Beauty: by Gurkha

Beauty by Gurkha: a light silky Ecuadorian wrapper, aged seven years, encases aged Dominican binders and Nicaraguan filler tobacco which makes for a light-bodied counterpart for the Beast, undoubtedly a play on the traditional French fairytale.  This dichotomy seemed too perfect not to explore, and so I chose the Beauty as the next Gurkha I would review.

When I first grabbed one of these sticks out of the humidor, I was struck by how heavy it felt in my hand.  At 6.5x58 these Beauties aren't exactly petite, but more to love right?  The Beauty features on it two bands: the large one which Gurkha seems to put on all of it's super premiums and a second one which reads: Beauty.  The Ecuadorian wrapper had a silky quality to it, and had a single vein under the band, much like the Beast did. All in all, a well constructed cigar.

Then came the time to light up.  The pre-light aromas are of mild tobacco and a slight floral aroma.  After the foot was toasted I took my first puff and got almost no smoke.  I have a penchant for a firmer draw, but this was so bad I couldn't enjoy the opening moments of the cigar.  Even though I used a straight cutter, I had to cut it a second time to improve the airflow, and after a little bit the draw relaxed and allowed me to explore the flavor profile.  In the first third the light smoke carried with it notes of graham cracker, light tobacco flavors and hints of nutmeg.  As the cigar rounded out the first third, I also noted some cinnamon flavors which complemented the nutmeg nicely.  It was around the halfway mark where I stopped noting changes in the flavor, so the Beauty starts off with some complexity and then delivers smooth mild flavor right to the end.  As you can see from the pictures the burn was decently even and the head retention was excellent, hanging on for almost half the cigar.

I paired this with a cup of medium bodied coffee which helped to draw out the cinnamon notes in the cigar but while I was discussing this cigar with my brother, he suggested tea.  I have never heard of anyone pairing cigars with tea, but honestly I think this would do nicely with a cup of Earl Grey, as the light flavors of the tea won't overwhelm the flavors of the cigar.

Now for the big question: is this cigar worth the price tag?  Honestly I find myself hard pressed to recommend this cigar simply because you could get several cigars for the same price, and hours more enjoyment.  It wasn't bad by any means, but the problems I had with the draw were somewhat off-putting for me and honestly I tend to be partial to medium to full-bodied cigars that are full flavored, and this cigar doesn't really fit the bill. At no point was I unhappy with the flavor, but I found that at times it wasn't exciting enough to keep me focused on it.   In short, if you have a lot of money to throw around, then give this one a try.  If not, then you'd be better off looking somewhere else.