
The Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida Black PapaSaka is very deep and dark in color with inconsistent areas of darker brown and a beautiful reddish brown. The wrapper’s texture is extremely toothy and gritty with a good amount of oils coating it which transfer onto my fingers as it’s handled. The wrapper itself feels extremely hard and dense while the cigar as a whole is packed nicely with absolutely no soft spots to be found. There is some extremely mild veining in the wrapper leaf as it’s laid seamlessly over itself leading up to the cigar’s round, double-wrapped cap. Polishing off the cigar is the standard, elegant Mi Querida band in black and silver with the crest embossed across the front.
The wrapper on the PapaSaka gives off really bold floral and sweet molasses aromas while the foot of the cigar is much more grainy with notes of plum over natural tobacco and earthiness. Due to the thickness of the wrapper leaf the cap took a bit of a convincing from my Xikar XO double bladed cutter to clip. Or it could just be a dull blade. The cold draw produces notes of raisin and spice over nighter notes of oak and earthiness.
First Third:
The Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida Black PapaSaka starts out with a nice black pepper zing which while potent, faded almost instantly after the first few puffs allowing bold notes of raisin and oak to shine through accompanied by lighter notes of spice, molasses, and earthiness. There is also a really interesting piloncillo component that I pick up ever-so-lightly on the tail-end of the taste. The draw is absolutely beautiful. Each tiny puff kicks out huge clouds of thick, white smoke which hang around for quite a while considering the breeze under my patio while the cigar releases a good amount of stationary smoke while it rests in my ashtray. The burnline is perfectly even and razor sharp leaving a trail of tightly compacted white gray ash which held on for an inch before falling into my ashtray.
Second Third:
Into the second third of the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida Black PapaSaka and the raisin flavor is leading the charge backed back bold black cherry and molasses over creamy notes of spice and earthiness. The flavor profile up to this point is full, but very nicely balanced. The retrohale really brings out the spice from the profile and puts it on the front of the taste. While it’s not bold or overpowering, I quite enjoy the profile without the extra spice so I don’t find myself doing it often. The cigar is burning like a dream and I close out the second third with nothing in terms of a nicotine kick.
Finish:
The final third of the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida Black PapaSaka has really showcased how to create a creamy palate without sacrificing bold, unique flavors. The profile carries bold raisin, molasses and an awesome little sassafras (like root beer) twang over creamy notes of spice and earthiness. This is a hell of a profile. The PapaSaka took me about and hour and a half to smoke it down to the nub. There was no harshness, and no extended heat. The cigar burned flawlessly without any additional help from my torch from start to finish and left me with only a mild nicotine hit.
Overview:
I loved the SakaKhan last year, and could wait for the PapaSaka release this year. I am happy to report that it completely lived up to my personal built-up hype. In fact, I may have even enjoyed this year more. The flavor profile is where this cigar really shines. Subjective, I know, but this is one of those cigars I feel were created for my own personal palate. The profile is extremely enjoyable, not overly complex, and one that I think would also appeal to quite a large amount of smokers who enjoy full-bodied cigars. A big plus here as that the bold flavors didn’t come at the cost of a stronger cigar as the PapaSaka fell comfortable in the lower medium-medium/full arena. The price is on par and likely even a bit lower that I’d expect to pay for an experience like this, however its a pretty limited run and will sell out very quickly.
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