Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust

01/03/2025

Totally unexpected... and before you call BS on me, please let me explain why.

Retailers, bloggers, magazines... basically anyone that creates Top Lists almost universally "spreads the love" - they almost never include multiple ci**rs from the same Company in their Top Lists and particularly at the tip top of their lists.

I get it, in the end no one can divorce the business or relationship implications of publishing such lists. I know some of you will feign the "holier than thou" purist perspective, but let's not kid ourselves: reality is reality.

There are a few exceptions, but I have been doing this for over 3 decades and I know just how rare it truly is.

So I was completely stunned to see that not only did our Umbagog Bronzeback receive the #1 Spot on the JR Ci**rs Top 25, but that our Sin Compromiso No. 4 was also awarded the #4 Spot... and call me jaded, but this is on a site whose parent company is one of the largest manufacturer of their own GREAT brands of handmade ci**rs in the entire world!

I wouldn't be surprised if their Editorial Board gets a little heat from their bosses, so I can't express how truly honored and grateful we are to have been bestowed this amazing honor because I know naming a small, family company's twice in their Top 5 likely comes with some repercussions.

Thank You, thank you, thank you!

Link in the 1st Comment

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01/02/2025

Thank you to all who nominated our Umbagog Bronzeback in the halfwheel Readers' Choice Award.

This morning I learned that the UMBB made the cut and is now in the amongst the Final Five to be voted upon - this is our second year to make the final cut thanks to our patrons.

I now sincerely ask for your consideration to please vote for our Umbagog Bronzeback as the Readers' Choice favorite of 2024.

Much Thanks!

[link in first comment]

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12/23/2024

We are honored for our Umbagog Bronzeback to have been named the #1 Cigar of the Year by The Barrel Burner.

Not too shabby for a sub-$10 cigar...

Link in the 1st Comment.

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Price never factors into our reviews but it does factor into our purchasing. Coming in at under $10, Umbagog Bronzeback is hands down our 2024 Cigar of the Year

12/13/2024

Well at least we got one… let the Annual Reindeer Games begin!

Thank you to Ci**rslover Magazine - truly honored!

🙏🙏🙏

12/13/2024

The office got into the Christmas spirit and this year we all got little trees to decorate. But we need YOU to vote on your favorite. The one with most likes/comments Wins! Votes will be tallied on Monday morning!

12/11/2024

We here at DTT would like to ask for your consideration of nominating our Umbagog Bronzeback in the Halfwheel Readers’ Choice Awards - thank you.

Link in 1st comment.

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12/03/2024

My head is on fire! 🔥

(No hair, so this was the best I could come up with… my brain is FRIED!)

To say I have been in the grind does not even begin to describe where I am at… I am beat to 🦆…

And foolishly I agreed to this:

Tonight, Monday Dec 2nd @ 9:30pm ET I will be making an appearance on How Bout That Cigar LIVE.

Why oh why oh why?

Glutton for punishment?

Fool of the Year?

Wh@re?

Ugh, I agreed, so my totally burnt out, fat a$$ will show, but I am giving all my detractors a head’s up: If you wanna watch me crash and burn in realtime, here just may be your moment of joy.

I will share the link when we go LIVE.

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11/07/2024

It is that time again for THE "Boilerplate Post"...

Anyone that has followed me for any reasonable amount of time can totally SKIP READING any of the below - it is just the same ol' stuff, but I have learned that about twice a year I need to post it for the benefit of new DTT customers and followers.

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- I am near my friend limit, so while I wish I could add you as a friend it is highly unlikely I will. If you are interested in seeing what I write, it is best to use the "follow option". I rarely even look at my friend requests.

- I am not your best option for Customer Service - even when you tag me, I do not always see it - I don't know why, talk to FB. The best way to always get CS is to use our website's "Contact Us" page. Unlike too many companies these days, we actually do read everything and respond as needed as there is a dedicated person who handles it M-F. And if it is something that needs my personal attention, Ana will loop me in.

- I receive hundreds of notifications, tags, DMs and emails daily - it is simply not possible for me to read them all much less respond. I think I do better than most replying, but there is no way I can reply to even 10% of the direct reach outs. Plus I do not even get them all, I have no clue how these Social Media platforms decide what to and what not to feed me.

- I am ok with critical comments, in fact they are sometimes my favorites because they afford me the opportunity to reply not for just the original poster, but the benefit of all. However if you start to get personally disrespectful or just troll, I will just block you immediately - I expect people to treat me the way I treat them. I am not here to play anyone's keyboard games.

- If I annoy or anger you, just change the channel, unfollow or block me - I don't want to be the source of any dissatisfaction in your life.

