CigarMonkel
Alpha Silverback
So i woke up and realized... HOLY :BS ITS IN THE HIGH 40's ALMOST 50's! then the craving for a cigar hit me like a freight train. I ran upstairs to search my Humi for a nice mild stick until i realized... i had smoked most of them! So i did some searching for reviews on some sticks i wasn't sure about till i stumbled across a gurkha beauty review... I have a theory about gurkha's and that which they all have a distinct "Gurkha taste" which i'm not to found of. Well this cigar put my theory to shame :hn.
The typical set up for my smoking adventures. Your cup of Coffee (soon to change from "pint" glass to a taboo mug thanks to rob!!!), xikar cutter (thx to shawn, ssutton for the trade), and your lotus lighter!).
Well i came to find.. my lotus lighter went dead... it had fuel but wouldn't spark (good thing i still have the warranty!) So i ran upstairs to grab my back up lighter that came free with my humi!
Prelight inspections were as followed:
Draw: decent above average but nothing to shit my pants about
Taste: Mellow, slight hint of pepper
Smell: like mild cigars
i was excited to rip into this thing to see if my theory would hold strong.
Right from the get go the famous Cigarmonkel light seemed to do nothing to this cigar! The draw was the same and my mouth got filled with pepper and undertones of cream and a little bit of earthyness. The smoke it produced was decent, I'd say about average.
The ash had a very nice snow white color to it and by now it was more creamy and the pepper had turned into an undertone just to compliment the creamyness of this cigar.
It ashed itself about 1 inch into the cigar and by now it had turned back into pepper with the cream complimenting the pepper. It was a beautiful day out and it felt like a TRUE spring day. The first REALLY nice day we've had here in Michigan. There was a squirrel running around in the neighbors yard then i realized.... there were two chipmunks that seemed to be f*cking with him and his territory. I sat back and watched and laughed as one would run up a tree and the squirrel would follow as the other chipmunk would run down another tree and run around on the ground. They would flip flop turns running up and down the trees playing with the squirrel.. i don't think the squirrel was too happy about this.
Usually i do a purge around half way... but none needed this time. Although it seemed like either me or the taste was playing A.D.D and the taste would go in and out and either be there or not, maybe this was just me laughing at the squirrel? When the flavor was there the pepper had gone into hiding and let the creamyness come out with an undertone of earthyness. I now realize... maybe in some of my reviews i had been mixing up earthyness with peppery. It left a tingle on my tongue like the pepper does but i now realize... this is an earthy taste im tasting.
By now the burn has started to become a little lop sided... this time no wind to blame since, well there was no wind! a robin came down from the bushes and was looking for sticks and stuff for a nest in some grasses and small plants i had trimmed for my parents recently. It then started to see how much room it had i guess cause it kept getting closer...
still closer...
THIS DUDES GOT SOME BALLS!!!
it was maybe... 10feet from me at this point then it flew off shorty after this picture was taken... back to the cigar!
Right after i took this picture a purge was needed and brought back a TOTALLY new taste to this cigar. Up until this point it was creamy with undertones of earth.. after i purged it, it flip flopped. The earthyness completely took over and said GTFO CREAMY THIS IS MY HOUSE! it was a new experience for my pallet and i loved every second of it.
It took on some spicyness. usually i'll say it was biting my tongue... but this was different. Usually when i say "it was biting my tongue" its a deeper.. more upfront bite. But this was a mellow spicyness that coated my tongue and was more mellow. Sadly it was short lived and the finish seemed to loose everything i loved about it taste wise so i said.. lets not try to make a great thing into a even better smoke.
Construction: 7.75/10
Burn: 7.5/10
Taste: 8/10 (considering it was a mild smoke)
Smoke: 6.5/10
Appearance: 8.5/10
overall a solid smoke. Don't know the MSRP on these since i got it for free in the gurkha care package. If they are cheap enough.. maybe under 6 or 7 at the local B&M (HAH! knowing gurkha i doubt it) It would be worth having a few in my humi.
The typical set up for my smoking adventures. Your cup of Coffee (soon to change from "pint" glass to a taboo mug thanks to rob!!!), xikar cutter (thx to shawn, ssutton for the trade), and your lotus lighter!).
Well i came to find.. my lotus lighter went dead... it had fuel but wouldn't spark (good thing i still have the warranty!) So i ran upstairs to grab my back up lighter that came free with my humi!
Prelight inspections were as followed:
Draw: decent above average but nothing to shit my pants about
Taste: Mellow, slight hint of pepper
Smell: like mild cigars
i was excited to rip into this thing to see if my theory would hold strong.
Right from the get go the famous Cigarmonkel light seemed to do nothing to this cigar! The draw was the same and my mouth got filled with pepper and undertones of cream and a little bit of earthyness. The smoke it produced was decent, I'd say about average.
The ash had a very nice snow white color to it and by now it was more creamy and the pepper had turned into an undertone just to compliment the creamyness of this cigar.
It ashed itself about 1 inch into the cigar and by now it had turned back into pepper with the cream complimenting the pepper. It was a beautiful day out and it felt like a TRUE spring day. The first REALLY nice day we've had here in Michigan. There was a squirrel running around in the neighbors yard then i realized.... there were two chipmunks that seemed to be f*cking with him and his territory. I sat back and watched and laughed as one would run up a tree and the squirrel would follow as the other chipmunk would run down another tree and run around on the ground. They would flip flop turns running up and down the trees playing with the squirrel.. i don't think the squirrel was too happy about this.
Usually i do a purge around half way... but none needed this time. Although it seemed like either me or the taste was playing A.D.D and the taste would go in and out and either be there or not, maybe this was just me laughing at the squirrel? When the flavor was there the pepper had gone into hiding and let the creamyness come out with an undertone of earthyness. I now realize... maybe in some of my reviews i had been mixing up earthyness with peppery. It left a tingle on my tongue like the pepper does but i now realize... this is an earthy taste im tasting.
By now the burn has started to become a little lop sided... this time no wind to blame since, well there was no wind! a robin came down from the bushes and was looking for sticks and stuff for a nest in some grasses and small plants i had trimmed for my parents recently. It then started to see how much room it had i guess cause it kept getting closer...
still closer...
THIS DUDES GOT SOME BALLS!!!
it was maybe... 10feet from me at this point then it flew off shorty after this picture was taken... back to the cigar!
Right after i took this picture a purge was needed and brought back a TOTALLY new taste to this cigar. Up until this point it was creamy with undertones of earth.. after i purged it, it flip flopped. The earthyness completely took over and said GTFO CREAMY THIS IS MY HOUSE! it was a new experience for my pallet and i loved every second of it.
It took on some spicyness. usually i'll say it was biting my tongue... but this was different. Usually when i say "it was biting my tongue" its a deeper.. more upfront bite. But this was a mellow spicyness that coated my tongue and was more mellow. Sadly it was short lived and the finish seemed to loose everything i loved about it taste wise so i said.. lets not try to make a great thing into a even better smoke.
Construction: 7.75/10
Burn: 7.5/10
Taste: 8/10 (considering it was a mild smoke)
Smoke: 6.5/10
Appearance: 8.5/10
overall a solid smoke. Don't know the MSRP on these since i got it for free in the gurkha care package. If they are cheap enough.. maybe under 6 or 7 at the local B&M (HAH! knowing gurkha i doubt it) It would be worth having a few in my humi.
