Today, we review the Sobremesa Brûlée Wagashi from Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust. At the 2024 Premium Cigar Association (PCA) Trade Show, the Wagashi had its national launch. A few months earlier, the cigar had a soft launch through South Florida Retailer Smoke Inn in conjunction with Cigar Dojo. A year earlier, Smoke Inn’s Red Meat Lovers, an ongoing exclusive from Dunbarton Tobacco Trust, was taken national. That left a void for an exclusive with Smoke Inn, so Dunbarton owner Steve Saka opted to soft-launch Wagashi through Smoke Inn. The cigar was released as a “collaboration” through the online media community Cigar Dojo, but it was Saka who developed the blend that was used.

As many know, Brûlée is the name of a popular sweet and creamy dessert. Wagashi is named for a dessert delicacy of Japan that rose to cultural import during the Edo Period (1603-1857). Given the Japanese influence on the Cigar Dojo community and the dessert theme of Brûlée, this name also fits quite well.

Wagashi is a blend tweaked from the Sobremesa Brûlée Blue line. It is a trunk-pressed offering, which is the one big difference from the rest of the Sobremesa Brûlée offerings.

Let’s break down the Wagashi and see what this cigar brings to the table without further ado.

Sobremesa Brûlée Wagashi by Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust – Cigar Review

SPECIFICATIONS

Blend and Origin

In addition to a top-grade Connecticut Shade wrapper, Sobremesa Brûlée Wagashi has a San Andres Mexican binder and all-Nicaraguan fillers. As with all of Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust’s Sobremesa cigars, the Wagashi comes from the Joya de Nicaragua factory in Estelí, Nicaragua.

Wrapper: Ecuador Connecticut Shade G2BW
Binder: San Andres Negro
Filler: Nicaraguan (Select Grades Only)
Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Factory: Fábrica de Tabacos Joya de Nicaragua, S.A

Vitolas Offered

Wagashi is available in one size – a 6 x 50 box-pressed vitola. The cigars come in 13-count boxes.

Appearance (*)

The Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper of the Wagashi is definitely pristine. It has a golden brown shade. The wrapper also had a very light sheen of oil on it. There were some visible veins. Any visible wrapper seams were not very noticeable on the samples I smoked. The cap is finished with a pigtail bun. As mentioned, the Wagashi is trunk-pressed. This is a more rectangular press. In the case of Wagashi, the press is also a soft press, meaning it has a slight amount of rounding.

PERFORMANCE

Pre-Light Draw

Instead of pulling the pigtail off the Wagashi, a straight cut was used to simultaneously remove the cap and pigtail. Once the cap was removed, it was time to commence the pre-light draw. The cold draw delivered notes of very sweet buttercream and cedar. Overall, this was a satisfactory pre-light draw experience. At this point, it was time to remove the footer band of the Wagashi, toast up the cigar, and proceed into the smoking phase.

Tasting Notes

The Wagashi opened with more notes of sweet buttercream, cedar, and some black pepper and earth. Some natural tobacco notes emerged as the cigar burned through the early stages. There was no dominant note until natural tobacco took that spot during the early phases. The cedar, black pepper, and earth notes settled in the background. Meanwhile, the sweet buttercream notes floated between the forefront and background. On the retro-hale, there was a combination of pepper and cedar.

The second third of the Wagashi opened with natural tobacco notes in the forefront. Gradually, the earth notes entered the forefront and, before the midway point, took over as the primary note. The natural tobacco and sweet buttercream diminished. More of the sweetness moved from the cream note and became associated with the natural tobacco note. Meanwhile, there were still cedar and pepper notes, which increased in intensity.

The final third featured primary earth notes, with pepper, cedar, and natural tobacco complementing each other. Meanwhile, the buttercream notes diminished. This is how the Wagashi came to a close. The resulting nub was soft to the touch and cool in temperature.

Burn

The Wagashi performed quite well when it came to burn. This cigar maintained a straight burn path and straight burn line – requiring minimal touch-ups along the way. The resulting ash was skewed toward the firmer side. This was light gray ash. As for the burn rate and burn temperature, they were optimal.

Draw

The Wagashi draw was more open. I would have assessed it as loose if it had been a notch lower in terms of openness. Ultimately, this draw was more open than I preferred, but it had no other adverse effects.

Strength and Body

When Brûlée Blue was released, it was noticeably bolder in terms of strength and body compared to the original Sobremesa Brûlée line. In fact, I assessed Brûlée Blue as a medium-strength and medium-bodied cigar. Since Wagashi was derived from Brûlée Blue, I expected a similar profile. That was not the case. This cigar started with mild strength and mild to medium-bodied flavors. By the final third, the strength moved into mild to medium territory, and the flavors crossed the threshold into medium.

BANDING AND PACKAGING NOTES (*)

Packaging of the Sobremesa Brûlée Wagashi

The Wagashi boxes are very similar to the rest of the Sobremesa line. The bands are also similar, but they use a lime green color instead of brown (on core Sobremesa/Sobremesa Brûlée) and blue (on Sobremes Brûlée Blue). The lime green works well with the golden brown band. However, I still think the brown and blue look better against this wrapper.

Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust has also decided to keep the secondary Cigar Dojo band. Usually, the Dojo name is added to a band in a Cigar Dojo collaboration. In this case, the same band will remain for the Wagashi’s regular production.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Final Thoughts

The flavors of the Wagashi performed well in the first half, but the final third saw the flavors become muddled. To quote my friend Stogie Santa, “The cigar couldn’t make up its mind what to do.” In the end, the first two-thirds were still satisfying. The milder strength and body also worked to this cigar’s advantage. The problem is this: I did not find this to be a better offering than the core Sobremesa Brûlée or Sobremesa Brûlée Blue lines. In the end, if you compare the three – something has to rank third, and the Wagashi takes that spot. Ultimately, it’s a nice cigar by Saka, but I recommend trying one first if you can.

Summary

Key Flavors: Buttercream, Natural Tobacco, Earth, Cedar, Pepper
Burn: Excellent
Draw: Very Good
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Mild (1st 2/3), Mild to Medium (Remainder)
Body: Mild to Medium (1st 2/3), Medium (Remainder)
Finish: Very Good