Ortega Wild Bunch Series Gearhead Gary Crankshaft (6 x 52)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Video review HERE.

 

 

 

Gearhead Gary is the 9th installment and September's cigar of the month in the Ortega Wild Bunch series. Eddie Ortega introduced the Wild Bunch Series in January and he releases a new cigar each month for the entire year of 2013. The vitola is called "Crankshaft".

 

 

Not much is known about this cigar. It has an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper but I do not know the binder or filler. I would bet they are both Nicaraguan.

 

 

The cigar is very well made and has a long belicoso cap. The cigar has a nice density.

 

I decided to cut the minimum from the belicoso cap. The test draw was very good. The initial flavors were lightly sweet cedar and grapefruit citrus notes. There is some earth and oak also. The pepper is rated at a 7. The finish at this early point is one of oak and cream with some lingering pepper. There are quite a bit of wood notes on the finish.




About one inch in the grapefruit notes have changed over to a nutmeg flavor. The nutmeg notes last a long time on the front end. The initial flavor you get is the sweet cedar quickly followed by the nutmeg. The oak notes are still quite noticeable and the earth notes act as a bottom. The finish is one of a toasted cream now and the lingering pepper is still nice. I would call the cigar medium bodied.






Just before the band, about the midpoint, the cedar notes have really dropped off. You still have the nutmeg, however, and combining with it is a large amount of earthiness. The oak notes are very subdued. There is a touch of sweetness in the nutmeg. The cigar is still medium bodied and shows signs of moving to medium to full. The finish is a toasted cream but there are a lot of oak notes also.






With about 2 inches remaining some of the sweet cedar notes have returned. The earth notes have toned down but the oak notes have really moved up. So, now you have the cedar and nutmeg combination but with heavy oak notes. The finish is unchanged.








The cigar ended with the lightly sweet cedar and nutmeg notes. The oak notes are still very prominent. There is a touch of earthiness at the base. The pepper remained at a 7 throughout the cigar. The cigar topped off at medium to full bodied. The finish remained unchanged. Although nothing stood out in the cigar it was a nice tasting cigar. Eddie is a good cigar maker. Each blend is slightly different from the others. I enjoyed this cigar quite a bit. This cigar is on shelves now and is limited in production.

Score: 91