Gurkha Cellar Reserve 21 Year Solara is a 5 x 58 double robusto featuring an exclusive blend of 21 year aged Dominican long filler tobaccos. The Dominican fillers and Nicaraguan binder is then draped in an aged Connecticut shade leaf wrapper that is silky smooth. Gurkha Cellar Reserve 21 Year Solara is handmade in the Dominican Republic and available in boxes of 20.
The Gurkha Cellar Reserve 21 years is by all rights a complex smoke. It opens with a fusion of sweet chocolate notes, wet wood, and a bitter nuance drowning in rich creaminess. The complexity does not tarry in showing up because a few draws in the sweet notes disappear and a salty meaty flavour takes over. There is a lingering toasty wafer-like note coupled with creaminess cutting through the salt and herb-like dominant flavor.
As the cigar progresses into the mid-section, a citrus zing along with a dried fruit nuance show up isolated from the dominant flavours and prominent in the Retrohale. Somewhere in the deliciousness is fresh pine and a carpet of creaminess coating my tongue and the back of my throat.
As the cigar draws closer to the nub, the meaty flavour loses dominance to a nutty, burnt coffee note with a skosh of roasted corn on the side. What a strange flavour to have in a cigar. By closing time, all the salty flavours are gone replaced by the creamy sweet flavours I experienced in the beginning.
Truth be told, I have never experienced such a stubbornly salty cigar. It was kinda amazing but also unusual. But overall, I would definitely smoke this again and again. It's a change of pace from the usual and definitely the best Connecticut Shade cigar I have ever had the pleasure of enjoying.
Final Words
Having had all the other Gurkha Cellar Reserve cigars, I would say the Gurkha Cellar Reserve 21 years is a solid second place behind the Gurkha Cellar Reserve Platinum Edition. It is supremely balanced and flavourful despite the extended aging. And even though I wouldn't call it an everyday cigar, I keep some with me for occasional indulgence. If you have not had it yet, grab one and prepare for a transcendent experience.
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