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 - 7 of 7 Reviews
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
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
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
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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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 08, 2016 Mild Extremely Mild Medium Tolerable
There are VaPers in the citrus/bright category and there are VaPers in the stewed fruit/bready category. This offering from Peretti is neither!

Park Square is an earthy organic mixture which casts the perique to the sidelines as a condiment. The interplay of the red...matured...and stoved virginias are the main event. It's not a bad thing!

The sweetness I cannot detect. It is more an earthy sourness reminiscent of telegraph hill..... which is much better than it sounds.

The mixture comes in a Kaleidescope of fluffy wide ribbon flakes that pack and light well. It behaves as it should in the bowl when given the respect virginias need.

I'll class it as an all day VaPer.....lovely to smoke without blowing me away.
Pipe Used: Various
Age When Smoked: 6mths
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 31, 2007 Mild to Medium None Detected Mild to Medium Pleasant
I never thought of myself as a Perique addict, but Park Square did make me reconsider given that I found myself always wishing that there was more of that component in this otherwise fine blend. That historic tobacconist did a very fine job with the three Virginias, presenting a very broad flavor range that can be had from the leaf. They were sweet yet subdued and never overwhelming. There was Perique, yes, and I had been given to believe that it was a prominent feature of the mixture. It really seemed like it was just along for the ride, though, as it never exerted a strong enough influence on the taste. With every smoke from the one pound tin I ordered, I imagined that if that Perique dosage were just increased, I would be taken on a strange but joyous ride. The complex though quiet Virginias already there could have made this happen, I think, but old L. J. decided to play it safe this time.

Park Square should provide interesting opportunity for experimentation through augmentation with a tin of pure Perique, should I ever find the need to order either again.
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jun 16, 2011 Medium Extremely Mild Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
As a novice and someone who prefers English/Balkan blends, the VA/Per category is one I have not delved into much. I got a sample of this along with several others, and on first try I set it aside as one I did not much like.

Now, four months later, I have retried it and have to say I'm impressed. Probably one of the main problems for me at first was my inexperience and failure to smoke slowly enough to enjoy this type of blend. Now I'm a bit better, and I had three bowls of this today and enjoyed them immensely. The tin note is lovely, dried fruits and wine dominating, and the smoke, when cool and sipped, is flavorful, rich, and smooth. I still get a bit of bite and heat in the bowl, but again my bad not the tobacco (based on my understanding of the qualities of this type of tobacco).

Love it......
0 people found this review helpful.
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