Peretti Park Square

(3.32)
Red Virginia, matured Virginia, and stoved Virginia are delicately spiced with just the right amount of perique to create a rich and complex blend whose character evolves and emerges throughout the bowl.

Details

Brand Peretti
Series English Blends
Blended By L.J. Peretti
Manufactured By L.J. Peretti
Blend Type Virginia/Perique
Contents Perique, Virginia
Flavoring
Cut Ribbon
Packaging Bulk
Country United States
Production Currently available

Profile

Strength
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
None Detected
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Pleasant to Tolerable
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming

Average Rating

3.32 / 4
11

7

4

0

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 22 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 13, 2013 Mild to Medium Extremely Mild Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
This is a review of the original version of Park Square that was comprised of McClelland tobaccos. The red, stoved and matured Virginias are tangy, dark fruit sweet with a mildly fermented sugary stewed fruit from the stoved, along with a bit of earth and wood. The red Virginia is slightly more noticeable than the other Virginias. It does have a little of the McClelland "vinegar" that smokers of that company's products will find familiar. However, in this blend, it's very mild and does not interfere with the flavor. It has enough perique to add a little sweet raisin and fig hits, but very little spice, adding a light complexity. The strength is closer to medium than it is to mild, and the taste level falls just short of medium. The nic-hit is almost in the center of mild to medium. Won't bite or get harsh even when pushed. Burns cool and clean and a little slow with a very consistent flavor from start to finish. Leaves very little moisture in your bowl, but requires some relights. Has a pleasant, slightly lingering after taste. An all day smoke. This production got 3 stars.

Update: 1-31-2019: I have been smoking the recent “McClelland-less” version of this blend. The proportions and properties of the tobaccos are the same, but the effects are different. This is less sweeter, less potent in every respect with only a bare hint of the “vinegar”. The strength and nic-hit are a step or two past the mild mark, while the taste is in the center of mild to medium. No bite, no harsh notes. Burns cool and clean at a moderate pace (unlike the original manufacture) with light inconsistency in flavor. It gets a tad stronger at the half way point. Leaves very little moisture in the bowl, and needs an average number of relights. Has a pleasant, short lived after taste. An all day smoke. Two stars for this watered down production.

-JimInks
21 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 15, 2010 Mild None Detected Mild to Medium Very Pleasant
SteelCowboy hit a home run with his review as far as I'm concerned. This is indeed as naturally sweet a Vaper blend as I've ever smoked. A little too heavy on the Perique and not enough strength to make this one a bellringer for me, but it sure had a nice taste... and, as SteelCowboy said, it is best sipped rather than gulped.

Peretti doesn't release a bad blend. This is another jewel that has made their starting lineup.
10 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 25, 2015 Mild None Detected Mild Pleasant
Mottled ribbons, heavy on the black. Mostly the sweet smell of stoved Virginias in the tin. A little more moist than most Peretti blends come, but I'm not sure if that means anything. I didn't have to dry this out much to get it to work, so it wasn't overly wet.

Odd, but interesting. Odd because this should have tasted sweeter than it did. I wouldn't call red Virginias sweet, or at least that wouldn't be my first descriptor, but stoved Virginias usually are. Perique is usually peppery or laden with dark fruit taste, but the perique here was neither. More spicy, almost briny, in the way that Telegraph Hill is. Overall, I couldn't call this blend sweet. I found it more savory and robust, with a sour tint. Again, kind of like GLP's Telegraph Hill without that blends heady richness and dark bread flavors. This one was thinner of flavor, not just milder like GLP Stratford. This was a perfectly acceptable blend but I got through about 3 oz so far and I just can't find much to say about it. Hard to recommend except as an odd take on the basic VaPer recipe, but still interesting enough that I enjoyed smoking it. I won't buy it again, but it was fine to smoke, and I still have quite a bit left to play around with. Might make a good mixer.
9 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Aug 17, 2012 Medium Very Mild Medium to Full Very Pleasant
Honestly one of the best VA/Periques out there. Park Square is wonderfully blended and easy to handle as far as packing. L.J. has been making this blend for years and I was told this particular blend was made personally for Ramsey Macdonald, former prime minister of Britian. It shows.

