Peterson Nightcap

I'm going to tip this sacred cow. I did not try Nightcap until it was re-released under the Peterson brand. Since I have switched from cigarettes and chew to pipes I have fallen in love with English blends. I really enjoy the GL Pease offerings. I always hear every English blend compared to Nightcap. And I listened to everyone mourn the loss of Nightcap over the past year. Needless to say I was very excited to try it. And it isn't a bad smoke. But definitely not as complex or interesting as, say, Quiet Nights or Gaslight, or even Artisan's Blend. I find the taste of this to be strong but muddled. A mish mash of dark, chocolatey flavor. Musty. Coffee-like. Not the incense and smoked pork I get from the other blends I mentioned. Overall I am not impressed, regardless of my high expectations. Give me Pirate Kake any day.

[Edit] After a break from English blends and some time in the jar I have grown to like this. It is nice and savory. A little more magical incense flavor than I noticed before. Yes I do like this. Not quite as good as Quiet Nights, but good. This is a little more bassy and less sweet than quiet nights, yet still vaguely similar. I'll go as far as to highly recommend this.

Full strength, full flavoured English blend. A rich, complex and satisfying smoke, ideal to relax with on a winter's evening. Latakia is right at the forefront imparting a deep smoky creaminess. A mild peppery spice from the Perique is present throughout the smoke with pops of flavour from the orientals. The Virginias are in the background balancing everything out. Not the strongest tobacco I've smoked but it does pack a punch so best not to smoke it on an empty stomach. If you're a fan of Latakia, I highly recommend giving Dunhill Nightcap a try!

This, another four-star homage for another exceptional blend that left us in 2018

It is not really possible to add anything above and beyond what has already been written here about Dunhill's Nightcap (in the highest rated reviews at least) without duplicating (or plagiarizing) what others have already articulated, so I will simply tender this tribute to an English blend that was appreciated so much, and loved so well, by so many.

It was somewhat fitting that Nightcap would be my last bowl of 2018. Nightcap’s savory, smokey-sweet and forever familiar flavors left me waxing nostalgic while alone with my thoughts on the front porch, in the waning hours of the year, a few hours just before midnight. Bidding farewell to both McClelland AND Dunhill in a single year is not like simply losing a single blend (like a Balkan Sobranie, for instance). It’s more akin to a mass casualty event, where a number of close acquaintances are suddenly lost, all in one fell swoop. It is strange that the loss of something so seemingly small and inconsequential as a few dozen blends of tobacco could be grounds for the very real and palpable sense of loss that only those of us who readily recognized and really knew those tobaccos collectively share. Let’s face it: those blends were our friends. Like a black Lab or a Golden retriever, they were our steadfast, non-human companions, as continually faithful to us as we were devoted to them. How many countless hours did we spend with those blends, sharing our seasons, our holidays – our high points and our low points – along with our most intimate contemplations; contemplations made all the more reflective, meditative and meaningful because of their presence in our daily lives. There is no avoiding it: we are saddened and diminished by their passing.

As a Baby Boomer, I did not discover the finer, off-the-grid charms, recondite rituals and artisanal pleasures of pipes and pipe tobacco until I was in my early 50’s. It is mind-boggling to me -- given the sheer amount of seemingly innumerable illicit substances I was smoking and consuming in the 1970s and 1980s -- that I so could have been indulging myself with the long-lost, original blends of such mythical repute as Balkan Sobranie, Dunhill, McConnell, Rattray or Sullivan Powell (the way Greg Pease did as a Cal undergrad, whilst attending the House of Drucquer & Sons in Berkeley).

As I begin the voyage into 2019, I must keep philosophical and optimistic about the future.

Dunhill Nightcap is not so much gone as it is now venerated. Nightcap has now joined the pantheon of other great tobaccos (no longer in production) that have turned my rather meager and unremarkable cellar collection into something of an art exhibit, virtually overnight, featuring blends which will one day be as highly regarded and legendary to generations of pipe enthusiasts hence as those long-gone tobacco legends of yore are to me now.

Perhaps the most poignant (certainly the silliest) thought regarding Dunhill’s Nightcap, is the fact that I don’t have a single empty tin of it lying around as a keepsake (having thrown away dozens and dozens of them in the past, never thinking for an instant that those beautifully illustrated, blue, white and yellow tins would one day have significant sentimental value to me).

In closing, I must again quote Greg Pease (as I have in a previous review for a similarly defunct blend), only because the passage is so fitting for the occasion:

"It’s challenging to leave behind the gray and gloomy landscape of things long since vanished, to give up our mourning over the passing of what we once enjoyed, but if we do, maybe we can instead bask in the sunshine of what we have, informed by those memories, those legends, rather than being imprisoned by them. There are so many wonderful blends available today, just as there have always been . . . Grasping for the experiences of the past often yields only disappointment; embracing what we have in the present can be the start of a brilliant journey. In some ways, maybe the newcomer to the pipe is more fortunate than we old guys are, since they have fewer lost loves to shackle them."

Amen.

Good night, sweet Nightcap, we enjoyed thee well.

This is a pretty well reviewed blend and I cannot compare to other Dunhill ownership or previous versions ( never understood how comparing old to new was relevant, old is gone) but this is a very nice blend in its own right. This is a strong Latakia blend but has some complexity and is not unidimensional. There are way bigger lat bombs out these days so I think some of the hype of the blend is old news.

