Gurkha 125th Anniversary
Gurkha 125th Anniversary
Strength: 4/5
Size: XO (6 x 60)
Origin: Dominican Republic
Price (local): $14.05 (plus tax)
Wrapper: Brazilian Habano
Flavor Text:
Gurkha's milestone blend.
Celebrating 125 years is quite the accomplishment. When you think about it, not much of anything makes it that long, let alone a cigar brand. But Gurkha is still chuggin' strong thanks to a diverse portfolio of tip-top blends. And within the mighty Gurkha lineup, it would be difficult to crown only one as the best, but the Gurkha 125th Anniversary is undoubtedly in the running.
Dressed in an oily, and beautiful Cuban-seed Brazilian Habano wrapper, you'll be fighting the urge to sink your teeth in. But that's just the appetizer, as the real meat to the meal lies beneath. A complex array of bold Dominican, Nicaraguan and Brazilian long-fillers unite to create a savory core. This recipe yields a medium to full-bodied profile as the cigar is smooth and balanced. Nuances march in one by one as rich tobacco, sweet spices, vanilla, coffee, and roasted nuts all make a welcomed cameo. But the real cherry on top, if I've ever seen one, is the stunning band. Winner of the 2012 Golden Label Printing Award, it's no doubt one of the most eye-catching and extravagant bands I've ever seen. A fitting band for such a remarkable handmade.
Gurkha 125th Anniversary received an impressive 94-rating noting: "It has a lovely flavor of dried orange peel, some leather and cedar, and is a balanced smoke with no shortage of elegance."
From my time working in a smoke shop, I can pretty confidently say that Gurkha is the most polarizing brand in cigars.
People either love them or hate them, and there is never really an "in-between."
I remember searching high and low for Gurkhas about a year or so after I became a consistent cigar smoker. I could never find them anywhere. On the occasion where I'd ask a store employee for one, I'd either get laughed at (because these people hated Gurkha) or sympathized with (because these people loved Gurkha) and told that they were only really available online. As a broke college kid with no credit card or way to purchase these, I was mostly SOL on Gurkha.
Then I started noticing them more and more locally, and I was able to try one every once in a great while. My dad also bought me some variety sampler packs of Gurkha every Christmas, which was awesome for a few reasons: he didn't know I wanted them, and there were 8 or so that were all different and provided a really cool look at the entire Gurkha catalog. I always smoked through them really quick, and their catchy names like BEAST and CHALLENGER were always a cool part of the Gurkha experience.
At my store, I noticed that over the past few years, we would get a new Gurkha in every now and then and the same trend remained: if you loved them, you really loved them, and if you didn't care for them, you never even noticed them. On a recent work day after my shift, I grabbed a Gurkha 125th Anniversary cigar (a really fat one, might I add,) and sat down to read about cigars and enjoy this beast of an offering from Gurkha.
I was immediately met with some delicious pulls of aromatic smoke from this super thick Gurkha. It tasted quite nice, mostly like some coffee with vanilla, which I really enjoyed. I loved the amount of smoke you could pull from this beast, and instantly I knew I'd be in for a great experience. The best way to win me over, from a cigar standpoint, is to give me a lot of smoke, a medium-body beginning, and be a small size cigar. This cigar had 2/3 of these due to the limited inventory, but I didn't mind. I had a lot of time to kill and a good amount of reading and writing I wanted to get done. And this was the perfect cigar for the journey.
A lot of cigar reviewers would probably label this as medium to full, but I didn't really feel that way. The smoke from this cigar was rather smooth, with only a tiny amount of bite. I didn't feel that kick at the back of my throat like one might from a full-body cigar; this one was just the right amount of punch for where I found myself with not a lot of food in me. The strength and body stayed consistent throughout the life of the cigar, with no intensity increase or complexity of flavor. This cigar just gives you a ton of what it is: a mildly spicy build with rich coffee and vanilla built to last you for quite a while and burn perfectly.
I liek Gurkha cigars. I really do. Some people don't. To those people, I'd say to give this one a try. You might be disappointed, sure. But if this is the Gurkha that disappoints you, then I can pretty confidently say to just not try the cigar again. It offers everything you'd want in a cigar: great flavor, consistent burn, proper build, and one of the best bands I've ever seen. I think whether you're an old Gurkha fan revisiting the brand, or a new sampler of Gurkha, that you'll like this selection if you decided to try it.
Happy smoking!
CB
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