Gurkha Centurion Review

[donp]

I smoked my first Gurkha Centurion double X yesterday evening, after having let it sit for about 2 months in my coolerdor. I have to say I was expecting a lot more given the MSRP on this cigar ($30.00 each). I am glad I didn't pay that much for it, or I'd be more than a little disappointed.

The construction of this is very good, and the wrapper was very smooth and oily. I clipped it and tasted it pre-lit, not bad.
I lit it and probably screwed up the light, and through the first 2 inches it burned unevenly and needed a couple of corrections. The draw was okay (due to the uneveness) but got better. The aroma was earthy and woody, and the ash was flaky and greyish/black.
Through the first 4 inches the tastes were creamy, slightly spicey and had a very good tobacco taste. The tobacco's are 8 year aged cuban seed, and the wrapper is an aged connecticut wrapper. All in all, maybe I was expecting too much. I mean, I could tell I was smoking a good cigar but, I just couldn't see what the hoopla is all about, let alone the price. I kept smoking and once I hit the middle part, there was a significant change in the strength of the thing. All of a sudden there was spice, leather, creaminess and lots of smoke. The draw seemed to have loosened up bigtime, and there was lots of good smoke. I appreciated the latter half of this smoke more than the former part. If this smoke got down to business sooner maybe I wouldn't be so uncertain about it. This is a good cigar and my opinions of it may change the next time around but, for right now, I wouldn't go out of my way to pay a lot for them. I got a mazo of 6 for 28 bucks, and if available again I would spring for that but, not much more.

[pistol]

I completely agree with your review. I think it's a good smoke, and for the right price, I can really enjoy it. The second half is much better than the first and the smoke is great once you hit the pinnacle of the 60 ring guage. I actually prefer the legend perfecto to the centurion xx as I think the smoke has more body throughout the entire length of the cigar.

[onlyonerm]

I recently picked up a few of these on c-bid but have yet to try. I looked these up on Cigar.com to see what these were all about and I notice it was listed as both Dominican, Natural(Tube of 14 $235) & Honduran, Natural(Single Stick $20). Does anyone no which is it??

[aphexacid]

You guys should try the Beast. Now thats a good smoke. The centurion lacked in a lot of areas to me. The last Beast i had lasted almost 2 hours! I swear theyre as close to cuban as you can get.

[ColdCuts]

Because the weather in NYC was so mild last night, I organized an impromptu three-man herf. We each smoked a Gurkha Centurion XX perfecto (6 X 60), which we paired with glasses of Woodford Reserve Four Grain. These had been resting in my humi since last August (about six months). In the first post, donp said the MSRP on these is $30 each. I've seen 'em retail for $20, but either way, they're just about as expensive as they come. I'd never tried a Gurkha, but I found a deal on a nine-cigar Gurkha sampler that worked out to about $7 a stick so I jumped at it. All this is to say, I was expecting quite a lot from this cigar.

It was a fine looking smoke, that's for sure. It smelled great, but the draw was a bit tight. This cigar is tapered at both ends so, over the course of the smoke, I found myself clipping more and more in hopes of achieving a perfect draw. Unfortunately, by the time I was happy with the draw, I had already smoked half the cigar. All three cigars had burn problems, but it was gusty out so I don't think the cigars deserve all the blame for the burn problems, but they did require frequent attention and touchups with the torch. My friends didn't struggle quite as much with their cigars, but they weren't trouble-free either. Also, these cigars didn't produce a lot of smoke. It wasn't all bad though. When the cigar was smoking well, the flavors were good: medium body, leather and wood, with a hint of pepper resting mostly at the front of the palate.

So, while the flavors were nice, at the end of the day, this cigar required much too much fussing and babying, at times becoming an obstacle to good, easy conversation. That's not what I look for in a $20 cigar, a $7 cigar, or even a cheapie. If I had more of these in the humi, I'd give the Gurkha Centurion XX another chance, but I don't, and I won't be buying any more of these.