Zodiac Editions and Three Very Different Ways to Interpret the Same Idea
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Introduction – one concept, multiple master blenders
Gurkha’s Zodiac project is unusual because the name does not define a single blend.
Year of the Dragon expanded into collaborations involving El Artista, AJ Fernandez, E.P. Carrillo, Oliva and Oscar Valladares. Year of Snake subsequently focused the idea around three manufacturers: Casa Carrillo, Oscar Valladares and Oliva.
This makes Zodiac much more than commemorative packaging.
It becomes a study of:
factory identity, tobacco origin, wrapper selection, vitola and blending philosophy.
1. The original Year of the Dragon
The project began with a Tabacalera El Artista-produced Figurado measuring 6¾ × 52.
Gurkha presented it in numbered red piano-finish boxes decorated with gold dragons, with 15 cigars per box and 1,000 boxes announced. The blend was described as proprietary.
That could have been the entire project.
Instead, Gurkha expanded it dramatically.
2. Dragon becomes a collaboration series
Four additional partners joined:
AJ Fernandez
E.P. Carrillo
Oliva
Oscar Valladares.
Each was given its own blend, format and packaging identity.
The result was effectively five interpretations of “Dragon.”
3. Five Dragons
Maker
Size
Presentation
El Artista
6¾ × 52 Figurado
Red
AJ Fernandez
6⅝ × 52 Box Pressed
Green
E.P. Carrillo
6⅝ × 54 Toro
Black
Oliva
6½ × 60
Orange
Oscar Valladares
6 × 52
Yellow
Even the vitolas differ.
This matters because the project was never designed around strict sensory uniformity.
4. AJ Fernandez Dragon
Published architecture:
Wrapper: Ecuadorian HabanoBinder: NicaraguanFiller: NicaraguanOrigin: NicaraguaSize: 6⅝ × 52 Box Pressed.
This is essentially an Ecuador-over-Nicaragua structure.
It offers an excellent opportunity to examine how an Ecuadorian wrapper interacts with a Nicaraguan core.
5. Why Box Pressed matters
Blend is only part of the experience.
A box-pressed format can alter:
tactile feel;
mouthfeel;
perceived draw;
smoking rhythm;
overall handling.
Therefore, comparative tasting should never treat vitola as irrelevant.
6. Oliva Dragon – a radically different architecture
Oliva went with:
Mexican San Andrés wrapper
Cameroon binder
Nicaraguan filler
in a 6½ × 60 Salomon, produced in Nicaragua.
Compare that with AJ Fernandez:
Ecuadorian Habano / Nicaragua / Nicaragua
versus:
San Andrés / Cameroon / Nicaragua.
Same Dragon theme.
Completely different tobacco architecture.
7. San Andrés and Cameroon
A tasting can explore whether the San Andrés contributes darker earthy, cocoa or roasted impressions while Cameroon adds aromatic sweetness or spice.
Those are tasting families, not guarantees.
The key question is:
Can you separate wrapper character from the rest of the blend?
That makes the Oliva version particularly educational.
8. Oscar Valladares Dragon – Honduras
Oscar Valladares produced a 6 × 52 Toro featuring:
Corojo wrapper
Honduran binder
Honduran filler
and Honduran production.
This becomes especially important because Oscar returns for Year of Snake.
9. Year of Snake changes the experiment
Gurkha reduced the collaboration group to three:
Casa Carrillo
Oscar Valladares
Oliva.
The official collection therefore represents three production countries:
Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua.
That turns Year of Snake into an unusually useful comparative tasting collection.
10. Oscar Valladares Snake
Official specifications:
Wrapper: HabanoBinder: HonduranFiller: HonduranOrigin: HondurasSize: 6 × 52 ToroStrength: Strong.
Compare it with Oscar’s Dragon:
Dragon = Corojo/Honduras/Honduras.
Snake = Habano/Honduras/Honduras.
This creates a fascinating wrapper-focused comparison.
11. Oscar Dragon vs Oscar Snake
Keep the producer and Honduran core relatively consistent.
Change the wrapper direction.
Then evaluate:
sweetness;
spice;
pepper;
earth;
wood;
body;
aroma;
finish.
It is a much more useful tasting exercise than simply asking:
“Which one is better?”
12. Casa Carrillo Snake – the multinational blend
Casa Carrillo takes a very different approach:
Wrapper: Ecuadorian CorojoBinder: Ecuadorian SumatraFiller: Dominican + Mexican + NicaraguanOrigin: Dominican RepublicSize: 6½ × 52 ToroStrength: Strong.
This is the most geographically diverse Snake blend.
Four tobacco origins participate in its architecture.
13. How to approach the Casa Carrillo version
Do not obsess over identifying every country blind.
Instead ask:
Does the cigar evolve?
Does sweetness change?
Does spice build?
Does the finish become darker?
Does the wrapper dominate?
Does the core become more obvious in the second half?
Complexity is often about development, not simply the number of flavors you can name.
14. Oliva Snake
Oliva’s Year of Snake uses:
Mexican San Andrés wrapper
Nicaraguan binder
Nicaraguan filler
Nicaraguan production
in a 6⅝ × 52 Toro, officially classified Strong.
And this gives us another excellent comparison.
Because Oliva’s Dragon also used San Andrés.
