The Good Stuff: Rogue is the third release from Gurkha’s newest “division” named the East India Trading Company. While East India Trading Company operates under Gurkha, it is said to be it’s own entity. The Rogue is composed with a Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, and “rare”, unnamed Ecuadorian binder wrapped around a 3 year old, all ligero blend of Nicaraguan, Dominican, and Honduran filler tobaccos. The Rogue is offered in 5 different sizes: The Armageddon ( 6 x  66 ), the Bamboozle (6 x 60 ), the Rascal ( 5.5 x 46 ), the Ruthless ( 6 x 54 ), and the Tyrant ( 5 x 52 ). All of which are soft-box pressed with an unfinished foot. They come packaged in boxes of 20 and range from $9.99 – $5.99 a stick. Gurkha graciously sent me over a few of the Armageddon for review.

Size: 6 x 66
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: “Rare” Ecuadorian
Filler: 3 year aged Dominican, Nicaraguan, and Honduran Ligero
Strength: Full
Body: Medium/Full
Price: $9.99

Prelight: The Rogue is a beautiful cigar. The wrapper is just gorgeous sporting a consistently medium/brown, oily, silky, wrapper. This thing just wants to slide out of your hands.  The Rogue sports a beautiful un-finished foot and a nice, round double cap. While the Rogue seems to be packed pretty tight the foot of the cigar has a bit of sponginess to it and that wrapper feels pretty thin and delicate. The Rogue if polished off with a rustic looking white, double band with the words “Rogue” and “Armageddon” on it in black ink with a gold metallic skull and a few of the Gurkha crossed blades we see on just about all of Gurkha’s products.

Draw/Burn: The cap cut very clean and easy using my double bladed Palio cutter. The Rogue started right up using my single flame butane torch. Despite having an un-finished foot the Rogue burned razor sharp and incredibly even the entire time. The cigar never required any attention from my lighter after the first light. The ash was a very tight compacted medium gray ash well held on rather well. The draw was just perfect. I am really not a fan of large ring gauges at all, but even this 66 fit comfortably in my mouth. I am assuming the soft box-press had something to do what that. Each little puff kicked out a ton of thick, white smoke. Even with the larger ring gauge I found no issues getting the draw I wanted on the first or second puff.

Flavors: The Rogue started out with a lot of black pepper. Given the amount of ligero in the cigar I was surprised with how quickly the pepper worked itself out of the equation. I was left with some soft woodsy/leathery flavors, a bit of spice and a whole ton of cashew notes, probably the boldest cashew flavors I have ever picked up in a cigar. As I smoked the cigar more the woodsy flavors dropped out and a bit of creamed coffee snuck into the mix. After about the halfway point I noticed a really strong chalkiness began to sneak in. The chalkiness became stronger as I smoked through the second half and never really faded out, in fact it really muted out some of the better flavors that were buried underneath.

Thoughts: The East India Trading/Gurkha Rogue started out with great promise, strong flavors, and a pretty strong experience. The chalkiness that took over each of the samples I smoked really put a damper on the experience. I would attribute the chalkiness to the large amount of ligero and the huge ring gauge. It probably didn’t leave a lot of room for the wrapper and binder to really expose itself in the experience. That being said, I would really like to try this blend in a smaller ring gauge. The flavors were great, and if the robusto or corona could pump out more of the core flavors I think this could be a great cigar. On a side note, on two of the samples I smoked the band on the cigar contained too much glue. Since the wrapper is pretty delicate this glue tore a few little patches off of one, and almost completely destroyed another. Gotta hate smoking through a cigar only to have the band destroy it before you can nub it.

The post Quick Draw – Gurkha/East India Trading Company Rogue Armageddon Cigar Review appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

The Gurkha Cellar Reserve is a cigar that kind of snuck in under my radar. This cigar is a vintage, with 15 year aged tobacco. The wrapper is a Criollo from 1998 bound by a Dominican Olor binder and stuffed with a 15 year old Nicaraguan Criollo filler. They are then carefully placed in 20 count wooden boxes that actually promote aging similar to oak wine barrels. They are available in 5 sizes: 4 x 58 Perfecto, 5 x 58 Double Robusto, 6 x 58 Gran Rothchild, 7 x 54 Churchill and 6 x 60 XO and will range between $6 and $13.

