February 4, 2022 Patrick Lagreid News

Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Announces Muestra de Saka The Bewitched, Delays Krakatoa

A new Muestra de Saka release will be coming to store shelves this summer, though it might not be the one you were expecting.

On Thursday, Steve Saka of Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust took to Facebook to announce that he was putting the Muestra de Saka Krakatoa on the back burner for the foreseeable future, and would instead be releasing the Muestra de Saka The Bewitched.

No details about the cigar have been announced yet, with Saka saying that those will come in March, following a visit to the as-yet-undisclosed factory producing it and the initiation of formal production. It will also be at that time when retailers will be able to place their orders for the cigar.

There is a sixth cigar in the group, the Muestra de Saka U-Boat, a 7 x 50 Churchill that is an exclusive to Rocky’s Cigars in Syracuse, N.Y. It is a modified blend of the Unstolen Valor, and has been released in both 2020 and 2021.

In May 2021, Saka said that Muestra de Krakatoa was slated for the tail end of the year, likely in November after pandemic-related delays pushed it back from its originally planned spring release. It is named for the famous volcano that is located in between Indonesian islands and which killed over 35,000 people following an eruption in 1883. Befitting the name, it is described as a “much more peppery, robust and strong presentation,” though Saka did not give any details about the blend.

Via a Facebook post, Saka said he has been working on the Krakatoa for over two years with dozens of reworks, but he has yet to be 100 percent satisfied with it. “I have decided officially to back burner this blend and to continue working on it until it is ‘right’ which at this rate may be never,” he wrote.

The Muestra de Saka line, which debuted in March 2017, is a collection of cigars that use various blends, vitolas and factories, and which Saka described as “a line of unique blends and vitolas made in extremely limited quantities that reflect the blending machinations of myself.” The name translates as “sample of Saka.”

Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Muestra de Saka Muestra de Saka Krakatoa Muestra de Saka The Bewitched Steve Saka
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Patrick Lagreid

I strive to capture the essence of a cigar and the people behind them in my work – every cigar you light up is the culmination of the work of countless people and often represents generations of struggle and stories. For me, it’s about so much more than the cigar – it’s about the story behind it, the experience of enjoying the work of artisans and the way that a good cigar can bring people together. In addition to my work with halfwheel, I’m the public address announcer for the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks during spring training, as well as for the Salt River Rafters of the Arizona Fall League, the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury, the G-League's Valley Suns, and previously the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League. I also work in a number of roles for Major League Baseball, plus I'm a voice over artist. Prior to joining halfwheel, I covered the Phoenix and national cigar scene for Examiner.com, and was an editor for Cigar Snob magazine.

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