Thursday, April 5, 2007

Gurkha Grand Master Dos Capas

8½" X 52, Dos Capas (Natural & Cameroon "Barber Pole")

Judging by the Cigar International Print, this cigar should be amazing:

"In a word: Sublime.

This monstrous vitola - a small-batch Gurkha blend presumptuously entitled "Grand Master" - is a majestic 8.5”x52 in size. Most uniquely, the Grand Master offers “dos capas,” or two wrappers, draped around the cigar in a distinctive barber pole fashion. It's far from a novelty though: this 2-hour smoke has a tendency to impress the most jaded among us.

Despite its imposing size, this refined and mellow blend is less the big hairy monster and more the dashing young gent. You see, the interplay of true Cameroon leaf together with a well-cured, dark Habana 2000 wrapper leaf imparts a very polished and subtle taste - almost graceful - yet with a zesty, medium-bodied, slightly nutty character.

A mere 40,000 sticks rolled per year."

Hmmm. . . Isn't advertising great? Lets get into the reality of the situation. This cigar was a pretty looking, if imposing beast of a cigar. The Dos Capas wrapper effect is quite cool looking, there is not doubt. This cigar clipped easily and the draw was smooth and forgiving, which sometimes can be a problem with cigars of this size. Personally speaking, I will have to say I wish the gauge was a bit smaller, as I found ti to be a bit cumbersome to smoke. I am not sure its possible to be of lesser gauge and not hurt the draw, but it would be nice if it was. Burn wise, it occasionally had issue but nothing major or terribly derogatory to the experience, and you kinda expect a few small runs in a stogie of this size. Regarding the flavor, this cigar was thoroughly. . . . . . . .okay. It had some nice tangy flavor indicative of Cameroon wrappers and some refined (if not terribly flavorful) smoothness of a decent natural wrapper but the first full 4", year half of the cigar, was quite unimpressive. The last three inches or so got better, with some notes of Cinnamon and earthiness, and a late burst or two of pepper, but by then I had been smoking this cigar for a LONG time, and it just wasn't enough of a payoff. Note to Gurkha: you may wanna consider making these as rothchilds instead.

TomC

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It’s really a nice and helpful piece of information. I’m glad that you shared this helpful info with us. Please keep us informed like this. Thanks for sharing.