I got this 7.5 x 54 bohemoth from CSmithNJ in R.A.T.S. IV. I let this sit almost a month before tackling it, then my curiosity got the best of me!
It had a wide foot wrap of paper listing it as "K. Hansotia & Co, A Century of Tradition, Special Edition, Private Stock, Limited Vintage, Brazilian Blend, Ancient Warrior, Est. 1887." Then there was a simple traditional band listing it as simply the "Ancient Warrior." This has got to be the most text I have ever seen on a single cigar! I've read books that wear shorter than this label, but I digress.
The wrap at the foot was covering a cedar wrap. Both wraps came off fairly simply without damaging the wrapper, a plus if you are going to put that much packaging on the 'gar.
The wrapper itself was very thinly veined and had a fine, almost sandy tooth. It was a nutmeg-chocolate color with a nice sheen. So far so good.
It snipped clean, with the pre-light draw a bit flat and salty. I toasted the foot and the first few puffs were charred and cedary.
The 1st third was noticeably cedary, understandable since it had been covered with a3" wrap of cedar. About an inch in the whole wrapper just fractured about 2 inches up. The draw was a little tight and I think this cigar was over bunched, causing the draw and split wrapper problems. The smoke had a slight bite and was tart. The most recognizable flavors were a cinnamon/nutmeg combination sprinkled over medium tobacco smoke.
The bite increased and this thing smoked titght and bitter throughout. I examined the head and noticed a fair amount of vein in the bunch. It wasn't stem but a lot of rib vein. I snipped another 1/4" off to open the draw and curiosly enough all I got was more veins. One section of the bunch was so tight that it looked like theend of a block of wood.
I fought the draw a while longer and then the wrapper split another 1" or so and looked like it was basically trying to flee the cigar. I got tired of it with a little over 3" left.
This cigar was plagued with construction problems from the tight bunch, which undoubtedly caused the wrapper split and poor construction problems and probably didn't help the bitter taste.
I would like to say that this is probably a fluke but I have had other Ghurkas with construction probs and poor flavor characteristics. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone. Well maybe I'd recommend it to Marvin!
Chris, don't despair, because I also smoked that Perdomo P you gave me and that was an unbelievable smoke that more than made up for this one. I'm going to review that next!
