‘Kaiser Cooks’ and Gurkha Cigars Featured at World Famous Cigar Bar

Producing the World’s Most Elite Cigar is Just One of the Passions of the Genius of Kaizad Hansotia

Gurkha Cigars Founder Kaizad ‘Kaiser’ Hansotia Returns to World Famous Cigar Bar

Kaizad ‘Kaiser’ Hansotia may just be ‘the most interesting man in the world’.

As the owner and founder of Gurkha Cigars he is known for premium quality from his packaging to his introduction of the famed HMR that has earned the title of “the world’s most expensive cigar”.But Hansotia also is a maker of tactical weapons and has designed elite products from knives to watches.   In fact, The Navy Seals who took down Osama Bin Laden last year carried Hansotia’s designed and manufactured knives as part of their gear…and after the job was done…celebrated with his Gurkha Cigars. He also loves coffee and has introduced a limited line of Gurkha coffee and espresso, and is also an avid Poker player.

This Friday night July 20, 2012 Kaiser Hansotia not only will visit The World Famous Cigar Bar in Fort Myers, Florida but he’ll cook dinner for friends and fans of his complete line of great cigars.  It will be an extra special Cigar of the Month party as Kaiser will not only offer extra savings on his high profile cigars, he’ll grill steaks, lamb and seafood along with preparing his classic risotto too. The event will also feature  Estaminet Pils the exquisite Belgium Pale Lager and the fabulous entertainment of The New Vinyls. The party starts at 8 pm at the Gulf Coast Town Center location and not only will they raffle the grill that Kaiser cooks on, The New Vinyls one of the areas best party rock bands will keep the party going ’til closing time.

The World Famous Cigar Bar is known around the globe as one of the most respected cigar bars and retail outlets and owner Rich Castiano  has long relationships with the cornerstones of the industry. In recent month’s The WFCB  has hosted events and welcomed the giants of the industry including Alan Rubin of Alec Bradley, Charlie Toraño, Arturo Fuente, Don Pepin, Rocky Patel and now Kaiser Hansotia returns with “The Rolls Royce of Cigars‘.

Gurkha represents the highest tier of super-premium hand rolled cigars with special blends and creations that dazzle both in concept, quality and packaging, but the entire line offers options at every price point. Not only do the cigars hit the high notes for enjoyment, and win awards for quality…even empty Gurkha boxes are the most desirable and collectable in the entire industry.

With names like Warlord, Evil, Seduction, Red Dragon and Black Dragon, Assassin and the Beast, Gurkha Cigars are delivered to retailers in varied sized boxes, many made from expensive fruit woods and lined with luxurious fabrics and award winning cigars. At first look the Gurkha company logo pops and is never forgotten.At the same time, the image is true to the historic roots of the brand with a Nepalese soldier running his thumb over a sharpened saber.

At the height of the British rule in India, colonial soldiers began to make their own cigars from the local tobacco. The fondness of the British for these legendary Nepalese fighters inspired them to name their cigars “ Gurkhas.” After the rule of the Raja Waned, British expatriates living in India continued to smoke Gurkhas produced in the Portuguese territory of Goa. Eventually, however, the Gurkha cigars simply lapsed into obscurity.

Kaiser Hansotia  passion for excellence didn’t start in the cigar business and whether he’s collecting, producing or marketing world class watches, pens or tactical equipment count on them being the finest that money can buy.

He was born in Nepal and raised in Hong Kong and London before coming to America, first to California and then to Miami where his family became established as designers and producers of luxury timepieces. 

The Gurkha Story really begins in 1989 when Hansotia was visiting Goa, India and purchased not only all of a salesman’s cigars…but the Gurkha brand name for the equivalence of $149. As the now legendary story goes, Hansotia was looking for a unique gift for his watch customers and from that he spawned one of the world’s most intriguing and sought after lines of cigars.

His first order and sale was to a friend who wanted more after Hansotia  sent one of the original boxes to him for his duty free shop and once they arrived, he knew he could sell more of them. 

Realizing he had a new business opportunity, he recruited a friend’s help who introduced him to cigar legend Charlie Toraño. “I had no pedigree in a business that was full of history”, Hansotia recalled, “I was looking for a good company to roll my product, a family that not only knew how to grow tobacco but also had an extensive knowledge in the art of manufacturing cigars. The Toraños were the best, and I still consider them the best.”

The Gurkha Grand Reserve is the ‘flagship’ of the brand that is called The Rolls Royce of Cigars”

He learned the business, but also had the vision to challenge some of the more typical and stale standards for packaging and marketing of the cigars, and at the same time consciously set his goals on creating a luxury product. Not only did his packaging get noticed but the quality matched the ornate boxes that we made of quality woods rather than cardboard.

“All the manufacturers packaged their product the same way their grandfathers did,” and I wanted to create a piece of furniture with cigars in it”, says the man the world calls Kaiser.

His first luxury smoke was the Gurkha Grand Reserve that was infused with cognac and carried a $12 price tag for each cigar  at a time when it was viewed as unheard of and  ‘too expensive’…and it sold.

After that blend Hansotia realized that like his luxury watches, there was a market for that ‘special occasion’ highest quality option.  “Ford, Toyota and GM makes good cars but they make a car that are mass-marketed and sold to the general public. A company like ours is more like Ferrari or Bentley who make a small amount to assure the utmost in quality and construction”.

The world noticed when in 1996 Hansotia’s Gurkha Cigar called “His Majesty’s Reserve” (HMR) was first released. He sought the finest reserves of tobacco and paired 18-year-old tobacco with an entire bottle of Louis XII de Rémy Martin for every 20 cigars. Louis XII is known as the world’s finest cognac and so was the HMR cigar by Gurhka, each box of 20 cigars sold for $15,000.

The HMR continues to be the elite and the top-shelf of the Gurkha line which now consists of   more than 40 distinct styles and, typically only produces between 500 and 1,000 boxes of each per year.

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Posted by 239News on Jul 16 2012. Filed under 239 Buzz, 239 Promos / Events, The Humidor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.