Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Sobremesa Solita (Red) – Gran Corona (6.25 x 46)
The Particulars
| wdt_created_by | cigarkey | brand | cigarname | vitola | strength | wrapper | binder | filler | infused | sweettip | origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mcclossm | Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Sobremesa Solita (Red) - Gran Corona (6.25 x 46) | Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust | Sobremesa Solita (Red) | Gran Corona - 6.25" x 46 | Medium - Full | Ecuadorian Habano, Dark Rosado (La Meca Grade 1, Rolled Cigar Aged 1-Yr) | Mexico (San Andrés Negro) | Nicaragua (GK Condega C-SG Seco, Pueblo Nuevo Criollo Viso, La Joya Estelí C-98 Viso, ASP Estelí Hybrid Ligero) / Pennsylvania (Lancaster County Broadleaf Ligero) | No | No | Fabrica de Tabacos Joya de Nicaragua S.A., Nicaragua |
| COMPANY / BRAND: | Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust |
| CIGAR: | Sobremesa Solita (Red) |
| VITOLA: | Gran Corona - 6.25" x 46 |
| STRENGTH: | Medium - Full |
| WRAPPER: | Ecuadorian Habano, Dark Rosado (La Meca Grade 1, Rolled Cigar Aged 1-Yr) |
| BINDER: | Mexico (San Andrés Negro) |
| FILLER: | Nicaragua (GK Condega C-SG Seco, Pueblo Nuevo Criollo Viso, La Joya Estelí C-98 Viso, ASP Estelí Hybrid Ligero) / Pennsylvania (Lancaster County Broadleaf Ligero) |
| INFUSED: | No |
| SWEET TIP: | No |
| ORIGIN: | Fabrica de Tabacos Joya de Nicaragua S.A., Nicaragua |
Prolegomenon and Other Random Thoughts
There was a time I would’ve turned up my nose at a Gran Corona, but Lanceros and Lonsdales have changed my appreciation for thinner ring gauges. And you know with Dunbarton, Steve Saka will have a story for each blend.
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.
The Sobremesa Solita Red is a special limited production of our Solita liga that is crafted a touch stronger and then aged a full year.
| Journaling Date | Cigar | Appearance | Draw | Burn | Flavors | Overall Experience | Base Rating | Buy Again? | Final Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-11-24 | Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Sobremesa Solita (Red) - Gran Corona (6.25 x 46) | Good | Good | Good | Great | Excellent | 4.50 | Signs point to yes (recommended) | 8.83 |
The Review
This review for the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Sobremesa Solita (Red) - Gran Corona (6.25 x 46) is based on the journal entry dated 2025-11-24
Appearance & Construction (0-3): Good (3)
A dark, reddish-brown, this Ecuadorian wrapper has a heavy sheen from oil. It’s heavy enough that you feel a light residue on your fingertips after handling the cigar. So it’s no surprise there’s good mottling and a lot of small tooth on this cigar. There are a lot of thin veins, and while the seams are visible, they’re tight and with a clean triple cap that’s finished with a pigtail. The dual red and gold bands work beautifully with the natural colors of the leaf.
Draw (0-3) & Burn (0-4): Good (3) / Good (3)
The draw is on the looser side but good, and the burn starts cleanly. The ash is a light gray with evenly spaced striations. There are some oil crystals, but they’re nearly impossible to see. The burn is a little wavy, but crisp, fairly even, and nicely controlled. A little extra effort to self-correct and it’ll be dead nuts flat, but we never quite get there. It also ends up needing a relight in the final third. The smoke production on this cigar is heavy for the size of it.
Flavor Profile (0-5): Great (4)
Immediate pepper, coffee, and bits of earth, chocolate, and baking spice. There’s a mild dark fruity sweetness, but it’s not very strong. Right now, pepper, coffee, and charred wood are the heavy hitters. There’s a light nuttiness that’s coming in as it hits the one-inch mark, but it’s pretty straightforward with the starting profile. This is good, a hair harsh, but I’m waiting for the shoe to drop with more flavor. As we get to the end of the first third, a hint of citrus adds to the sweetness I’m getting.
With the second third, it’s still leading with coffee, pepper, baking spice, cedar, and baking cocoa. There’s a bit of harshness that’s killing the creaminess on the finish. It’s not a pepper bomb by any means, but that’s the most dominant note so far. That dark fruit sweetness is now gone and has been replaced with a caramel-like brown sugar that fits the rest of the profile better. Nuttiness is growing a bit, increasing the overall complexity. So at this point, it’s heavy on pepper, charred cedar, coffee, and brown sugar; medium earth, citrus, cashew, chocolate, and baking spice; with light amounts of leather, salt, and toasted bread. Complexity achieved! The only real downside is that ever-present bit of gritty harshness that’s rivaling the smoothness and creaminess of the blend.
