Gurkha Year of the Dragon 2024 (Tabacalera El Artista)

During the 2023 PCA Convention & Trade Show, Gurkha Cigars showed off its first foray into a Chinese zodiac calendar-themed creation:  a 6 3/4 x 52 figurado made at El Artista in the Dominican Republic, though the company declined to talk specifics about the blend.

The company announced that there would be 1,000 individually numbered 15-count boxes. As has been the case with most of the Chinese zodiac calendar-inspired cigars from other manufacturers, the color scheme is a very deliberate decision: in Chinese culture, red symbolizes good fortune and joy, while yellow or gold symbolizes wealth.

What company didn’t announce then was that there would be more than one Gurkha Year of the Dragon blend. In January, the Gurkha made a surprise announcement that it had commissioned four different companies—AJ Fernandez, Casa Carrillo, Oliva and Oscar Valladares—to create additional Year of the Dragon blends. Each uses a different blend and is made in a different vitola, but all four of those cigars are limited to a total of 2,000 boxes of 10.

There’s also a Gurkha Year of the Dragon humidor that comes with 20 each of those fours blends, though none of the El Artista-made cigars.

• Cigar Reviewed: Gurkha Year of the Dragon 2024 (Tabacalera El Artista)
• Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
• Factory: Tabacalera El Artista
• Wrapper: Undisclosed
• Binder: Undisclosed
• Filler: Undisclosed
• Length: 6 3/4 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 52
• Vitola: Figurado
• MSRP: $25 (Box of 15, $375)
• Release Date: December 2023
• Number of Cigars Released: 1,000 Boxes of 15 (15,000 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

I love the look of the Gurkha Year of the Dragon 2024: the perfecto vitola is interesting and all three cigars are covered in very similar milk chocolate brown wrappers that feature a touch of oil. Those wrappers do have a little sandpaper roughness to them when I run my finger down their lengths, and two of the three feature some notifcablely overt veins as well. Aromas from the wrappers include strong but generic woodiness—one is distinct enough to place as oak—followed by earth, sweet nuttiness, leather tack, barnyard and a touch of mint. There is more nuttiness than any other scent emanating from the feet—the smell reminds me of roasted peanuts—as well as more earth, white bread, baker’s spices and a sweet floral note. Finally, after straight cuts, the cold draws bring flavors of leather, gritty earth, aged oak, creamy peanuts and light milk chocolate sweetness.

Two cigars start out with flavors of gritty earth, spice and black pepper notes, while the last one has more bitter espresso and black pepper with virtually no spice at all. Regardless, those flavors on all three cigars quickly give way to the same main notes of cocoa nibs and creamy oak, followed by toasted bread, anise, generic nuttiness, leather tack and light citrus peel. The retrohales are smooth, with a small amount of black pepper and a touch of vanilla bean sweetness, although both notes do seem to be getting a bit stronger as the burn line progresses. Flavor ends the first third at medium-plus, while both the body and strength hit a point just under medium. Although the burn line is all over the place for two of the cigars, neither get so bad that I need to use my lighter; the draws and smoke production are great on all three cigars.

The same flavors of creamy oak and powdery cooca nibs are still at the top of the profile during the second third of the cigar, followed by secondary notes of anise, leather, plain oatmeal, lightly salted nuts and a vegetal flavor. Vanilla bean sweetness and black pepper are at about the same level on the retrohale compared the first third, but I do note an uptick of spice on my lips for one of the cigars. Flavor increases slightly to hit medium-full—barely—and while the body stays put at a point just under medium, the strength crosses into solid medium territory. Unfortunately, the burn lines on all three cigars need a couple of corrections each with my lighter, but the draws and smoke production continue to be excellent.

There are very few changes in the three Gurkhas during the final third: cocoa nibs and creamy oak flavors easily dominate the profiles, with secondary flavors of hay, roasted peanuts, anise, sawdust and leather fighting for their places. In addition, while there seems to be little change in the amount of vanilla bean sweetness and black pepper on the retrohale, the vegetal note—which is now strong enough to remind me of asparagus—has moved to the finish on two cigars, albeit not for very long. The flavor remains at medium-full, while the strength increases to medium-plus and the body increases to a solid medium. Thankfully, the burn on two of the cigars even up nicely and needs no corrections—my first cigar does get bad enough that I am forced to touch it up once—but there continue to be no problems at all with either the smoke production or draws on all three cigars.

Final Notes

• At this point in time, there are more than 10 cigar companies that have announced or released Zodiac-themed cigars: Davidoff’s Zodiac Series is perhaps the most well-known, but the list also includes Asylum, Drew Estate, El Septimo, General Cigar Co., Habanos S.A., JM Tobacco, La Galera, Oliva, Maya Selva, Plasencia, Rocky Patel, United Cigars and Vega Fina.
• In December 2023, Gurkha Cigar Group, Inc.—which uses a dragon trademark under license from K. Hansotia & Co., Inc.—sued Davidoff over the name of its Limited Edition 2024 Year of the Dragon cigar, claiming trademark infringement. I am not smart enough to go into all of the various aspects of this situation, but Charlie had some great thoughts on the subject here and here.
• In a press release, Gurkha said that the Gurkha Year of the Dragon 2024 cigars were offered for sale “by invitation only at the PCA Convention.”
• Interestingly, there were very noticeable gold flakes present on the wrapper of the cigars I smoked for this review.

• These cigars were listed at 6 3/4 x 52. None of the cigars came in at 52 ring gauge but the lengths of all three were extremely close to one another.
• The cigars smoked for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
• Final smoking time averaged one hour and 32 minutes for all three samples.
• If you would like to purchase any of the Gurkha Year of the Dragon 2024 (Tabacalera El Artista) cigars, site sponsors Corona Cigar Co., and Smoking Pipes have them in stock.