Toro, 6" x 50 ring gauge, $7.35I smoked and reviewed Gurkha's Evil last September. What I had my hands on at that time was a pre-release sample from the IPCPR show but I enjoyed it enough to give it a 9/10. Now that the Evil has been in production for a while, I thought it would be a good time to revisit and re-review it. This cigar features Nicaraguan filler, a Dominican binder and a Brazilian wrapper. K. Hansotia, the owner of Gurkha, claims that this is a "strong" cigar, but the pre-release sample was just "strong for a Gurkha." It will be interesting to see if that assessment, or anything else I took away from that previous stick, changes.
The wrapper was fairly dark brown with some almost-black mottling. There were no obvious flaws or extra-large veins apparent. The aroma from the wrapper was mildly of cocoa with some hay and barnyard scents in there, too. The foot had more chocolate and a touch of coffee. The prelight draw was excellent and featured nice coffee and cocoa flavors as well as a spicy tingle on the lips.
The initial puffs of the Evil gave up a decent amount of pepper spice, along with a rich, sweet tobacco taste and hints of black coffee. The first third was mostly dominated by the flavors of coffee and earth, along with a spicy finish. Black pepper was particularly strong on the retrohale. The ash held on for over an inch and the burn line was was very even. The body seemed pretty full this early into the stick, especially compared with what I remember from the earlier version I had smoked. Toward the end of the first third I started to get little hints of cocoa powder as well.
The second third saw a steady progression to a more earthy/leathery flavor profile. The coffee fell off dramatically as did the spice and there were few, if any, hints of cocoa. The draw continued to be great. The body was in the low end of the full range and the finish was long.
In the end, the Evil--dare I say it--"creamed out" to some extent. The flavors turned to more cedar with just a little return of pepper spice, but overall the flavors became somewhat muted and uninteresting. For two-thirds this cigar was interesting and complex, though, and I give Gurkha credit for coming up with a cigar that actually fits into the full-bodied range--though only barely. Maybe it was this particular vitola, but I did not find this sample to be nearly as good as the previous Evil I had. It is good, however, to see Gurkha breaking away from their stereotype and producing a cigar that practically fits in the "bargain" category.
Body: 8/10
Strength: 7/10
Complexity: 6/10
AFP Scale:
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 3/5
Value: .5/1
Total: 7.5/10
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