Pre-light Experience

The wrapper on the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Sobremesa Brûlée Toro is light brown and has a network of visible but well pressed veins. The seams are easily visible due to the light wrapper color. The head is finished off with a very well applied triple cap. There are two bands, and without comparing them to the original Sobremesa, they appear identical and only possibly wrapper color could tell them apart. The aroma from the wrapper is sweet wood, hay and light barnyard funk. The foot brings wood, tobacco sweetness and light white pepper. The pre-light draw is a light mixture of wood and hay. The big question everyone wants to know, is the cap sweet? There is a very, very subtle sweetness at the cap.

Pre-light Experience

The Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Sobremesa Brûlée Toro is lovely in hand and it has a nice colored wrapper. It is a little bit darker than your typical Connecticut and it has this dark Natural, light Colorado vibe. It is silky in texture, sporting medium sized veins and is firm throughout. The aroma is of sugar, raisins, cream, hay and tobacco and I am getting some sweetness off of the wrapper and cold draw.

Pre-light Experience

The Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Sobremesa Brûlée Toro has two bands, a primary band and a foot band. Both have a similar style which to me is simple but elegant. Metallic gold on brown with the Sobremesa logo for the main band and a D logo on the back. The foot band indicates ‘Sobremesa’. The wrapper is silky smooth and a like tan color. Nosing the wrapper I get aged cedar, faint spices and leather. The foot offers the same aromas.

Pre-light Experience

The Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Sobremesa Brûlée Toro has a beautiful golden brown Colorado Claro shade. Veins are well pressed, seams tight, bunch and roll even and head finished off with a well wrapped triple cap. Nosing the wrapper gives a good amount of cedar and hay. Aromas from the foot tells the same cedar and hay mixture but with some light black pepper added. Cold draw gives a light sugary sweetness on the lips, cedar and hay.

First Third

The cigar begins with an even mixture of wood, hay, cinnamon and cream. At a half inch in, the wood gains a toasted note as the hay fades away and the cinnamon and cream maintain their positions. The retrohale carries toasted wood, hay and light cinnamon. At an inch and a half, the toasted wood has center stage with the cinnamon and cream in the background. As the third comes to a close, the toasted wood is now slightly drying even though some cream remains in the background. The cinnamon is now very faint. The strength in this third was slightly below medium.

First Third

The first third of the cigar has a nice start and it begins by showing some hay, cream and vanilla bean notes. I am getting some sugary sweetness with the cigar as well and it has a finish of spices and dry wood shavings. Touches of white pepper. I would classify the cigar as being medium in strength and body and the flavors are also in that spectrum.

First Third

The Brûlée starts out with cedar, spices and faint white pepper. I almost immediately get the unmistakable flavor of artificial sweet cap, but in a subdued manner. That flavor sits on the middle and front of the profile. Minutes later, some mid profile hay joins with intensifying post draw black and white pepper. By this point, that artificial sweet cap flavor has evolved to be more like liquid sugar. The post draw pepper has jumped up to medium-full already. The retrohale gains some creaminess and cedar, along with trailing earth. Once the cigar has settled in, hints of leather bleed into the post draw, with hay joining the post draw moments later.

First Third

The first third gives main flavors of cedar and baking spices. There’s the more conventional nuttiness, sweetness and hay you typically find in Connecticut shade wrapped cigars but it’s fairly subdued. Retrohaling highlights even more of the baking spices but the profile opens up a lot more with added cedar and intensified nuttiness. The finish is light, with bread and soft cedar. Strength and body is medium.

Second Third

As the second third begins, a light char joins the toasted wood while some cream remains in the background and the cinnamon has left the profile. At a half inch in, some light cinnamon returns as the char has left, but the profile has become a bit dryer. The retrohale carries the toasted wood and cream. At an inch and a half in, some char returns to the profile. As the third comes to a close, the cream transitions to mustiness as the toasted and charred wood is up front and the baking spice is no longer present. The strength in this third remains at slightly below medium.

Second Third

When I get into the second third of the cigar, I am finding a continuation of the hay, cream and vanilla bean notes. The sugar sweetness has faded, along with the white pepper and spice notes, but the finish is still showing those dry wood qualities. Like before, the cigar is medium in strength, body and flavors.

Second Third

Hay moves to the front of the profile here. The middle of the profile is grassy, with the leather and earth from the first third having dropped off. That cedar and hay combo begins to linger significantly between draws. By the halfway point, nuttiness has joined, with creaminess back on the retrohale. The post draw brings earthiness with a hay chaser. The hay and cedar on the retrohale are up to medium strength.

Second Third

The second third stays the same course as the first third. The profile is still primarily cedar and baking spice driven with very subdued nuttiness, sweetness and hay. Strength and body is unchanged at medium.