- Do not ask me to contact a particular store to carry our ci**rs. It is not how we operate, we very, very rarely directly solicit accounts to carry our product. If they wish to carry our brands, they can contact us and express an interest. Unlike most companies I do not worry about if we are on "so and so" shelves, I really care about being on the shelves of Purveyors who genuinely wish to carry our product, not ones we convinced that they "had to carry it". We love our Purveyors, but it has to work for them to make sense - and I have zero animosity for those that choose to not carry it - it is their business to operate however they believe is best for their customers and themselves.

- So the best thing you can do is ask your favorite Retailer to consider adding our brand to their humidor and more times than not if they hear this often enough they will. Almost all Retailers want to serve the wants and needs of their customers. If you preferred Retailer doesn't want to carry our product for whatever reason, you always have the option of buying online or via phone.

- I rarely know even what our existing accounts have ordered - I am not on the Account side of our biz. Nor do I have the time to inquire and then reply - it is always best to ask you Retailer if they ordered something specific.

- Also, other than ci**rs that are batch produced like the *Y Lancero collection, Store Exclusives or Unicorns, we are constantly making and shipping everything. I try my best to balance production to demand; I am not perfect, but it is really rare we are out of something for more than 45 days. We are always filling backorders, so if your local store tells you they have had Mi Querida Black, Sobremesa Blue, Umbagog, whatever on backorder for months, that are likely mistaken. We fulfill backorders in the order in which we received them.

- The SakaSquatch FB Group is owned and admin'd by consumers, while myself and others at DTT will post in it, we have zero control or input - we are just members like anyone else. DTT does not have a FB Group currently as I do -not- want to be in the "moderator" business unless circumstances force me to open a group. IMO, the consumer operated FB group is very well operated. This is a good resource if you are looking for DTT info from others as many of our most experienced consumers and a few of our best Purveyors are active members in the group.

- We are not rated in CA or included in their coverage because of a mutual agreement between myself and their staff. The owner and myself have had an odd personal relationship that has not improved since the 90's. IMO, neither of us are without some blame, but he may not agree. Regardless, will it always be this way? I don't know, but I do know this is a question I get asked every year about why we are never included in the Top 25 even though we are often at the very top of many lists annually - In short, we are not eligible for inclusion because they do not review our products.

- We do not sell anything direct - not puros or swag. DTT is strictly a BTB company that serves our wholesale accounts. As for swag, everything we make is intended to be a "gift with purchase" with currently only 2 exceptions: the DTT Stone Ashtrays and the DTT Cutter, but again these can only be secured from one of our Purveyors.

- Please, please, please stop sending me gifts. I appreciate the thought, but honestly your generosity has become overwhelming. It has gotten to the point that I can not even acknowledge everything - in fact I right now have 4 packages I haven't even opened. So it leaves me feeling guilty that I am not writing the appropriate "thank you"s - I know many people reading this will not appreciate this, but I am hit with dozens of things daily that require my focus and another 100+ that all want my focus. The thing that is truly the best gift is when you share a photo and talk about one of our ci**rs you enjoy on Social Media - that helps to bring awareness to our small family company.

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If you have any additional questions, please feel free to add them to the comments - thank you!

ps: We will begin shipping StillWell Star Holiday 2024 with their Ornaments next week.

pps: We will be taking pre-orders for the NEW Sobremesa Solita Red next week also.

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11/01/2024

Announcing the... "Year of the Duque"

Yes, you read that right.

A few years ago I began to really notice how many celebratory ci**rs are being crafted to mark the Chinese New Year.

I even had a few of our Purveyors request we do the same.

Now let me very loudly say this is -not- me being critical of the Companies that choose to do so or the beloved Chinese New Year, but for me personally it didn't feel "right" to me.

We don't have a big market in Hong Kong and I personally don't celebrate CNY, but I always loved the concept and look - that bold red and gold color scheme, plus the elaborate Asian influenced brand design - it is very sharp. And Lord knows, any excuse to celebrate with a cigar is right up my alley.

I started thinking about what could DTT do that would be a better fit...

So I came up with this idea of doing an annual liga that celebrates and honors what is very dear to my heart: Our Supporters, our Patrons and most importantly, our Friends.

And what better friend could I choose to honor first than my brother, Chris Duque?

He has volunteered his time working beside us at events, trade shows, and tirelessly interacts with folks sharing info about our small family company. So much so, many people think he is on the payroll, but he isn't. He just does it because he choose to do it of his own free will.

Plus he genuinely represents the very best amongst us in the cigar community - he is a selfless, generous and genuine friend to all who are blessed to know him.

So it is my great honor to make the first DTT "Year of", the YEAR OF THE DUQUE!

For those curious:

公爵年 translates to "Year of the Duke" - if there is no spelling for your name in Chinese, they will often use the base origin of your name instead. "Duque" originate from the latin Dux to later become Duque in French, Spanish and Portuguese making the base word Duke - pronounced in Chinese as "gōngjué nián".

