Tag Archives: Gurkha

by | August 6, 2014 · 10:04 pm

Working Through the Gurkha Crest Metal Sampler Cigars and a Buena Vista Piramide

Buena Vista_PiramideBefore I get into the Gurkha tin, Sunday evening I felt compelled to smoke the Piramide from the Buena Vista Reserva 2008 sampler I recently received. At the risk of repeating myself, the presentation of this sampler was pretty outstanding, and I was quite impressed with the Prominente, or double corona, size I smoked.  The Piramide size was just as impressive. I really enjoyed the clean, refreshing and almost minty sensation I got while smoking this cigar.  I’m told that these should be shipping to shops soon, but I’ve seen these online for under $25, and even more reasonable in boxes of ten.  I’d like to keep these around because I really enjoy them from time to time and they are a nice cigar to share.  I remain impressed, especially over the Buena Vistas I sampled three years ago.  This is a really nice smoke, and I now have a really nice three cigar travel humidor too!

 

Gurkha_Crest Metal Gurkha_Crest Metal SamplerMonday I was digging through one of the coolerdors and came across a Gurkha Crest Metal Sampler that my wife had gotten me through a Groupon or Living Social deal, I seem to remember it being around $50, which puts the cigars at $10 each. I must have had this for two or three years, I see that Famous has this same or similar sampler on their website.  I decided now was as good a time as any to dig in, and I may as well smoke all five cigars in succession over the course of this week. Maybe I should have waited and put them all in one post, Gurkha_Shaggy_Torobut I don’t have that kind of patience.  I started with the Gurkha Shaggy toro. I felt like these were all 6″ x 50, but the description at Famous says they are 6″ x 53, who am I to argue (and I was too lazy to measure them!).  The Shaggy is characterize by about ¾” of the foot of the cigar left without wrapper and binder.  It smoked really well and was enjoyable, with lots of smoke. I didn’t really sense a huge change when the wrapper started burning, but it was smooth and rich.  I don’t even know if these are still produced, but I know they’ve been around a while, and this is the first one I’ve smoked.  I’ll admit that I was attracted to the copper colored band, not sure why that appealed to me so much. Nice cigar.

 

Gurkha_Beast_ToroTuesday I chose the Gurkha Beast, which was a dark chocolate brown wrapped cigar. This is the counterpoint to the Gurkha Beauty, with a Connecticut shade wrapped cigar which I’ll get to later in the week.  Since I love maduros, I was excited about this one.  The flavor was nice, it was chocolaty and smooth, with a hint of spice.  About half way through there must have been a void in the filler because it got a bit stingy with the smoke, much unlike the Shaggy which almost smoked itself.  then the wrapper started to split and at about the two-thirds mark the wrapper started coming off. At that point it started smoking better, and the flavor was fine, but I was a little miffed that a $10 cigar would behave this way.  All in all, a less than satisfying experience.

 

Gurkha_Titan_ToroTonight I went with the last maduro in the collection, the Gurkha Titan.  This has a similar Costa Rican maduro wrapper to the Beast, and, honestly, I didn’t really taste a lot of difference, except that the Titan didn’t explode on me.  Perhaps it was a bit smoother, it didn’t seem to have the spice that the Beast had.  It burned very well, and had a smooth chocolaty flavor.  Of the first three I smoked, I think the Shaggy was my favorite, but none of them were really up to the price point, and while the tin case is nice, and potentially usable as a five finger carry case, I don’t count packaging into the price. They were all good cigars for a couple bucks each, and I apologize to my friends at Gurkha for saying that. Despite the reputation they’ve had in the past for making tons of cigars for the catalogs with a lot of hype, lately they’ve really been making some great smokes, the Cellar Reserves, the Seduction, the 125th anniversary are all very high quality smokes, and their lower priced East India trading Company lines are also pretty enjoyable.

 

I’ll finish out the week with the Crest and the Beauty, then see what I can scrounge up for the weekend. I’ll be in Chicago next weekend, so if anyone is available to meet for a smoke, please let me know. Also, Friday is the last day to comment on the FDA deeming document, so get to it!  Go HERE to link to the regulations.gov site to let them know you don’t want premium cigars regulated out of existence!  Also, go to Gran Habano’s website and help them fight the US Trademark Office, who have decided that using “Habano” in the name (which they’ve had for how many years?) is confusing to the public.  Another case of a government office sticking their noses in where it doesn’t belong.  Morons.

