Stogie Reviews: Gurkha Expedition Toro (Part I)
24 Jan 2008
Cigars sit in my humidor for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes I try to hang on to them as long as I can, secure in the belief that they’ll improve with age. Others I just don’t seem to pick up when I’m choosing a cigar, even those I’ve enjoyed in the past.
Gurkhas often fall into that category. I have a few – probably 10 to 12 – from different lines, and I realized when I picked up a six inch toro Expedition the other day that it had been resting for about a year and a half. Well, I thought, that looks promising. So I picked it up.
When I slid the cedar sleeve off, I noticed a crack in the wrapper at the foot that ran close to a half inch. As I cut the 50 ring gauge cap, most of it came off, and the wrapper began to unwrap. Undaunted, I plunged ahead. After all, I keep the humidity and temperature pretty regular, but I’m always willing to take the blame when there are problems that could relate to storage.
It did light easily, and I was greeted with a pleasant cedar taste with thick, white smoke. Unfortunately, things went downhill quickly. The wrapper developed more splits than Disney on Ice. It continued unraveling as well, creating a three-dimensional barber pole effect.
Then, about halfway down, it blew up. I swear, I started looking for Allen Funt. I even checked the band, wondering if I’d been smoking the Gurkha Explosion rather than the Expedition.
I no choice but to call it quits. This is one case where I don’t think it’s fair to rate the cigar without smoking more, which I intend to do. But I wanted to see if I could first get some input from our readers.
What experiences have you had with the Gurkha Expedition? Let me know so I can bear them in mind when I try another and can include some when I do the second part of this review.
photo credit: Stogie Guys
Patrick Ashby
Co-Founder & Editor in Chief
Patrick Semmens
Co-Founder & Publisher
George Edmonson
Tampa Bureau Chief
I've tried the Gurkhas, and in my humble opinion they are the most overrated (and overpriced) stick on the market today.The quality is inconsistent – and the constuction sometimes downright shoddy.
There are too many very good reasonably priced cigars out there – Punch Chateau's,Rocky Patels,Joya de Nicaragua – to waste time with these.
I'm with Scottright. Gurkha should spend less on the marketing and packaging and more time with the product. I do admit liking the Titan but even though it tasted good, I still felt ripped off.
My personal experiences with Gurkha seems to be that I've enjoyed their more full-flavored cigars far more than the more mild ones.
For example, the Gurkha Class Regent and Gurkha Legend have been excellent. But the Gurkha Connecticut and Expedition have ben less than stellar.
Has anyone else had the same experience?
Also, while the MSRPs are all particularly high, I've found you can usually find them online for a fraction of the MSRP if you do some comparison shopping.
Ouch. More splits than Disney on Ice? How about more splits than Jenna Jameson? (I'm pretty she does splits…)
Thanks for the feedback. Anybody else out there have any thoughts?
I agree with some of the others, the majority of Gurkha product is way over rated. HOWEVER, the Expedition series, I have always found to be one of the better values in the market. With smart shopping they can be had for about $65 a box (really) and for that you get a great value in cigars.
Most of Gurkha's higher priced stuff except for the Regent & Expedition series have been serious disappointments for me. Lots of flashy labels, macho names and fancy boxes.