Grand Corona, 6" x 46 ring gauge / approx. $6
Keith procured and reviewed a sample of the Viper from last year's IPCPR show a few months back and was left far less than impressed; I decided I would give a second opinion review after smoking one recently and having a far different experience. The truth is that show samples can sometimes misrepresent the final shipping cigars--for better or worse on different occasions--so it sometimes pays to try another sample later to see if everything comes out the same. The Viper consists of Nicaraguan and Dominican filler with a Dominican wrapper leaf. This cigar has a box press that is as extreme as I have ever seen--it is nearly flat like the Wafe vitola of Acid by Drew Estate. This review is based on my second Viper.
As I mentioned before, this box press is severe; the corners are sharp and the stick is about twice as wide as it is tall when laid flat on my desk. The band was simple, yet nice, and the feel of the wrapper leaf was oily and velvety. Bringing the cigar to my nose i got hay and earth notes on the body and some cocoa on the foot. Once clipped I got a good draw from the Viper along with flavors of cocoa powder and dark fruit.
The tip lit fairly easily with the soft flame of my Xikar EX and I got initial flavors of natural tobacco, a little cocoa powder and some autumn spice. There was also just a touch of sweetness, but I could not identify where exactly it came from: the fruit I got in prelight, the cocoa, or just the natural tobacco flavor itself. What I could tell was that I rather liked the way this cigar opened up. The flavor of dried fruit became more evident as the first third moved along, and it went well with the cocoa powder. Along with the autumn spice I picked up a touch of pepper spice on the tongue and a nutty retrohale.
The second third displayed much the same flavor profile with the dried fruit leading the way. The body was medium and the construction was about as good as you can get--dead even burn line and perfect draw.
The last third did not show much change, but continued on with the very nice sweetness of the previous two-thirds. Overall, I have to say the Gurkha Viper was a very enjoyable cigar that has much more flavor than I expected and I even thought my second encounter with it was better than the first. The fact that three cigars (Keith's bad experience, my initial good experience, and this great experience) produced such different experiences makes me question the quality control on these sticks, though. Despite the axiom that "there's one bad stick in every box" (which I don't buy into, by the way), I find this variance odd. I have to assume that some of the show samples just were not up to spec or something. I have had a couple Vipers since this review stick and found them to be very nice still. I like these enough to buy a few every now and then and I would encourage you to try it for yourself; it's a very flavorful cigar at a very reasonable price that is not strong enough to be off-putting to newer smokers.
Body: 6/10
Strength: 5/10
Complexity: 5/10
AFP Scale
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10
Agree, disagree or just want to have your say? Leave a comment below...
Interesting how the band artwork mimics the Warlock I guess that's what happens when the same person is designing both. I wonder if Manny was going through a phase or something. I really dig the xikar ex, bought one for my dad as a give and ended up buying one for myself. Everyone puts such an emphasis on torch lighters good soft flames get missed. I use the ex most of the time as it tends to be more difficult to scorch the cigar when lighting, it takes a little longer but worth the wait. Great review, if I come across these i'll have to give it a shot. Keep up the good work!
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