Steve Saka

80th Anniversary By: Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust
80th Anniversary Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust

Thursday was a BIG BIG day with the newly announced rule that the FDA is to exempt premium cigars from tobacco regulations that the agency put in place back in 2016. With that said; we are going to bring back our cigar reviews to share with all of you. Not that the FDA had any control over our website OR our reviews for that matter but it sure seems like a good day to get reviews going once again. 

To start it off; I am honored and felt privileged to have smoked this particular cigar and to share my review with all of you. The 80th Anniversary by DT&T is an absolutely delicious smoke that will bring happiness to your palate. Especially if you’re a Mi Querida or a Umbagog fan because the 80th Anniversary was made in the same factory (Nicaragua American Cigars S.A. NACSA). With an H2000 sun grown wrapper, a binder and filler all grown in Nicaragua – this cigar just gets better and better. 

I find that each cigar made by DT&T is in its own category, its own profile, unique and unlike any other cigar that outs there. Each one lives up to the known words spoken by Steve Saka himself “Cigars are more than just a passion for us, they are our life” and continues with “We want to create puros that pay respectful tribute to the long, vaulted history of handmade vitolas, and honor the dedicated works of all the vegueros, torcedors and artist who dedicate their labors to the timeless craft”. With those words – Steve Saka certainly dedicated a cigar alright, the 80th Anniversary was dedicated to Famous Smoke Shop for being in business for 80 years. The 80th was released in October 2019 and having the opportunity to enjoy such a work of art is a smokers dream and will be remembered with every puff I had. 

Hopefully my review will have done this cigar justice and enhance your awareness of this cigar in hopes that you to have the opportunity to enjoy such a cigar! 

The Cold Draw; Richness in flavor right off the bat with some mocha coffee notes, sweetness of molasses, picked up some toasted almonds with a tinge of vanilla cream. My glands opened up and my mouth started salivating ready to light up and begin the journey! 

First third, immediately transported to a chocolate factory, rich dark chocolate, the sweetness of caramel and molasses comes through, mocha, with a very small hint of cinnamon spice – like a Mexican hot chocolate. The intensity calms down as I continue to burn through the light up process yet the flavors are very much prominent on my palate. My glands are still producing saliva which naturally cleanses the palate and I pick up a slight saline taste, which isn’t bad by no means almost like having as piece of rich dark chocolate melt in your mouth. 

Burning right on into the second third, I am now picking up a little leather, the caramel & molasses sweetness remains and now the rich vanilla taste I picked up from the cold draw presents itself on my palate. Still have a hint of Mexican hot chocolate spice coming through. The leather notes drift away and a sea salted dark chocolate drives through the fast lane because even though I have been picking up chocolate from the beginning it seems that there is another level of goodness of chocolate making its way letting you know “HERE I AM” and there is nothing like sea salt and dark chocolate. What makes this journey even more enjoyable is that I’m starting to pick up a little white chocolate in the background. 

Burning the last third right down to the nub of this cigar I would say I only had one burn issue. It started to canoe just a little bit, but after a very slight touch up with a single flame torch that did the trick and continued to burn so nicely. Overly impressed with the construction, and how much flavor is coming out of this cigar. Flavor profiles swirl around like a tilt-a-whirl ride at the fair. This cigar is very satisfying and I’m eager to take the next draw. Wrapper does not get hot, the essence of the smoke is tremendous, the 80th Anniversary has all the right notes I truly enjoy in a cigar. Not super powerful either; rating it about a medium strength with a 4 ½ out of 5 pints. Consistent is key and I can say this is a rollercoaster ride that you’ll want to be on. Takes you forward, backward, sometimes throws a sidewinder in there, I mean with the various chocolate, spice, sea salt, vanilla flavors I picked up; tag teaming with some caramel and molasses; Steve Saka really created a cigar that gives full respect to Famous Smoke Shop. 

Comes in a Toro size (6 x 52), soft box press, in a box of 10 with an MSRP of around $15 per stick and certainly delightful to sit back, pour yourself a beverage, relax, cut, light, enjoy!

Wrapper – Nicaraguan Sun Grown

Binder – Nicaraguan

Filler – Nicaraguan

Website: www.dunbartoncigars.com

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 pints

  • William O’Connor, AKA Billy Kartwheels, is the Co-Captian of the Distinguished Ruffians NY Chapter. Billy has had an interesting life, going through college, being in the Navy and living on a submarine, he has visited 48 states (hitchhiking through 35) of them and even lived in a Hare Krishna monastery for some time. After having numerous brushes with death durring his travels he has decided it was best to take it easy and appreciate life to its fullest all while smoking a cigar at the same time. 

Muestra de Saka Unstolen Valor
Muestra de Saka Unstolen Valor

The Unstolen Valor from Steve Saka is part of his Muestra line and was released in May 2020. The creation of the Muestra’s was really something clever. While determining new blends for his company, Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust, many samples would be gone through before landing on the rite ones. Knowing how much people like the novelty of these samples, or muestras as they are called in Spanish, he decided to release some of them in limited quantities. As stated by Saka “Muestras are hoarded and coveted by not only their makers, but by the cigar smokers who seek to catch a glimpse into the cigar maker’s soul within their smoke.”

Unlike the other Muestra releases this one was not blended by Saka himself, for this one he went to of Raul Disla, the production manager at Nicaragua American Cigars S.A. in Estelí. “I challenged Raul to create his own unique series of ligas without any input or direction from anyone else including myself. I wanted him to make cigars that were personally satisfying to himself and not worry about the opinions of others, the costs involved, or creating a brand. I was curious to see him be a ligador without any constraints. One of the blends he created really captured my attention.” notes Saka. Because he wanted to be able to showcase one of the people behind the scenes and give them credit the name Unstolen Valor was born. OK enough history lets get into this cigar.

The cigar is covered in a dark brown wrapper with some noticeable veining and a nice oily sheen. Between the fingers it feels full and firm. The smell from both the body and foot are those of hay, cedar, sweet tobacco and spice. The cold draw offers little resistance and brings in flavors of chocolate, dried cherries and of course the sweetness of the tobacco.

The first third of the cigar is spicy and meaty, it lets you know its there. In the beginning it was slow to burn and felt a little tough to get it to burn, this quickly went away so I do not fault construction for this only an anomaly. Once lit properly the draw was light but in a comfortable way. The burn was even, the ash held to about 1/2 before I knocked it loose and the smoke production was ample.

In the second third there is lots of flavor. I notice black pepper that dances a bit on the tongue, dark chocolate, and some earthy notes. The burn remains constant along with plenty of heavy smoke that you can almost chew on.

For the final third flavor stay similar to to second but to me becomes just a bit more spicy. It finishes off in what I consider to be full flavor and body, the burn never falters and the amount of smoke given off never fails to satisfy.

While there is a bit of novelty behind the Muestra de Saka line they certainly don’t lack quality. The visual appeal is there, the cigar is well constructed and the flavor profile was great. While the price point is a bit on the high side for some it’s worth the investment to try some of the rare combinations of tobacco that might have never seen the light of day. These can be tricky to find so when you see them out at your local B&M don’t miss out on grabbing a couple.

Wrapper – Nicaraguan 

Binder – Nicaraguan

Filler – Nicaraguan

Price: $18.00 – $20.00 depending on location.

Website: https://www.Dunbartoncigars.com

Rating: 4.7 out of 5 pints