Beer, Motorcycles and Cigars — Beer, Bikes and Butts

I was ordering from Cigar.com a few nights ago, and came across the company’s “Cigar of the Month Club.” (Thompson Cigar Company has a cigar club, but every time I order from Thompson I’m bothered by a salesperson calling me the next day to sell me a membership, and I refuse to reward negative behavior.)

There are a number of permutations, but for $30 per month (free shipping) you can be surprised with five cigars every month. Cigar.com promises that the five cigars will consist of one high end “feature” cigar, two “recommended” cigars and two “everyday” cigars. I’ve never tried one of these clubs because I don’t want someone else picking my smokes, and I certainly don’t want any house brands foisted on me. But I liked that Cigar.com let’s you go month to month with no subscription requirement. If I get crap I’ll cancel and be out only 30 bucks. Plus, Cigar.com promised the first shipment would be worth $100.

I’ll give them this; the first shipment was impressive. Gurkha is one of my favorite brands, and shipment one was a Gurkha sampler consisting of the Titan, Beast, Centurian, Legend Churchill and Legend Perfecto. I grabbed the Gurkha Titan and a Widmer Hefeweizen and headed for the smoking lounge.

Gurkha Titan

The Gurkha Titan is a 6.2 x 56 Honduran cigar with a Maduro wrapper. This was the “feature” cigar, which is a fair assessment given these run around $22 a stick even from the discounters, meaning you’d probably pay $35 at your local cigar shop. The Titan debuted at the 2005 Retail Tobacco Dealers tradeshow, and with only 1,000 boxes made, it was only available to a small number of suppliers. The cigar begins with a combination of five year old Nicaraguan, Honduran, and Columbian fillers that are secured in a five year Nicaraguan binder. It is then finished with a dark 1996 Vintage Costa Rican wrapper. I only got the one, but if you buy in quantity they come in an impressive multi-compartment box constructed from brushed airplane aluminum. (Ranging on-line from $400 to $600 for a box of 16.)

The Gurkha Titan had a perfect burn and draw and yielded a long ash. Medium to strong the entire length, with lots of flavorful smoke tasting of spice. Cigar.com rated it at 89 out of 100, but I was slightly more impressed, giving it a 9.2 out of 10.

Widmer Hefeweizen

The Widmer Hefeweizen poured with no virtually no head, even when I lifted the bottle and poured down the middle of the glass. Nose consisted of citrus, yeast and malt. Nice creamy mouthfeel, but there was not much taste aside from the citrus. Left me craving the great Hefeweizens I’ve recently tested at the local micro-breweries. Not horrible, but I wouldn’t waste my liver on another one.

Gurkha Titan – 9.2
Widmer Hefeweizen – 6

Posted on September 18th, 2008 by Aaron Morris
Filed under: Beer, Cigars, Reviews