Pre-light Experience

Aaron: The wrapper on the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida Black SakaKhan is a marbled medium brown with some toothiness and some decently raised veins that carry a lighter color to them. The seams are smooth and caps well applied and finished with a tightly wound pigtail. The band is the traditional design for the line but carries a black and silver color combination for this variation. The aroma from the wrapper is dark earth, bakers chocolate and tobacco sweetness while the foot brings stewed fruit and light amounts of smoky meatiness and cedar. The pre-light draw is an even mix of stone fruit sweetness and cedar.
Seth: Firm in hand, the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida Black SakaKhan is finished with a closed pigtail cap. Few veins present throughout, but large in size. The cigar has a nice marbled coloring. Aromas of rich earth, damp tobacco, wood, black licorice and mesquite qualities.
John: The Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida Black SakaKhan comes in cellophane and has a UPC sticker with a designed tear point so the UPC remains intact when opened. Additionally, the cigar has an artisanal complication of a curled pigtail cap. The cigar is single banded with the Mi Querida band. Aromas from the wrapper included sweet tobacco, wood and hay. Out of the foot, I got sweet raisin and tobacco, along with faint hay.
Jiunn: The Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida Black SakaKhan has a fairly uniform maduro wrapper shade. Veins are well pressed, seams tight, bunch and roll even and pig tail head well wrapped and capped. Aromas from the wrapper give cocoa and a slight campfire. Aromas from the foot tell of cedar and fairly aggressive white pepper spice. Cold draw tells of aged cedar and a hint of earl grey tea.

Team Cigar Review: Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida Black SakaKhan

First Third

Aaron: The cigar begins with oak, dark earth and light amounts of black pepper and cocoa powder. At a quarter inch in, a light chalkiness joins in. The retrohale brings oak, earth and lightly zingy black pepper. At an inch and a half in, the black pepper picks up a bit. At an inch and three quarters, the chalkiness increases a bit. As the third comes to a close, the oak and dark earth are even up front with black pepper and chalkiness in the middle and light cocoa powder in the background. The strength was slightly below medium.
Seth: The first third starts out with some mineral and earth notes. Faint spices present as well. Touches of wood and tobacco. Damp wood. Red pepper present on the finish. Medium in strength and body.
John: My first few puffs are of spicy wood, sweet tobacco and hay. A light-plus strength baking spices and honey sweetness combination develop on the retrohale as the first third settles in. The profile remains consistent as it progresses, overall a medium-minus or just over light-plus strength.
Jiunn: The first third shows the kind of Connecticut Broadleaf that I enjoy. Flavors of chewy chocolate, chalk and deep earthiness. The body has a nice medium plus viscosity (medium strength). The only thing that is lacking is the finish, being short and one dimensional in aged cedar.

Team Cigar Review: Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida Black SakaKhan

Second Third

Aaron: As the second third begins, the chalkiness is now right behind the oak and dark earth. At a half inch in, the chalkiness recedes a bit and the oak gains a toast note. The retrohale is now toasted oak, earth and light black pepper. At an inch and a quarter, the cocoa note has departed. As the third comes to a close, the toasted oak and earth are even up front, with chalkiness in the middle and black pepper in the background. The strength bumped up to medium.
Seth: The second third is a continuation of the first third. Earthy with mineral and pepper notes. Bits of tobacco, wood and spices present as well. Pepper spices on the finish. Medium in strength and body.
John: The second third gets going with sweet, spicy wood both at medium strength, with a combination of sweet tobacco, wood and spice accents lingering into the post draw. Sweet wood defines the post draw as the second third continues. Spices linger under the wood between each draw.
Jiunn: The second third is starting to show a balanced dried red pepper spice to the overall same chewy and earthy flavor profile. Strength and body remains medium. Big cigar, still good.

