Stogie Reviews: Gurkha Ancient Warrior Brazilian Puro

A few months ago I won a five-pack of Gurkha Ancient Warriors on Cigarbid. To be honest, I hadn’t really paid much attention to the picture, description, or dimensions of the stogies. I just figured they were Gurkha Ancient Warriors.

Then the package arrived. The sticks were so large I checked the return address to make sure they hadn’t been sent from Hillerich & Bradsby. The purple band was offset by a wrapper at the foot that ran more than three inches up the 7.5 inch cigar. Glancing at all the printing on it, I was surprised there wasn’t a second page.

After identifying K. Hansotia & Co. as the manufacturer and noting “A Century Of Tradition,” the label announced that this was a “Special Edition / Private Stock / Limited Vintage / Brazilian Blend / Ancient Warrior.” Try writing that on your next order form.

Well, I began to wonder just what these 50 ring gauge behemoths were. I looked up the Ancient Warrior on Gurkha’s site and there was no resemblance. Then I put in a call to the Beach Cigar Group in Miami that’s listed on Gurkha’s site as the contact. I didn’t know if that was the name of the actual manufacturer or the wholesaler or distributor or what, but I figured they could tell me about the cigar. And maybe they could. But after leaving a bazillion unreturned voice-mail messages, I gave up.

I sent an email to SteveR at CBid asking about the sticks. He replied almost at once. This Ancient Warrior, he wrote, is “very different from the one you will find on the Gurkha web site…made exclusively for us.”

He said the blend is Cuban-seed Brazilian tobacco with a Brazilian maduro wrapper. The “regular” Ancient Warrior has a Nicaraguan binder and Dominican and Honduran filler, according to Gurkha’s site.

OK, so then I knew what I had. Now I should move along or this review will end up almost as long as the cigar.

The prelight aroma was light and pleasant; touched by flame, it was even nicer. The smoke was silky and smooth. From start to finish, there were many tastes: a little pepper, some leather, hay, cedar, caramel, vanilla.

But, let’s face it, smoking a cigar that long can seem more like a job than a pleasure. When I clipped the head, I halfway expected it to reveal rings instead of tobacco.

On the other hand, of the four I’ve smoked, one was plugged beyond repair, but the other three burned fine. Remarkably fine, I’d say, for a stick that size. They didn’t get hot and the draw was OK throughout.

I paid $15 for the five-pack and, since it was one of two orders, the shipping made for a pretty low total.

Rating the cigar is difficult because of all the considerations. But I think you’d have trouble finding a better bargain if you like a cigar that looks like Bobby Abreu should take it to the on-deck circle.

As for me, I can’t see spending that much time smoking one cigar again, so I finally came down to a rating of three out of five stogies.

[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here.]

–George E

Tags: cigars

Check this week’s Friday Sampler for a chance to win George’s final Gurkha “CBid” Warrior.