One neat little note is, there is a rumor that this is actually Gurkha’s attempt at a cigar that will compete with Drew Estate’s Liga Privada. Oddly enough the Perfecto is the same size, shape, and pig tailed cap as the Ferel Pig. Let’s see how it measures up.

Size: 6 x 60  –  Wrapper: Criollo  –  Binder: Dominican Olor  –  Filler: Nicaraguan Criollo

The Gurkha Cellar Reserve is an absolutely beautiful cigar. This size in particular, spots a huge, thick ring gauge. This cigar is a beast and probably weighs more than I do. The wrapper is a beautiful thick, oily, calico brown with dark, and lights browns along with oranges mixed in. There are two larger veins running the length of the wide body up to the massive, round double cap. The Cellar Reserve is finished of with one of, if not the nicest band I have ever seen on a Gurkha. There is a ton of information inlayed with black, god metallic, and red ink into this ivory, matte paper band. Although the information on the band isn’t too informative, it adds a nice touch. The band reads:

“Aged 15 Years.  Blended at the K. Hansotia & Co. World Headquarters. Gurkha Cellar Reserve. Restricted reserve from K. Hansotia & Co. Authentic Mark of Honor. Nicaraguan Puro. Batch No. #8582N Quantity #20/k1967 Blend Strength 97.6%. Truly balanced to please the aficionado who is search for a draw perfections, aged oak aroma will sooth the environment and gain praise. Fifteen years of aged tobacco and dedication, has given us another masterpiece. To which only the Elite Blend Master of K. Hansotia & Co.  can Create. “

I’d be VERY interested to see if those numbers vary by band. As stated before, I smoked another one, only a different size, and both of the numbers on the band matched.

Anyways, the wrapper on this Gurkha Cellar Reserve has an extremely pleasant woodsy, oaky aroma to it, while the foot of the cigar is nothing more than a very faint sweet tobacco. The cap cut easy and clean using my double bladed Palio Cutter. Instantly upon reaching my lips, I could already taste and feel the pepper from the cigar. Outside of the pepper the cold draw produced a very woodsy, sweet tobacco flavor.

First Smoke: Despite all the pepper the cold draw on this Gurkha Cellar Reserve produced, there was only a slight pepper introduction once the cigar was actually lit up. The main flavors are a ton of upfront oaky goodness mixed in with some strong tobacco, sweet spice, and this incredibly tart flavor rubbing off on my lips from the wrapper of the cigar. The draw is a little loose, but that’s to be expected in such a large ring gauged cigar. The Cellar Reserve produces almost no stationary smoke, but the scent left behind is a really nice burnt wood aroma. The burnline is razor sharp and despite some waves when I first lit up, it’s burning dead even into the first third leaving behind a trail of medium grey, tightly compacted ash.  The ash held on for a little over an inch before falling into my ash tray.

Halfway There: You can definitely tell there is some seriously aged tobacco in this Cellar Reserve. The cigar is starting to mellow out into the second third. The flavors have mixed up a bit. No more pepper, at all, now the dominant flavor is this incredibly smooth oak flavor with some interesting red wine and tart citrus notes, finishing with a spice and tobacco. Usually, cigars don’t mellow out this drastically until the final third, if at all, so it will be interesting to see where the cigar goes from here.  The draw has actually tightened up a bit since the first third. Now it’s right where I’d like it. The retrohale is VERY sharp and it’s the only time that you can really still taste that pepper along with a lot of other spice notes. I am already starting to feel a little nicotine kick from this Gurkha, but nothing too significant.