 

That’s it for now, until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

Share

2 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as , , , ,

by | July 23, 2014 · 8:43 pm

Some New Cigars: Gurkha, Nomad and Spectral from Flor de Gonzalez

In the IPCPR show spirit, I smoked some more newbies this week!  I’ve been seeing a few cigars from the show that I’m looking forward to getting my hands on, but from what I’ve seen on other media outlets, it’s a lot of the same. I’m amused when I see comment on the IPCPR show and their policies by either new sites (they are supposed to see if you’ve had your site up for more than a month or two) or bloggers who have never been there, or have no knowledge apart from what they’ve read elsewhere.  I’ve seen my fair share of consumers at the show on social media, something which was strictly prohibited, I have also heard several stories of thefts from booths at the show, All I can say is I know who can’t be blamed this time! I’ve also seen some great coverage from the likes of The Cigar Authority, Cigar-Coop, Halfwheel and Cigar Federation. Glad to see some of my media brethren doing it right! I’ll see if I go next year, it’s fun but it’s a ton of work! On with the cigars!

 

Sunday I smoked a Gurkha 125th Anniversary in what they call the XO, which is 6” x 60, a nice sized cigar for a Sunday evening walk. This cigar features a Cubra Habano wrapper, accompanied by an Ecuadorian Habano binder and a complex combination of Nicaraguan, Brazilian and Dominican fillers. Bianca gave me this cigar at Cigarnival last month. I’ve smoked a few of the newer cigars in the Gurkha range, and really enjoyed most of them, particularly the Seduction, Ghost and Cellar Reserve Maduro.  This was a tasty treat!  It burned really well, had a perfect draw, and basically didn’t give me any trouble!  Not sure where these are priced, or how available they are, but it’s a worthy smoke from the folks at Gurkha.

 

Nomad_C-276_RobustoMonday I went with the new C-276 robusto from Nomad Cigars.  Fred was kind enough to send me a couple of these, knowing I wouldn’t be at the trade show.  This new release has a Ecuador Habano Oscuro wrapper which is dark and oily and Nicaraguan binder and fillers and is box pressed. Fred blended this cigar, as he’s been known to do lately, and it’s made in the AJ Fernandez factory. I’m impressed with the fact that Fred admits that he didn’t blend his original Dominican line, the factory gave him several blends to choose from. I think he’s getting the hang of it, as his last three, now four releases have been quite tasty! This C-276 is a powerhouse. Passing the smoke through the nose is a little painful, there’s loads of ligero in this cigar, and you can taste the distinct Ometepe influence. This is a great smoke, too bad it was only a robusto as it was finished too soon!

 

FdG_Spectral_ToroTuesday evening my hand gravitated to a cigar the Yadi Gonzalez from Flor de Gonzolez handed me at Cigarnival.  This is a cedar wrapped tor called Spectral, and has a dark, mottled wrapper. I seem to recall Yadi mentioning that it was five-plus years old, and made with tobaccos aged five years, and there might be plume under the cedar sleeve. I didn’t notice any, but this had a dark wrapper, and a really neat cold draw flavor which I tend to associate with tobacco from Peru. It was a Toro size, 6″ x 52 and was very nicely constructed. This was a solid medium cigar, with nice, rich, dark flavors and a perfect burn. This is another cigar I enjoyed thoroughly, right up to the point where I burned my fingers. This is another terrific cigar from Flor de Gonzalez, they are building quite a nice portfolio.

 

News

 

Cigar Journal Magazine had their annual awards event in Las Vegas this week, and here are the winners:

I went to the awards back in 2011 and it was a good time. I was just telling Glynn Loope a few weeks ago about how he stood in front of me while I was trying to video the whole thing and wouldn’t stand still!  It’s OK, the quality wasn’t very good anyway so I never used the video. As long as I brought  up Glynn, support Cigar Rights of America if you don’t already. We are in the home stretch with the comment period on this FDA nonsense and need every comment. Make sure you tell them what you think so that one day you don’t have any cigars to enjoy!

 

On another note, I will be finding myself in Chicago around August 15th to 17th, so if any of you Chigagoans want to get together for a smoke or two, I’ll be looking for places to visit. I’m sure there are several places I need to see.

 

That’s all I got, until the next time,
CigarCraig

Share

8 Comments

Filed under News, Review

Tagged as , , , , , ,

by | April 16, 2014 · 10:06 pm

Three Toros: Gurkha, Nica Rustica and Tortuga Cigars

The weather here in PA is all over the place!  Sunday it was darned near 80, and today it snowed in some places and the temps didn’t get too far out of the 40s.  This didn’t stop me from smoking what used to be considered larger cigars. The Toro has been among my favorite sizes since I started smoking cigars in the 90s. Six inches by 50, 52 or 56 is in the ballpark, not as fat as the 60 ring gauge cigars, nor as long as a Churchill or double corona.  They are usually good for an hour to an hour and a half. I like Robustos too, but the Toro is a great size.