With the final third, the brown sugar sweetness has hit its crescendo. There are really no changes to the blend or profile at this point, just ending on a high note. 🔥
Overall Experience (0-5): Excellent (5)
Steve Saka seems to be really adept at nailing the complexity of sweet and savory with a host of other flavors. This isn’t quite landing as the best blend for my palate, but it’s another exceptional blend that should resonate with people who like a bit more coffee, pepper, and grittiness in their cigars.
Review Base Rating (0-5):
4.50
Would I Buy It Again?
Signs point to yes (recommended)
Review Final Score (0-10):
8.83
Overall Score and Individual Journal Entries
While the review is based off one instance of journaling this cigar; there’s a number of reasons you can have different experiences smoking the same cigar multiple times. A blend can evolve with age (for better or worse), palates evolves, preferences change, and sometimes you just get a bad example! This section captures the ratings from each journal entry and the related journal photo. Below you’ll find an aggregate score based on every time the cigar has been journaled. Unless it was a gift or on-off smoke, this section will be updated every time I journal this cigar!
| Times Journaled | Base Rating | Buy Again? | Final Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4.50 | Signs point to yes (recommended) | 8.83 |
| Journaling Date | Cigar | Appearance | Draw | Burn | Flavors | Overall Experience | Base Rating | Buy Again? | Final Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-11-24 | Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Sobremesa Solita (Red) - Gran Corona (6.25 x 46) | Good | Good | Good | Great | Excellent | 4.50 | Signs point to yes (recommended) | 8.83 |
Journaling Photos
The Flavor Wheel
| Category | Strength |
|---|---|
| Baking Spice | 2.00 |
| Pepper | 3.00 |
| Coffee / Espresso | 3.00 |
| Anise / Licorice | 0.00 |
| Sweet | 3.00 |
| Chocolate | 2.00 |
| Bready / Toasty | 0.00 |
| Woody / Charred | 3.00 |
| Grass / Hay | 0.00 |
| Earth | 2.00 |
| Leather | 1.00 |
| Floral / Aromatic | 0.00 |
| Fruity | 2.00 |
| Nutty | 2.00 |
| Salty / Mineral | 1.00 |
| Creamy | 2.00 |
| Musty / Barnyard | 0.00 |
| Bitter | 1.00 |
| Smooth | 2.00 |
| Harsh | 2.00 |
With every cigar I journal, I capture simple ratings of the basic flavor categories that I experience. These are more generalized than what you would see in a review, but a distinct profile can still be built out. When multiple instances of the same cigar have been journaled, the scores are averaged out in an attempt to build a reliable flavor profile based on my palate.
The values entered for the strength of each flavor range from 0 to 3.
- 0: No flavor detected
- 1: Mild flavor
- 2: Medium flavor
- 3: Strong flavor
Note: desktop / large screens will see a flavor wheel while mobile / small screens will see a bar chart.
With every cigar I journal, I capture simple ratings of the basic flavor categories that I experience. These are more generalized than what you would see in a review, but a distinct profile can still be built out. When multiple instances of the same cigar have been journaled, the scores are averaged out in an attempt to build a reliable flavor profile based on my palate.
The values entered for the strength of each flavor range from 0 to 3.
- 0: No flavor detected
- 1: Mild flavor
- 2: Medium flavor
- 3: Strong flavor
Note: desktop / large screens will see a flavor wheel while mobile / small screens will see a bar chart.
| Category | Strength |
|---|---|
| Baking Spice | 2.00 |
| Pepper | 3.00 |
| Coffee / Espresso | 3.00 |
| Anise / Licorice | 0.00 |
| Sweet | 3.00 |
| Chocolate | 2.00 |
| Bready / Toasty | 0.00 |
| Woody / Charred | 3.00 |
| Grass / Hay | 0.00 |
| Earth | 2.00 |
| Leather | 1.00 |
| Floral / Aromatic | 0.00 |
| Fruity | 2.00 |
| Nutty | 2.00 |
| Salty / Mineral | 1.00 |
| Creamy | 2.00 |
| Musty / Barnyard | 0.00 |
| Bitter | 1.00 |
| Smooth | 2.00 |
| Harsh | 2.00 |
Questions on how the ratings work?
Check out the detailed explanation here.
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