Stogie Reviews: Gurkha Class Regent Torpedo
Wednesday, January 24th, 2007It’s a good thing this Gurkha Class Regent Torpedo sports one of the manufacturer’s typically distinctive bands. Otherwise it might be mistaken for a block of chocolate candy. The dark Habana 2000 wrapper looks nearly good enough to eat.
But this box-pressed beauty is better for smoking.
This particular stick was a gift from Stogie Guy Patrick S, who said he got it from CBid. He generously passed it along when we met last month in Ybor City.
My experiences with Gurkha have been fairly limited, so I had no real preconceptions when I clipped and lit this one. Before even beginning to concentrate on the taste, I was bowled over by the smoke: incredibly thick, rich, and creamy. Few cigars can match the level of smoke produced by the Regent. It really did hang in the air as if you could slice it with a knife.
After blowing a few smoke rings, I began to concentrate on the taste. There was an initial sharpness that smoothed out about a third of the way down, replaced for a short period by a sweetness and then a nuttiness. As the gray ash grew, the tobacco taste began to meld with a warm, earthy tone. In the final third, hints of caramel came and went.
According to Gurkha, the cigar has a Habana 2000 Indonesian binder and Dominican filler. They call it medium to heavy; to me, it was closer to medium on the scale.
The draw was fine, and the heavy smoke continued throughout. A roomful of politicians puffing these Gurkhas could set a new standard for smoke-filled rooms.
The only problem I encountered involved the burn, including a little canoeing about halfway down. But I was able to correct that fairly easily with a touch up light.
All in all, this is a very satisfying cigar and one I plan to smoke again. It also got me interested in exploring more of the Gurkha line. I give this stick four out of five stogies.
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Nice review, George. This Gurkha clearly did much better than the Connecticut Reserve Robusto No. 4:
http://www.stogieguys.com/2006/07/stogie-reviews-gurkha-connecticut.html
Do you think Patrick S’s experience with bad construction was an anomaly, or is this stick just made better?
As I noted, I’ve not smoked a lot of Gurkhas so I’m really not able to comment broadly about their quality. This stick was fine.
From that picture it really does look like a bar of chocolate!
[...] The reader that predicts the winner and gets closest to the margin of victory gets a fantastic Stogie Guys selected 5 pack of handmade cigars! (The exact 5 cigars are to be determined, but we guarantee it will include a 4 stogie rated Gurkha Class Regent Torpedo, a Macanudo Robust and a 5 Vegas.) In the event of a tie we’ll use the total points as the tiebreaker. [...]
[...] For his skilled (or maybe just lucky) prognosticating, Kevin will receive five fantastic stogies: a Gurkha Class Regent Torpedo, a Macanudo Robust Rothschild, a 5 Vegas Series ‘A’ Alpha, a Puros Indios ‘Special-Aged’ Piramide, and a CAO Criollo Pato. The Gurkha, Macanudo and CAO have all received impressive four out of five stogie ratings. [...]
[...] Gurkha Class Regent Torpedo [...]
[...] As promised, Dave will receive these Final Four smokes: a Montecristo Classic Robusto, a Cohiba (Dominican) Robusto, a Gurkha Class Regent Torpedo, and a rare Dona Flor Robusto. Some excellent smokes for an excellent bracket! [...]
[...] I know many of you are going to disagree with this statement, but I see Gurkha as sort of a hit or miss brand. Sometimes I’m blown away by incredible value, and other times I’m left utterly frustrated by poor construction. Consider, for example, the vast differences between our reviews of the Class Regent and Connecticut Reserve lines. [...]
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