 

Gurkha_GhostThe first toro I smoked this week was a Gurkha Ghost Asura, at 6″ x 54. I bought a couple of these at a shop in New Jersey, and they’ve taken some time to grow on me, the first few I smoked I didn’t quite get.  I figured I should like this cigar, it has a maduro Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper (interestingly mispelled on the Gurkha website), and I usually like that wrapper. Eventually, I’ve come to enjoy this cigar, it’s on the rustic side, appearance wise, and it’s got a nice, fairly heavy flavor of dark roast coffee that I like. This one burned well with a dark grey ash that hung on pretty well.  Lots of people think Gurkha cigars are all hype, but they have a bunch of cigars that are really very good.

 

Nica Rustica_El BrujitoLast night I grabbed a Drew Estate Nica Rustica El Brujito for my evening walk.  This 6″ x 52 toro has a closed foot so you get a nice blast of flavor from the Connecticut Broadleaf maduro wrapper. the fist time I tried this it was a pre-release sample from the factory, and it had a half a leaf of a “wild” Esteli tobacco that added a real special little zing to the blend. I suppose the availability of this tobacco wasn’t  in keeping with the idea to make an affordable and sustainable blend, so it was replaced with something more available. The cigar is still a winner, it’s got some strength and good, hearty flavor.  The reason I grabbed this was that I was thinking about the recent earthquakes in Nicaragua. I happened to see a comment on a cigar makers post asking for positive thoughts and prayers for the Nicaraguan people and someone responded with something along the lines of “keep the cigars safe”, which I thought was about the most selfish comment.  Really? Losing a few cigars is more important that people dying?  We all love cigars, but are they more important than lives?  I don’t think so.  I haven’t heard anything more about the earthquakes,  except they were preparing for “the big one”, like the one in 1972 that pretty much leveled Managua. Let’s hope that the seismic activity settles down in that part of the world, they have it bad enough. Anyway, the El Brujito  is one of my favorite new cigars in the last year. For around $6, if you like stronger cigars these are worth a try.

 A sign from the elevators in the Crown Plaza Hotel in Managua

A sign from the elevators in the Crown Plaza Hotel in Managua

 

Tonight I dug deep into one of the coolers and selected a Tortuga 215 Edición Limitada 2011 Toro. This is a 6″ x 50 traditional toro that’s made in the Dominican Republic with Dominican and Nicaraguan tobaccos. This is from a ten count box that was a generous gift from Victor Vitale a few years ago. These are aging very nicely. It’s a cigar with a lot of balance and class.  Where the Ghost and the Nica Rustica are pretty brash, in your face kind of cigars, this one is loaded with flavors that are delicate and refined. It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Victor Vitale‘s cigars, and I only have a few of these left, which I’ll savor slowly because I don’t think there’s many of these left in the market.  I know I have one enormous double corona that was a gift from a great friend in New York State that will be a great pool cigar this summer!  Keep up the great work Victor!

 

That’s all for now, until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

Share

5 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

by | March 12, 2014 · 5:17 pm

Back to Cigars! A La Sirena, a Gurkha and a Little PDR

I got that whole IPCPR thing off my chest last time, thanks to everyone who weighed in in the comments. I have one more little rant to get out of the way. This is something that’s been bothering me for a while, and, as a public service announcement, I’d like to present my views, and it will only piss off those who have an over inflated opinion of themselves! I listen to a lot of cigar podcasts and read a lot of blogs, as I’m sure you all do too. I am in no way shape or form a cigar expert, and no other cigar bloggers or podcasters are either! I constantly hear mis-information and, maybe worse, opinion related as fact. The experts are the people that work the fields and curing barns, blend and manufacture cigars. For instance, when someone states with authority regarding an Oliva cigar that they have “a gazillion farms in Central America”, they are wrong and don’t know that there is a difference between Oliva Cigar Co. and Oliva Tobacco Co.. I see and hear this sort of silliness all the time and it annoys me because I figure some readers/listeners are taking this as gospel. I would also contend that there are no Cuban Cigar experts in the US, we are like fish out of water when it comes to Havanas, they’ve been illegal to buy for 50 years. If you want a Cuban cigar expert, you will have to go outside of US borders. Talk to my friend Mitchell Orchant of C.Gars Ltd. in the UK, I would categorize him as an expert on all things Havana, and I’d be dissapointed if he didn’t argue that fact. Don’t believe everything you read or hear, unless it comes from Jose Blanco or someone of that ilk! Enough of my ranting, now you kids get the hell off my lawn!

 

LaSirena_DubloonSunday was a really nice, late winter day. It’s the first day of Daylight Savings Time, which they should just leave as Standard time, in my opinion! I much prefer longer evenings to earlier mornings. Anyway, the day called for a large cigar and a long walk. I recently came into possession of some rather limited La Sirena Dubloons, I’ve been looking for an excuse to fire one up and this was it. Unlike the other sizes in the La Sirena line which have a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper (yum), this cigar has the same Habana Oscuro wrapper found on the La Sirena A (another I have in the humidor that I ‘m waiting for an appropriate time to smoke). The cigar is a beautiful 7¼” x 56 Salamone, or enormous perfecto, shaped cigar. This cigar smoked perfectly, and was loaded with dark, rich flavors. I smoked this for the better part of two hours and was left quite sated. If you run across this vitola, give it a shot, it’s a big ol’ tasty treat.

