A Gurkha Rogue Tried To Bamboozle Me

Gurkha’s East India Trading Company has several established brands but I have smoked the Rogue brand before, whose label is a skull with crossed swords. This unsavory image is matched by the brand name as a rogue is a “dishonest man”. And the cigar I am reviewing is the Bamboozle – which means to fool or cheat. This upholds Gurkha’s reputation for catchy styling and marketing – the Rogue Bamboozle is a cheating cigar from a villain. Only the tasting will prove if I was bamboozled.

The Rogue cigars are all box pressed with an unfinished foot, unusual but previously done by others. The wrapper is an Ecuadorian Habano tobacco around an Ecuadorian binder and the filler is a special blend of 3 year old ligeros from Nicaragua, Honduras and the Dominican Republic. This is a complex blend that promises something new.

The Bamboozle is a 6 X 60 with a dark, rich looking wrapper. The construction was very good and the draw excellent. The smoke volume was also above average. The initial flavor is mild spice but as the cigar got shorter other flavor such as pepper and nuts came to dominate. The aftertaste was very pleasant and the Bamboozle lasted for an hour and 15 minutes. A quality ash lasted throughout. The overall effect of the complex blend and construction is very good, providing a good tasting smoke. The blending of the 3 ligeros is a success. I considered this cigar to be placed between medium and full bodied.

The Bamboozle was introduced at the 2013 IPCPR and based upon my tasting it should be doing very well. I have found the Bamboozle on line for less than $7 and up to $9 depending upon the source and quantity purchased. The $7 price represents a good value for this cigar as it competes very favorably in cost and flavor with competitors in that size. I rate the Bamboozle a 4 out of 5 and a good value.