Park Square is easy to light and stays lit well. It is more on the moist side, but not too moist. It burns rather cool with little to no bite. I agree with previous reviewers that it should be puffed slowly rather than chugged through. The perique is noticeable, but not overpowering and makes for a great evening smoke.

There's a reason L.J. Peretti has been around for ever. They do it right. Park Square is a great example of Peretti's fine quality. Highly recommend it!
8 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 04, 2016 Mild None Detected Medium Tolerable
I just finished a sample given to me by my nephew, who ordered several one ounce samples from Peretti. This is the first that I have had the chance to try. The tin note of this was very McClelland "esque" to me. The taste of the blend was heavenly.

My sample got me about four bowls with a fifth huge bowl at the end. It was after the four bowls that I realized a trend. Everytime I had a bowl, I thought, "wow, that was very delightful." Followed by immediate thought of "what can I smoke next?" After the first bowl I had some snuff and went about my business. The other three were followed by nicotine bombs. The problem with this blend is that it just does not have much nicotine. Even with the addition of perique (which is lightly applied), I find it very weak in strength.

Still the flavor is fantastic. I could see this being a favorite of anyone who does not like a lot of nicotine in their blends. I, however, do enjoy nicotine. In any case, I am putting this one at three stars for its taste alone.
7 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 13, 2010 Mild to Medium Extremely Mild Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
Every so often I enjoy a nice Vaper as a chage of pace. I tend to like Vapers that are on the sweet side. Park Square hits the mark for me. The pouch aroma is great as are the wonderful Virginia colors. I enjoy sipping this slowly after letting it dry out a bit as it does arrive (in the paint can!) a bit moist. If Vapers that have a sweet tang are your thing, this fine offering from Peretti's shouldn't be missed. I think a couple of years in the cellar will only serve to make this even more outstanding.
7 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 21, 2016 Mild None Detected Mild Pleasant to Tolerable
Park Square is bounded by Boylston, Arlington, Charles and Stuart Streets. Typically Bostonian, it is neither a park nor a square but a parcel of high-end real estate hard by the Commons and home to the Four Seasons and other swank. If you are sitting beside the wooden Indian at LJ Peretti's century-old shop and trying to understand the non-rhotic accents of the locals, you are staring dead head at "Paak" Square. The venerable tobacconists at Perreti must have prized the blend to bestow that moniker. And they should. Park Square is a colorful blend of Virginias and Perique as others have noted. It is sweet and steady with a creamy, full-mouth feel. The flavors and scents are complementary, producing a well-rounded smoke that can be enjoyed at most times of day and through multiple bowls. But don't miss Peritti's own designation of Park Square as an English Blend. This tobacco has the signature smokiness associated with an English and suggests the inclusion of Latakia or an Oriental varietal. It is not the overwhelming smokiness of a campfire -- more Highland Park than Lagavulin -- but it is unmistakable. While Park Square deserves a wider audience, I would just as soon keep it to myself and a few friends.
Pipe Used: Larsen, Dunhill, T. Nielsen,
PurchasedFrom: LJ Peretti
Age When Smoked: 8 months
5 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 24, 2009 Mild to Medium Extremely Mild Medium Tolerable
Park Square, a mixture of many Virginias and Perique, is one of LJ Peretti's house blends. Sold by weight, it's packaged in metal paint cans when purchased 8 or 16 ounces at a time. A yellow paper label is wrapped around each can, with the blend name and the blenders initials hand-written on it.

Park Square arrives at the perfect moisture level. It's a bit drier than many tinned tobaccos, and no drying is necessary before packing and lighting. It packs easily, and in my experience it's best packed with a light hand.

