Cuban Legacy Toro by K. Hansotia (6.5x50)

I picked a few of these up in a sampler from Cigars International and left them to rest in the humidor for about 3 months before lighting them up. The Cuban Legacy is an offering from Gurkha Cigar Group's K. Hansotia. If you are unfamiliar with Gurkha Cigars, which I doubt you are, they boast being a super premium boutique cigar company. The are known for having a plethora of limited production cigars and some of the most attractive cigar boxes I have ever seen. I know you're not here to read my ramblings, you want to know if the cigar is worth toasting. The Mexican San Andreas Maduro wrapper is a dark brown color with only one fairly large vein and a fair amount of tooth. The binder is Nicaraguan and the filler is a blend of Nicaraguan tobaccos from Esteli and the Jalapa Valley. I didn't get much scent off of the wrapper other than a light note of hay. The foot smelled of sweet tobacco with a bit of what resembled honey. I clipped the cap with my Xikar MTX and found a near perfect draw with some sweet notes. I toasted and lit with my trusty single flame torch with no problems. The Initial third opened with notes of coffee with a mild, herb-like spice and a bit of maduro sweetness on the finish. The retrohale offered a fair amount of spice but was not overpowering. There were a few earthy notes that seemed to come and go in the first third and a bitter sensation that lingers on the tongue. In the second third the earthy notes move to the foreground as the spice and the sweetness both kick up a notch. The bitter sensation subsides and notes that resemble black licorice pop in on occasion along with notes of dark chocolate. In the final third the dark chocolate notes seem to steal the show but the earth and coffee notes are still present. The bitter sensation made a comeback in the final third but wasn't unpleasant and didn't detract from the enjoyment of the smoke. The ash was a bit flaky but managed to hold on for about 1.5 inches at a time with a ligh-medium gray color.This was a fairly complex cigar with a few burn issues, there were a total of 4 burn corrections and one issue that corrected itself but took an inch to do so. It seems to be a mixture of opinions when you ask other cigar smokers about gurkha cigars, it seems you either love them or hate them. I have only tried a handful of their vast amount of offerings and have experienced a few burn issues but good solid flavor profiles. This is one of their lower end offerings and the price point is 2.00-2.50 a stick from Cigars International if you order a box of 20. The few minor corrections on the burn were a aggravation but for this price and flavor profile it's hard to complain much. As for me, I will remain neutral on my opinion of the brand until I have had the chance to try a few more blends and see if the burn issues continue. I had a similar, but much worse experience with the Gurkha Blue Steel in a earlier review. I have a few more of their offerings in the humidor waiting for me to burn, when I do I will let you know how it goes. You can find more information on K. Hansotia and Gurkha Cigar Group at www.gurkhacigars.com and on twitter at http://twitter.com/gurkhacigars. You can find the link to the Cuban Legacy at Cigars International HERE