Tag Archives: Gurkha

by | December 12, 2013 · 6:14 am

CigarCraig’s 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways 2013 Day 1: Gurkha Cigars

Welcome to day one what has become an annual event, the third year of CigarCraig’s 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways! It becomes a challenge to try to top the previous year, but I’m not going to worry about that, it is what it is.  Our VERY generous sponsors send what they want, and that’s what the presents are. So far now one has complained, and they all have my gratitude! As always, please visit each company’s site linked in the description so they know we are paying attention. Â&nb

sp;Honestly, I could probably jack it up to 24 days, but 12 is taxing enough!

 

We are going to get things started with a nice prize pack from Gurkha!  We have an enormous Gurkha banner (I unfolded it to take a picture, and had to have help to fold it back up. it’s huge), a Gurkha Rogue T-shirt (XL), a cool double guillotine cutter an

d a pocket knife my 19 year old son referred to as “bad-ass”.  All that and a box of the new Rogue Tyrant from Gurkha’s East India Trading Company to top it off!  

 

Gurkha Rogue Prizepack

 

Many thanks to Bianca at Gurkha for putting this 12 Days of Cigar Giveaways present together! It gets us off to a great start!

 

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,

CC_Logo_xmas_s

 

CigarCraig

 

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by | October 23, 2013 · 7:59 pm

An Ora Vivo, a Macanudo, a Padilla and the Gurkha Cigar Contest Winner!

Wow. Monday was a huge day as far as website traffic and comments went. It actually eclipsed my best day ever, last December when I was giving away a bunch of Drew Estate cigars and swag! I seem to have severely underestimated the Gurkha Nation, they are a force to be reckoned with! We have a crazy number of entries, stay tuned for the winner announcement after we talk about a couple cigars I smoked this week!

 

OraVivo_7x58Sunday afternoon I took a really long walk with a Ora Vivo Armand Assante 7½” x 58. This is a cigar that was released that the 2013 IPCPR show by Victor Vitale’s Legacy Brands. I published a story and video about it here. This example was a gift from my dear friend Mike Perry up in New York State, and I’ve since purchase

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d a robusto while I was in New Hampshire a few weeks ago. Who would have thought I would smoke this great big cigar before the much more manageable 5” x 54 in October when it’s getting cooler and the days are getting shorter! The one word which comes to mind with this cigar is “elegance”. The band is beautiful, the wrapper is flawless and the smoke is smooth and tasty. It’s an expensive cigar, but I smoked it for two-plus hours and enjoyed every bit of it. Another winner from Victor Vitale. This would be incredible in a lancero!

 

Macanudo Estate Reserve_NoIIIMonday evening I stepped out of my comfort zone a little and selected an IPCPR sample from the General Cigar booth. Macanudo Estate Reserve is the new ultra-premium offering commemorating the brand’s 45th anniversary.  Most Macanudos have a Mexican binder, this one has a Dominican binder that’s 8-10 years old, covered with a Connecticut Shade wrapper.  The cigar is beautiful to look at and burned perfectly, with an equally perfect draw.  The No. III I smoked was a standard 5″ x 50 with a perfect round head.  It was mild and smooth and not without very nice flavors.  At $14 a piece, it should be perfect, as far as I’m concerned, but I’m a picky bastard. These are presented in boxes of ten in individual coffins at retail.  It would make a spiffy gift for the guy who likes milder cigars, that’s for sure. It’s one of those cigars that I’m thankful to have the opportunity to smoke.

 

Padilla StudioTobac_FiguradoTuesday afternoon we settled on our old house, which had been on the market for the last year.  To celebrate, after my wife and I went out to a nice dinner, I pulled out a Padilla Studio Tobac Figurado which had been given to me by my favorite local cigar rep, Oliva‘s Mike Staiber.  This is a 6″ x 60 perfecto which was a joint venture between Padilla Cigars and Oliva’s Studio Tobac arm.  It uses an Ecuador Habano wrapper and Nicaraguan fillers.  To be honest, I expected to have my head blown off, but this cigar bordered on mild.  I’m not complaining, mind you, it was great fun to smoke and super tasty.  I never had to touch it up, and really had a hard time putting it down.  It was awesome.  This is another once in a lifetime smoke for me, probably, and it was worth the time spent smoking it for sure.  It was later than I usually go for a smoke, usually in that case I’d pick something smaller, but this was a celebratory smoke and I wanted something special. I got something special, it was delightful down to the tiniest nub (and I think I’m officially allowed to use the word “nub” since I’m talking about a cigar from the same manufacturer of the Nub line!) Thanks Mike!

