Without further ado, today I am reviewing the Gurkha Empire V cigar.
Cigars International and Cigars.com describe this cigar as a hearty mix of Mexican, Honduran and Nicaraguan fillers all bound with an Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper. Mild and creamy with hints of cedar and black pepper.
As I look at this cigar, I am thinking "Big band, lots of glue". Visions of peeling it of with the wrapper haunt me like so many other cigars I have had with large bands. This is not true with this one. I was pleasantly surprised that it came off very easily keeping both bands in perfect shapeand an unscathed wrapper. (I like to save the bands, although I have not yet decided what to do with the hundreds of them I have!)
The wrapper has a real nice sheen in the light, and seems to have minimal veins to the Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper.
Not sure you can see it here but if you look close you might be able to see the generous double cap!
Sweet tobacco smells are on the body and foot, with a slight aroma of raisins to the foot in my opinion. The body of this cigar goes from firm at the head to slightly spongy at the foot.
A perfect cut with my Xikar cutter revealed a near effortless draw, which tastes of sweet tobacco and a hint of sweet rum. A quick toast and light with my Perdoma table lighter, which I can't live without, brought a pleasant pepper taste. There is a very slight bitterness I can't quite identify, nothing over the top but still present.This cigar started off a bit more on the mild-medium side with lots of smoke, not creamy thick smoke but a good volume.
By a third in I am getting light creamy hazel nut flavors plus an ever so slight leather nuance. Thats the bitterness I was picking out. The cigar has a slightly uneven burn, but I think it's do to my off lighting skills today, improper rotation while lighting the cigar. Luckily it corrected itself through out the smoke.
The Ash is grey and flakey and fell off at the 1 inch mark. By the mid-way mark there are caramel notes coming through along with the same creaminess. Pepper is still on the pallate and ever present through out the smoke. The cigar is really hitting the sweet spot now and has mellowed out to a mild strength cigar.
In the last third woody/cedar notes are coming through. As I near the end I am getting a bit more leather, which I am not really fond of, but it is tolerable. Also I get a brief shot of bitter chocolate and had a long finish.
On the end I notice that at the head the wrapper had cracked in one spot and was coming undone just to the side of it. The crack in the picture is tward my index finger and the undone wrapper near my thumb. I don't bite on my cigars so I am oblivious as to why it did this.
Buzz Rating on this one I give a 4 out of 10. Just slight but not enough to fly, as a matter of fact, not even enough to get you off the ground. It's pretty mild in strength.
Overall I give this one a 2.5 out of 5. Nothing real special to me even though it was eventful with it's flavor changes however slight and subtle they were. I was kind of disappointed with this one as I am a fan of most Gurkhas. For me the slight bitterness and ever present leather tastes was a turn off. Not a big fan of it. But that aside, it would have been a bigger hit with me, with it's creamy mildness and flavor changes.
Like it?: It's OK........but not for me.
Buy it again?: Probably not.
Recommend it?: Only for those who like the bittery leather tastes in a mild cigar.
You can get these cigars from Cigars International and Cigars.com for $70 a box of 20 in all sizes. Cigars.com sells all sizes also in singles for $6 each. But the best deal comes from Cigars International with a 12 cigar sampler, 2 of each type in the Empire series, for just $34! Thats a little over $2.80 each. I have not tried the others in the series yet but it might be worth it to me to get the sampler.
Lots of nice weather coming up. The hummingbirds are starting to show up on the back deck which means Stogie weather is upon us. I have another Stulac Review for the Black Midnight Fire which has been tested, but I am gathering all the data from the notes from the Posse to put together a review up on here. So check back soon.
Till next Post.......................Peace!
