tonygraz wrote:Haven't smoked one and probably will never do so. I've heard they were OK, but if you want to try one go to a B&M and while you are at it try the Ghost there too.
The only Gurk I ever had that matched the propaganda was the Ancient Warrior and that was a long time ago- newer ones don't often make it much out of the yard gar category and that's a usual story with internet Gurks.
That AW had to be the purple band. The yellow label were gawdawful. Sadly, many of the Gurks I enjoyed seem to be missing or changed. Nepalese Warrior, Black Dragon, Titan, Doble Maduro, Triple Ligero, Signature 101 Maduro. Some of these are still around, but yeah, that purple banded AW was smooth....great, big smoke. Think the Regent may still be around. H2000 wrapper, IIRC. Good smoke back in the day. To me, just about any Gurkha with a Costa Rican maduro wrapper was just about guaranteed to please my taste buds.
Gurkha used to make a small number of quality smokes. They often gave away some of the best smokes at Cfest (at least the years I went). The Kaiser was always an affable guy. Then one day, it's like they started vomiting cigars at a ludicrous rate and became a running joke. Something about killing the goose that laid the golden egg comes to mind. The list prices of the good, early lines were pretty laughable, but they could often be had here and the mothership at very reasonable prices.
I cannot recall the last time I bought any in quantity. Maybe one or two here or there out of curiosity. Proof positive that if something isn't broke, don't fix it, IMHO, and I use to have a 300 count humi filled wit aging, quality Gurkhas. Now I look at it more like a friend I don't recognize any more.