Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Sobremesa Solita Red

By Tony Casas | November 24, 2025

It’s almost time to wrap up all the cigar reviews for the year, but before I do I want to squeeze in just a few more before the holidays. Today I am taking a look at the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Sobremsa Solita Red.

The Good Stuff:

Last year Steve Saka announced the end of the Sobremsa Solita Cervantes fino. This year he announced the blend was being replaced with one called the “Sobremesa Solita Red”. The Sobremesa Solita Red line made its debut with the description of it being a much more bold and richer blend of the beloved Sobremsa line of cigars. The blend features an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper over a Mexican San Andres Negro binder and Nicaraguan filler tobacco from the Esteli, Condega, and Pueblo Nuevo regions along with some Pennsylvanian Broadleaf. The cigar is offered in a single 6 1/4 x 46 size (same as the Solita Cervantes Fino), and comes in boxes of 13 running $16.35 per cigar.

• Size: 6 1/4 x 46
• Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano Rosado
• Binder: Mexican San Andres Negro
• Filler: Nicaraguan / Pennsylvanian Broadleft
• Body: Full
• Strength: Medium/Full
• Price: $16.35

Prelight:

The Sobremesa Solita Red starts out with a stunning, deep, dark, reddish brown wrapper that’s extremely consistent in color. The wrapper’s texture is very hard and dense while the entire cigar feels very firm, and well packed. The wrapper is laid seamlessly over itself and there are some very mild veins running through the cigar’s slim body leading up to its stubby, pigtail style cap. The band on the cigar is the same elegant band we’ve come to expect on the Sobremesa brands and of course is red with gold embossing of Saka’s crown. There is an additional red and gold foot band with the Sobremesa crest embossed on it.

The wrapper on the Sobremesa Solita Red gives off an abundance of spice and sweet aromas while the foot of the cigar is very earthy and spicy with some soft sweetness. The cap cut clean and easily using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw products notes of spice, raisin, and natural tobacco.

First Third:

The Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Sobremesa Solita Red starts off with a soft black pepper punch which lasted a few puffs before fading away and leaving behind strong notes of sweet raisins, pecan, cinnamon and cocoa with some lighter floral and earthiness of the finish. The draw is absolutely brilliant. Each puff kicks out a great deal of thick, white smoke. The burn line is something burnline fanboys will go crazy for. It’s dead even, razor sharp, and leaves behind an extremely compacted, perfectly formed trail of white ash which held on for an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Sobremesa Solita Red and the flavor profile turned very woodsy, very quick. The main flavor is now this great, deep cedar flavor backed by raisin, sweet brown sugar, black cherry, cocoa and a nice earthy finish. The flavor profile is bold and very pronounced. The retrohale brings out some soft spice that I don’t really get during the standard smoking experience. I close out the second third with only a slight bit of a nicotine kick.

Finish:

The flavor profile continues to the same as the second third here in the final stretch. The woodsy flavors are the leading character with the raisin, brown sugar, black cherry and cocoa in the background. The cigar took about an hour and a half to smoke down to the nub. There was no sap, harshness, or extended heat. The cigar burned absolutely flawless from start to finish with no help needed. It left me with only a very mild nicotine kick at the end.

Overview:

The statement “a richer and bolder version of the Sobremesa” is pretty much spot on. The cigar contains a more complex and elevated body with a bit more strength, yet stays true to the Sobremesa roots. I am very impressed with the huge jump up in body without sacrificing the smokablity of the cigar by ramping up the strength too much. When a cigar falls in the full-bodied but medium-strength range it just hits different. I also really like the format of the cigar as you get a ton of flavor from the wrapper with the thinner ring gauge. This is easily a boxworthy purchase and I wouldn’t think twice about paying the cost for what the experience delivers.