Gurkha Archive 1887
The Archive 1887 is Gurkha’s 20th anniversary cigar. 1000 boxes were made, and the blend took two years to develop. I can’t remember how this cigar ended up in my humidor. I only know I placed it in my “To be reviewed” humidor. If you don’t already know by now, I always pair cigars I am reviewing with water. Let’s see how the Gurkha Archive 1887 went.
Wrapper: Connecticut
Binder: Connecticut
Filler: Dominican
Size: 6.5 x 52
Price: Around $10.00
Pre-smoke & Construction:
A good portion of the wrapper was covered by bands, but from what I could see, it looked nice with a new small to medium veins. There were minimal defects, with only one tiny pin hole that looked like a small tear. The wrapper and foot had very mild odors of natural earthy tobacco. The pre-light draw had minimal resistance, with a sweet mild earthy flavor. Overall the cigar was evenly packed and hard to the touch.
The burn required quite a few burn corrections, and the ash held for about an inch.
Flavor:
The first few puffs of the first third was an easy peppery earthiness. After about an inch sweet notes crept in that gradually increased at time went on. As this third came to a close, I started to pick up hints of coffee.
The second third reminded me of coffee with a couple spoonfuls of sugar added. Add to that a touch of dry cocoa and a toasty smoke feel, along with wisps of earthy notes in the background. When passing smoke through the nose, there was a nice sweet spice with pepper. It wasn’t very intense, but it did pack a small punch.
Like before, that sweet coffee remained dominant in the last third. The spicy pepper increased in strength with more of a punch. The flavor profile basically remained the same with a small increase in body. There isn’t really anything more to it then that.
Conclusion:
This was a decent upper medium bodied cigar. Although I enjoyed the cigar, I don’t think that it lived up to it’s $10.00 price tag. There are plenty of other Gurkha’s that I think are better. I probably won’t be smoking any more of these, but who knows, maybe your mileage will vary.