Mi Querida Black Papa Saka (5 5/8 x 48) Cigar

Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust is the boutique house of industry veteran Steve Saka, producing meticulously blended, full-flavored cigars in Nicaragua. Mi Querida Black is the third blend under the Mi Querida umbrella — it began life in 2021 as the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Limited Edition "EM" Maduro for JR Cigar's 50th anniversary, then launched formally at the 2022 PCA Trade Show as the 7 1/4 x 54 SakaKhan. The PapaSaka, a second size named for another of Saka's nicknames, was added at the 2023 PCA Convention & Trade Show and shipped that August as a limited production run of 3,500 boxes of 10 (35,000 cigars).

A very dark, oily Connecticut Broadleaf No. 1 Dark maduro wrapper over a Mexican San Andrés Negro binder, with long fillers from Nicaragua, Honduras and the Dominican Republic. The PapaSaka is a 5 5/8 x 48 parejo finished with a small, tight pigtail cap. Hand rolled at Nicaraguan American Cigars S.A. (NACSA) in Estelí, Nicaragua and packed in boxes of 10.

Mocha — a fusion of coffee and chocolate — leads the profile alongside damp earth, dark fruit and black pepper, with the retrohale delivering an extra layer of pepper. Reviewers also note semi-sweet chocolate, cinnamon, loam, leather and a fruity pour-over coffee character, with the pepper building steadily through the second half. The finish lingers with bittersweet espresso and a smooth, creamy quality.

Reviewers recommend an old fashioned or Manhattan cocktail, a pour-over coffee, or even a root beer; a pour of bourbon also plays well against the cigar's dark sweetness.

At roughly an hour and thirty-five minutes of smoke time, the PapaSaka is best saved for an unhurried session with time to let the profile build.