Gurkha Marquesa Toro 4/21/19

 Appearance
A dark brown colored wrapper with a few prominent veins. The seams are tightly wrapped and difficult to find. There is a nice oily sheen on the wrapper. The filler bunch is well packed with no apparent soft spots.

Aroma
Earth, cedar, dried fruit and spice on the wrapper. Dried fruit, cedar, earth and spice at the foot.

Prelight Draw
Cedar, dried fruit, earth, sugar cane, cinnamon and black pepper spice.

1st
The initial draws bring notes of cedar, earth and a leathery texture with a pinch of black pepper spice in the background. The draw is effortless. The burn starts out a bit wavy just as the box pressed version did. The black pepper spice notes intensify right away to a dash. The ash is medium gray, stacked and flaky. The ash is beginning to curl and look suspect so I removed it just before the end of the 1st/3rd.

2nd
Upon inspection of the working end I find 2 large(1/4”diameter) tunnels which are causing the erratic burn. The smoke production is at the high end of medium range. The black pepper spice which was beginning to dominate the profile begins to taper back and cinnamon spice notes join in to balance the black pepper. Spent most of the 2nd/3rd using physics to get the burn, which had started to canoe, corrected.

Final/3rd
One large tunnel still remains. The flavor profile has remained consistent since the start. Strength is medium+. Profile remains consistent right to the nub.

Overall
The Gurkha Marquesa Toro provides a somewhat enjoyable smoking experience. A nice flavor profile with an effortless draw and very erratic burn. If I was not doing a review I would have put this one down early in the 2nd/3rd. Hopefully this was not indicative of the rest of the production. Bunchero needs to do a better job.