Team Cigar Review: Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida Black SakaKhan

Final Third

Aaron: As the final third begins, the toast level increases. At a half inch in, the chalkiness is now pretty mellow. The retrohale remains toasted oak, earth and light black pepper. At an inch and a quarter, the toast level increases some more. As the cigar comes to a close, the profile is heavily toasted oak and earth up front with chalkiness and black pepper in the background. The strength remained at medium.
Seth: The final third was average like the first and second. Earth and mineral up front with some pepper, wood and tobacco notes that followed. Bits of spice here and there. Medium in strength and body.
John: The last third combines sweetness, wood, mild bread and a trio of spices, wood and sweetness into the post draw. Tobacco sweetness moves into the middle of the draw as the cigar progresses towards the halfway point. Earth is present at medium strength during the end of the draw as it continues through the bottom half.
Jiunn: The final third has reduced the flavor profile to just soft cedar and chalk consistency. The profile lost a good amount of the dank earthiness. Strength and body finishes the same medium and medium plus, respectively.

Team Cigar Review: Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida Black SakaKhan

Burn

Aaron: The burn was a bit wavy throughout, but never needed any attention and the ash held on in two inch increments.
Seth: Solid burn from start to finish.
John: The burn was straight through the first third with a one inch ash. The burn was slightly wavy in the second third, no intervention required. The burn was straight through the last third.
Jiunn: Perfect burn. Even, solid ashes, cool burning temperature and ample smoke production.

Team Cigar Review: Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida Black SakaKhan

Draw

Aaron: The draw was a bit snug, but didn’t seem to cause an issue with the smoking experience.
Seth: Draw was good throughout.
John: The draw had some resistance to it, roughly 2 notches into the resistant spectrum.
Jiunn: The draw was also perfect, striking the ideal air flow.

Overall

Aaron: The cigar began with oak, dark earth and light amounts of black pepper and cocoa powder. A light chalkiness joined in fairly quickly. The second third saw the oak gain a toast note and the cocoa departed. The final third saw the toast level of the oak become pretty heavy. The Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida Black SakaKhan had a nice start with a good combination of flavors, but as the cocoa departed and the chalkiness increased, it dropped a level and maintained that the rest of the way. The cigar provides a lengthy smoking time, but it didn’t provide an exciting enough flavor profile to maintain my attention. I don’t see this as something I’d revisit all that often.
Seth: This Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida Black SakaKhan was a large and lacking cigar. Lots of smoking time, but very little flavors came out of it. Lack in complexity and depth. Nice construction. Too large of a cigar in my opinion, especially with what is offered. I guess you can say it is fitting with the name, but I believe the blend could have been better. Richer and spicier as well.
John: The Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida Black SakaKhan, although imposing at first appearance, delivered a fairly restrained and balanced flavor delivery for most of the cigar, with the most engaging combinations present for me in the first third. The biggest challenge I always see with larger cigars is finding that right balance between not being overwhelming on the palate, but still engaging me for a fairly long smoking time. The burn was perfect through the review, with the draw having some minor resistance to it. The Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida Black SakaKhan doesn’t do quite enough for me flavor engagement wise that I’d want to revisit it, but is quite reasonably priced for what it is. Total smoking time was 2 hours and 41 minutes.
Jiunn: Big cigar, good throughout most of the smoking experience is often times a false statement for me. So going into the SakaKhan, I wasn’t exactly looking forward to the long and tedious smoking time. To my surprise, the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida Black SakaKhan was overall a good tasting experience filled with what makes Connecticut Broadleaf so good (chewy, dank, earthy). The profile was consistent without many twists and turns, but that honestly didn’t matter because the core flavors were so enjoyable. I need to light up another one of these after the freezing, bone chilling Bay Area winter passes.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.70

Cost/Point

$2.80

Scoring System

Seth Geise

SCORE

5.25

Cost/Point

$3.04

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

5.95

Cost/Point

$2.68

Scoring System

Jiunn Liu

SCORE

6.82

Cost/Point

$2.34

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida Black SakaKhan