Cigar Reviews
Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida SakaKhan
What a gorgeous day. I really needed a day with beautiful, lasting, cool weather to take on the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida SakaKhan which I decided to pair with a bottle of The Bruery’s 2021 Mocha Wednesday beer.
The Good Stuff:
Unveiled at this year’s PCA show Steve Saka of Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust showcased the first release in the upcoming Mi Querida Black blend, the SakaKhan. The Mi Querida Black is destined to be released in 2023. As he told Halfwheel, he currently does not have enough tobacco to release it as a full-production release so look for a very limited run. Saka referenced the unique name on Facebook:
“It was the 80’s when Chaka Khan became known as an artist and I was getting certified to Con(n) as a JOOD Underway on my ship – the enlisted guys who worked the Bridge started calling me this… kinda funny as my middle name ‘Temujin’ is also the birth name of Ghengis Khan… so this is double dip when it comes to why this nickname stuck… my Dad obviously had some pretty lofty expectations.”
https://www.facebook.com/steve.saka.31/posts/10228672103328068?comment_id=821751955655115&reply_comment_id=578747967206896
Created at the Nicaragua American Cigars S.A in Esteli, Nicaragua the blend starts out with a Connecticut Broadleaf No. 1 wrapper over a Mexican San Andres Negro binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The cigar comes packaged in boxes of 10 and runs $14.95 a stick. I purchased mine over from our good friends at Cuenca Cigars who now offer mail order single cigars and the SakaKhan happens to be one of those current offerings.
- Size: 7 1/4 x 54
- Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf No. 1
- Binder: Mexican San Andres Negro
- Filler: Dominican, Honduran, Nicaraguan
- Body: Full
- Strength: Medium/Full
- Price: $14.95
- Pairing: The Bruery Mocha Wednesday 2021 (Imperial Stout 19.1% ABV)
Prelight:
The Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida SakaKhan starts out with a beautiful, consistent, dark brown wrapper with only a few darker areas splotched around the foot of the cigar. The wrapper’s texture is incredibly toothy and just covered with rich oils. The wrapper itself feels very thick and very hard and the rest of the cigar is very heavy and tightly packed. The wrapper is laid seamlessly over itself leading up to the cigar’s round, double-wrapped cap which is finished off with a small little pigtail. The cigar is polished off with a black and silver version of the standard Mi Querida band. A band which I think is exceptionally elegant and beautiful.
The wrapper on the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida SakaKhan gives off a very nice mixture of perfume-like floral scents over chocolate and musk while the foot of the cigar carries a bit of that floral aroma over much more earth-forward musk and natural tobacco scents. The cap cut with a little extra effort from my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces notes of immediate notes of black cherry, chocolate, earthiness, and tobacco.
First Third:
The Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida SakaKhan starts out with an awesome blast of that perfume-like floral flavor I picked up on the cold draw over notes of black cherry, dark chocolate, and oak over lighter notes of musk, coffee, and pecan. Despite being so tightly packed the draw on this cigar is flawless. Each little puff kicks out a massive cloud of thick, white smoke which sticks around for quite some time before dissipating while the cigar releases a standard amount of stationary smoke while it rest in my ashtray. The burn line is slightly wavy, but nothing concerning as it leaves behind a very tightly trail of white 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 SakaKhan and the leading flavors are the floral mixture, spice, musk and chocolate over coffee, oak, and cinnamon. The retrohale really brings out the spice and cherry and I find myself doing it quite often. The cigar is now burning brilliantly as the burn line is completely solid and I close out the second third with only a minor nicotine kick.
Finish:
Into the final third of the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida SakaKhan and the flavors are just pouring out at this point. the black cherry is shockingly still a potent player in the mix backed by strong spice, pecan, and chocolate with lighter notes of oak, coffee, and that awesome perfume-floral flavor that has hung on from start to finish. This cigar took me a two and a half hours to take down to the nub and despite the long burn time, I wasn’t ready for it to finish. I experienced no harshness, no extended heat, but the cigar did leave me with a decent little nicotine kick.
Overview:
I swear, Saka came out swinging when he released the first Mi Querida line and each release since has eclipsed the previous and if this is any indication of what to expected from the Mi Querida Black then count me in. The SakaKhan carries a unique, flavorful, and extremely enjoyable flavor profile at least by my personal palate’s standards. The gigantic cigar smoked perfectly from start to finish with no issues or extra attention needed. The price point is also pretty affordable considering the quality of the experience as well as how well and long this cigar performed. My only grip is, you guess it, availability since these will be a limited run. I’ll just have to make sure I get my share before they disappear.
Pairing:
A beast of a cigar calls for a beast of a beer. Bruery’s Mocha Wednesday is a 19.1% ABV Imperial Stout which utilizes Black Tuesday as the base, aged in bourbon barrels with TCHO cacao nibs and Mostra coffee. The beer leads with a nice tartness and dark berry from the Black Tuesday which is then smoothed out be notes of chocolate, coffee, malt, toffee, and pecan with a very heavy mouthfeel before finishing with more coffee, chocolate, berry and malt with a very nice lasting bourbon/berry aftertaste. What a great pairing with the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida SakaKhan as many of the flavors married up perfectly. I was also surprised with just how potent the flavors are in the cigar as it was able to not only keep up with such a bold beer, but actually compliment it from start to finish.
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