Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust – Muestra De Saka Unstolen Valor

Box Count: 7

Size: 6×52

Origin: Nicaragua

Wrapper: Habano 2000 Sungrown
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, USA Connecticut

Strength: Medium – Full

The “Unstolen Valor” is not like any of the previous Muestra de Saka ligas as I did not create it, rather it is the work product of Sr. Raul Disla, Master Cigar Maker at NACSA, resulting from a personal challenge I issued him a few years ago to create a “personal liga”. I find this blend to be a journey of spice – peppercorns to be precise. It begins with the subtle aromatic tastes of the green peppercorn with that fresh, tangy back note followed by the flavors of the more potent, complex and pungent Tellicherry black pepper berry to finally finish with the more piquant, racier notes exhibited within white peppercorns. Spicy cigars are rather common, but what impressed my palate is how fluid the transitions occur plus how he managed to tame their biting nature that not only allows the smoker to detect these distinctly different pepper notes, but to also never overwhelm the smoker’s palate with sharpness. Simultaneously the blend offers a harmonious cedar-like sweetness that I found captivating. It is a very deft, balanced execution of style of cigar that is often done a great disservice by most makers.