It appears to be very popular to dismiss Gurkha en mass without really being aware of the changes to the company within the last couple of years. Granted, in prior years, Gurkha spent more input on box design and marketing than on the quality of the cigars it produced. In fact, Gurkha, as an entity, manufactured no cigars. It purchased job lots from various manufacturers, banded, and boxed them. Since Jim Colucci took over running the company, there is an emphasis on marketing quality cigars. The Gurkha Nicaragua Series is a 100% Aganorsa cigar, manufactured in Nicaragua by the same factory as brands like Aganorsa Leaf, Casa Fernandez, Guardian of the Farm, Warped, Illusione and JFR. If you can still find them both, Gurkha San Miguel and Gurkha Treinta were also manufactured by the highly esteemed Aganorsa factory. The Treinta is a blend of Aganorsa grown Criolla 98 and 99 tobacco for its long filler and an Aganorsa Corojo 98 for its binder. The wrapper is a beautiful Ecuadorian Habano rosado. The San Miguel has a Nicaraguan Aganorsa shade grown corojo wrapper, a double Nicaraguan binder, and all Nicaraguan filler. These are all quality cigars. I'd also suggest that you sample the new Cellar Reserve series. We all have differing taste palates and until you sample a cigar, you can't really know if it's a cigar you'll enjoy.
Keep in mind that in the list of brands provided by KingoftheCove, eight of the list do not manufacture their own cigars. They contract for production and may or may not blend the manufactured product themselves.
Barbara wrote:
