Mi Querida Black SakaKhan (7 1/4 x 54) Cigar

Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust is the boutique house of industry veteran Steve Saka, whose Mi Querida line debuted in 2016 as the company's first Connecticut Broadleaf-wrapped blend, handcrafted at Nicaragua American Cigars S.A. (NACSA) in Estelí, Nicaragua. Mi Querida Black is the third extension of that family, shown off at the 2022 PCA Convention & Trade Show with the SakaKhan as its first — and at launch its only — size; the same blend and format had first appeared in November 2021 as the Limited Edition "EM" Maduro made for JR Cigar's 50th anniversary. The SakaKhan name dates to Saka's Navy days in the 1980s, a nod both to Chaka Khan and to his middle name, Temujin, the birth name of Genghis Khan.

A U.S. Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper over a Mexican San Andrés negro binder, with long fillers from the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua — the Honduran Habano-seed tripa being what sets the Black liga apart from the rest of the Mi Querida family. The SakaKhan is a 7 1/4 x 54 double corona finished with a small pigtail cap, solidly bunched beneath a dark, oily, lightly toothy wrapper. Hand rolled at Nicaragua American Cigars S.A. (NACSA) in Estelí and released as a limited run of 3,500 boxes of 10.

A flavor-forward smoke led by cocoa nibs, earth, oak and roasted espresso bean, with dried tea leaf and light cinnamon filling in behind. The retrohale carries a measured black pepper alongside a persistent fruity sweetness reviewers have likened to pomegranate. Pepper that is sharp at the light tapers off through the later thirds, replaced by a creaminess that balances the earthiness.

At roughly 90 to 120 minutes of smoking time, this is an unhurried cigar — set aside a long evening or afternoon for it rather than a short break.