Gurkha Park Avenue Serie '44' Churchill
7" x 48 ring gauge
Binder and filler: Nicaragua
Wrapper: Connecticut (Ecuadorian)
Tonight my herfing buddy and I decided to fire up a couple of Gurkha Park Avenue Serie '44' Churchills that I had from a 5'er off of CBid. On initial examination of the cigar, I immediately was struck by the sheer beauty of the wrapper. It was extremely soft and silky, with a flawless appearance both in wrapper quality, and the general construction of the cigar. It was easily one of the most perfectly made sticks I have seen, so much that it almost appeared fake. I was also quite taken by the band, which was very large, but not gaudy by any means, with a sleek, yet elegant look.
I clipped the end of the cigar with my trusty Xikar cutter, and took a prelight draw (which was perfect, I might add), which revealed a grassy, hay like flavor, and on smelling the foot I detected the same, but in aroma form. I could tell that this cigar would be a mild to medium body at most, due to the lack of any spice on the prelight draw.
Using my Vector torch lighter (which was gifted to me by my herfing buddy earlier this year, awesome lighter!), I toasted the end until it was black and even. I then began to take slow, deep draws, lighting this beaut up to reveal an amazing cigar. I was delighted to find that while very mellow and mild, it was flavorful at the same time. It had a very slight cinnamon sweetness to it on the back of the throat, with buttery notes up front mixed with a touch of wood and grass. I swirled the smoke around slowly in my mouth, enjoying the taste and then let a small amount out of the nose, then blew the rest out very softly. I was rewarded with a huge, billowing cloud of smoke that was very aromatic, reminding me of wood and hay. The wood smell was so delicious, reminding me strongly of a warm campfire, that I decided to pull the cover off of the new fire pit and light up a few logs. Ahh...this is the life! I even took it a couple steps further and lit the Tiki torches! The beautiful, warm yet very slightly breezy night, coupled with the cigars and the fires was utterly blissful. My buddy commented to me that these cigars were awesome, especially for the price point of under $3.00 a stick! I agreed.
Whoa, back to the cigar! At this point, I was a good half to three quarters inch into it, and the burn was perfectly straight, with a white ash that while it looked strong, was actually pretty soft. It was at this point we discovered the one flaw to these cigars; the wrapper. While it was beautiful, no doubt, it was very thin and weak, which caused it to tear quite easily from our teeth. No matter though, it didn't hamper the draw, so we let it go as a, "For the price, i'll deal with it!".
The first quarter was very consistent, in strength category (mild) and flavor. The burn stayed perfect, as did the draw, and the finish was short and clean. Towards the halfway point it did pick up some length in the finish, and the grassy notes I experienced in the prelight draw began to come out more.
The last quarter revealed the young age of the tobacco in that it did start to gain a slightly bitter, ammonia taste to it, though the strength and flavors stayed consistent otherwise. The burn was still going strong and straight, and the draw was perfect all the way through. I put it down with about an inch and a quarter left.
All in all, these are an excellent cigar for the price. In a blind test I would have thought this to be a Perdomo perhaps due to the grassy notes. I enjoyed this cigar very much, as did my buddy, and we both agreed that for under $3.00 a stick, these would be damn well worth a box and making a go to smoke. I think with a year of aging that the harshness we experienced toward the end would smooth out.
7" x 48 ring gauge
Binder and filler: Nicaragua
Wrapper: Connecticut (Ecuadorian)
Tonight my herfing buddy and I decided to fire up a couple of Gurkha Park Avenue Serie '44' Churchills that I had from a 5'er off of CBid. On initial examination of the cigar, I immediately was struck by the sheer beauty of the wrapper. It was extremely soft and silky, with a flawless appearance both in wrapper quality, and the general construction of the cigar. It was easily one of the most perfectly made sticks I have seen, so much that it almost appeared fake. I was also quite taken by the band, which was very large, but not gaudy by any means, with a sleek, yet elegant look.
I clipped the end of the cigar with my trusty Xikar cutter, and took a prelight draw (which was perfect, I might add), which revealed a grassy, hay like flavor, and on smelling the foot I detected the same, but in aroma form. I could tell that this cigar would be a mild to medium body at most, due to the lack of any spice on the prelight draw.
Using my Vector torch lighter (which was gifted to me by my herfing buddy earlier this year, awesome lighter!), I toasted the end until it was black and even. I then began to take slow, deep draws, lighting this beaut up to reveal an amazing cigar. I was delighted to find that while very mellow and mild, it was flavorful at the same time. It had a very slight cinnamon sweetness to it on the back of the throat, with buttery notes up front mixed with a touch of wood and grass. I swirled the smoke around slowly in my mouth, enjoying the taste and then let a small amount out of the nose, then blew the rest out very softly. I was rewarded with a huge, billowing cloud of smoke that was very aromatic, reminding me of wood and hay. The wood smell was so delicious, reminding me strongly of a warm campfire, that I decided to pull the cover off of the new fire pit and light up a few logs. Ahh...this is the life! I even took it a couple steps further and lit the Tiki torches! The beautiful, warm yet very slightly breezy night, coupled with the cigars and the fires was utterly blissful. My buddy commented to me that these cigars were awesome, especially for the price point of under $3.00 a stick! I agreed.
Whoa, back to the cigar! At this point, I was a good half to three quarters inch into it, and the burn was perfectly straight, with a white ash that while it looked strong, was actually pretty soft. It was at this point we discovered the one flaw to these cigars; the wrapper. While it was beautiful, no doubt, it was very thin and weak, which caused it to tear quite easily from our teeth. No matter though, it didn't hamper the draw, so we let it go as a, "For the price, i'll deal with it!".
The first quarter was very consistent, in strength category (mild) and flavor. The burn stayed perfect, as did the draw, and the finish was short and clean. Towards the halfway point it did pick up some length in the finish, and the grassy notes I experienced in the prelight draw began to come out more.
The last quarter revealed the young age of the tobacco in that it did start to gain a slightly bitter, ammonia taste to it, though the strength and flavors stayed consistent otherwise. The burn was still going strong and straight, and the draw was perfect all the way through. I put it down with about an inch and a quarter left.
All in all, these are an excellent cigar for the price. In a blind test I would have thought this to be a Perdomo perhaps due to the grassy notes. I enjoyed this cigar very much, as did my buddy, and we both agreed that for under $3.00 a stick, these would be damn well worth a box and making a go to smoke. I think with a year of aging that the harshness we experienced toward the end would smooth out.
