It is always a treat to catch up with Steve Saka; proprietor of Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust. In typical Saka fashion, attendees to his booth were greeted by his famous Sakaquatch statue, and bags of “Sasquatch Poo” – a black cherry flavored cotton candy. Steve himself can typically be found in the back corner of his booth, where he has created his own living room like set-up to meet and greet with attendees and media complete with a comfy oversized chair, couch, and coffee table. When you sit down with him you don’t feel like you are sitting in a trade show booth.
On display is a full line-up of Dunbarton’s portfolio, including this years releases. Most notably is the follow up to last years big hit, the StillWell Star. The StillWell Star Holiday Blend Y2022 is the fifth blend of the pipe tobacco cigar line. This line actually won an award from us last year as the most innovative cigar of 2022. Cindy Saka, Steve’s wife, let us smell a sample of the pipe tobacco that is in the blend. It’s aroma reminded me of warm Christmas cookies with a hint of cinnamon. The cigar uses an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, Mexican binder, and the filler is US Cavendish Burley & Virgina. It measures 6 x 52 and retails for $15.30, but will come in ten count boxes. Holiday Blend Y2022 ships November 2022, and we anticipate this will be a hot seller toward the end of the year.
Another cigar bringing in a lot of attention was the Mi Querida Black, a.k.a. “Sakakhan”. Sakakhan is a 7 1/4 x 54 parejo with a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, Mexican San Andreas binder, and fillers from Nicaragua, Dominican and Honduras. We smoked this cigar with Steve and it is surely one you won’t want to miss, especially if you are already a fan of Mi Querida… and while I probably shouldn’t say it, a fan of Liga Privada. As Smokin Tabacco expands into reviews, this one will be covered later this year. The first run is set to be around 3,500 10-ct boxes and will ship late Summer/early Fall and retails for $15.95.
The Bewitched, a new addition to the Muestra de Saka line, was also on display. This cigar shipped in June to DTT purveyors. It uses an Ecuadorian wrapper, Mexican binder, and fillers from Nicaragua and the US. It was originally made for the Owl Shop in Worcester, Massachusetts and later became a regular limited release line of different blends. The Bewitched is 5 3/4 x 43 and retails for $17.95. Saka has not disclosed how many cigars were produced, but is classing it as a limited production.
The Todos Las Dias (TLD) Mas Fuerte, a modified version of the original Todos Las Dias, was also on display with pre-orders being taken for next year. This cigar uses Nicaraguan-Cuban seed wrapper, Nicaraguan binder, and Nicaraguan fillers from Jalapa and Esteli. It measures 6 x 46 and retails for $13.25 and will ship in ten count boxes. The story behind this cigar is that it was made by mistake when Steve gave Joya de Nicaragua the wrong information and it was created in this size.
Steve also had some accessories covered, as he had his new DTT hand-carved ash trays on display. They beautiful ashtrays are in the shape of tobacco leaves. Each one is unique and res
erved for retailers who order $1,000 or more of product at the show. No doubt these will become very collectible by DTT/Saka’s most dedicated followers.
Additionally to everything on showcase, we also presented Steve and Cindy with their 2021 Smokin Tabacco Award for Best Innovation for StillWell Star. Check out our interview with Steve Saka at PCA 2022 below!