 

Contest Winner

Gurkha Prize2_102013

OK, I know, everyone just wants to know who won the Gurkha prize pack I put together.  As I said earlie

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r, the turnout was awesome.  We had 193 entries, almost doubling up the previous best showing.  If this is any Random_10232013indication, this Christmas contests is going to be pretty rough (for me!).  Anyway, I plugged 193 into the Random.org random number generator and it spit back the number 65.  Give me a while to figure out who that was…..OK, I’m back.  The winner is Gabriel!
contest_10232013I need you to e-mail me your contact information so I can get this out to you.  I don’t want to have to chase you down!!  Thanks to everyone for entering! Contests are always a lot of fun, which is one of the reasons I torture myself and my family every December for 2 weeks! Many thanks again to Gurkha for making this possible.

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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by | October 20, 2013 · 11:11 am

Gurkha Cellar Reserve, East India Trading Co. and a Contest!

Gurkha_Cellar Reserve_MaduroAfter receiving a wonderful package from the folks at Gurkha last week, I decided to dig into some of the samples from the last IPCPR show.  As always, the folks at Gurkha have an enormous booth and always have some exciting offerings.  I’m the first to admit that I’m intimidated by the huge array of products in the Gurkha portfolio.  I haven’t smoked a tenth of the lines they produce, but the ones I have smoked have been pretty darned good!  One of my recent favorites was my Friday, end of the week treat smokes, the new Cellar Reserve Maduro. This cigar replaces the Criollo 98 wrapper with Brazilian Arapiraca, and it’s a terrific smoke loaded with black coffee and cocoa.  I was hoping to watch the lunar eclipse while smoking this, however I either missed it or it was far too subtle for my eye.  The cigar, however, wasn’t a disappointment. I was sorry when it was finished.  I’ll have to get my hands on more. I’ve enjoyed the heck out of the Gurkha Seduction (and one I had last week didn’t wow me like before, maybe they’ve aged out after only 2 years?), this Cellar Reserve Maduro (or it may be called the Limitada) may pass the Seduction as my favorite in the line.

 

Gurkha_EITC_Rogue RuthlessSaturday I decided to plunge into Gurkha’s East India Trading Company‘s new offerings, first off,  the Rogue Ruthless, which is a box pressed 6″ x 54 cigar with an Ecuador Habano wrapper. This was a loosely rolled cigar, and burned faster than I would have expected. It had some rich and peppery flavors and certainly held my attention.  My biggest complaint is that the bands were so hard to get off! Other than that, the bands are fine and are quite eye catching.  Nice cigar, I’d smoke it again for sure.

 

Gurkha_EITC_Prize FighterAfter dinner I selected the final cigar of the day, the Prize Fighter, also from Gurkha’s East India Trading Company.  This is a budget offering packaged in Fresh-lock pouches.  The cigar had a Ecuador Connecticut wrapper and was loosely rolled like it’s Rouge sibling. This is a mixed filler cigar as evidenced by the scraps of tobacco I had to keep picking out of my mouth. This, to me, is forgivable in a cigar that retails under $2.  For a cigar in that price range, it was very tasty and mild. It had the grassyness you’d expect but pleasantly smooth.  My example did have a significant tunnel at the midway point, but after it burned passed the void it was fine.  I’ve definitely smoked more expensive cigars that I enjoyed less!

 

Here’s a few pictures of the booth from last July’s IPCPR show:

 

Contest!

 

Gurkha Prize1_102013On an related note, I’ve got some goodies laying around that I want to share with a lucky reader. This will probably be the last contest before things get crazy in December. Here’s the story:  last week I received a very nice package from the folks at Gurkha.  The package contained this really cool “can” containing one of their leatherette roll up pouches with five cigars, and a folding cigar scissors.  This was a gift to me, but Gurkha Prize2_102013I have been the beneficiary of their generosity on too many occasions and I want to share this with my readers.  I’d gladly smoke the cigars, trust me!  If this wasn’t enough, I happen to have another of the roll up pouches from last summer’s trade show, as well as one from the 2012 show, both of which have been resting in my humidors.  So there’s 15 very nice Gurkha cigars, and the really cool scissors (I’ve been really digging the Xikar MTX I got recently, this is a handy tool!).  Just leave a comment here and I’ll select a winner at random on Wednesday.  Usual contest rules apply. Thanks to Bianca at Gurkha  for the gift and for allowing me to share it with my readers!

 

That’s it for today!  Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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by | August 25, 2013 · 2:00 pm

IPCRP 2013 – Guayacan Cigars, and Other Cigars That Start With G

Guayacan_TorpedoAs we were working our way through the House of Emilio booth at the IPCPR show we were introduced to Noel Rojas, the man behind Guayacan Cigars.  Noel has an amazing story, which he shares in the video below.  His cigars are top notch, I smoked a torpedo this week that I’ve had in the humidor since last December and it was fantastic.  I found it to be complex, medium bodied, and had a really nice hint of citrus that I liked. I really look forward to trying his maduro when it becomes available. Don’t miss this short video interview with Noel.  Fascinating story!

