Erik Stokkebye Night Slice

The matured old belt golden brown Virginias provides a wealth of tart and tangy citrus, vegetative grass, bread, honey, sugar, some spice, floralness, sour lemon, and mild acidity. They take a small lead at first, but quickly becomes a strong supporting player to the dark fired Kentucky most of the time. The DFK offers plenty of earth, wood, smoke, some spice, floralness, herbs, vegetation, moderate sour barbecue and light nuts. The sugary, toasty black cavendish tames a few rough edges. The level of honey allows me to think it was used as a casing more than a topping. The strength and nic-hit are a step past the medium mark. The taste is a notch past that level. Won’t bite or get harsh. This circular and loose cut product burns a tad slow and warm with a fairly consistent spicy, floral, smoky barbecue, mild fruit, honey, sourness, lightly acidic flavor that extends to the lingering after taste. The room note has a little pungency. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires a couple more than an average number of relights. Not an all day smoke, but it is repeatable. Two and a half stars rounded up to three. Should benefit from some age.

-JimInks

Erik Stokkebye - Night Slice.

About half of the blend arrives as rough coins, the rest is coarse ribbons. There's a slight smell of honey, but nothing too heavy. The coin-like pieces are nicely mottled in colour. Being from bulk, the moisture's perfect.

The smoke? Honey-sweet Kentucky; mostly. There's enough honey to give a 'fragrant' sweet flavour, without being too much. The Virginia isn't as strong as the Kentucky, it's easily pushed back by it. To me, the Black Cavendish brings weight and thickness to the smoke's build, and a mellifluous 'softness' to the flavour. The burn's decent, needing little attention. I get no tongue-bite.

Nicotine: plenty. Room-note: not that bad.

Night Slice? Four stars, for sure:

Highly recommended.

Package note of dark fruit, mild barbeque and spices. Tobacco is a coin or curly cut of yellowish brown, dark brown and a small amount of black. Moisture content is good. Coins rub out with a little effort. Burns slow with a few relights. The strength is medium and nic is mild. I didn't detect any toppings/flavorings. Taste is medium and mostly consistent, with notes of semi-sweet grass, spices, tart zesty citrus, wood, earth, floral, toasted bread, sour vegetation, slightly spicy, sugar, peaty, mildly nutty, mild dark fruit, a slightly tangy smoke and strong hay background note, and a peppery retro. Virginia is leading with Cavendish and Kentucky supporting. Room note is pleasant to tolerable, and aftertaste is great.

I purchased 4 oz this from Smokingpipes.com during a promotion and received a nice canister with Eric Stokkebye/Night Slice branding. For comparison, the coins were not quite as tight as Mac Baren coins and there was a fair amount of shake in the sample. Appearance wise, the presence of Dark-Fired and Black Cavendish was minimal to my eye. The overall look was of moderate brown leaf. There was a faint smell of honey in the bag note, different from most honey-laden blends. There was also a nice - but slight - smell of gingerbread cookies in the canister after placing the tobacco inside it. Both aromas were very pleasant.

Loading and lighting were easy and there was little trouble keeping the bowl lit. This was minimally similar in taste to many of the Mac Baren coins I smoke, but not as grassy in the Virginia department. Less grassy being preferable to me. There was a distant honey/floral after taste present that remained throughout the smoke which was quite enjoyable and never over-powering the blend. The absence of Mac Baren's maple was readily apparent (I don't know if this is manufactured by Mac Baren, but I can't help but draw the comparison). This didn't smoke hot but had minimal wetness with the smoking experience along with some dottle present at the bowl\'s end. Over all, a decent smoke that I rate with a solid 3 stars. As far as coins go, I prefer Mac Baren's Stockton over this as there is more in the way of flavor and a fuller mouth feel. However, I will reach for Night Slice from time to time for its own merits.

UPDATE 3-3-24: I am enjoying this more than after first receiving it. I feel as the tobacco dried out over time, I am experiencing more in the flavor profile and the Kentucky smokiness is more apparent. A very nice smoke. Uping to 4 stars.