The last Wharf Wednesday happened to be the day before Thanksgiving.  After a super fast lunch, as usual, we wandered into the shop and I elected to purchase something new....brand spanking new, as it turns out.  The Gurkha Ghost.  Now there are SO many different Gurkha cigars on the market that it quite literally could blow your mind trying to remember them all.  As such, I had no idea how new this cigar was/is.  The Ghost was previewed at the IPCPR show this year and is finally making it to stores now.  I had brought a cigar with me for the lunch smoke and decided to stash my new purchase for the weekend - which was to be in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  As it turns out, I picked up a load of new items while in Tennessee and again the Ghost was shunted to one side.  Over the past couple of years my experience with Gurkha cigars has been less than stellar.  Needless to say, I was not too excited about the Ghost.  I finally broke it out today for Wharf Wednesday and, well....let's see how it was....

Construction: The shadow is a nice looking, if not gorgeous, cigar.  There is a slightly rustic look to the wrapper and the foot was slightly bulging for some reason.  Overall it looks good but a bit rough.

Pre-light Aroma and Draw:  This is where my eyes flew open wide....dark chocolate and sweet fermented tobacco really waft from the ghost out of the cellophane.  Cutting was no problem at all and the draw was incredibly perfect.

Light and Burn: Two matches.  That's all it took to fire this baby up into a perfect burn....laser perfect until I got about an inch and a half from the end of the smoke.  Even then the touch up I provided was minor.  I was shocked at how well it burned actually.  In my recent experiences the terms " perfect burn" and " Gurkha" were not to be uttered in the same context.  This cigar changed that for me.

Tasting: The Ghost Shadow is simply delicious.  The opening puffs are a nice spicy experience.  After that I picked up loads of coffee with cream, loads of cocoa, a smooth creamy spice, and tons of spice.  These flavors rotate in and out as the cigar progresses.  Towards the end of the smoke, I picked up mostly cinnamon and espresso.  Overall a terrific flavor profile that is exceptionally smooth.

Value: I paid around $8 for the Ghost.  Not too bad for a big name brand cigar....and considering the quality, not bad at all!

Final Thoughts: Like I stated before, it has been a while since I have had a good Gurkha....But that has changed.  The Ghost is excellent and totally worth a look or five.  I plan on adding it to my usual rotation - that is when the Tatuaje selections are limited.  I highly recommend this cigar.

Wrapper: Brazilian Arapiraca
Binder: Dominican Criollo &rsquo 98
Filler: Dominican and Nicaraguan

Strength: Medium

Size: 5x52

Nice looking cigar but not overwhelmingly beautiful

Absolutely gorgeous band!  Silver holographic pearly cigar art!

Laser exact burn in full effect