Pre-light Experience

Whether from the power of suggestion from the band or not, the wrapper has a bronze coloring to it with a few easily visible and raised veins. The seams are also easily visible as they are slightly raised in some areas. The head has a double cap with the top cap raised on one side. The band has the traditional company logo design with lots of copper coloring as well as the line name at the bottom. The aroma from the wrapper is a mix of sweet hay and some wood. The foot brings some more wood along with a nice floral note. The pre-light draw is a mix of wood, cardboard and a very faint floral note. There is also a mild spiciness on my lips and the tip of my tongue.

Pre-light Experience

The Gurkha Havana Legend Toro has a chocolate brown wrapper, with a brown label featuring copper accents. The aroma on the wrapper brings notes of tanned leather along with sweet cedar and hay combination at the foot.

First Third

The cigar begins with a mix of wood and baking spice along with an interesting floral perfume type note on the finish. At a half inch in, the baking spice mellows as the wood remains up front. The floral perfume finish remains. At an inch in, a light amount of cream and bitterness join in. As the third comes to a close, some char joins in which pushes out the cream while the wood, slight bitterness and floral perfume finish remain. The strength in this third was slightly below medium.

First Third

My first few draws bring flavors of powdered cocoa, baking spices, vanilla and leather. The retrohale has a rich creamy sweetness. Each draw is rewarded with a satisfying amount of smoke production. As the first third begins to establish itself, some intense post draw drying leather takes hold. With the post draw leather in the mix, the balance between cocoa, spices and sweet creaminess is thrown into disarray. As the smoking experience progresses, the complexity of cocoa and spices on the retrohale continues to build from medium up to medium plus, almost full bodied. Fortunately, the post draw leather continues to fall away by the halfway point down to a light plus.

Second Third

As the second third begins, the charred wood is up front with a little baking spice and bitterness in the background. There is still a slight floral perfume finish. At an inch in, the profile is pretty much the same while the retrohale carries some wood and more of the floral perfume note. At an inch and a quarter, the char and bitterness both begin to increase. As the third comes to a close, some cream joined back in to knock down the bitterness as the charred wood is the dominant portion of the profile. The floral perfume note has left the profile. The strength in this third remained at slightly below medium.

Second Third

The cocoa that was so intense in the first third almost immediately starts to dial down with some light cedar rising up to match it in strength. Post draw earthiness joins the leather. Spices on the retrohale also begin to fall to light plus. As the second third establishes itself, I taste some maple sweetness. Due to the sizable nature of the band, I have to remove it at the halfway point of the cigar. The cocoa continues to fall almost down to a light minus, with the leather on the post draw falling to light. The cedar continues to pick up in intensity to a medium minus. As the cigar progresses on the second half, the earthiness starts to take on some char, with the cedar largely dominating the flavor profile for the remainder of the second third.

Final Third

As the final third begins, the cream has continued to increase which really smooths out the charred wood note. At a half inch in, the floral perfume note returns to the background and the retrohale. At an inch in, the cigar begins to warm up a bit which brings some mintiness to mix with the charred wood and cream. The floral perfume note is slightly present on the finish. As the cigar comes to a close, the cream has increased some more to become even with the charred wood with some mintiness in the background. The strength in this third bumped up to medium.

Final Third

The final third has sour citrus, and the earth backs down to light plus. The char components from the middle third end up muting the rest of the flavors for the rest of the smoking experience.

Burn

I had to perform one re-light in the first third and then from the middle of the cigar through the beginning of the final third, the cigar didn’t want to stay lit and I performed at least five more re-lights which couldn’t have had a positive experience on the flavor profile.

Burn

The ash held on well with a slightly uneven burn that doesn’t require touch-ups at first. I end up having to re-light halfway through the cigar, with burn issues through the last third and touch-ups required.

Draw

The draw was slightly tighter than I prefer but didn’t cause any issues with the smoking experience.

Overall

The flavor profile was centered around wood and baking spice in the first third along with a floral perfume note. As the cigar progressed, some cream joined in as the wood gained some char and the floral perfume note remained. Construction was a weak point for the cigar, primarily the burn as it had a hard time staying lit for about half of the cigar. Overall, it was an average experience and the burn was quite a bit of a turn off. I’m not sure I’d revisit this one even if the burn was better though the floral perfume note was a nice touch for the flavor profile.

Draw

The draw on the Gurkha Havana Legend Toro is slightly resistant which is an ideal draw.

Overall

The Gurkha Havana Legend Toro was enjoyable, and delivers in the first third. Unfortunately, the flavor profile begins to break down in the second third and never recovers. As such, the total experience ends up being quite average. For the price point, I think this is a cigar that is not a risky buy for most cigar smokers.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.45

Cost/Point

$1.10

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

5.55

Cost/Point

$1.08

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: Gurkha Havana Legend Toro