The Ghost Envy – a Halloween Trick or Treat?

Gurkha’s Ghost series apparently first materialized in time for Halloween in 2012. For the 2014season, Gurkha is planning a big extension to the Ghost series – a 7 X 70 mysteriously called “Envy”. It has the same blend of Dominican and Nicaraguan filler tobaccos, a Dominican Criollo 1998 binder, and finally the same dark Brazilian Arapiraka Maduro wrapper as the rest of the Ghosts. The band is very shiny silver on basic black that is not as “spooky” as it is hard to read. But this band does help to set the cigar apart from others on the shelf. And if you pull this Ghost out of your pocket your friends will have to stare closely at the band to have a chance of reading it, even one this size.

I obtained a pre-release sample of the Envy at the 2014 IPCPR and saved it in my humidor for a couple of months. The 7 X 70 Envy has a nice dark wrapper and was slightly soft without being squishy so I found it above average for appearance and construction. The draw and ash were also good, confirming the construction rating.

The Envy had a mild taste at first, some pepper and spice with only a hint of sweetness. I appreciate maduros because they introduce mild sweetness to the smoking experience, but the Envy had an even milder beginning than I expected. The smoke volume was good and, after burning about an inch, the taste profile grew stronger, from mild to medium bodied. The aftertaste was nutty and the overall taste included caramel and cocoa, and continued to slowly get stronger as the Envy got smaller. The burn was fairly even throughout and no relights were required – again good construction (and regular drawing on my part). By the Envy’s final third my strength meter had burned through medium and was poking into the full bodied level but was not quite there. When I put the Envy down there was about an inch and a half left but some bitterness was creeping into the taste. A clock check proved that 2 hours and 10 minutes had gone by and I enjoyed it up to when the bitterness began. The Envy was above average in appearance, construction and flavor. The SRP of $9.99 makes it a good value to boot. I liked it better than any two $5 one hour cigars and rate it a 4 out of 5.