我的兄弟 translates to "My Brother" - simply because he is - pronounced in Chinese as "wǒ de xiōngdì".

I have triple verified these translations and spellings with multiple native Chinese speakers, so I hope I have gotten it correctly.

As for the cigar itself, like all of my other ligas, no one, including even Chris was involved in the creation process, in fact no one but myself (and possibly Ana GoVal Saka) has actually tasted it.

However, when blending the liga and deciding on the vitola I very purposely kept what Chris likes in mind. This is a robust liga that will be presented in a 5 x 48 parejo format - it delivers a nice hearty pop of flavor and I believe it will age out beautifully over time. I truly hope he loves it.

I asked his permission to do this project well over a year ago understanding what my intent was and he graciously granted me permission to do so. He asked for nor was promised any compensation, but he will be receiving a worthy gift - what he chooses to do with it is up to him.

More details to follow soon - thank you.

ps: My plan is to choose a different person each year to honor.

pps: We will be notifying our Purveyors later this month with preorder information if they wish to secure this Extremely Limited Edition for their customers.

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10/30/2024

So I was checking out my YT Feed for those Chinese Fashion Girl reels and I stumbled upon this.

Damn, this has some crazy good production value!

Thank you to Oak Glen To***conist

Link in the 1st Comment

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10/29/2024

Sobremesa Brûlée Cigar Review courtesy of Ci**rs Daily.

Link in 1st Comment.

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10/29/2024

FDA Regulation of the Premium Cigar Industry Primer

The 111th Congress controlled by Democratic majorities in both the House and Senate coupled with a Democrat Presidency gave us H.R.1256 - Family Smoking Prevention and To***co Control Act on June 22, 2009.

The FDA then used this law in the Spring of 2016 again under a Democratic administration to publish the Deeming Regulation to regulate premium handmade ci**rs.

Resulting in FDA User Fees, substantial regulatory costs and a monumental legal battle costing the industry and in turn consumers well in excess of a hundred million dollars in additional regulatory costs, fees and legal expenses.

Leading to a 7 year Federal lawsuit before Judge Amit P. Mehta, who was appointed by a Democratic administration, of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the legality of the regulations. On August 9th, 2023, Judge Mehta ruled in the premium cigar industry’s favor by vacating the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s (FDA) deeming regulations for premium ci**rs.

But this did not end the legal battle or the collection of FDA User Fees, as the Justice Department in January of this year filed an Appeal with the goal of overturning Judge Mehta's decision.

This outcome of this appeal is currently pending before the DC Court of Appeals.

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I want to personally thank halfwheel for their exhaustive and informative reporting of this over the years.

Charlie Minato has done an EXCEPTIONAL of job of cataloging the many twists and the complexities of this FDA situation tirelessly for 8 years.

Anyone interested in more details, I strongly encourage you to go to halfwheel and simply type "FDA" in their search bar.

Fwiw, although there are many reasons why DTT is a proud supporter of HW, but it is their dedication to documenting and accurately reporting on the the FDA that is my absolute #1 reason for doing so.

No other media publication has even come remotely close to their comprehensive coverage of this very important topic.

Bravo Zulu to HW!

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10/25/2024

Very interesting discussion on this past week's KMA Talk Radio.

At hour:minute marker 1:18 regarding the Premium Cigar Association membership additions.

The part of particular interest for me is the conversation regarding the PCA possibly adding a "Consumer Day" at the Annual Trade Show.

You can read my opinion in the YT comments.

LOVED THE BRAWL!!!

Abe Dababneh Alex Tavella Protocol Ci**rs Juan Cancel William Cooper

Link in 1st Comment

10/24/2024

The stuff I do... I am such a ma*****st.

ps: Interesting book - will talk more about it next week.

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10/24/2024

Muestra de Saka Krakatoa just received the highest published Review Score in the current issue of Ci**rslover Magazine.

One other cigar received a "93" and that was Drew Estate Ci**rs : The Rebirth of Ci**rs Liga Privada No. 9 Robusto - congrats to them.

This is a digital magazine publication that is FREE to all - I have included a link to it in the 1st Comment.

Give them a click and a peek.

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10/10/2024

Oh I almost forgot to mention...

We are about to release the 2024 batch of the our limited production Halligan liga to our friends at To***cology - I am so wildly behind and on this crazy event road trip that I really don't know any of the details.

I know we made the ci**rs about 8 months ago, I know they tasted great then, I know they tasted even better when I green-lit them a couple of months ago to be boxed and imported... I know they still taste like the all-natural cigar equivalent of chocolate on my palate. I know they s out very quickly last year.

Oh and I think David Lafferty said something to me about him going to do some sort of Low Country Boil Event with Brett J in his store like the week after we return from the left coast - I suspect that may be when they are dropping them.

Well at this point I have done my part, I made 'em, they don't suck, and I told folks they are coming soon.

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