Dunhill blends have some of the best looking ribbons and the dark ribbons mixed with the lighter browns set the stage for a top shelf smoke. It also makes packing and burning qualities just about perfect.

I also have not experienced the nicotine rush that has become lengendary, but I don’t inhale or puff to fast so that may be a factor with me. Everyone should have a tin but I will say that this genre is in a packed category and they are all good, so it is not irreplaceable

I started smoking a pipe 25 years ago, had absolutely no idea what I was doing, picked tobacco by the smell of it. Borkum Riff Black being my favorite. I gave up smoking my pipe because I started doing triathlons. Rediscover my pipe and tobacco jar during a move. The tobacco was seemingly still fresh, or at least moist, because of a small humidication unit that in the jar. A good friend recommended Nightcap, the tin note was overwhelming, I thought “oh no I just wasted $12” But after letting a pinch, enough to fill a bowl, I lit it up, the wife liked the room note, I was pleasantly surprised of the taste, it did have a bit, but that was tolerable. Dunhill will discontinue according to pipe and cigars their pipe tobaccos so I purchased 8 ounces.

One of my favorits, strong, tasty, lots of latakia, great blend. Let me share a kind of "insider tip" with you, if you like this one and you are once in Switzerland, please go to one of the most famous pipe tabaco shops, even known internationally, in Lausanne, called Besson, and try theyr own house blend called "Bonnet de Nuit". Let me call the story about it: Some years ago Nightcap was not aviable in Switzerland. This specialized shop made their own blend, quiet similar but in my opinion even better, more subtile, more equilibred, a little bit less strong but much more interesting in taste. It is packed in 50g bags, even cheaper than the original and the humidity is perfect and it is well worth to try it. I have no idea if they ship it. I love both, Dunhill Nightcap and Besson's "Bonnet de Nuit", but cincerly I prefer clearly Besson's "Bonnet de Nuit". Build your own opinion... and don't miss the rating, thanx.

PS: They also have a great choice of cigars and don't miss to ask them to have a look at theyr great choice of international Whiskeys downstairs, I bet they will find something you like.

This is my 100th review and I wanted to mark the occasion with a classic legendary blend. Nightcap fits the bill! English/latakia blends are my favorite and it's amazing, to me, I smoked so many before tying Nightcap. This is a very rich tasting blend with a smooth base of Orientals and the very prominent latakia flavor throughout. And, the wonderful spice of Perique to make it close to perfect. Other reviewers do a better job of parsing out all the tobaccos but I will add the obvious this is a great blend. Unlike other similar blends I'd say it has a decent nicotine kick also. Like all the classic blends from the famous houses there's a reason it's legendary. As for the name, my tastes prefer English/latakia/etc... blends in the morning with my coffee. Definitely richer and stronger than EMP or My 365 which I also really like. First class! Bought 09/2013, Opened 06/21/16, Finished 01/04/18. ( I certainly don't smoke as frequently as I used to!)

Truly a big brother to Early Morning Pipe. Whilst EMP is rather simple and mellow Nightcap comes along with much more strenght and some more depth.

The tin-note is somewhat bewitching! I get a roasted, spicy, smoky aroma, which reminds me of roasted nuts. The tin-art is just as classy as the EMP one.

Healthy dose of Latakia, but not an obtrusive Latakia-Bomb. Smoky and woodsy. The Perique as a condiment adding depth and enhancing the spice. Oriental-Leaf adding a dry, nutty &earthy aroma, as well as giving few sour-notes to harmonize with the Periques fruity qualities. The Oriental is what makes this blend for me. It's rather in the back, but it's rounding off all the edges, making this blend interesting.

Typically for Dunhill a well conditioned ribbon-cut, that is smokeable right away, though I like some 10-15mins of drying out a fresh tin. Healthy dose of Nicotine but definetly not as strong as its reputation claims. Goes well with a drink.

*Update* I also have a 100g tin of the 80's Murray's incarnation

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Murray's version has a lot more Latakia to the taste, and a tad less incense-ish aroma. Yet the two incarnations share lots of similarities in the taste, only smaller changes compared to the current Orlik Nightcap. The Murray's version is divine though, much more boldness and strenght to it, if Orliks Nightcap is 4/4-stars, Murray's is 5/4-stars! 😉

It is a ribbon cut, good moisture level, about equal portions of black and very dark brown with a few light brown pieces mixed in. It is well behaved in the pipe, requiring an average number of relights.

Someone else here wrote that, for him, latakia seems to create "a flavor wall so that nothing else gets through" and that seems pretty accurate for me as well. And that's what I get with Nightcap. LATAKIA!!!!! It's not very sweet (though I occasionally pick up a slightly sweetish note), but definitely not astringent. Just smoky-earthy-latakia. Latakia haters need not apply. There's a bit of perique, just enough to make things interesting. I wouldn't mind recommending this even to someone who thought he didn't care for perique.

I tried a bowl right out of the tin, and found it good...put it in a jar and came back to it a week later and found it to taste even better. I don't know why some blends do that...they just do, and Nightcap is one of them.

Recommended.