Recommended, and would order again.

A companion infusion: a bottle or two of Oxford Class Organic Amber Ale.

To calm it down I tried to mix it half and half with some Peter Stokkebye Balkan Supreme which I though could use a little kick, but instead I got a mix that tasted like smokey cardboard and it was still over the top in the nicotine department.

On the plus side, it may work well as a natural insectiside for your house plants LOL.

One other thing I really disliked/hated about this tobacco is that when smoking it straight I had an aftertaste of cigarettes, and as an ex cigarette smoker that really turns me off. When mixed with Balkan Supreme I didn't get that taste much at all, perhaps a further blending with some Super Value Natural Cavendish which has no nicotine and no taste would thin it out a bit.

However, if you smoke cigarettes and are looking for a stronger nicotine punch with the pipe this may fit the bill. Also, it may be a good smoke to go out and join the cigarette smokers during their work break because you don't need to smoke this very long before you are ready to go back to work. But for me the pipe should smell and taste great, and give you a nicotine kick but not a slam in the stomach. They should rename this stuff to 'Sledge Hammer' or 'Grim Reefer'.

ORIGINAL REVIEW 1/27/09: When I first got the 1 oz chunk of Night Train I was skeptical. It really didn't have a specific smell to it other than tobacco and maybe a hint of sweet spiciness. At that point I had set myself up for disappointment. I was impressed with the way the "block" rubbed out into larger flakes. The moisture was perfect. Those two facts don't make a good smoke.

When I first placed match to tobacco then all that predetermined disappointment chugged away with each puff of smoke. This is an absolutely flavor packed smoke that really gives you a good punch of perique that melds with the virginias. A wonderful spicy tartness developed as the bowl progressed with hints of sweetness here and there. One thing I must caution is that the nicotine kick will have your stomach doing flip flops if you don't have at least something in there to fight off the Vitamin N. I'm not very sensitive to nicotine but even this one had me wishing I had a snack before the smoke.

This is not an every day smoke for me but it has left enough of an impression that I get a hankering for it every now and then. This is my first tobacco I've tried from C&D and if this is a portent of their other offerings I will be stocking up with all I can.

A four star smoke that would be a perfect after dinner smoke especially after Thanksgiving or Christmas. If you enjoy perique this would be a wonderful place to step aboard. I wouldn't recommend this for the novice. If I had tried this while I was new to pipe smoking I probably would have quit right then and there. Now that I've got some years under my belt it helps me to appreciate this blend that much more.

This tobacco smokes itself. Burns very smoothly and predictably, never had to relight. Can't emphasize enough to puff it very, very s-l-o-w-l-y during the first half-bowl. Too fast and the briar heats up and the taste gets too sharp. Nurse it and the virginias come through admirably, however half way down I found that a bit more aggression brings out a lot of richness.

The flavor is not overly complex, and it stays quite consistent throughout the bowl except for a bit more toastiness and creaminess near the bottom. The excellent aftertaste reminds me of when I was a kid visiting my uncles' barn, with the smell of old hay, manure and feed. You country boys will know what I mean.

I have very few vapers in my stash because I'm very particular about them, but this seems a perfect blend of sweet (VA) and bitter (PER), blessing the puffer with a really well-balanced, rich, strong smoke with absolutely no bite. I would love some suggestions for other great vapers.

Cigar smokers will love this one.

Fantastic stuff.

All in all, this is a very good smoke that I recommend. The name sounds too much like bum wine though, and that probably drives some potential purchasers away. Nobody likes to picture themselves drinking Night Train from a bottle wrapped in a paper sack...

Night Train requires an advanced (very slow) smoking technique. I would highly recommend this tobacco for veteran pipe smokers who enjoy nicotine overdose.

Aromatic and new pipe smokers will not enjoy Night Train. same with me since I cant absorb that much nicotine in one bowl.

Everyone who I talked to about this blend had the same response. ?Get ready, you?re in for a ride. I hope you like nicotine!!? And then they would usually chuckle. They all told me that this was one strong smoke and not to smoke it on an empty stomach.

I ordered a 4 oz sample of this from pipesandcigars.com and it arrived in brick form so I quickly started pulling it apart and rubbing it out a little bit. It seems to have the perfect moisture content straight away. I put this in a jar to let it rest a bit after rubbing it out and unfortunately I forgot about it. Now it?s about two months later and I think that it?s about time to break this stuff out and give it a whirl.

Right off the bat this blend gives off a sweet/sour fruity kind of taste. Delicious in my opinion. The spiciness of the Perique also kicks in very early on. Whoa, I can tell already that this one is going to pack a punch. This blend stays lit better than most that I have encountered. But watch out because if you start puffing on this too fast you will regret it. I let it get away from me one time when I was reading and not paying attention. Didn?t really notice anything except the spiciness of the Perique became almost overwhelming and the next thing I know my head starts to swirl from the nicotine. I actually had to put the pipe down and go to bed after that one.

If you take your time with this and sip on it very slowly it is a very, very good smoke. The sweet/sour flavor remains pretty consistent throughout the smoke but the sour takes over a bit near the end but not in a bad way. The spiciness of the Perique is present the whole way through and really adds to this blend I feel. It adds a kind of dark spice that plays in contrast to the sweet/sour flavor that I mentioned.

I assume that the room aroma is as strong as the blend because at one point my wife walked out on the porch and said, ?Man, that stuff smells like it would kick your butt!? She wasn?t far off of the mark.

While I wouldn?t recommend this to a new pipe smoker, if you have a few years under your belt I would highly recommend it. Some people enjoy the stronger stuff and some don?t. I think that I lie somewhere in between. While I will definitely keep this on hand for an occasional smoke there is no way that I could smoke this on a daily basis. For those of you who may be cigar smokers I would compare this blend to the La Flor Dominica Chisel. This is so far the strongest blend that I have smoked so far in this genre but it mixes strength with great taste and that is what sets it apart

I like the sweetness and the Burley/Perique presentation along with the Virginias. It is easy to rub fully (which is my favorite way to smoke Night Train), and it burns easily.

I do think there is a little too much perique in this blend for me to consume it on a regular basis.... But, nothing wrong with choo chooing on the Night Train every once in awhile.

I find the burn rate and temperature very much to my liking and packing was very easy.

The tang and faint sweetness is really tasty and I find this to be a nice change of pace from Briar Fox but not good enough to replace it in my rotation. I say this because I like Briar Fox or blends similar in strength as evening smokes and BF just has that wonderfull right kind of bitterness. Only a piper will understand that last sentence. lol

Its great being a piper isnt it???

Mo, South Africa