The blend is made up of a number of Virginias, including light, matured, and stoved, plus Perique. The blend is an absolute riot of color, with shades of light yellow, medium chestnut-brown, deep reddish-brown, and black amongst the tobaccos. The ribbons are cut in varying widths. Just looking at the blend makes my mouth water. The blend smells as you would expect given the constituent tobaccos, with no noticeable aroma of anything other than tobacco.

The Virginias are masterfully blended here, providing the entire range of Virginia flavors. The Perique is added with a light hand, helping to balance the blend perfectly. There's a bit of something else here as well, a flavor that I've noted in some other Peretti blends. I don't know if it's a topping, or something left from Peretti's treatment their tobaccos, but it works well in this blend. It lasts just a few minutes, and then it's gone.

Lighting this blend is very easy. The charring light will burn for a while if you want it to. It's never taken more than two lights for me to get a bowl of Park Square going. It requires few relights along the way, especially if packed a bit looser than normal.

The first part of the bowl is all about the Virginias. The Perique is there, but just as a balancing element. The Peretti flavoring is noticeable at first, but it's unobtrusive and quickly dissipates. The tobacco burns well, and requires only the occasional light tamping to keep it going.

As the bowl progresses, the Perique becomes a bit more noticeable. Still, it's primarily a balancing element rather than a primary flavor. The bright sweetness of the light Virginias softens a bit through the middle of the bowl.

The moisture level while smoking is about average, requiring two or three pipe cleaners per bowl when I smoke it.

The flavors deepen a bit toward the bottom, though the change isn't radical. The blend remains well balanced to the end. It's not difficult to smoke this one all of the way down, leaving an extremely fine gray-white ash behind. I find that it's very easy to clean out the tobacco chamber after smoking this tobacco. It doesn't build cake very quickly at all (which is fine by me).

Park Square can bite if you puff hard, but that's true of virtually every blend that contains lighter Virginias. Although it's very nice smoked normally, this blend really rewards very slow smoking snd, especially, breath smoking. There are enough different flavors here to make the blend interesting from start to finish.

I'm a big fan of Virginia/Perique blends. Although I generally lean toward such blends with more Perique, Park Square is one of my favorite blends of this genre. This isn't an everyday blend for me, bit I'd miss it if it was gone. I feel very fortunate that Peretti is still blending tobaccos of this quality.
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
BC
Sep 13, 2017 Mild to Medium None Detected Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
This is currently my favorite VAPER. It really is outstanding. It is fairly light in color mottled with stoved VAs ( I think ) and dark Perique ribbons. It has perfect moisture out of the bag. The unburnt tobacco smell is a sort of semi sweet chocolate. It packs easily. It smokes both sweet and savory with some earth notes. It doesn't bite. The Perique gets a little stronger toward the botton 1/3 bowl, but it's on the plum/figgy flavor part of the spectrum. Sip slow to get all of the flavor.
Pipe Used: Vesz slight bent
PurchasedFrom: Peretti's, Boston, MA
Age When Smoked: Fresh
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 03, 2017 Medium None Detected Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
Park Square presents as a ribbon of light to dark browns with a gorgeous, pungent, Virginia/Perique nose of stewed fruit. Like all Peretti blends, Park Square arrives at optimal moisture content and ready to smoke.

The charring and true lights bring plum, stewed fruit and a hint of pepper. Park Square takes a match well and is amazingly cool-smoking for a VaPer. There is no bite to this blend, even with the increased cadence of puffing that this depth of flavor may induce. The Perique here is very plummy, with just a small hint of peppery spice, similar to Solani 633. The Virginia is herbal, very mildly citrusy, somewhat earthy, and smooth as silk. Flavors are consistent from the first third to the final sip. Park Square burns remarkably cool, and very dry for a Virginia blend. A VaPer smooth enough to be an all-day blend, yet dedicated VaPer smokers will be just as impressed. This is a plummy side blend that would be an excellent introduction to VaPers. But Solani owns this space, hence three stars.

Smooth, cool and dry-smoking with plenty of flavor and no harsh spots. Very impressive blending from a custom house I would otherwise associate with world-class Oriental and burley blends.
2 people found this review helpful.
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