Gurkha Doble Maduro

The Gurkha brand is known for its ornate boxes and high quality cigars. The Gurkha Doble Maduro was created by Kaizad Hansotia who bought the brand and its inventory from a man in Goa, India for $149 in 1989. Now Mr. Hansotia has one of the most well known brands in the world, and also has the claim to fame of having produced the most expensive cigar in the world called His Majesty's Reserve going for $15,000 for a box of 20. The Gurkha Doble Maduro is a luscious handmade cigar wrapped in a dark, oily, toothy Costa Rican maduro, bound with a Dominican long leaf, and packed full of aged Dominican and Honduran tobaccos. Throughout the smoke, the maduro wrapper will lead in the flavor profile with rich and dark chocolaty undertones with a light sweetness in the aftertaste. The filler will mellow the cigar out a bit with flavors of leather, tobacco, nuttiness, and hints of espresso. Towards the end of this smoke, you will also find a peppery spiciness comes into play. We smoked ours after dinner with a cup of coffee to help bring out the chocolate and espresso undertones.

The Nicaraguan cigar industry originated when Cuban cigar makers escaped the revolution and re-established their livelihood in Nicaragua with Cuban-seed tobacco. Blessed with dark, rich soil, their new home was ideal for tobacco cultivation and Nicaragua quickly became known for cigars that rivaled Cuban quality. Unfortunately, revolution and war came to Nicaragua in the 1980s and devastated the industry, but it’s rebounded dramatically and is once again producing tobacco considered by many to be the finest in the world. The Esteli Valley is in many ways the heart of Nicaraguan production and is known for its very powerful and spicy tobacco. The Jalapa Valley produces arguably the finest tobacco in the country: somewhat sweeter and less intense than Esteli, but extremely complex. The tobacco of the Condega Valley is often described as a blend of the other two regions.