While we already knew what Steve Saka was going to release this year, see here, we weren’t expecting the tales and stories we captured during our time to get to interview him at this years’ Premium Cigar Association trade show.
Steve never holds anything back, and we love him for that. There aren’t many folks in the business, that we’ve run into, that will shoot you as straight and genuinely honest as he does it. He claims that it comes off as being, “grumpy,” but for us, we enjoy the real-ness to it. That’s what we hope to be to you all…maybe minus a couple cuss words, though! <snicker>
The big draw to this years DTT booth wasn’t the unicorn poop, it wasn’t the 3 foot tall golden, “smoking monkey,” as Steve put it during our interview. Heck, it wasn’t the $10,000 Rolex (He gave away 2!) that as enshrined at his booth but it was the two plexiglass covered unicorn boxes being debuted for purveyors at this years show. When I first heard rumor of more unicorns I thought that it was just that, rumors…but then Steve made a couple Facebook posts which revealed the truth, TWO more unicorns were coming to the line. Sobremesa Blue and Sakakhan were both going to be blended into to top-tier vitola that DTT has ever offered.
Seeing them on the trade-show floor was my personal unicorn. The mirror shine on the boxes that give off a decadence and regality to them that is deserved of such a title. The blinding trade-show lights created almost a Mecca beam, calling to all who smoke within the football field sized floor. A true diamond…but I couldn’t really say, “in the rough,” now could I?
Now to the interview: I promise it’s worth the full watch…yes, it’s our longest interview of the show. Yes, it’s one of my favorites. Yes, I had to edit out a handful of Saka-isms
Personal Accolades
While this was only our third interview of the show, Steve claimed that he had the, “Most comfortable furniture that anyone has here,” and while at the time we couldn’t prove it to be true, with now 4 days of trade-show under our belts, it is indeed true. Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust did indeed have the most comfortable furniture at the show. By a long shot. Multiple plush couches that greeted you like a warm hug and a carpet liner that I frequented often to give some respite to my feet after conquering hours of concrete floor of other booths, Steve Saka seems to have planned out his booth with the big man in mind. Thank you, Steve…
A second accolade goes to Steve and company for having what seemed, in my opinion, the busiest booth when it came to interviews/meetings with a head of a company. We had the chance to meet with almost three dozen companies during the show. Many of those booths were staffed with an army of reps and other company employees while the owner/president/figure head of the company was off alone or walking the trade-show. Not Steve. Every time we walked by or came to greet the wonderful Cindy and Yvonne, Steve was busy. In my eyes, that’s G.O.A.T. status. A man for the people. And while there may have been many others who were busy like Saka, I’m sure there were many, this is just a personal reflection on what I noticed as a cigar consumer and as a member of the media. (I now have credentials <snicker>) This is also a major shoutout for the crew that Steve deployed to tackle such orders! Shoutout all of the DTT members for making it happen!