Sobremesa Short Churchill (4 3/4 x 48)

Video review HERE.

(Description taken from Cigar-Coop.com website)

Just prior to the 2016 IPCPR Trade Show, Steve Saka‘s Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust announced two line extensions to its Sobremesa line. The two new sizes introduced were the 7 x 50 Elegante en Cedro (Double Corona) and the 4 3/4 x 48 Short Churchill. While these cigars keep to the core tobacco components used in the rest of the Sobremesa line, the blends for these sizes were tweaked to be bolder. Saka has referred to these tweaks as “poco más intensa” – meaning “a little more intense”. With the Sobremesa Short Churchill, this has become a “go to” cigar for Saka himself. Saka had been known to smoke the Liga Privada Unico Serie Dirty Rat on a daily basis, but also gone through quite a bit of his remaining personal stock of that cigar. As a result, the Sobremesa Short Churchill has taken on the role of Saka’s daily smoke. Recently I’ve had an opportunity to smoke the Sobremesa. Overall Sobremesa has been a fantastic debut, and with the new Short Churchill offering, this one adds another outstanding offering to the line.

In the press release, additional background on the name of the first cigar Sobremesa was given:

Sobremesa, “over the table”, has no precise English translation, perhaps because there is no cultural equivalent in the US. It is an idiom used among the Latin culture to describe the leisurely time spent tableside after you have finished dining, but before you rise. It is the experience of lingering casually with family and friends in conversation, relaxing, drinking, smoking, and enjoying each other’s company. Sobremesa is one of life’s simplest, yet greatest pleasures.

Recently on his Facebook page, Saka explained what Poco Más Intensa means:

“poco más intensa” – my way of describing the new Sobremesa Elegante en Cedros and Short Churchill ligas – they are still the core blend, but tweaked to be a bit stronger. I did this for my own smoking pleasure to satisfy my cravings for a cigar with a more pronounced pepper note within this marca.”

Blend Profile

Sobremesa is a multi-national blend with tobaccos from four countries – Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, and U.S. (Pennsylvania). As we noted, the blends for the Poco Más Intensa (Short Churchill and Elegante En Cedro) are tweaked from the other sizes to produce a bolder cigar.

The cigar is produced at the Joya de Nicaragua factory. During the process of coming up with Sobremesa line, Saka has been hands-on involved with the process – including the procuring of tobaccos and development of the blend.

Wrapper: La Meca Ecuador Habano Grade 1 Dark Rosado

Binder: Matacapan Negro de Temporal

Filler: Nicaraguan GK Condega C-SG Seco, Nicaraguan Pueblo Nuevo Criollo Viso, Nicaraguan La Joya Esteli, C-98 Viso Nicaraguan ASP Esteli Hybrid Ligero; USA Lancaster County Broadleaf Ligero

Country of Origin: Nicaragua (Joya de Nicaragua SA)

Vitolas Available:

The following are the two Poco Más Intensa offerings in the Sobremesa line:

Elegante en Cedros: 7 x 50

Short Churchill: 4 3/4 x 48 REVIEWED TODAY

The Elegante en Cedros is packaged in 13 count boxes, while the Short Churchill is packaged in 14 count boxes.

The following vitolas are the first six vitolas that were first released in 2015. These offerings are available in 25 count boxes:

Corona Grande: 5 1/4 x 44

Cervantes Fino: 6 1/4 x 46

Robusto Largo: 5 1/4 x 52

El Americano: 6 x 52

Torpedo Tiempo: 6 x 54

Gran Imperials: 7 x 54

The cigar looks very nice. The gold crown band looks very regal. Here is a shot of the foot.

The test draw after cutting the cap was good. The initial flavors were boysenberry, heavy sweet cream, brown sugar, and a ton of black pepper. I rate it at a 9. Yes, really. It may tone down but for now, at light up, it's fantastic. The boysenberry notes are almost in the direction of a black licorice.

About one inch in there are now buttery cream notes with brown sugar. The boysenberry notes did not last. The cigar is medium to full bodied. The finish is a sweet cream with a nice amount of lingering black pepper. 

Very close to the midpoint the buttery cream is so sweet it's coming across as a white chocolate. There are flashes of cinnamon with the brown sugar. The pepper has toned down to an 8. Retro haling really brings it out! the finish is unchanged; a sweet, thick cream. The cigar is medium to full bodied but it's moving up.

With only about an inch I noticed the cinnamon notes are gone. The white chocolate is secondary to the heavy buttery brown sugar. The pepper remains very good on both ends. The cigar is now full bodied. 

The heavy brown sugar with buttery notes continued to the end. I seem to get hints of caramel but they were faint. The pepper was one of the stars of this cigar. The finish was unchanged. The cigar was full bodied from about the 3/4 point onward. This was a very good cigar with plenty of sweetness and black pepper with some nice power. Very good cigar.

Score: 93