Cuban Cigars Are So One Dimensional

[earthson]

Cuban cigars may be one-dimensional, but I'm pretty sure it's the fifth dimension, which isn't too shabby.

[vivalanation734]

What a freaking joke. I'm all about Cubans and non-Cubans, but I've never enjoyed a Gurkha.

[LukeC]

Personally KH's attitude is what will prevent me from ever buying a Gurkha again. I do not stick solely with CCs as I do enjoy many NCs. The main problem with Gurkha is they have SO MANY different blends going on. Most of these blends are straight trash. Literally unsmokable trash. But even a broken clock is right twice a day. The blends they do get right can be very good IMHO. For instance, Gurkha Yakuza is one of my favorite cigars. Would a pay sticker price of $25 each? No, and I don't because I don't feel it's worth $25. Ill only buy them at auction for around $5 a piece because at the end of the day, they are a Gurkha and on principle I want to stick it to KH.

[5thStarChicago]

As a retailer of NC cigars here in the states, I will quickly point out that I no longer sell any of his stuff, as it's a rare consumer that knows the difference between any of his blends nor which one they enjoyed.  Additionally, I doubt it sells much anywhere as it's constantly blown out / discounted online all over the place.  The guy is a marketing genius and is correctly targeting a market obsessed with the "best" equating to "most expensive".  I see it regularly in the store with Chinese tourists.  Someone out there has to be buying $500.00 Davidoff's or they wouldn't be making them.

As a regular smoker of both Cuban and NC cigars, I will say that I agree, in principle with his comment on "flavor base" but certainly not with his comment on "complexity."  Cuban can be extraordinarily complex, although along with everything involving taste, your have to have the palate and experience to truly identify, appreciate and understand it.  The range of flavors available from premium tobacco, regardless of where it's grown, is tremendous.  Having smoked some "experimental" blends combining Cuban and NC tobaccos together, there is almost no limit on growing / blending tobacco globally and the Cuban cigars vs. everyone else argument is complete nonsense in my book.  Good U.S.A. Connecticut broadleaf tobacco provides some of the richest flavor you can get, unlike anything grown in Cuba.  Real Cameroon tobacco can be utterly divine.  Ecuador, Nicaragua, the D.R., and Honduras grow some amazing tobacco and when blended correctly, can make some amazingly flavorful and complex cigars.  There's good wine from all over the world, so goes it with any agricultural product that is subject to taste.  Kaizad has a point, although he did a piss poor job of stating it, and I think the article is not about the point he's making anyway. 

Variety is the spice of life.  Enjoy them all. Except Gurkha's.

[golfgar]

Having not smoked a Gurkha in quite some time, if memory serves me, the diminutive little torpedos were ok quick smokes (as in the shorter the better) and as far as "special release Ghurkas", now that is pretty funny, had a special release in the loo this morning too.  It is understandable that there might be more flavors available using tobacco from various locations around the globe, but IMHO when trying to find a satisfying NC, those which taste the most like Cuban cigars end up being the favorite, always looking for that flavor profile.

[CdnLimitada]

On 10 June 2016 at 1:49 AM, Frinkiac7 said:

The man is a master of undeserved self-hype. It's clearly carried the cigars at least this far.

Objectively, some Gurkhas I have smoked have been the worst absolute turds I've ever tried. Genuinely bad, revolting flavor.

You'll find similar lines about the lack of Cuban quality, the deleterious effects of communism on the industry, etc. repeated by all NC cigar companies...it's the party line.

But complex turds!

[hanhan]

On 10/06/2016 at 0:46 AM, Akela3rd said:

Buying the overpriced label without knowing or caring about the product. It's bling that an ignorant market buys. (Chinese billionaires are buying up London property just to say they have a W1 house, not to use it -Same thing.) Gurkha has spotted the potential of fleecing this market and has gone balls deep into it.

Sent from my HTC One M8s using Tapatalk

This is quite racist. You might not be aware that some of the most knowledgable smokers in the world are in Asia. And isn't Hong Kong, home to perhaps the worlds No. 1 collector, in China?

Please don't call it an ignorant market just because you're not aware of the connoisseurs that reside in it. Ask the Prez about the calibre of some of the smokers in Asia.

And Gurkha is nowhere near dominant. If there is one dominant NC at all, I would venture that it is Davidoff.

 

[Akela3rd]

This is quite racist. You might not be aware that some of the most knowledgable smokers in the world are in Asia. And isn't Hong Kong, home to perhaps the worlds No. 1 collector, in China?

Please don't call it an ignorant market just because you're not aware of the connoisseurs that reside in it. Ask the Prez about the calibre of some of the smokers in Asia.

And Gurkha is nowhere near dominant. If there is one dominant NC at all, I would venture that it is Davidoff.

 

My apologies for the generalisation. This isn't intended to be racist - any market can be ignorant when the power of money and the showing off of wealth take over. It could equally apply to rich British, American or any other country. Don't matter where you live when the $$s (or ££s!) are being shown off.

[canadianbeaver]

In every brand there is the flashy high end product for show, instead of a cigar that one of us may have found by a little research or advice. Case and point, those Forbidden Fuente jobs from the movie. Or calling a cigar a name that is off the charts whacko. Opus X BBMF? Nice!

In my first few cigar years, before I went Cuban, I was hooked on this stuff.

Now imagine English as a second language or if you like instant gratification from status.