Vitola: Toro- 6” x 54 ring gauge
- $18.50
- Purchased at Embassy Cigars
Background
It’s been a couple years since Bombay Tobak has made an appearance here on Leaf Enthusiast. Back then, Keith took a look at one of their original releases, the MBombay Classic and came away a little less than fully impressed…basically it wasn’t a bad cigar, but it wasn’t really a great cigar, either. Despite their huge marketing push, I didn’t hear anything from trusted friends and associates to make me want to go seek any of their blends out. But times have been changing.
When I was out in California in October, I visited Embassy Cigars in Anaheim Hills and saw that they carried the Bombay Tobak lines. I asked the guy in the shop if any of them were worth trying and he recommended the Gaaja, a new blends for 2016. I just about passed out when I saw the price tag of $18.52, but I went ahead and bought one to try out. Official MSRP on these is a still-steep $15.50, so while the $18.50 price reflects the insanity of California pricing, these are not cheap cigars in any case.
I’m referencing Mr. Will Cooper’s review for blend information on this cigar, since the company hasn’t gotten around to updating their website yet. The Gaaja is made in Costa Rica using Dominican Habano Vuelta Arriba (HVA) Mejorado Ligero, Ecuadorian Criollo 98, Paraguayan Habano 2000, Dominican Criollo 98, and Peruvian Habano fillers, an Ecuadorian HVA Mejorado binder, and an Ecuadorian Connecticut Mejorado 2004 hybrid desflorado wrapper. The wrapper in particular is a hybrid crossbreeding of Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade and Ecuadorian Cameroon. In all, the blend represents 6 different and distinct types of tobacco from 4 different countries, which is an early promise of a very complex smoke.
The word “Gaaja” is basically Sanskrit for elephant. This review is based on the one cigar that I purchased at Embassy in California.
Prelight
The Gaaja has a fairly understated appearance, especially when compared with other Bombay Tobak releases. While some of those other cigar relied heavily on outspoken banding that blew up the Indian connections to supersize proportions, the band on Gaaja is fairly small. It features a center image that appears to be a hand-drawn symbol that still speaks to the Indian origins of the company’s owner. It’s only when you look at the arms of the band that you see “Bombay Tobak” and “Gaaja” revealing what the cigar is.
The wrapper leaf had a dark, dusky golden color. When I read the blend details I was surprised to see it was a Connecticut Shade leaf because of the color…then not so surprised when I read further and saw that it is a hybrid. The color is more akin to a lot of Ecuadorian Habano leaf…but even that’s not right. It was smooth and relatively oil-free, which is normal for Ecuador Conny Shade. The aroma from the wrapper was just about neutral…just a little grassiness and a touch of citrus and that’s it. The foot of the stick had notes of wet earth and cedar and hay.
Once cut, I tested out the draw and found it to be satisfactory. The cold draw had an interesting mix of cedar and hay, along with some herbal touches and a bit of earthiness.
Flavor
Lighting up the Gaaja, the smoke immediately sprang to a mild-to-medium bodied smoke. There was definitely a grassy quality to the beginnings, but also undercurrents of cedar, cinnamon, and earth. The retrohale had more herbal notes with some white pepper. As I burned through the first third, I got increased herbal flavors, while the hay and woody notes receded. I started to get a little pepper burn at the back of the palate and the pepper intensified slightly on the nose.
The second third had more herbal notes, while grassy and hay made a slight return. There was an underlying citrus sweetness, but it was so subtle I almost missed it.
The last third had more wood and dry grass notes, with pepper practically non-existent and the citrus note that had started to come through dying off quickly.
Construction
I had a perfect draw, very even burn line with no need for touch-ups and a solid ash.
Value
The price tag on this stick is simply too much. It might be worth the experience at about $8 a stick.
Conclusions
In the end the Bombay Tobak Gaaja was not a bad cigar, but it simply wasn’t a great one. It held the promise of great complexity and started off seeming to fulfill that promise, but then just kind of creamed out and died. The flavors it brought to the party weren’t “bad” per se, but they were kind of boring, failing to bring any excitement and hold my interest. As I stated in the “value” section, if it were an $8 cigar, it might be worth the money, but at $15 to $18 per stick, I just can’t see ever spending my own money on it again.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 3/5
Value: .5/1
Total: 7.5/10
