Earlier this week, the Tuesday Night Cigar Club (TNCC) received what is most likely our last package of cigars submitted for review this calendar year. Steve Saka’s Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust (DTT) is one of the companies that traditionally sends samples of a select number of their recent releases to cigar media late in the year, so it’s both a much-anticipated treat when the DTT box arrives and a challenge to work whatever they send our way into an already tight – and quickly narrowing – review schedule.
This is Steve Fucking Saka we’re talking about. So where there’s a will there’s a way. As anyone who has followed the TNCC for the last 10 years can attest to, we are huge fans of Saka and there are very few of his DTT offerings that we haven’t flipped out for over the years. That’s right, you read correctly, Saka has made some cigars that I personally didn’t jive so much with. Both the Red Meat Lovers and Bronzeback cigars that we featured last year failed to blow my skirt up but Tut, on the other hand, really dug them both. That’s how that whole podcast thing kinda worked, until it didn’t. Well those two lines received new additions in 2025 and, while I’m looking forward to putting them under the TNCC microscope at some point to see if either one changes my initial opinion, when I laid my eyes on the newest member of the Sobremesa Solita family I knew immediately which cigar was going to be burned down first…
THE CIGAR – SOBREMESA SOLITA RED by DUNBARTON TOBACCO & TRUST
Size: 6 1/4 x 46
Wrapper: Ecuadorian habano
Binder: Mexican San Andrés negro
Filler: Nicaragua & USA (Pennsylvania)
Price: $17.95
There’s an oily sheen to the beautiful habano wrapper and, sure enough, there are minimal surface oils found along the body of the Solita Red. I’m not crazy about the color red generally but it certainly pops visually on the cigar’s primary and foot bands. After twisting off the cap, a punch is still required to obtain optimal airflow. That’s where my favorite new toy comes into play – the PerfecPunch.
As a diehard cigar puncher, I pulled the trigger on purchasing the PerfecPunch last month and I’ve been using it exclusively ever since. I should probably do a review on it soon and, no, I’m not being paid a cent to promote this gadget. The cold draw has a deep-rooted sweetness embedded within it and there’s just a touch of damp mesquite found as well.
Upon ignition, a hard-to-ignore combination of white pepper spice and toasted bread presents itself immediately through the nose. The spice is potent and builds with each puff. Downstairs on the draw, a creamy milk chocolate note backed by faint cedar is the early profile. Soon that soft creaminess begins to creep in on the retrohale as well, quickly extinguishing the bread component (which was not that well-defined to begin with).
A refined mustiness has entered the room via the draw and it’s playing an interesting secondary role to the milk chocolate and cedar. Remember that generic breadiness from earlier? I should hope so, I just mentioned it like 3 sentences ago. Well it’s suddenly back but only this time through the Solita Red’s draw and it’s now more refined as a flavor reminiscent of a warm Belgian waffle. And while that’s certainly a lot happening down below, the creamy/peppery retrohale simply cannot be ignored. Everything is currently balancing very well together.
Construction thus far has been stellar in all aspects, from the smooth draw to the straight burn line that’s capped by a slightly flakey but strong ash. I should take a moment to point out how much I enjoy this grand corona vitola. It’s very close in size to my favorite DTT cigar, the amazing Brûlée Blue. It feels just right in my hand and it smokes beautifully. That mustiness has now crept into the retrohale as the flavors are now seemingly picking and choosing how and where they present themselves. We’re not quite at the fifty yard line and I’m having difficulty keeping track of all the action. Which is a good thing in case you were wondering. I worry about you sometimes.
The Solita Red’s second half begins with the introduction of toasted marshmallow on the retro just as the peppery spice spikes to the highest peak it’s delivered yet. That elevated strength packs a punch but recovery time is granted immediately as the spice quickly settles back into its medium groove. This cigar is full of surprises, and they’re good surprises for a change. Like a midget at a urinal, I’m going to have to stay on my toes…
One of the review samples suddenly required a total relight around 1” before reaching the Solita Red’s primary band but the cigars have all performed flawlessly otherwise. The pepper/cream heavy retro, complimented by several secondary notes, is so damn potent that it could easily overshadow the draw on a lesser cigar. Luckily I’m not smoking a lessor cigar tonight. The draw’s creamy milk chocolate, cedar, and warm waffle flavors are defined clearly enough to easily stand their ground. Add in the Solita Red’s incredibly clean finish and you couldn’t ask for much more. But if you were to be a dickhead and ask for more, you’d be gifted a limoncello cake flavor that just appears out-of-fucking-nowhere through the nose right as our adventure comes to an end. Limoncello cake, I shit you not.
THE NUB
TNCC FINAL SCORE = 94
I used the word “balanced” earlier and that’s a term that kept entering my head repeatedly throughout the 78 minute smoking experience. This is the most balanced cigar I’ve smoked in quite some time. While the original Sobremesa was interesting, the Solita Red is fascinating. It’s a complex cigar featuring curious transitions that always proved to be both well-timed and successful. Tut once said on the podcast, while smoking a cigar that he was highly enjoying, that he could “taste the blender’s intent”. I’ve thought back to that quote only a few times in the years following and tonight is one of those times. This cigar was blended by a mad genius. A big bald mad genius. The Solita Red took me by surprise and I’m comfortable stating that it’s not only the best Sobremesa Solita offering yet, but one of Steve Saka’s finest cigars period*. I’m not sure if Saka could have blended this particular cigar 10 years ago when Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust first opened for business. And, if he did, I’m not sure we would have been ready for it.**
* In case you’re curious, here was my current Cigar Mount Rushmore from Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust prior to tonight:
Brûlée Blue
Nacatamale
SakaKhan
Sin Compromiso
** Okay, those last two sentences were just inserted for melodramatic effect. He most likely could have produced this cigar 10 years ago and we most certainly would have been ready for it. I just thought it sounded cool.
