Gispert Natural Churchill
Size – 7 x 54
Age – 1 month
Cost – $3.00 single
Wrapper – Connecticut (Ecuador)
Construction – Good construction with a great wrapper and no flaws. The cigar is a bit soft to the touch but this has been the case with every Gispert I’ve had, and does not detract from the smoke.
Burn – Mostly even and slow.
Ash – Medium to dark grey and slightly loose. Ash held for 3/4 – 1″
Draw & Smoke – Draw was just right with a good amount of white smoke per draw.
Flavor – The Gispert natural has a very nice, mild flavor profile. Flavors include earthy wood and a hint of grass produced by the wrapper, with a compliment of peanut, wood and sweet tobacco flavors and aromas. These flavors are all mellow, and the result is a very creamy and smooth cigar. The room aroma is excellent.
Strength – Mild
Rating – 9/10
Value – 9/10
Drink – Blackberry tea
Notes – Gispert was one of the very first cigars I ever smoked, and I still love them to this day. There are a lot of reasons to keep some of these in your humidor: they make an excellent cigar to give to non-aficionado friends, a great daytime cigar, or a perfect way to follow up a lighter dinner. At around $2 each by the box, they are one of the best values around. I’ve been told on more than one occasion that these get even better with 6+ months of aging.
Reviews
54 Ring, 9/10, Cigar Review, Connecticut, Gispert, Mild
Today I found this cigar lurking at the bottom of my desktop humidor. It’s the last of a 10-pack I bought about 6 months ago and so I figured I’d fire it up and review it on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
Gurkha Symphony Robusto
Size – 6 x 50
Cost – $6 – 8 online
Wrapper – Connecticut
Construction – Excellent construction with a perfect cap, almost no veins in the smooth wrapper. The foot was slightly chipped from being moved about in my humidor. (9/10)
Burn – Dead even from light to put down. (10/10)
Ash – Very light grey with a smattering of darker grey. Held firm for 2″
Draw – A bit tight but not annoyingly so.
Flavor – I lit this cigar up expecting the grassy, slightly acrid taste I have begun to associate with Connecticut wrappers, but I thankfully found nothing of the sort. What I did get was very mild and creamy flavors – so mild it was tough to distinguish them at first. Then a soft creaminess and woody, almost pine tree-like flavor and aroma developed. The finish was peppery around the back of the palate. The aroma really helped this cigar’s character; a slightly sweet nutty smell helped bring out the nearly nonexistent flavors in the first two thirds.
Smoke – A nice large volume of smoke from every puff.
Strength – Mild
Rating – 7/10
Value – 6/10 At MSRP this, like most Gurkhas, is a pretty poor value. Those who are interested in picking up a few of these at an auction site or on special should be able to do so as low as $3 a stick.
Drink – Hot earl grey with cream and sugar. A nice compliment for this smoke. If it was evening I’d pair it with an assertively hopped beer such as Sierra Nevada or ESB.
Notes – Overall the cigar was a bid too mild for me but it did have some enjoyable complexity. I think 6 months in the humi helped this stick out. My tasting notes from when I bought them noted more harshness and a more uneven burn. Seems like a good candidate for aging.
Reviews
50 Ring, 7/10, Connecticut, Gurkha, Mild