Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Muestra de Saka Bewitched

By Tony Casas | December 6, 2022

With a great, warm break in our winter weather I decided to take full advantage by heading out back with a Muestra de Saka The Bewitched paired with a can of The Bruery’s Half Time Shuffle bourbon barrel aged imperial stout beer.

The Good Stuff:

The Bewitched was originally released last year to celebrate Owl Shop Tobacconists’ 75th anniversary as a store exclusive before joining the Muestra de Saka lineup earlier this year. While it’s not uncommon to see cigars created as shop exclusives eventually hit the market, the quick turnaround on The Bewitched caught my attention. In a press release Steve Saka, founder of Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust stated that not only did the shop’s owner Zach Photakis give his blessing, but actually encouraged Saka to release the cigar as he felt it was too good not to share with other Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust accounts. The cigar is created at the Fabrica de Tabacos Joya de Nicaragua S.A. in Nicaragua the cigar is identical to the original release featuring an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper over a Mexican San Andres Cultivo Tonto negro binder, and fillers from both the United States and Nicaragua. The Bewitched is offered in a single 6 5/8 x 48 box-pressed format. Each cigar comes packaged in single coffin boxes that then come packed in boxes of seven running $19.75 per cigar. This is a normal production line so unlike the original, will not be limited to a set number of boxes being produced. While Steve Sara’s team sent a few of these over in a media pack to review, this particular cigar and the previous ones I smoked for this review were purchased over from our friends at Cuenca Cigars who currently have them in stock for box and single purchases.

• Size: 6 5/8 x 48
• Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
• Binder: Mexican San Adres Cultivo Tonto Negro
• Filler: United States and Nicaragua
• Body: Full
• Strength: Medium/Full
• Price: $19.75
• Pairing: The Bruery Halftime Shuffle (Imperial Stout 9.9% ABV)

Prelight:

The Bewitched starts out with a deep, dark brown wrapper which is mostly consistent in color outside of a few lighter, orange-tinted areas scattered in a few areas. The wrapper’s texture is decently toothy and gritty with a good amount of oils coating it. The wrapper itself feels decently hard and dense with the entire cigar being packed perfectly as it carries no soft spots what so ever. The Bewitched features a nice, soft box-pressed format with a beautifully spiraled pig tail cap. The cigar is polished off with a simple, yet elegant yellow foot ribbon which comes on most of the Muestra de Saka releases, with the words “The Bewitched” printed in black in across the front.

Whoa, the wrapper on this cigar gives off such a unique aroma of fig, floral cologne and leather. The foot of the cigar is much more earthy with notes of musk, natural tobacco, and grain. The awesome wrapper aromas come through on the cold draw producing notes of fig, musk, and natural tobacco.

First Third:

The Muestra de Saka Bewitched starts out with a mild black pepper burst which fades very quickly allowing the cigar to release notes of deep oak, musk, fig, and tobacco over lighter notes of leather, pecan, and dark chocolate. The cologne/floral flavor that I picked up on the aroma pops its head into the experience every so often. The draw is perfect. Each and every puff kicks out a huge cloud of thick, white smoke which hangs around for a pretty long time before dissipating while the cigar releases a whole mess of stationary smoke while it rests in my ashtray. Note, I really enjoy the comfort in both hand and mouth of the soft box-press format. The burn line is slightly choppy, but not concerning leaving behind a compacted trail of dark gray ash which held on for an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Muestra de Saka The Bewitched and this cigar is still just rolling with flavor. The bold musk and fig currently lead the charge backed by a good amount of tobacco and honey over lighter notes of pecan and leather. The floral flavor and dark chocolate seem to be exchanging blows as both kinda creep in and out of the flavor profile. The retrohale really brings that floral flavor out and I find myself doing it quite often. I close out the second third with noting in terms of a nicotine kick.

Finish:

Wow, the dark chocolate really ramped up into the final third of The Bewitched and now takes over the lead roll backed by pecan, fig and musk over lighter honey, leather, and cedar notes. The complexity and flavor profile on this cigar is both unique and enjoyable. It took me almost 2 hours to smoke this cigar down to the nub. I experienced no harshness, no extended heat, and never once had to reach for my torch to touchup or relight the cigar. It burned great from start to finish. I close out the cigar with only a minor nicotine hit putting in in the medium-full arena when it comes to strength.

Overview:

I think I have smoked most of if not all of the Muestra de Saka releases to date with the exception of the unicorn. I really look forward to these releases as they usually showcase the uniqueness of Saka’s craft. The Bewitched is probably my favorite release in this set so far. The flavor profile is very unique with that amazing fig over great floral / cologne and awesome backing flavors. It smoked perfect from start to finish, and the fact that this is regular production means no hunting. This is box worthy, especially at the 7 count box format and something I’ll keep around when I am craving a break from the norm.

Pairing:

The Bruery’s Halftime Shuffle is a 9.9% bourbon barrel aged imperial stout brewed with milk sugar, peanuts, cocoa power, waffle cone, and vanilla. The beer leads with sweet chocolate, peanut, malt and caramel with a very sticky mouthfeel before finishing even sweeter with more chocolate, peanut, and finally a dash of vanilla. After my very first experience smoking the Bewitched with water, I knew I needed to pair the cigar with something that had enough flavor to keep up with it. The Half Time Shuffle’s bold flavors with a sweet composure married up well with the Bewitched, but even then it quickly became outclassed. This is a perfect example of a cigar that needs absolutely nothing else other than itself. In fact, over the four that I smoked the best pairing was actually a simple, unsweetened black tea.