Mi Querida Black PapaSaka, New Sizes of Red Meat Lovers Club Headline Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust’s New Releases for PCA 2023

On Friday, Steve Saka released details of what Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust has planned to release at the 2023 PCA Convention & Trade Show in July, and it’s headlined by the national release of a former store exclusive limited edition and the second size of a fairly new line for the company.

The company’s Red Meat Lovers Club line, which debuted in 2019 as an exclusive for Smoke Inn in South Florida, is moving to a national release and adding two new vitolas dubbed Filet Mignon and Porterhouse as part of the change. The blend uses a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper, a Mexican San Andrés negro binder, and fillers from Nicaragua and Pennsylvania. The first size in the line, a 6 x 56 toro gordo, is not part of the national launch, but the 6 x 52 toro that was added in December 2020 is.

• Red Meat Lovers Club Beef Stick (6 x 48)
• Red Meat Lovers Club Filet Mignon (5 x 54)
• Red Meat Lovers Club Ribeye (6 x 52)
• Red Meat Lovers Club Porterhouse (6 x 60)

The Beef Stick is the only round cigar in the line, as the other three vitolas are box-pressed. All four sizes come in 10-count boxes and are expected to be on store shelves in July or August.

The Mi Querida Black line is getting a new size called PapaSaka, a 5 5/8 x 48 parejo that is also due out in July or August. It will join the SakaKhan, a 7 1/4 x 54 Churchill Extra that was released in August 2022, though first appeared in November 2021 as a limited edition released as part of JR Cigar’s 50th anniversary celebration. Like those cigars, the PapaSaka will be offered in 10-count boxes. The blend features a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper, Mexican San Andrés negro binder, and filler from the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Both the Red Meat Lovers Club and Mi Querida Black lines are made at Nicaragua American Cigar S.A. (NACSA) in Estelí.

These new releases join the previously announced Muestra de Saka Krakatoa, a 6 x 48 vitola that is scheduled for September. Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust has not yet announced the pricing of the new cigars.

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 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.