Wrapper: Brazilian
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: $8.00 - $9.00
Gurkha cigars are always in my humidor. Ever since I was in college, I always appreciated cigars made by them. The first time I had an Evil was my sophomore year of college. I remember walking into a new smoke shop and seeing them sitting on the shelf. They drew my attention because they had a very unique band. Up until that time, all of the Gurkhas I had smoked had roughly the same band. This one, however, had a very rustic look to it. After I smoked a few in college, I never saw them in another store.
A few months ago, Gurkha released the XO sizes for some of their biggest brands. The XOs are a series of 6” x 60 cigars. One of them happened to be the Evil. A friend of mine sent me one of them that he received and asked me to review it. After sitting in my humidor for a while, I decided it was a good day to enjoy a huge cigar like this one.
This cigar features a dark brown wrapper that is clearly very oily. The oils in the wrapper give this cigar a nice shine. There were a couple of thin veins that ran through this cigar, which I knew wouldn’t affect the burn pattern. The cap was consisted of two layers, both of which sat perfectly flush. The cigar had one soft spot by the band, and the foot was also soft. Other than that, the cigar was very solid. When I first smelled this cigar, I noticed just how sweet the cigar smelled.
Once I lit the cigar up, I was expecting some strong spice, but instead I was hit with a strong woodiness. There was a little bit of spice, but it was very light. Along with the spice came some creaminess. The spice quickly mellowed out and the woodiness and earthiness of this cigar took over.
Once this cigar burned down about an inch or so, the flavor became very toasty with some subtle sweet notes. It slightly resembled sugared toast. The creaminess picked up a great deal as well. As I continued to smoke this cigar, there seemed to be some leather flavors that came out and coated my palate. The light spice started to sit on my tongue also.
As I rounded into the second third of this cigar I noticed just how creamy this cigar was. The creaminess had lightened up a bit, but it was still a main flavor. The woodiness and earthiness remained strong as I continued to smoke this huge cigar. The leather notes also became very robust as I smoked as well.
Once I got to the halfway point of this cigar, there was a little bit more spice that came out. Just when I was getting used to the flavors, I was greeted with a light coffee flavor. Once the coffee came out, I had a bunch of breakfast flavors; the sugared toast, and the coffee.
The last couple inches were pretty much the same as the second third. The creaminess and leather notes were the main flavors while the wood and earth notes were mellowed out. The biggest difference was the spice. The spice came out quite a bit more and led to a strong and full flavored finish to this cigar.
The ash on this cigar was a mix of gray shades as well as brown. The ash also held on for about 2 inches at a time. The burn was a little wavy at first, but it evened out, and stayed even after the halfway point. The draw was very easy and helped to produce a thick light gray smoke. The smoke also gave off a very earthy and woody aroma.
This is one of the Gurkha cigars that I really enjoy. I personally like it best in the toro, but I was given the new XO, so I reviewed this one. The flavors are great throughout this cigar are very good. I recommend this cigar to people who like medium to full bodied cigar. I give this one a 8 out of 10.
Thanks for reading,
Zack the Stogie Man
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