This past Thursday and Friday, Burns Tobacconist played host to Steve Saka of Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust with back-to-back events.
Thursday night Steve did a “Saka’s Brain on Display” event. He set up in the Room101 Lounge and a small group of about 20 people got nearly 3 hours of cigar and tobacco knowledge from the brain of a man who has spent more than 20 years working in different aspects of the cigar business.
Before creating such award-winning blends as Sobremesa and Mi Querida, Saka was the President and CEO of Drew Estate…and before that he was a VP with JR Cigars. While at Drew Estate, he worked hard to change people’s mindsets about the company from a purveyor of “flavored cigars” to one of the most well-respected and sought-after traditional cigar manufacturers in the world. He was the “godfather” of sorts to the Liga Privada projects whose effects are still felt ever time a cigar shop opens a new box of Dirty Rats or Flying Pigs.
Steve talked at length about how he selects the tobaccos he buys for his own blends, the origins of tobaccos, why smaller ring gauge cigars tend to smoke “stronger” than bigger ones, why he doesn’t care for the Lancero format, and a whole host of other topics. All the time, the entire room sat in rapt attention…surprisingly, almost no one touched a cell phone the entire time.
Friday night we got a traditional sales event…with a twist. In the Luck of the Draw, box purchasers get to reach in the magic bag and pull a ticket for one of the prizes on the table. The prizes include $1000, a bottle of Scotch, and an Amazon Gift Card…and some really lousy prizes like a “boob ball” and Hello Kitty Pez collection. Then there were the “challenge” prizes. By the end of the night no one had pulled the challenge tickets so he let previous box-buyers go for it…and only one man stepped up to the plate.
I’m posting two videos now of our own Greg Morris meeting and beating the challenges Steve Saka set forth. Thanks again to Steve for putting on such a great two-day event package…and thanks for making such great cigars!
