The Mi Querida SakaKhan began arriving at stores late last month. It’s the first cigar in the upcoming Mi Querida Black line, though oddly not the first time this cigar has been released.

As for this specific release, it’s a 7 1/4 x 54 double corona that uses a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper over a Mexican San Andrés negro binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua. Next year, this blend is expected to be offered in multiple sizes, but for 2022 it’s just the single size. Like Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust’s regular Mi Querida line, it is made at Nicaragua American Cigars S.A. in Estelí, Nicaragua.

The MSRP is set at $15.95 per cigar and is limited to 3,500 boxes of 10 cigars.

Interestingly, this exact same blend and vitola was actually sold last November as an exclusive for JR Cigar and the retailer’s 50th anniversary. The cigars are the same outside of the packaging and the price, the SakaKhan is $1 per cigar more expensive than the JR release.

As for the name, Steve Saka, founder of Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust, wrote on Facebook that it dates back to his days in the Navy.

“It was the 80’s when Chaka Khan became known as an artist and I was getting certified to Con(n) as a JOOD Underway on my ship – the enlisted guys who worked the Bridge started calling me this… kinda funny as my middle name ‘Temujin’ is also the birth name of Ghengis Khan… so this is double dip when it comes to why this nickname stuck… my Dad obviously had some pretty lofty expectations.”

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Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.