 

http://youtu.be/Fonjk9rKtz8

 

Gurkha_GhostFriday evening I grabbed a Gurkha Ghost from the humidor and took a walk.   I’ve smoked a few of these since hey came out and as much as I wanted to like them, they didn’t WOW me.  Maybe it’s a few more months of  age (mine or the cigar?), but this one hit me right.  It was what I expected from the others but didn’t get.  Nice, sweet, lush flavors that I expect from a Brazilian Arapiraca wrapped cigar.  The band and packaging are pretty cool too. I’m glad I have finally come to like these, and I have no idea why I felt the desire to enjoy this particular cigar.

 

Gran Habano_Gran ReservaYesterday I was thinking about what to smoke, and working on today’s post in my head,  and the CDO (that’s OCD in alphabetical order, as it should be) in me decided I needed another cigar with a name that started with G.  It turns out there’s not a lot of them!  Fortunately I found a Gran Habano Gran Reserva No. 3 2008 Churchill that I had bought well over a year ago.  The wrapper is a beautiful milk chocolate brown, and is from Columbia, which you don’t see very often.  The cigar burned perfectly and was smooth and delicious.  I actually haven’t smoked more than a handful of Gran Habano products, but the couple cigars in this line have really impressed me.  Another medium bodied smooth and flavorful smoke to round out my week.

 

That’s it for today, after doing some yard work this morning it’s time to grab a cigar or two and relax in the pool.  Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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by | July 10, 2013 · 8:37 pm

Getting Ready for Vegas, a Perdomo, a Four Kicks and a Nica Rustica

In the week leading up to our trip to the IPCPR show in Vegas I’m losing track of what I’ve smoked!  I had to go back and check twitter and Instagram to refresh my memory. My wife is right, I need to take a note book along this time to write things down along the way. I’m certain to forget something in the information overload that is the IPCPR  show. Case in point: I smoked a couple cigars on Sunday, I think a CAO Concert and a Gurkha Seduction. Both are cigars that are on my “go to” list when I want to smoke something, enjoy the heck out of it, and not have to worry too much about it. The Concert went very nicely in the pool, and the Gurkha was perfect after a end of the weekend rainstorm complete with a double rainbow. These two cigars capped off a pretty great holiday weekend for me.  I had to go look up what I smoked!

 

Perdomo_10th Maduro RobustoMonday evening I grabbed one of the Perdomo Reserve 10th Anniversary Maduros I had picked up recently. I was in the mood for something new and I really don’t smoke a ton of Perdomo cigars for whatever reason. I’m not sure if it goes back to the 90s when I had a string of bad luck with the brand or what. This cigar was pretty darned sublime. The flavor was right up my alley, chocolatey and espressoey  and well balanced. Well worth the $5.25 I paid for it. It was a lovely smoke and I’ll certainly have to pay a little more attention to this brand. Yes, I know that chocolatey and espressoey aren’t real words (I already had that argument with the spell check…).

 

Four Kicks_RobustoLast night I selected a Four Kicks robusto that was gifted to me a few months ago in New Jersey by Alex “StogieCop” Martinez. I’ve enjoyed a few different sizes in this line, and they are nice cigars to be sure. I kind of wanted to get some older (ie. last years) cigars smoked before going to the trade show and being inundated with new stuff. This was a worthy smoke, although I just can’t get as excited about it as some do, perhaps it doesn’t suit my preferences as much as some others. Still a terrific smoke, thank you Alex for allowing me to revisit this one.

 

DE_NicaRustica_ToroChanging gears, tonight I wanted to preview a cigar that I gather is being released at the show this year. In the past few weeks I’ve smoked some NicaRoma cigars from Villiger,the Nica Puro from Alec Bradley, so I thought I better smoke the Nica Rustica that’s coming out from Drew Estate. I was given a sample a few months ago when I visited the factory and I would be

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lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit intimidated by this stick! Will at Cigar-Coop.com posted a nice write up on this last week, where he notes that the blend includes a Nicaraguan Rustica tobacco grown in Esteli that is among the most potent of tobaccos it’s wrapped in a San Andreas binder (yay!) and a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper (another yay!) and will be offered in a 6″x52 toro shape. The example I smoked had an unfinished foot and a pigtail head. It certainly was a rustic looking cigar, and had a wonderful syrupy sweetness on the wrapper.  You an feel the tingle of the nicotine in the mouth, and there is a ton of flavor. This is like a Liga Privada on steroids. I have yet to find anythig remotely subtle about this ci

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gar, it’s just loaded with great, in your face flavor and strength. I’m sitting on the deck finishing this off as I ty

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pe, and I already look forward to smoking another one. Now, I have to admit that I don’t know if this is the finished blend or not, but I hope it is close.  I remember Steve Saka saying that production capacity was holding this release back, apparently they made some room to produce a bunch of these. At the reported under $7 price tag, this is a no brainer for anyone who doesn’t mind having your ass kicked around the block a few times. Highly recomended and anticipated!

 

That’s it for tonight. The next post will probably be from the IPCPR show. I’ll do my best to get some interesting and entertaining video here, assuming I can get some WIFI connections here and there.

 

Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

 

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