The Unstolen Valor from Muestra de Saka

The Unstolen Valor from Muestra de Saka

Steve Saka is a legend in the cigar industry. A lot could be written! After leaving Drew Estates, Saka started his own company in 2015- Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust. Dunbarton has produced a lot of finished products, which means many test blends were created in the selection of each finished product. The Muestra de Saka line from Dunbarton is just that- Saka’s favorite test blends leading up to each finished product in which he thought said blends deserved the limelight.

The Unstolen Valor is the first cigar of the Muestra de Saka line to be blended at Nicaragua America SA. The coolest part of the story of the Unstolen Valor is that Saka didn’t blend the cigar himself. As the story goes, he challenged Raul Disla, a production manager at NACSA, to blend a cigar without any constraints or guidance from anyone else. Raul produced 4 different samples. Saka chose the one for Unstolen Valor, hence the name. Saka chose to give Disla his flowers for the blend.

The Unstolen Valor is a 6 inch x 52 RG Toro. The smoke is composed of fillers from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and United States. The binder used is a Nicaraguan Jalapa, and the wrapper is a dark, oily, and aesthetically pleasing Ecuadorian Habano 2000. The cigar is medium-full in body and and full in strength in my opinion. Through each third, a different dominant flavor came to the surface. In the first third- espresso, second third- a savory steak or red meat, final third- pepper. The cigar burned for an hour and a half.

The Unstolen Valor’s presentation is pretty serious. Each cigar is wrapped in cello, then housed in its own coffin. Presentation such as this is likely to drive up the price. These aren’t cheap smokes, but I definitely would recommend the Unstolen Valor to at least give a try. When I feel like I need a strong, quality cigar after a long day, I would definitely reach for this again.