And it wasn't a bad smoke for the $9.50 I paid for it at Empire Cigar. The hype is just hype plus fancy-ass packaging, but the cigar wasn't atall bad despite some horrendous reviews I've seen online.

The Gurkha Crest is a rich, meaty, well rounded cigar, with an interesting edge of spice to it. There is a deep earthiness to this smoke, which may be why one reviewer from this board described it as tasting like dirt. There is definitely some dirt here, but it's pretty tasty dirt, with hints of peat and black truffle mushroom. The construction was good and tight, with a nice firm ash, and it yielded a pleasant, mellow and complex smoke all the way down.

I would not pay a huge unreasonable amount for this stick, but this really ain't a bad ceegar at all for a sawbuck. Thumbs up from the herfer girl. :-)
[Reply]

Nothing like some tasty Gurkha dirt...thanks for the review!
[Reply]

Good to know - I'll put that on my list to try - I've had hit & miss results with Ghurka so far...not because of flavors though, just burn issues.

Thanks for the review!
[Reply]

Thanks for the review :-)...haven't had a Gurkha in a while. The "Black Truffle Mushroom" notes are particularly interesting.
[Reply]

The Crest is a bit different from the usual flavor profile. I like this one a lot. A few others that stray from the "standard" Gurkha taste are the Warlord, Sherpa (orange band, very mild), and the Ancient Warrior.
[Reply]

I was expecting to read the typical Gurkha review with the follow up posts saying how a Gurkha was one of the worst cigars made. I have tried a few of their cigars and really like them,,,,conversely I have smoked some of the other ones and they weren't that good but I have smoked cigars from just about every cigar brand out there that I didn't like. If someone enjoys smoking a cremosa then why is that a bad thing? If someone smokes a "brand" that is notoriously unpopular why does it bother others as much as it seems to? I wonder if someone can explain this to me in a way that makes sense without it becoming something "personal" in nature? While I may not agree with what someone else smokes I find it hard to post up and tell that person that the cigar he just told everyone about is a piece of crap. Just an observation here.
[Reply]

Cigary - From what I heard at the store, Gurkha cigars can be inconsistent, with some good ones and some bad ones. Additionally, if you just don't personally like an earthy, mushroomy, peaty cigar, you will probably think the Gurkha Crest tastes like dirt. That's ok by me, and I certainly understand that taste interpretation. The flavor is there; it's up to you whether you personally like it or not.
[Reply]

have had one sitting since the initial release like over a year ago, got it at the tasting at WC. Maybe one day I will get to it
[Reply]

I just can't believe with ALL the selection at Empire....you picked a Gurkha?

:-)
[Reply]

This was one of the only Gurkhas I really enjoyed!!!:-)
[Reply]

You have to understand that I went in thinking that any US based shop was not going to have anything for sale that I would like all that much. I am a very, very spoiled little herfer girl. So picking up an interesting novelty for the sake of spending some money in the shop was about my speed. I figured it was gonna be a dog turd, something to smoke mainly so that I could make verbose fun of it, and that was fine with me since I could chase it with something I actually enjoyed from my own humidor.

I've been pretty well out of touch with the cigar scene for the last several years, so I don't actually know what's good any more in terms of modern production, especially domestics. I was quite pleasantly surprised, and I look forward to continuing to educate my palate.
[Reply]

What the hell... I paid like $30 something for this damn thing and you paid $9.50! I'm furious! Haha well I'm glad you liked this cigar. I have a few in the cooler but have yet to try it. I'm not a huge Gurkha fan, I use to when I first started out.

Anyway, glad you enjoyed it!
[Reply]