First Impression – Gurkha Evil
Saturday, February 20th, 2010I believe this cigar was given to me either by Ed or someone at Ed’s shop. I can only go by my first impression of this cigar, as I only have one to smoke. I think I recall Matt not liking the Evil very much. I thought I’d let mine sit awhile before offering my opinion. Normally I try to avoid doing first impression reviews. But when a company claims their product is the Rolls Royce of cigars, I figure they should at least be consistent. My experience with Gurkha is that they are generally enjoyable and consistent. As always, I paired today’s review with water. Let’s see how it goes…
Wrapper: Brazil
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Nicaragua
Size: Robusto 5 x 50
Price: Around $5.00
Pre-smoke & Construction:
The first thing you’ll notice is the huge band. It looks fitting for the title. The wrapper looked great, with almost no flaws. When I sniffed the wrapper, I could only detect cedar odors. The foot had a similar odor with a touch of sweetness. I squeezed the entire length of the cigar, and this thing was packed solid. Despite that, the pre-light draw offered only a little resistance, and tasted of sweet earthy tobacco.
The ash held for at least an inch, and I only had to correct the burn a couple times in the last third.
Flavor:
The first third greeted me with a peppery, somewhat sweet spice. Overall a dry woody flavor dominated, with slight coffee and nutty notes following behind.
The second third saw an increase in sweetness. It resembled a dry mocha, but the mocha flavors were overcome by the dryness. Again, woody flavors were strong in the overall flavor profile. I had a hard time picking out the nutty flavors, but I think they were there from time to time. When passing the smoke through the nose, I got a peppery zing. The smoke feel was dry and gave me slight cotton mouth.
The last third didn’t change in terms of flavor. Take the comments on the second third, and paste them here. The sweet pepper remained but became slightly harsh. It wasn’t extremely harsh, but it slightly irritate the back of the throat.
Conclusion:
The body of this cigar was medium to full. Although the flavors were decent, I can’t compare this to other top of the line Gurkha’s. The flavors and smoke feel seemed one dimensional and too dry for my taste. I may try it again in the future, but as of now my opinion matches that of Matt. He too didn’t care for it.