Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Sobremesa Brûlée Blue

By Tony Casas | November 16, 2020

I had to skip last week’s review cause the weather here was complete garbage. This week, quite the opposite so I took my Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Sobremesa Brûlée Blue and a bottle of Bottle Logics Ghost Proton out back for a little “me” time.

The Good Stuff:

Last year Dunbarton Tobacco & Trusts’ founder Steve Saka began shipping the Connecticut-wrapped Sobremesa Brûlée. This new line was made to create a bit of an old-school experience from cigars of the past. This year, Dunbarton added a new tweaked version of the Brûlée blend. Enter the Brûlée Blue. Released in a single 6 1/4 x 46 format this cigar features an Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper over a Mexican binder and Nicaraguan fillers.

Within the Sobremsa line, there is quite a bit of controversy over if this cigars in fact, feature a sweetened cap or not. While it’s not clear which do, if any, in my humble opinion this particular cigar does in fact feature a sweetened cap. The cigars come packaged in boxes of 13 with only 1,000 boxes being produced. Each cigar runs $14.95 a stick and I purchased mine over from our fiends at Cigars Daily.

• Size: 6 1/4 x 46
• Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut
• Binder: Mexican Matacapan negro de Temporal
• Filler: Nicaraguan
• Body: Medium/Full
• Strength: Medium
• Price: $14.95
• Pairing: Bottle Logic Ghost Proton (Imperial Stout 13.34% ABV)

Prelight:

The Sobremesa Brûlée Blue starts off with a very consistent, light yellowish-brown wrapper. The wrapper itself feels very thin and delicate as I carefully inspect it. The wrapper is very smooth with only light oils, very minor veins, and minor tobacco webbing in the leaf. The cigar as a whole is packed well and there are no soft spots whatsoever. The wrapper is laid seamlessly over itself leading from the foot up to the round, pig-tail style cap. The Brûlée Blue is polished off with a light blue and gold version of the crowned Sobremesa crest on the main band, and the addition of a similarly designed foot band with the words “Sobremesa” embossed on the front.

The wrapper on the Sobremsa Brûlée Blue gives off only slight cedar and dirt aromas while the foot of the cigar carries more sweetness, cedar, and earthiness. The cap cut clean and easily using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces lots of cedar, earthiness and soft spice. I can taste the sweetness from the sweetened cap instantly when the cigar touches my tongue and lips.

First Third:

The Sobremsa Brûlée Blue starts out with a very mild black pepper punch which completely fades after the first draw leaving me with a ton of woody-cedar flavors over pecan, honey, soft spice, and a nice earthiness at the flavor’s base. Again, that sweetened cap is very evident and I know people have mixed feelings on it but I absolutely love it. Long after the draw I can still taste it on my lips. Outside of the sweetness on my lips though, it doesn’t really translate to the cigar’s actual flavor. The draw is absolutely flawless and each little puff kicks out clouds of thick, white smoke which really take some time to dissipate while the cigar itself releases very small amounts of stationary smoke while it rests in my ashtray. The burnline is dead even leaving behind a trail of tightly compacted white and light gray ash which held on for almost an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Sobremesa Brûlée Blue and the cedar and pecan have taken dominance over the flavor profile backed by honey, vanilla, earthiness and spice. I am really enjoying this profile and its a departure from cigars I have smoked recently. The retrohale really pumps out pecan and I find myself doing it quite often. The burnline is dead even and razor thin as I close out the second third with nothing in terms of a nicotine kick.

Finish:

Into the final third of the Sobremesa Brûlée Blue and the flavors haven’t changed up much from the second third, and I am totally ok with that. Lots of cedar and pecan over vanilla, honey, spice and earthiness. The cigar took me an hour and forty five minutes to smoke down to the nub and I enjoyed every second of it. I never once had to reach for my torch to touchup or relight the cigar, experienced absolutely no harshness nor any extended heat, and closed out with a very minor nicotine hit.

Overview:

It goes without saying that I thoroughly enjoyed this cigar. And any Connecticut-wrapped cigar that can product enough flavor to be paired with a bold pastry stout without being overpowered by the beer demands attention. The flavors were incredible and a great change of pace for cigars I’ve smoked recently. They were complex enough, yet smooth and balanced. This is really a cigar for all occasions and something I would like to get quite a few more of before they are gone.

Pairing:

Today’s paring is a good one. Brewed at Bottle Logic Brewing, Ghost Proton is a 13.34% Imperial stout aged in bourbon barrels brewed with jet puff marshmallows, cocoa nibs and graham crackers. The Ghost Proton leads with a whole mess of bold marshmallow sweetness over strong chocolate and caramel notes and a touch of cinnamon. The beer has a very heavy and sticky mouthfeel before finishing with more marshmallow and chocolate over toffee and soft cinnamon. The sweetness is what drew me to this pairing as it compliments the Brûlée Blue very well while adding quite a bit of complexity with the added pastry flavors.