Gurkha Blendmaster's Cask Toro (6 x 52)

Video review HERE.

(Description taken from Cigar-Coop.com website)

At the 2017 IPCPR Trade Show in Las Vegas, Gurkha Cigars re-launched its Blendmaster’s Cask line. This is a line that first showcased at the 2016 IPCPR Trade Show.

Eddy Guerra, Marketing Manager for Gurkha, has said the Blendmaster’s Cask will undergo some packaging changes. The blend consists of an Ecuadorian wrapper over Nicaraguan and Dominican tobaccos.

The Blendmaster’s Cask will now be available in five frontmarks. Three of the frontmarks will be 5-pack Tubos while the other two will be 20-count boxes.

Blendmaster’s Cask started out as an offshoot of the 2016 Gurkha Malt Collection release. The Gurkha Malt Collection consists of five different blends meant to be paired with a spirit. While the Malt Collection was being developed, Gurkha made the decision to release another cigar that could also be paired with a spirit as a standalone release outside the Malt Collection, thus the Gurkha Blendmaster’s Cask was born.

The presentation of the cigar is quite impressive in it's glass tube. When I removed the cigar from the tube it had an average feel in the hand. 

The test draw after cutting the cap was very good. The initial flavors were sweet cedar, brown sugar, white chocolate, dry oak, and a light coffee base. There was black pepper which I rated at a 6 1/2. The finish at this early stage is dry oak and cream with some nice lingering black pepper. 

2 inches in (20 minutes) the flavors were just like they started except the dry oak notes are much less detectable. The cigar is mild to medium bodied. The pepper is still just above average. The coffee notes are very light which makes the cigar lack depth. The sweet flavors are very good but there is a lack of power and depth. The first third score is 87.

At the midpoint (40 minutes) the cigar is still very sweet, mild to medium, and the black coffee is very light. The cedar has some dry characteristics. The brown sugar and white chocolate are the stars of the cigar. It remains very sweet but low in power and depth. The midpoint score is 86.

The cigar ended at 1 hour 3 minutes, which may be on the shorter side of a typical toro. I did not have as much white chocolate in the final third. The primary flavors were cedar and brown sugar. The light coffee base seemed to be lighter. But, the black pepper improved on the finish. The cigar was still mild to medium and perhaps it touched medium bodied. The finish was cream with some brown sugar. This was a very sweet cigar but it lacked significant depth and power. There is a place for this type of cigar and perhaps it would be a great morning cigar. I enjoyed the flavors in this cigar but wished it had more power and depth. The final third score is 84.

Overall score: 85