15. Oliva Dragon vs Oliva Snake
Dragon
San Andrés / Cameroon / Nicaragua6½ × 60 Salomon.
Snake
San Andrés / Nicaragua / Nicaragua6⅝ × 52 Toro.
Wrapper family and Nicaraguan filler remain.
Binder and vitola change.
This is a perfect demonstration of why:
wrapper alone does not define a cigar.
16. The three Snakes
Version
Wrapper
Binder
Filler
Origin
Strength
Oscar Valladares
Habano
Honduras
Honduras
Honduras
Strong
Casa Carrillo
Ecuadorian Corojo
Ecuadorian Sumatra
DR/Mexico/Nicaragua
Dominican Republic
Strong
Oliva
Mexican San Andrés
Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Strong
Three Strong cigars.
Three very different architectures.
17. Honduras vs Dominican Republic vs Nicaragua
Snake can almost function as a terroir class.
Oscar emphasizes Honduras.
Casa Carrillo creates a multinational Dominican-made blend.
Oliva builds around San Andrés and Nicaragua.
But country stereotypes should be avoided.
Origin matters alongside:
seed variety, farm, priming, fermentation, aging, factory, blender and vitola.
18. Strong does not mean identical
Gurkha officially rates all three Year of Snake cigars Strong.
Yet they need not share the same:
body,
pepper,
sweetness,
aromatic intensity,
or complexity.
Remember:
Strength ≠ Body ≠ Flavor.
19. Dragon vs Snake conceptually
Dragon is broader.
Five makers.
More formats.
More visual identities.
More interpretations.
Snake is tighter:
three makers,
three production countries,
three Strong blends,
three broadly comparable Toro formats.
For structured comparative tasting, Snake may actually be the cleaner experiment.
20. Which is more collectible?
Dragon has the historical appeal of being Gurkha’s first Chinese Zodiac project, while Snake is the second.
Dragon also offers greater breadth.
Snake offers greater comparative coherence.
Collectors may value those attributes differently.
21. Limited does not mean investment
A limited-edition cigar is not automatically an investment.
Secondary-market desirability can depend on:
scarcity,
reputation,
storage,
condition,
provenance,
and collector demand.
Buy primarily because the cigar or collection interests you—not because appreciation is guaranteed.
22. A Mister Tabaco Zodiac tasting
A strong educational format would be:
Flight 1: Oscar Dragon vs Snake.
Flight 2: Oliva Dragon vs Snake.
Flight 3: Oscar Snake vs Casa Carrillo Snake vs Oliva Snake.
Each flight answers a specific blending question.
That is more useful than smoking the entire collection at once.
23. How to make the comparison fair
Use comparable storage conditions.
Avoid strongly flavored drinks.
Take notes before reading marketing material.
Do not judge an entire line from a single poorly constructed sample.
When precision matters, smoke the cigars on different days.
Comparative tasting is an experiment; control the variables you can.
24. Common mistakes
“Year of Snake is one cigar.”No—it is a three-cigar collaboration collection.
“Dragon is one blend.”No—the project expanded to five interpretations.
“All Snakes are Strong, so they taste similar.”False.
“San Andrés automatically means maximum strength.”False.
“Limited Edition means better.”False.
“More countries in the blend means greater complexity.”Not necessarily.
25. Which should you choose?
Choose Oscar Valladares Snake to explore a Honduras-centered architecture.
Choose Casa Carrillo Snake for the most multinational blend.
Choose Oliva Snake for San Andrés over a Nicaraguan core.
Explore Year of the Dragon when the breadth of the Zodiac project and multiple manufacturers interests you most.
Explore Year of Snake when you want a more systematic three-country comparison.
26. FAQ
How many official Year of Snake interpretations are there?Three.
Are all three Strong?Yes, according to Gurkha.
What countries produce them?Honduras, Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.
Which uses San Andrés?Oliva.
Which uses Ecuadorian Corojo?Casa Carrillo.
Was Dragon larger as a project?Yes. It ultimately involved five manufacturing partners.
27. Verdict
The brilliance of Gurkha Zodiac is not simply the artwork.
It is the idea that one theme can be interpreted through several factories.
Dragon demonstrates breadth.
Snake provides a particularly clean comparison between:
Honduras
Dominican Republic
and:
Nicaragua.
For an enthusiast, the most interesting question becomes:
How much of a cigar’s personality comes from its brand—and how much comes from the blender, factory, tobacco and construction behind it?
Mister Tabaco
At Mister Tabaco you’ll find a selection of Gurkha cigars, from accessible collections to rarer, long-aged editions. Explore our dedicated series on the brand to compare collections and choose the right blend for you.
Continue the Gurkha Series
→ The Gurkha Story: From a Forgotten Box in Goa to the “Rolls Royce of Cigars”
→ Gurkha Cigars: Brand History, Philosophy and Guide to the Collections Available at Mister Tabaco
→ Gurkha Cellar Reserve 15 Year: What Does 15-Year-Aged Tobacco Really Mean?
→ Bourbon Collection vs Grand Reserve: Two Different Interpretations of Spirits-Inspired Cigars
→ Black Dragon vs Green Dragon vs Red Dragon: Three Names, Three Identities
→ HMR vs HRH vs Maharaja vs Raja vs Sultan
→ GURKHA YEAR OF THE DRAGON vs YEAR OF SNAKE
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