 

Gurkha_Seduction_ToroMonday I celebrated taking my evening walk in the daylight by smoking a Gurkha Seduction which has been tempting from the humidor since I received it as an IPCPR sample at the 2012 trade show. I’ve smoked plenty of the robustos and love them, this was my first in the toro size. This is a great tasting cigar, the Habano wrapper is just delicious. Gurkha’s really getting their stuff together, I think. I avoided them for a while just because their product offering was so large and confusing, but they are coming out with some really tasty cigars in this Seduction, the Ghost and the Cellar Reserve (the maduro LE especially). Somewhere around here I have a five fingered Gurkha tin case with five cigars in it. I’ll have to dig that out one of these days. It was a Groupon deal which made paying $10 per cigar seem like a good idea (it was a gift, which I’m very thankful for!)  They seem to have tamed down the over the top marketing too. They have a huge and loyal following, just watch the next time I have a Gurkha contest.

 

AFlores_Gran Reserva_HalfCoronaTinTuesday evening my wife an I had an event to go to so I only had a half hour or so to get my walk and cigar in. Fortunately, I had received a sample tin of the A. Flores Gran Reserva Half Coronas from PDR Cigars. I’ve enjoyed the Gran Reserva line in the past, so I was excited for an opportunity to smoke this little guy. This is a 3½” x 46 cedar wrapped cigar with a Dominican Corojo wrappper and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. It’s fortunate that I only had a short amount of time, or I would be tempted to chain smoke the entire tin of five of these decadent and diminutive beauties. These come in a pocket friendly tin (although not sealed, so take care not to visit too arid or swampy places). Good things sometimes do come in small packages (I’ve been telling this to my……oh, nevermind…..).  Thank you to PDR Cigars for the samples.

 

That’s enough from me for today, until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

Share

6 Comments

Filed under Editorial, Review

Tagged as , , , , , ,

by | December 13, 2013 · 6:43 am

CigarCraig’s 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways 2013 Day 2: Iconic Leaf/Recluse Cigars

You know, I was expecting a large turn out for yesterday’s contest, and, once again, Gurkha Nation exceeds my expectations!  336 entries, and almost 1500 page views yesterday alone. A new CigarCraig.com record!  It was a stunning turnout and really made determining the winner difficult! A couple requests for the future: please don’t ‘reply’ to comments but leave a new comment as it interrupts the timeline. Also, there’s no need to proactively send me your address just in case you won.  I want you to come back the next day to see if you won!  Anyway, after hours of deliberation, the winning number was 177, which matches up with Angela Torres! Congrats!  Send me your shipping info so I can get this out to you!  I really enjoy reading all the comments, by the way, thank you all!  Let’s see what goodies are offered in today’s giveaway…

 

Day 2

I’m very excited about today’s present.  I’ve been a fan of Recluse Cigars from Iconic Leaf Cigar Co. from their beginning.  I’ve had the pleasure of talking to JR Dominguez and Scott Weeks at the last two IPCPR shows and these guys make cigars the right way.  Every cigar is constructed using the entubado method, and they ferment their tobacco differently from most, using at least eight fermentation cycles.  They have generously provided a box of Recluse Draconian Robustos for today’s present.  The Draconian is the second release from Iconic Leaf. This is a box pressed robusto with a Ecuadorian Maduro wrapper and a mix off fillers including a Brazilian hybrid leaf and an exclusive Ligero. I’ve smoked the “Sidewinder” in the Draconian line and it’s an exceptional cigar!  These will be an awesome addition to someone’s humidor!

 

Recluse Draconian Robusto

Thanks to Scott at Iconic Leaf for providing today’s present!  You know what to do next!

Rules

Here’s how you enter: leave a comment.  That’s it, plain and simple.  Tweets don’t count, but feel free to spread the word, only comments on this page count as an entry.  Each day there will be a different prize and the winner will be drawn from that day’s comments. The winner will be announced on the next day’s post. The contest is open to everyone, even if you’ve won one of my contests in the past six months, but once you’ve won, you are ineligible to win again in this series of contests. All prizes will be mailed as soon as I get a chance to go to the post office, or whenever the sponsor decides to ship, whichever is the case, so don’t make me chase down your address!  Please e-mail your contact information to craig@cigarcraig.com as soon as possible!

That’s it, leave a comment to enter and good luck. Check back tomorrow to see if you won and enter tomorrow’s contest!

 

Until Tomorrow,

CigarCraig

Share

128 Comments

Filed under Contest

Tagged as , , , , , ,