Dan Tobacco Midnight Ride

Most of the tobaccos I’ve tried since joining TR have been chosen from the highest rated blends on the board. Why not, right? And this approach has certainly worked out for me… by and large. At the same time, spoiled camp follower that I am, I get disappointed when I can’t get a touted blend to work for me. Such is the case with Dan’s Midnight Ride. Sorry to be the lone dissenter, but I was put off the instant I opened the tin and was met with the scent of Liquid Smoke, which seems to be more popular now than ever, and is here used, apparently, in lieu of actual Latakia, which is present but barely so in the tin. The tobacco that is present is cut into long, thin, wide ribbons ranging from gold, to toast, to black. The tobacco scents are melded into mildly spicy silage under the Liquid Smoke and mostly subsumed by this chemical, at least until the LS scent fades some, over time, after the tin is opened. Moisture appears to be optimal, but there is enough propylene glycol added to impede combustion, and it also joins the Liquid Smoke in oiling my mouth before I get very far down the bowl. The dominant VAs are wet hay-ish, and the vegetal Orientals are muddled with the VAs and what little Perique there might be, and all of it is shaded and confused by the Liquid Smoke. For me, MR is neither balanced nor complex, nor is there "interplay" between the varietals, but I find it fairly insipid and muddled. Strength is mild. Tastes are more mild than medium. Room note is fairly innocuous. Aftertaste starts with burnt Liquid Smoke and trails off “VA sweet”, mostly from the propylene glycol.

Here’s a blend I really wanted to like, but it just frustrates and confuses me. While I can’t really say it’s bad, it’s not good, either, and I simply can’t recommend it, especially in view of all the great, available blends that use the “same” tobaccos, eg., Chelsea Morning, on and on, another case of the “competition” blowing a so-so blend off the Board. One sad star.