Red Meat Lovers Beef Stick (6 x 48) Cigar

Red Meat Lovers is Steve Saka's bold, flavor-forward line, blended expressly to complement the hearty nature of beef. It began in 2019 as a Smoke Inn MicroBlend Series release created at the request of the South Florida-based Red Meat Lovers Club for its charity dinners, and became one of the market's most successful annual single-store exclusives before Dunbarton secured the rights to share it with all its purveyors. The Beef Stick debuted at a pre-event VIP dinner for 2022's The Great Smoke, returned later that year as a limited Smoke Inn exclusive, and then carried into the national regular-production line alongside three trunk-pressed sizes.

A dark, oily Connecticut Broadleaf No. 1 Dark (Maduro) wrapper over a Mexican San Andrés Negro Oscuro binder, with aged long fillers from Nicaragua and Pennsylvania. The Beef Stick is the line's most distinctive format — a 6 x 48 parejo with a flat cap and a fully covered, closed foot, so the cigar's cylinder is sealed at both ends. Rolled at Nicaraguan American Cigars, S.A. (NACSA) in Nicaragua and packed in an SLB box of 10.

A full-bodied, savory profile led by mocha — a fusion of chocolate and coffee — with earth, black pepper, cedar and herbal notes in support. Retailers and reviewers also report umami, toasted oak, cinnamon and hints of charred meat, with the pepper and cedar ramping up toward the finish. The smoke is thick and creamy throughout.

Match its intensity with a smoky whiskey taken as a digestif, or with a rich espresso — both stand up to the blend's full body without overwhelming its savory sweetness.

Built for after a hefty meal — a porterhouse, ribeye or prime rib — rather than as a morning smoke. Set aside a good stretch of time, as this format is a notably slow, long burn.