Retrohaling – The best thing you can do to improve your cigar (and its free)
One of the most beneficial tips I got in regards to smoking and maximising the enjoyment of the cigar was ‘Retrohaling’. Something simple and effective to get the Olfactory system firing to make sure you get every ounce of flavour from the stogie and, therefore, the most for your money!
Retrohaling is a method of smoking I didn’t actually use for a while, simply because I just didn’t know about it with my lack of knowledge. But without doubt it has upped my game and is essential as a cigar smoker for you to develop your palate.
In a nutshell, retrohaling involves you taking a draw of the cigar, hold the smoke in your mouth momentarily to let the taste develop. Then slowly and gently exhale a small portion of the smoke out of your nose first, before exhaling the rest through your mouth. You should experience a gentle tingle in the nasal passage by doing this but there shouldn’t be any pain or stinging. If there is, you’re doing it too aggressively or for too long.
The reasoning for this is that your mouth is limited in regards to the flavour profiles it can detect which is based around sweet, bitter, salty, sour. By retrohaling you activate the olfactory system making the aroma do the heavy lifting when it comes to complex smoke flavour profiles. This is where you pick up the notes of wood, spices and pepper, nuttiness and creaminess etc.
To sum it up, I got it explained to me that mouth exhale gives you taste, while retrohale gives you aroma and together they form the complete flavour experience.
Ghurkha Fat Boy review
Now onto the smoke choice for today. A Gurkha Fat boy, 4″ in length with a 60 ring gauge. The same exact vitola as my previous review in post 1 of the Chinchalero Novillo. This Gordito is slightly more expensive than the Chinchalero, coming in at £14.25 per stick.
The Fat Boy has a Nicaraguan Habano wrapper with an undisclosed specificity around the binder and filler except to elude that they are Nicaraguan too. As much as we all enjoy details in regards to the specifics of the product, there is something cool about a bit of secrecy from time to time. So I don’t see this as a bad thing.
Whether intentional or not, I feel it shows confidence in the product. They are putting this product on the market for us to review it solely based on its smoking performance and not its blend credentials.
One other key factor of note, HAVE A SHARP CIGAR CUTTER. School-boy error on my part but i nearly fucked the whole thing up right from the word go because my cutter was just barely sharp enough to cut the head of the cigar. Annoyingly it caused some cracking in the wrapper but that is entirely my fault. Notice my thumb strategically hiding this in the photo below… Anyway, now that I have managed to make a mistake so you don’t have to, lets crack on with the review.
1/3 of cigar – Immediate notes of strong spice and some delicate chocolate flavours adding a subtle addition of sweetness. Nicely balanced straight away, with a very easy draw. Some cigars i find don’t really produce much smoke at the start until they get burning into the second third of the cigar but this one doesn’t follow that rule. Truth be told any Gordito style of cigar generally speaking will always produce a good volume of smoke straight away. The short, fat body structure lends itself to this attribute nicely. For me that is one of the appeals of this vitola.
2/3 of cigar – Flavours above intensify with less sweetness. Definitely medium to full bodied, not harsh at all, smooth but heavy and not harsh at all. I didn’t have anything to drink with this cigar. I enjoy a cigar as it is without always needing to pair it with something but this Gurkha Fat Boy is one that would definitely benefit from a good whiskey or even a nice strong red wine to compliment the flavours.
3/3 of cigar – Heavier flavours of charred wood with notes of espresso, the sweetness has tapered off. The flavours worked well to really give a well rounded smoke that had a bit of everything as it burned, which added a respectable complexity to the flavours. The burn was even throughout and as always with a large ring gauge cigar I have found the temperature is easier to keep low and maintain an enjoyable smoke. The burn throughout was even and consistent as you would expect.
I held onto this cigar to the absolute end, so much so that my finger tips began to burn which is always a good sign that you’ve had a good smoke.
To summarise, I personally would describe this smoke as medium – full bodied, medium – full strength too, with moderate complexity. For the money you get a lot of cigar which is what I have found to be typical of Gurkha. I am always impressed with their products which are reasonably priced for a good quality smoke. Their cellar reserve range for example is phenomenal in my humble opinion and I will definitely review in the posts to come. My review score for this Gurkha Fat Boy cigar is 8/10.
I bought this cigar from Smoke-King in the UK and here is the link on their website for your convenience, because I am pretty dead on guy. If you do decide to buy it, drop me a message here to give me your opinion on it, and I hope you enjoy it.
Take care