Gran way to start the day

Cigar Name: Gurkha Gran Reserve Connecticut Toro (6 x 50)

Cigar Description: Nicaraguan, Cibao Dominican Republic and Connecticut long-fillers with a light creamy Connecticut wrapper

Cigar Strength: Medium

Review of the Cigar itself: I've been enjoying the Gurkha's, which have a vast range of tastes and flavours to them. The construction of this particular cigar was great, it was solid in the hand. As I toasted the end a bit, I got a whiff of toasted nuts. The draw on this was lovely, remaining consistent and even (which should bode well for the ash). The burn was even and consistent while the armour very pleasant to the nose. There is a hidden sweetness in the background of the odor, not quite sugary but definitely there.

The flavour was consistent in a myriad of minor hints of things -- sweetness, nuttiness, cedar-woodiness -- but no one flavour overly dominanted. In fact, for a medium bodied cigar this seemed rather mild. This is in particular contrast to other Gurkhas which have a definitive taste and strength to them. What was nice about this is that I was able to enjoy it pleasantly this morning while doing my morning web surfing without it distracting from geeky enjoyments. In fact, I hadn't realized that I was more than 50% of the way through and hadn't noted anything in the blog. Entirely due to the fact that I was able to enjoy this and still enjoy other activities. The band came off easily with a gentle tug and without tearing the wrapper or the band.

Because of the great attention to the detail of the construction of the cigar, it needed few touch-ups (most had to be done because I got side-tracked with other stuff). I noticed that as I got into the last third of the cigar a more definitive nutty flavour came out on top, almost as if it had won the battle of flavour hints. I was able to burn this one down to the nub and finish the morning off on a great note.

Enjoyed with: Water, a coffee (sugar and soy creamer) and some sunflower seeds to snack on.

Smoke time: approximately 1 hour and a half

Purchased at: Cigars International (from a weekly special they had this week)

Final Review Rating: 9/10