Finish: Sadly, into the final third of this Gurkha Cellar reserve, my first instinct had proved correct. The cigar is now falling flatter and flatter producing a really charred, harsh flavor. The same thing happened with the other size I smoked, and I really hoped it was just the format. The final flavors lead in with the charred wood I mentioned, a bit of harshness, some sweet tobacco, and a little bit of oak. The burnline is still rocking solid, and I am getting a hell of a nicotine kick now. All in all this cigar took about an hour and a half to smoke.

Overview: It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of Gurkha, but they do have a few cigars that I think are extraordinary, unfortunately, this wasn’t one of them. It’s not bad cigar, and in no way is it as bad as some of the other cigars in their massive line, but it really didn’t live up to what I expected it to be. Beautiful cigar, VERY aged tobacco, great character, but it just didn’t deliver. The cigar started out great and ramped up at the start of the second third, but at the end of the second third it was lights out. The cigar fell flat, became harsh, and lost it’s appeal. It had a lot of potential, but just missed the mark. I wouldn’t rule this cigar out though, I think even more age could do it some good. The Cellar Reserve is another perfect example of good intentions, and an overly powerful cigar that overlooked then entire experience as a whole. If you’re a Gurkha fan, and like strong cigars, this is probably perfect for you.

One a side note, the first cigar I smoked, I kept comparing to the Liga Privada just to see if it measured up. Needless to say, it didn’t. But that lead to something else. Once I smoked this one without comparing the two it really made me appreciate this cigar more. It’s a totally different blend.

Pairing: Ommegang Three Philosophers has always been a favorite of mine. This Belgium Quadruple style Ale can always be found stored away at my house. The beer is brewed at the Ommegang brewery in Cooperstown New York. It boasts a 9.8% ABV and has an extra sumthin’ sumthin’ added to it in the form of real cherries. This beer is composed of 98% Quad ale with 2% ale with Cherries added for that extra kick in flavor. This beer is wonderful, and pairs perfect with any cigar. The flavors start out with a very smooth malt and honey with just a slight bitter hint as well as a cherry aftertaste. This beer really helped bring this cigar up to the next level it needed to badly. I strongly suggest pairing this with a cigar of your own if you haven’t already, It’s relatively inexpensive (about $10 a bottle) and extremely easy to find year round.

The post Gurkha Cellar Reserve XO appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

The Gurkha I am smoking today is called the Symphony. I had no idea what the name was at first because it’s not labelled anywhere on the cigar. Aside from their normal massive band, there is only one smaller silver and black band with an illegible signature and the following phrase: “A Century of Tradition | Silver Edition”. The signature happens to be K. Hansotia’s whose name is also on the standard Gurkha band. I searched high and low for the name and finally stumbled upon Symphony. Originally the cigar only came with the silver band but the traditional Gurkha band was added afterwards

The cigar itself is a limited production run (Big surprise, right?) of 3000 boxes for each of the 3 sizes that were produced. The production began in 2004 and the available sizes were Robusto, Torpedo and Churchill. Today’s cigar is the Robusto vitola and the size itself is a little larger than most Robusto, making it close to being a Toro.

Tony managed to squeeze in a review of the Gurkha Shaggy Maduro a long ways back in 2009. I’m also going with a very unconventional pairing here and something I wouldn’t normally try but who cares right?

Cigar: Gurkha Symphony
Drink: Rekorderlig Swedish Pear and Wild Berry Hard Cider
Vitola: Robusto (6 x 50)
Wrapper: Connecticut Shade
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: $4-6 (Original MSRP was about $15)
Burn Time: A little over 1.5 hours

Construction:
• This is fairly rough looking cigar, with lots of bumps and larger veins running the entire length of the cigar
• The wrapper around the cigar is a warm honey colour with some splashes of orange mixed in
• The top of the cigar is finished with a clean double cap
• The firmness of this cigar is fairly inconsistent, there are some soft spots and some hard spots
• The foot appears mostly well packed but has some areas spots that seem a little open
• The cap cut was a bit difficult since it was a soft spot on the cigar, so it squeezed together and made a bit of a mess but turned out ok in the end
• Draw is just about perfect at the start, nothing to complain about here
• As with a lot of Gurkha’s I’ve had, the large band was difficult to remove and once removed revealed a dark and damaged wrapper
• The bit of damage underneath the wrapper turned into a crack as the burnline approached

