Originally published at Tiki Bar Online
Box-pressed Toro, 5” x 56 ring gauge / Price unknown
I received a box from Gurkha a few weeks ago; it contained a couple samples of the new Red Witch Double Fuerte, released under the East India Trading Company banner that Gurkha launched a few months ago. What’s the difference between a Gurkha and a EITC cigars? I don’t know…one has a guy with a large blade on the band? Apparently the EITC lines are being marketed with more nautical themes, as evidenced by the ship on the band of the Red Witch (maybe Red Witch is the ship’s name?) and by the fact that this vitola is only available in a large sea chest with other EITC sticks, mostly in special vitolas. The Double Fuerte secondary band denotes that this stick has some extra ligero kicking in it. I don’t want to reinvent the wheel and I don’t want to extend this short “Cigar Extra” piece into a full review, so if you want more detail, check out what Will Cooper had to say in his review a few weeks ago…lots of good background detail there. As Coop notes, this stogie has Nicaraguan fillers, a Dominican binder, and an Ecuadorian Rosado wrapper. Now…what do we do with a witch? Oh yeah…we burn them!!!
Before lighting this redhead on fire, though, I chopped off the crown and took a good puff…lots of sweetness in there…some dried fruit…some molasses. Interesting. Once set alight, I got some hay and more bitter earthy notes, along with a bit of pepper spice and a little of that sweetness I experienced pre-light. What was a little surprising was how different the cold and lit flavors were. Totally night and day. It was interesting at the start, though…not what I had expected really, but quite nice and very interesting.
And it’s too bad it didn’t stay that way. With both samples, I noticed that after a half inch or so, the flavor sort of just flattened. It didn’t go “bad” but it just wasn’t all that interesting to me anymore. I will maintain that there are very few “bad” cigars in the marketplace today; most are made well and have good quality tobaccos in them. This is no different…it just doesn’t appeal to my palate. I would have to let you make up your own mind on it…if you like Ecuadorian Rosado leaf, then perhaps this could be a new favorite for you. I found that it did not live up to the “Double Fuerte” label.
