This holiday season was special for me for many reasons. I got time off to travel and visit family that I haven't seen in a long time. I got some exceptional gifts from some exceptional people. And I got to experience a Gurkha Warlord cigar that my father-in-law offered me. The lucky guy had just received a whole chest of them as a gift.
The Gurkha Warlord Review
The Warlord is a super premium smoke by Gurkha. Gurkha was opened in 1989 in Miami, Florida, and still operates there, being led by Gurkha's president Hansotia Kaizad.
My Warlord indicated that it was manufactured in Nicaragua on the band, but I'm told that Gurkha's line of cigars feature tobaccos from the Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Indonesia as well. The Warlord cigar in particular is made of Nicaraguan fillers, a Nicaraguan wrapper, and Connecticut binders.
Upon opening the sleeve that the cigar shipped in, the first thought that came to my mind was: bold.
Construction of the Gurkha Warlord
The quality of the construction of the Gurkha Warlord is one not typically seen in cigars today.
The cigar is a 7x55, but feels thicker and heavier than a standard 55 gauge cigar. Mine felt solidly assembled and was densely packed with tobacco – there were no noticeable weak or soft spots to indicate voids left in the rolling process.
The wrapper was smooth and tight with no noticeable veins or bumpy areas.
The Gurkha Warlord features a cloth band at the foot of the cigar with a much larger band made out of cedar right above that. The labeling band with the Gurkha crest in gold lettering with a black-with-gold "Warlord" band below finish off the package. The Gurkha Warlord is not just a cigar, it's truly a work of art.
Smoking the Gurkha Warlord
The Gurkha Warlord is regarded as a super premium cigar and smoking the Warlord did not disappoint in that regard.
The draw was well-balanced, if not a little bit on the easy side – especially considering how tightly packed the cigar is. The ash burned white, powdery, and thick like you would expect of a cigar of this caliber.
The Warlord was robust and meaty in flavor – a hint of leather perhaps – but nothing too overpowering. As I neared the end of the cigar, I was expecting the flavor to strengthen or develop a bitterness, but I didn't notice much of any difference. The flavor remained full and satisfying.
The worst part of the cigar was finishing it knowing that I didn't have another one to smoke.
The Gurkha Warlord was truly a pleasure and I hope I get an opportunity to experience another one in the near future.
Richard Silvers - My wife and I are practitioners of a paleolithic diet. Much of my writing covers the topics of health, nutrition, fitness, and weight ...
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