Gurkha Beast

[Don Fernando]

Back in the day when the ocean was still a jungle and I was a newbie, I took part in the Newbie Sampler Trade and got paired up with Massphatness. He send me a great sampler and amongst them there were a Gurkha Beauty and a Gurkha Beast. Due to my previous experiences with Gurkha I always skipped those whenever I was browsing my collection, looking for something to smoke, but I could not pass them anymore, I owe it to Vin to smoke these and as always write a review, so I lit up the Gurkha Beast.

http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af186/cigarguide/reviews/gurkhabeasttoro1.jpg

The cigar 6x52 looks awesome, I like the Gurkha band and combined with the extra black & silver "BEAST" band and the cedar the looks are great. The wrapper is dark, smooth and oily. Once I release the cigar from the cellophane wrapper I smell a mild acidic straw. The construction feels good but the predraw is a bit on the loose side. The predraw leaves a mild peppery raisin flavor on the palate.

http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af186/cigarguide/reviews/gurkhabeasttoro2.jpg

I can taste some wood with a hint of chocolate. The flavors are mild. After an inch I also get some straw and the flavors grow a bit in strength. The flavors are a bit musty.

http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af186/cigarguide/reviews/gurkhabeasttoro3.jpg

Halfway the chocolate gets a bit stronger and becomes the main flavor. The strength of the flavors is now medium. After ⅔ the wood is the main flavor again and less musty. The chocolate is now a supporting flavor. After that the cigar gets more herbal.

http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af186/cigarguide/reviews/gurkhabeasttoro4.jpg

This cigar lasted me almost 90 minutes and gave me a poor amount of thin smoke. The ash is firm and light colored. The burn is good. There is a lot of nicotine build up in the cigar, I got a huge flame when I purged. This cigar is mild to medium flavored and medium bodied.

http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af186/cigarguide/reviews/gurkhabeasttoro5.jpg

Would I buy this cigar again? Nah, but then again, I say that about every Gurkha I smoked before so this shouldn't be a surprise.

Appearance: 8 / 10
Construction: 6 / 10
Draw: 6 / 10
Burn: 7 / 10
Smoke & ash: 6 / 10
Aroma first part: 6 / 10
Aroma second part: 6 / 10
Aroma third part: 6 / 10

[Don Fernando]

Crap, this is the Gurkha Beast. Can one of the mods please change the topic title?

[Don Fernando]

Thank you Dave ;)

[Volt]

You had me confused for sure. The Beast is definitly more potent than the Beauty.

[Don Fernando]

I had myself confused too Michael. The beauty is the next review, already smoked it and have the written review in front of me. Now I need to transfer it to a digital format and upload the pics.

[OHRD]

Got one of these in a c.com sampler - it's been lurking in the bottom of my humi for 2 years, taunting me, saying it's stronger than me. I mostly just tell it to shut the hell up, and remind it that it is a Gurkha.

[KenyanSandBoa]

Great review.

I haven't tried one of these, but I haven't really liked many of the Gurkhas I've tried, so I don't know how motivated I am to go down that route. :D