Year of the Duque comes from Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust the company owned by Steve Saka. While more companies opted to celebrate the Chinese zodiac, Year of the Snake, Saka decided to pay homage to a superfan.
Chris Duque is a Hawaii based cigar consumer that is arguably the biggest fan of Steve Saka and the cigars produced by DTT. Chris spends hours and hours of his days promoting the brand on social media, volunteering at the PCA Trade Show and attending events. The good deeds were recognized by Saka and as a result the first Year of the Cigar was born.
The inaugural cigar which is expected to be a part of an ongoing series is limited to 2,000 boxes of 14 and is said to be a mash-up of the Mi Querida Solita & Todos Las Dios blends in Chris’ favorite size 5 x 48.
Cigar Review: Year of the Duque
Size: 5 x 48
Wrapper: Ecuador Habano Rosado
Binder: San Andres Negro
Fillers: Nicaragua, U.S.A. (Pennsylvania)
Factory: Fabrica de Tabacos Joya de Nicaragua S.A.
Release Date: April 2025
Production: Limited (2,000 Boxes)
Box Size: 14
The Cigar: Featuring an orient centric band with colors of Red and Gold, with Chinese text that according to Google says Duke. The reddish hue Habano wrapper has some brindling to and a few oils while having a slightly coarse texture under the fingers. The cigar is rounded out with a pigtail fiddlehead cap.In the hand the cigar is firm, and of an avg weight.
The Taste: The cold draw of the Year of the Duque has a floral component with hints of grass and hay and a subtle tin like mineral from the San Andres. The foot of the cigar has warm earthy notes and a hint of cedar. Once the cigar is toasted and lit there is a touch of rye spice
Smoking the first third rye spice pulls back to reveal notes of earth, cedar, chocolate graham crackers. I wouldn’t call them big bold flavors but I would call it a cigar that has been blended with balance in mind. As the first third comes to a close notes of toast and a touch of caramel begin to emerge. The retrohale adds subtle pepper and cedar throughout the first third
The second this of this medium bodied cigar sees graham cracker with some big texas toast flavors around the halfway point. Additionally there is a subtle caramel, cedar and white pepper. As the second third comes to a close some of the rye spice of the initial light comes back on the finish and the retrohale which is remarkably smooth.
The final third of the Year of the Duque continues to serve up an outstanding experience.
Conclusion: Let’s face it, if Steve Saka channeled his inner Palm Civet ad digested tobacco seeds only to poop them out and use those seeds in a limited release his fanboys would be lined up to squeeze the Charmin. However if you walked into a cigar store and asked 50 customers who Steve Saka was the majority would not know which cigars he makes. My point is the social media crowd is a far different animal than the casual cigar smoker and making a 2,000 box limited release called Year of the Duque is a big risk.
Now that I got the curmudgeon in me out of the way let’s address the cigar in hand, or the ashes in my ashtray. This was simply outstanding and is one of the most balanced and smooth cigars I have experienced in my 27 years of cigar smoking. While I wouldn’t call it a flavor bomb since none of the perceived flavors jump out and grab you, it is a cigar that allows you to just light it up, smoke it and enjoy every single puff. My only knock, I wish it was longer as I want to light up yet another when I done.
Score: 96
Price: $17.35 (Before any local or state taxes)
At the time of writing this review, Year of the Duque was available at Small Batch Cigar and if you use coupon code BARRELBURNER you can save 10% off your order (restriction may apply).