Burn:
• The toasting of this cigar was nice and easy, it glowed evenly in a short amount of time
• Through the first inch the burn is progressing nicely, a slight wave but nothing that looks to be worrisome
• As I work my way through the last half I’ve had no burn problems at all, I wouldn’t call it razor sharp but it is burning rather well considering some of the larger veins on the wrapper
• Despite all the larger veins along this cigar it burned rather well all the way down with me ever needing to give it a touch up
• Cigar burned a little hot near the nub so I had to set it down a bit early

Smoke & Ash:
• First reaction to the smoke it just right, each draw brings a good amount of smoke but it’s not overly thick or light
• There is a fair bit of resting smoke and a surprising amount continues to trickle through the cap after leaving it to rest
• The ash here is nicely formed but the color is not pretty, coming in with a brownish grey color
• First ash stayed nice and clean until tapping off into the ashtray a little past one inch
• The ash continued it’s clean and consistent shape holding on for at least an inch each time

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper of this cigar gives off a very strong barnyard aroma. Close your eyes, take a whiff and you’ll feel like your visiting Old McDonald’s farm!
• Pre-light draw brought more barnyard type flavors mixed in with a helping of woodsy notes
• Initial draws are filled with mild woodsy flavors and a bit of a cinnamon flavor
• The retrohale is also fairly mild and mostly woodsy, with a dry and slightly creamy finish
• As I get to the halfway mark, there hasn’t been much change here, the primary flavor is still a cedar woodsiness and there are some minor hints of cinnamon like spice and a creamy finish
• The smooth creaminess continues and I’ve picked up a slight sweetness here and there
• The flavors are taking a light turn near the last third, they seem to be getting a bit more intense and body is building a bit. The lighter flavors like cinnamon and sweetness are pretty much gone now
• As I approach the nub, the flavors have changed to a bit of a burnt wood note
• The finish was fairly bland as most of the flavors had disappeared and the creaminess was gone a long time ago

Final Thoughts:
Surprising for me, this cigar started out fairly promising. It had the typical notes I would expect from a Connecticut cigar. It was smooth and enjoyable. As the cigar progressed it didn’t change up a whole lot which left me kind of disappointed. It’s not that it was bad, it was just one dimensional. It burned well with no need for touchups. I think this cigar had some great potential with the light cinnamon and sweet notes I was picking up but unfortunately they never shined too strongly. I don’t think this cigar is worthy of the “Limited” title since it doesn’t taste much different from most other regular budget connecticut cigars. When you factor in the price of only $4 at some online retailers it makes this a much more attractable package. When the cigar was first released the MSRP was near $15 and I would have given this a terrible review at that price point, but at $4 this would have made a reliable regular production cigar. It can be enjoyed by mostly anyone and makes for a relaxing morning cigar as well.

Pairings:
So after reading Tony’s success on his unconventional pairing awhile back in his review of the EP Carrillo New Wave Connecticut I decided to give it a try with one of my Connecticut reviews. So here it is! I went with something slightly different, a Swedish imported Hard Cider from Rekorderlig. The can promises a pear cider mixed with Wild Berries and clocks in at 7%alc./vol. So how did this weird pairing work out for me? Let’s just say it was like pairing this cigar with a watered down and carbonated cough syrup… Ya, that about sums it up! I’ve had some local Apple Cider that was very tasty but this one just didn’t taste that great. I’m going to chalk up the weird flavor in it to the preservatives and artificial coloring that the locally made Ciders from Ontario don’t have.
Besides that big failure, I can totally see how a fruity beverage can pair well with a Connecticut cigar, especially on a nice summer day. As long as you find a good one of course… As with most Connecticut cigars, this Gurkha Symphony would probably pair best with a coffee.

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