When it comes to making a splash at the PCA, look no further than the mastermind behind Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust, Steve Saka. Steve is notorious for building up hype and teasing his products…well all the time. Sitting in his usual char in the back of his usual booth with its faux brick wall and the DTT box seal logo emblazoned above it.

Going into the 2023 show, Steve had already announced and teased some photos of the new creations he would bring. It is all about catching Steve in his happiest place, usually a few glasses of Noah’s Mill. If you catch him at this point, hopefully he spills more than he should.

First on deck is technically two new sizes added to Mi Querida Black. The first vitola or as Steve would say, liga, was released last year at PCA 2022 called the Sakakhan. The Sakakhan is a 7 1/4 x 54 double corona and uses Connecticut broadleaf wrapper, Mexican San Andreas negro winder and filler from Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua. This year, we saw the introduction of the PapaSaka which measures at 5 5/8 x 48 and will ship July/August. The other new size…I will get to in a minute.

Next on the list is a Red Meat Lovers Club national release. RMLC was originally released as a microblend for Smoke Inn in Florida and later expanded to a store exclusive limited release. Now, DTT will be rolling out the line nationally. In preparation to do so, Saka added two new sizes to the list, Filet Mignon (5 x 54) and Porterhouse (6 x 60) alongside the Ribeye (6 x 52) and the Beef Stick (6 x 48). The original 6 x 56 toro gordo is not part of this and will remain exclusive to Smoke Inn. Red Meat Lovers Club uses a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, a Mexican San Andreas negro binder and fillers from Nicaragua and Pennsylvania. All four sizes will ship in boxes of ten and will hit retailers in August.

What was once an event only cigar, the Polpetta will now be a full regular production in boxes of 20. The Polpetta is a 4 x 48 mixed filler cigar which is a mix of filler from the Mi Querida, Red Meat Lovers and Umbagog. It also features a Mexican San Andreas binder and a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper. The Polpetta will be replaced with a new event only cigar called the Mi Querida Green PataPerro that will come in coffins of two and measure 8 1/2 x 52.

Steve is also known for his Muestra de Saka Unicorns, and this year he brough two new versions. One is based on the Mi Querida Black blend and the other the Sobremesa Brûlée Blue. They will come in the same 6 1/4 x 60 size as the classic Unicorn. The first round will feature 200 of each in cabinets of ten coffins. However, Steve told us that he will be trimming them down to seven count cabinets moving forward. Expect these to ship July/August.

The last thing we saw was Saka’s DTT cutters that he previously showed us samples of at TPE 2023. They are a single guillotine cutter that features a replaceable blade. The cutters are made from stainless steel and feature 420 stainless steel for the blade. Each side of the cutter also features a different sized opening, one a 48-ring gauge and the other a 50-ring gauge.

We also saw a new Stillwell Star Holiday Y2023 blend coming out as a limited edition for the holidays. Stillwell Star is a blend that features pipe tobacco in the filler with Steve releasing a special holiday blend every year. It measures 6 x 52 and comes in boxes of thirteen. These will ship around November.

Check out our interview with Steve Saka of Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust below.

Matt Tabacco

Born and raised in New England, Matthew Tabacco began smoking cigars and living up to his unique namesake in 2017. What began as just a social indulgence became a world of everything premium cigars- learning from some of the biggest and best in the business. From casual smoking to lighting up on the hit podcast The Smokin Tabacco Show, Matthew can usually be found in some of the largest smoke shops in the Northeast enjoying a cigar, talking business, or preparing for a show.