So I haven't had a Gurkha in recent months because every one I have had was bad. Not bad in any particular way, but they all had their flaws, and I have given them plenty of tries over the past 5 years. Today I tried to give Gurkha one last chance. I picked out a Nepalese Warrior that I was gifted a while back. This thing has been in my humi for well over a year by now, but I don't know exactly how long. Let me tell you...

This thing was THE BOMB!

Oh wait, did I say the bomb, I meant A bomb. It smelled and tasted good on my prelight draw, however the draw was very loose, and I knew that this would smoke fast, so I'd have to take my time on it. Well, within 3 minutes of lighting, the first explosion happened. The thing started coming apart at the seams. Don't get me wrong, the initial cocoa and caramel flavors were nice, but less so now that it exploded. I decided to set it down and take it even slower. I got to about the first third mark, after about 4 touch ups, and the thing starts to tunnel. Crooked burn all the way down to the 2/3 mark with 2 separate tunnels. It's not tunneling because of how it was stored either, because it's in the same 70qt. cooler as a LOT of my other cigars, one of which burned perfectly yesterday even while I was sitting in colder weather and in the hot tub. Taste was bland and fairly harsh after the first explosion happened, but by no means was it strong, just harsh. After the 2/3 mark I put this thing out of my misery into the ashtray and let it die.

I won't be adding this band to my band collection and I will never smoke another Gurkha again. Thank you Nepalese Warrior for being the final nail in the Gurkha coffin.

R.I.P. Gurkha Cigars 2005-2010
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Welcome to the Club! :-)
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+1... I have had tight draws, loose draws, uneven burns, weird flavors(including paint thinner when I retrohaled a Beast), and all kinds of wicked problems with these abominations. Quality Control... look into it, Gurkha. Kaiser will not be getting another dollar of mine.
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I've burned about 5 of them...and every one had a wrapper issue. :-)
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Actually, I like these - smoke them quite often. No burn problem. You guys do know not to chew on them before smoking - right?
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I've purchased more than a few of these when I first started to get into this hobby. The first fiver smoked great. I loved the taste, and basically I bought more to keep in stock. Well, the next fiver sucked. Cigar would either explode (cracking everywhere), be too tight to even get a draw, tunnel burning, or just didn't taste right. I decided to just burn through what I had left of them, and it wasn't a very pleasurable experience. Never again Gurkha!
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I think i smoked one of these early in my education and thought it was pretty good. Don't recall having any issues with it.
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The issue I see here is that Gurkhas are extremely inconsistent cigars. A while back, I ordered a 10 pack of the Assassin Torpedos. Despite all of the members telling me they would suck, I stuck it out. I smoked 1 not too long ago, and it tasted like pure caramel, cocoa and sweet hay, tobacco and earthy. It was really different from most, if not all of the cigars I have had. The burn was quite good, and so were the asked. The cigar cracked a little, about a mm, and nothing more. I am really looking forward to smoking more of these as I let them age.
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