Sutliff Tobacco Company Match Late Evening

At first glance, Late Evening appears to be a quality English mixture. Notably the blend is bestowed with a colorful span of hues from rich black, warm variegated brown to golden/yellow flakes, very rich and handsome in complexion. The mass of tobacco shows a plentiful simmer of mixed varietal content.

Visually the recipe is comprised of very rough and coarse cut shards of assorted Virginia, Oriental, Latakia and a minor presence of flecked Louisiana Perique. The assortment of Virginia seems to occupy the majority share of space as the other strains comprise the filler neatly. The moisture level is optimally set for immediate consumption as it has a nice feel within the fingers upon the pinch for loading.

With the pouch note, one gets a general robust woody-vegetal impression. The initial characterization is marked by a heavy sour vinegar/woody scent emitting from the Latakia. Laying underneath the top fragrance, a sharp earthy tart grassy note stands out from the Virginia as it interplays with some pungent aromatic/floral spiciness of Oriental. There is a passive sweetness to the nose which in my estimation speaks to some type of sugar-based casing.

At first light, the base Virginia moves to the forefront of the flavor registration offering a tangy, tart grassy flair. It totally dominates to the point of making the blend too narrow in the proto-typical English variety appeal. Nonetheless, the Oriental is very much forward in this blend occupying a solid middle band within the fusion of prevalent taste, bringing strong tones of mushroom/floral spice. That is actually a nice feature by my standards.

Given the commanding presence in the pouch note, surprising the influence of the Latakia is somewhat in the background registering with a smoky earthy woodiness, nice but held in check largely. One does also get a soft note of zesty dark fruit coming from the Perique that is almost indistinguishable for the entirety of the smoke. Finally Late Evening possesses a very gentle hint of sweetness.

This underdevelopment of the recipe, which is my subjective opinion of Late Evening, is a little disappointing and works against the blend achieving a more balanced registration. In sum, a pleasant taste profile that is generally conventional to the genre in my assessment yet not strikingly differentiated. It does reasonably well in holding the flavor for the entirety of the smoking session, all be it a tad unassuming.

The ensuing room note brings a persona marked by a smoky sour-tart toasty wood fragrance. The Oriental does project some earthy spice bringing an interesting accent to the overall impression. I felt that the plume of smoke produced seemed a little thin. As such the magnitude of Late Evening’s presence could be deemed tolerable and fleeting at best.

One point that I fumbled with consistently was keeping the stuff ignited. It seems to require considerable, or let’s say, above average number of re-lights. I found this kind of annoying but once lit the mix does burn steadily cool and evenly. There is no bite associated with Late Evening and the nicotine kick is virtually nothing, making this one a feasible all-day smoker.

Overall, it’s a mellow pleasant smoke. As far as English blends go, Late Evening is a decent specimen of the genre that much I can attest to. It’s not stellar nor sub-par but essentially average on what it has to offer.

Last, I felt the smoking experience through a MM cob versus my briar was a much more meaningful. With a cob the true character of the blend is enhanced as the vibrancy of the taste comes about richer and more pronounced for sure.

Is it a fair parody of Nightcap? Yes, I think so with limitations. Sutliff’s version definitely comes with a more attractive price tag. Would I recommend this one? Somewhat as it received only 2.7 stars in my scoring. There are far better English blends to be had. Incidentally an earned 3.0 ranking is the basement threshold for me personally to buy a blend again. You may disagree but please try it and formulate your own opinion as always.

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As a newer pipe smoker, I am mainly exploring the different blends (I favor aromatic blends, although I am dipping my toes into the non-aromatic blends now) to find what I like.

Opening the bag, what I smelled was tobacco (mostly the Virginias with a hit from the Orientals) and Latakia.

The flavor I tasted was a blend of tobacco and Latakia, neither fighting the other to stand out. I didn't taste/smell any of the Perique.

It was semi-dry and it lit up easily and stayed lit without a problem. I did not have any tounge-bite with this blend.

I enjoyed the Match Sunrise which got me to purchase this version, thinking it would be similar but stronger. But was disappointed, maybe I went into this with the wrong expectations or that the actual Nightcap would be what i was looking for. I will finish this but will not be ordering any more.