Smoked: Dunbarton Mi Querida Trici Traca

Smoked at: West Chester, Ohio

Dunbarton Mi Querida Trqui Traca No. 552 is draped in a smooth dark brown Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper with several large veins and a bit toothy. The band is dark brown-black with gold trim and gold scripted “Mi Querida.” The cigar is medium-full body and medium strength. By the final third, the body is pushing full.

The flavors are bountiful starting with aged tobacco, oak, earth, leather, almonds, walnuts, spice, chocolate, coffee, cream and pepper. The broadleaf wrapper adds mineral notes, slightly steely. I’m also tasting chalk, maybe clay. The wood, earth, leather and spice/mild pepper are dominant. The best way to sum up the flavors is dark and rich – a lot going on. There’s a Liga Privada vibe here. The aged tobacco combined with the broadleaf wrapper alone sends out some serious flavor notes. The complexity is impressive.

But wait…there’s more. The flavors transition into an added sweetness in the range of a combination of vanilla, cream and fruit cocktail in the background. All notes that balance well with the predominant flavors. There’s even a touch of mint on a few puffs.

The construction is terrific –nice cold draw, good volume of smoke and the ash held on for dear life until I rolled it off. The burn line was pretty even toast to nub.

I love Dunbarton’s Sobremesa Brulee and Sin Compromiso. Mi Querida Triqui Traca goes in a totally different direction with the same excellent results.