Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust
Muestra de Saka
The Bewitched
Smoking a Muestra de Saka is embarking on a journey with me, in which I am very happy for your company. This phrase could be from me, but it's from Steve Saka. He had already seduced us with his uncompromising cigars, but this time, he's outright trying to bewitch us with his Bewitched.
So, receiving this cigar as a gift from a Harry Potter fan who practices green and white magic, and who invokes Brigid, Freya, and Lilith, should I take it as a sign? Time will tell!
At DTT
Muestra de Saka, there's not much fuss, simple boxes, cigars in raw wood
coffins.
If I take this coffin (like that of the Exclusivo), which is not very airtight, I have the inscription Muestra de Saka on the lid, below which I find an owl, and on the side, The Bewitched. An owl! I was expecting a black cat, but why an owl?
The answer to this question is provided by Steve Saka himself: The Bewitched is an intoxicating blend of quality filler leaves from Nicaraguan and U.S. crops with our exclusive Cultivo Tonto San Andres Negro binder wrapped in a Grade 1 Ecuadorian Habano Seed wrapper. It's a truly bewitching medium-full bodied smoke, so difficult to describe, yet so perfect in balance and nuance, from the moment I finished it, I was mesmerized by it.
He continues
by sharing : Originally, this was a blend
I created to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Owl Shop in Worcester. For
those of you who know Zach and his shop, know that we are doing this with his
blessing. In fact, he was the one who said this cigar was too good not to share
with our other customers, so please thank him on my behalf.
I was thrilled that Zach blessed my work further, but I wanted to honor the Owl Shop and Zach's family legacy, so I decided to pay tribute by keeping the owl as the icon since that's where it all started. This is where the story gets peculiar. It turns out, unbeknownst to me, there's a superstition among Nicaraguans that owls are the physical manifestation of witches casting their spells on people in the darkness of night. I understand some consider black owls to be evil witches, while brown owls are considered good witches.
So, I make a cigar that I find fascinating for the Owl Shop, Zach encourages me to make more, I decide to call it "The Bewitched" because of how it makes me feel, then I decide to keep the owl as the icon, only to learn that in Nicaragua, owls are considered witches... Wow, that's too much coincidence for even me to ignore. Fate is a capricious thing, but I'm wise enough not to fight it. This project was simply meant to be. Now, whether it's the spell of a black owl or a brown owl, I don't care because I love the magic of this cigar! Saka concludes.
So,
Abracadabra, open sesame!
The
"domino box" closure (NDA: in funeral home lexicon, the "domino
box" is the coffin) slides slowly into its groove like the lid of a
sarcophagus and reveals the cigar with a simple foot band that enhances the
wrapper. It's yellow with MUESTRA DE SAKA in red and THE BEWITCHED superimposed
in black.
I carefully extract this magnificent Prensado (uncommon format) with a spiral tail.
During my first try, I decide to use this spiral to make the draw hole. The band offers no resistance and comes off without any problem.
After purifying myself with sage and cedar (essential!), I strike a match to light a candle, while the cat comes to curl up at my feet (it seems the purification is far from effective!). Before the combustion of my match goes into "off" mode, I bring it to the foot of my tasting, which ignites and already shines with a thousand reddish glimmers.
A significant smoke escapes from my vitola as the music of Aurora Aksnes (another witch) & Wardruna comes out of the speakers.
It carries a
film of salt that settles on my lips: it's like the signal of an Unexpected
Journey; I receive my artifacts in the form of Corinth raisins, white pepper,
espresso coffee, and cedar.
A creamy aspect now serves as my magic carpet towards the tales of a thousand and one nights, pushed by the winds of pepper that oscillate without interruption from white to red through green and black; and the coffee beats the rhythm sometimes cream, sometimes espresso.
I hear Skald in the distance, who has replaced Wardruna and sings the merits of Valhalla.
I have strange sensations of Cherry Coca accompanying a large, slightly vanilla cake.
The Bewitched works perfectly with a fantastic draw and near-perfect combustion, which recovers on its own.
Unlike the dog-headed dragon Falkor and his friend Atreyu, my journey is not endless; I leave the lands of the Death Star to return to the Light.
My descent is gentle. I leave the world of spirits, then that of the sacred, to land gently in that of necessity. But with a thought engraved in my memory: I now perfectly know the "cigar boner" (a slang and humorous expression that has no direct literal translation. The idea is that of intense excitement at the thought of smoking a cigar).
This cigar is perfectly balanced and gives sensations from beginning to end.
Tests were done on two Prensado type cigars of 17.15cm for a 48 ring gauge.
Wrapper:
Habano (Ecuador).
Binder:
Cultivo Tonto San Andrés Negro (Mexico).
Filler: Nicaragua & U.S.A.
In conclusion: I can only encourage you to rush to a good cigar shop to get a copy or two of this little gem. I expect a cigar of this price to develop something special, especially if the packaging is not very sophisticated, and I must say that Steve has once again succeeded in the challenge of satisfying me amply.
And I leave him the final word: "From the moment I finished this blend, I was bewitched by it, so much so that I decided to call this release "The Bewitched" because of how it captivated my own palate: so complex, so harmonious, so refined, so hard to define, yet so hard to ignore. Every cigar I smoked made me want to smoke another."
Belgian
price at the time of writing this article: €28.90.
P.S.: The
texts in blue were added by my Witch-Editor and are beyond my control.