Final Third

The final third continues on with the toasted and charred wood combination up front and mustiness slightly behind. At a quarter inch in, the char has picked up a fair amount and brought some bitterness to the profile. The retrohale has the mustiness in the lead over the toasted wood. At an inch in, the char has eased up and the bitterness has left the profile. As the cigar comes to a close, the char has left and the toasted wood becomes a bit sharp while mustiness is right behind. The strength in this third bumped up to medium.

Final Third

The cigar really went downhill in the final third and it lost a lot compared to what was delivered in the first third. It showed some dry wood, hay and tobacco notes, and it lost that enjoyable cream and vanilla bean core. The strength, body and flavors were at that medium level, and while it smoked cool to the end, it was not a great finish.

Final Third

No notable profile changes moving into the last third. As the cigar settles in, earthiness moves to the front of the profile with a medium length lingering finish on the post draw. Minutes later, drying cedar joins the post draw. No other flavor evolution through the last third.

Final Third

Nothing really new to discuss since the second third. The profile is still namely cedar and baking spices driven with very subdued nuttiness, sweetness and hay. At times there’s a stale coffee note that comes and goes. Strength and body finishes medium.

Burn

The burn line was slightly wavy but never needed any attention. The ash held on in inch and a quarter increments.

Burn

From beginning to end, the cigar produced a beautiful burn line and with that a nice charcoal colored ash. It ended darker in coloring than it was at the beginning, but that is no issue on my end.

Burn

The burn was very straight through the entire smoking experience, with the ash holding on in just over 1 inch increments.

Burn

Perfect burn performance. Even burn, tight ashes, ample smoke production and cool burning temperature.

Draw

The draw was perfect with just the right amount of resistance that I prefer.

Overall

The cigar began with wood, hay, cinnamon and cream and settled in with all of the components other than the hay. The wood gained a toasted note as the cinnamon left and later the cream transitioned to mustiness. Some char joined in and the final third saw some increased char and bitterness for a short time.Construction was great and required no attention. The Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Sobremesa Brûlée Toro fell a bit short in terms of being a well rounded Connecticut shade offering in my opinion. While there were some nice flavors present, they were in silos and didn’t really meld together into a cohesive profile. Fans of Connecticut shade should definitely check this out to see what they think, but for the price of this cigar, I would expect more. I’d probably gravitate to other shade offerings before returning to this one.

Draw

The draw was simply perfect.

Overall

Overall, I was not impressed with the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Sobremesa Brûlée Toro. I think it started out on a solid level in the first third, but it declined from there. There was nice initial sweetness that faded away half way through the third, and whether or not that comes from a “sweet tip,” I can’t be certain. In my experience, it had a sweetness on the head that was more pronounced than the “natural sweetness” of tobacco. It wasn’t at a Baccarat level, I am just using that as an example, but it was more pronounced than a “natural” Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper. With that being said, the flavors were just more present in the first third. After that, they dropped and dropped. It lost complexity and elegance with each inch. The construction was amazing, and the balance between body, strength and flavors was on point, but the complexity and depth just died in the end. Even if the cigar was reversed, and it grew into those great flavors, I would still be disappointed as you can’t have a cigar begin at that level. If I am looking to smoke a Connecticut, this is not one I will reach for to smoke. If I am looking to smoke a cigar from Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust, it’s not going to be this. I think it is a major miss as a release.

Draw

Each puff has a slight resistance to it, making it a perfect draw.

Overall

The Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Sobremesa Brûlée Toro has fantastic burn and construction, but overall, I found the flavor profile to be average. It offered many of the typical flavors I would expect from a Connecticut Shade profile, with some pepper, leather and earth which elevates it at times. Unfortunately, this particular space is pretty well established and I didn’t find that the Brûlée did enough to make it stand out from the crowd. Total smoking time was 1 hour and 44 minutes.

Draw

The draw was perfect as well, giving the ideal resistance and air flow.

Overall

The Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Sobremesa Brûlée Toro was an average cigar experience for me. The spotlight of the cigar was cedar and baking spices. Although I certainly don’t mind a Connecticut shade cigar that is more outside the realms of tradition, I found the Brûlée to be a bit too outside of it. As in the more traditional Connecticut shade flavors of nuttiness, sweetness and hay were too absent. Further, the review sample’s sweetened cap was significantly less sweet than a Robusto version I had. I think I might prefer the sweeter cap of the Robusto since it helped break up the cedar and baking spice notes.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.30

Cost/Point

$2.54

Scoring System

Seth Geise

SCORE

5.45

Cost/Point

$2.47

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

5.40

Cost/Point

$2.49

Scoring System

Jiunn Liu

SCORE

5.75

Cost/Point

$2.34

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Sobremesa Brûlée Toro