Gurkha

[Dude Here]

I've only had one Gurkha that I liked, the OR Black Dragons. Maybe it's just me, but I've always had construction issues with Gutkhas. Either they're plugged, have wonky burns or start to crack and unravel while smoking.

As for pricing, who knows? Why do they make the HMR with a price point that's far beyond what most smokers can afford?

[dijit]

I agree with most on here the lower priced ones that are at almost all online stores have issues the wrappers split, uneven burn, and even a hoover cant draw on one. The flavors depending on your likes and dislikes have been acceptable and occasionally even good.

[Porch Dweller]

Originally Posted by Dude Here

I've only had one Gurkha that I liked, the OR Black Dragons. Maybe it's just me, but I've always had construction issues with Gutkhas. Either they're plugged, have wonky burns or start to crack and unravel while smoking.

Back when I was buying sampler after sampler in order to try a wide variety of cigars I probably smoked about 10 Gurkhas. All but one had some kind of a burn issue. I enjoyed two of them, six I didn't care for at all, and two were downright nasty. But even the one's I enjoyed had burn issues that would keep me from buying more.

Originally Posted by Dude Here

As for pricing, who knows? Why do they make the HMR with a price point that's far beyond what most smokers can afford?

They're not catering to most smokers, they're after those with more money than taste, those who want to smoke a $750 cigar so they can be seen smoking a $750 cigar, and/or those with money who figure "what the hell, I can afford it, I'll give it a try".

Originally Posted by kcdeadmoney

Any insight how the pricing works? A 5-pack of the Gurkha Titan XO costs $160 through CI. I just got the same 5-pack on CBid, which is owned by CI for $11 plus shipping.

The $160 price for the Titan XO is MSRP, NOT what CI sells it for which is $60 (link: http://www.cigarsinternational.com/c...edition-titan/) . You got it on CBid for $11 because at that moment no one was willing to pay more than that for it. When using CBid you have to keep in mind that for the comparison price they list MSRP, not what they actually sell it for. When bidding I keep two tabs open in my browser, one on CBid and one to check the actual sell price at CI and other sites. You'd be amazed at how many times people bid more than the "normal" price for a lot.

[dijit]

$160 cigars = smokers who typically wouldnt know a turd from a good cigar in my limited experience.

C-bid, and many of the other cigar bid sites all experience this. The worst I saw was on the bid site run by Famous for some kind of Opus MSRP was $18 a stick and the bid finished at over $30. Yes I was bidding but stopped at the $18 MSRP. The online shoppes have figured out that they can supplement their low prices with the bid sites that get people caught up in the excitement of the auction to run the price well above their normal price and MSRP.

[tsolomon]

It's great marketing and promoting of the product. When you get that email from CI offering these expensive cigars at a really great price, you wonder what you are missing. So you start reading the write ups and reviews and say I have to try these. If you haven't smoked a lot of cigars, then these can become sort of a baseline of what a cigar should taste like. It's only after you start smoking a wider range of cigars that you can really figure out where Gurkhas fit in with your flavor profile. Over time, your tastes change and what you like to smoke will change as well.