Tasting Notes

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.