Sutliff Tobacco Company Tobacco Galleria - Night Cap

I have to admit up front that I had zero expectations of this tobacco. I ended up pleasantly surprised. Not to be confused with Dunhill's strong English blend by the same name, this is a full on aromatic with lovely berry/liquor casing. I don't think it will make it into my once or twice a week bowl of aromatic only because it can burn a little hotter than others that I enjoy. The room note smells very similar to the old OTC aromatics. There is a slight chemical taste as the bowl progresses and that along with the heat makes this only a two star blend for me. But if you are looking for an inexpensive aromatic, one could do far worse than Nightcap. Somewhat Recommended.

Sutliff Tobacco Co. - Tobacco Galleria - Night Cap.

A long time favourite morning smoke of mine has been Dunhill's Nightcap. Nothing beats a bit of Lat' in the morning! So, this morning, bleary eyed, I opened my tobacco cupboard and was drawn to the name: ''ah, a Dunhill match I bet, lovely''. Wrong-o. It's a perplexing title from the company running the Match series, but hey-ho.

A mostly black mixture with some yellow/brown highlights. I never bothered checking the unlit aroma but I knew something was amiss with the 'Nightcap copy' when I loaded my pipe and checked the packing by giving my pipe an unlit puff: a heavy scent of berries. But, loaded as it was, I went on to have a bowl!

The smoke? Heavy with blackberries, some sugar, vanilla, and alcohol. But in all fairness, the alcoholic trait isn't exactly strong. I sense more of the sweet, sugary side of the liqueur instead of the sharp alcoholic one. The vanilla's a team player throughout, not forcing the other ingredients aside resulting in a sticky mess, instead mellowing and smoothing the smoke. The burn from it's cool, very steady, fairly slow, without a bite.

Nicotine: mild. Room-note: pleasant.

Night Cap? Not a rubbish smoke, but quite run of the mill. Somewhat recommended:

Two stars.

Strong notes of blackberry with this one, but the cavendish is still present. The quality of the fruit flavour is modest, but unfortunately leaves a little more to be desired. On a positive note, the fruitiness stays until the bottom of the bowl. There is a distinct creaminess to the smoke. I wouldn't call this a nightcap, but definitely an after dinner smoke. It comes very wet, so it needs plenty of drying time. This was still damp when smoked, so it needed several relights. I can see someone enjoying this blend in their rotation, but personally it wasn't for me.

One of the free pouches I received from Altadis some years ago. If I had to guess I would say this is flavored with Blackberry Brandy but I could be wrong, it's just what my taste buds keep telling me. Not terrible by any stretch of the imagination, typical Black and Gold Cavendish ala 1Q with a somewhat mild cordial liquor topping that burns off after the top 1/4 of the bowl. I preferred the other aromatic offerings in the Tobacco Galleria lineup as I found this too mild but for the price you could do far worse. Really nice room note too.

The tobacco shop where I buy my goodies, was having a two for one sale on Tobacco Galleria Products. I bought a pouch of this and a pouch of Fox and Hound. I now know why it was a two for one special. This Night Cap is as far from an English Blend as one could possibly get. This stuff has almost a double portion of flavoring in comparison to 1Q. Way too sweet for my palate. If you want a really flavorful aromatic, then give this one a try. I also had a really difficult time trying to keep this stuff lit. Right out of the pouch it was very very moist.

Now where did I put that tin of Squadron Leader?

This is a typical heavily sweetened dessert smoke from our friends at Altadis. Smells great, tastes decent, but is way too wet and sweet for me. It smokes pretty well for a black Cav blend.

Mostly harmless. Not much "there" there, but hey, chicks dig it and it's a decent alternative once in a while. Flavor is among the least synthetic of this line.

Constrained to basket pipe though; it's like tar on briar.