Hermit Tobacco Works Co. Captain Earle's - Nightwatch

I do not agree at all with one of my fellow reviewers here who says Nightwatch is a fairly pedestrian blend not unlike many other English lightweights. There was plenty of depth and variety in the taste as the bowl was consumed. I admit that I was also a bit put off by so many stems mixed in with the leaf, but could overlook that little fault.

Life's too short not to give this one a try.

Pipestud

I've spent 30 days on Nightwatch, and I really like Captain Earle's company.

I am in a Latakia-centric stage right now. I move a lot between very even English Blends, and straight-up Latakia bombs. I am not turned off by the singularity of the Captain Earle taste at all. To be truthful, I could not survive just smoking Latakia heavy, dark blends like this. I need different tastes and blends. But without a doubt, on a daily basis, I just want a salty earth, man-smoke. This is when I reach for Captain Earle.

Right now, Ten Russians is my favorite tobacco. However, I cannot just set and forget Ten Russians, as it is too strong, and if I just puff away mindlessly, I get overloaded.

When I want my singular, Latakia-bomb fix, and I want to treat it as an all day smoke, I pack Nightwatch. Over the last 30 days, Nightwatch has been a true and trusty friend. I foresee it being a part of my cellar for years to come.

If you are a Frog Morton lover, you should dig on Nightwatch.

I do not agree at all with one of my fellow reviewers here who says Nightwatch is a fairly pedestrian blend not unlike many other English lightweights. There was plenty of depth and variety in the taste as the bowl was consumed. I admit that I was also a bit put off by so many stems mixed in with the leaf, but could overlook that little fault.

Life's too short not to give this one a try.

Pipestud

Long cellaring has produced in this blend the nearly perfect balance that I am always after and a sufficient "complexity" to maintain my interest. While it does not give me the impression of different flavors bouncing off each other, it does have a good latakia based flavor bolstered well by orientals and virginias. The cake is at this age very well integrated and beautifully constructed. I just broke off a piece and pushed it into my gr 4 sized reading pipe, a century plus old meer with 8 inch bone stem and horn bit. The age of both the blend and the pipe lent the whole enterprise an air of ancient leisure, allowing the smoke to be the focal point of a very pleasant hour. Highly recommended even tho there are seventeen thousand other good English blends out there. Nice job Jay.

Hermit Tobacco Works Co. - Captain Earl's - Nightwatch.

The tin contains one block of kake, a bows worth can just be pinched off, it can be smoked without airing (well, my first bowl was fresh), and the smoke is fabulous.

The lighting of Nightwatch only requires a short-ish touch of the flame, and then the burn's of a good quality. The temperature from it's Latakia-cool, and the flavour, whoa, the flavour's immense! There's no doubt about which leaf accounts for the most flavour: the Latakia. It gives rich, smoky, odoriferous, leathery, flavour; class A. It seems to me the Perique takes the role of second in charge: it adds a deep fruitiness, but isn't quite as heady. The Virginia sweetens the mix, but a slight sweetness is about its only trait.

Nicotine: above medium. Room-note: if you don't like Lat' you'll hate this!

Nightwatch? Four stars:

Highly recommended.

Pressed, aged latakia blends of this complexity and integration are rare. Here is a cool smoking blend with no taste collisions that provides an experience unavailable in other English/Balkan blends. An understanding of subtle connections in flavors guided the blender's hand in this eloquently understated event. Simply put, the smoothness of this blend's character is astounding. It burns easily and delivers enjoyment to me from beginning to end. Pity that this notation framework does not allow for a higher rating...

Meerschaum Man Smoking a Yanik Inverted Skull

This morning I was smoking some more of this with my cup of Café de Monde. That is New Orleans coffee with chicory for those of you north of the Mason-Dixon line. This is a nice Latakia soft square of krumble kake. I normally just break off a piece and stuff it in my pipe but I rubbed this out and let it sit for a few minutes. This is a great medium blend with lots of spice, a little tartness once in a while which may be from the Orientals. Highly recommended in my book. This was a fairly new tin dated 042318.

When you open this tin you find a really nice crumble cake. This is a little more dark than some of the others I've tried up to now. The cake itself smells of Latakia, Virginia and Orientals. Sort of creosote-like, woody, earthy, sweet, and meaty. The cake rubs out pretty well and stuffs well in the pipe. Now, I think it comes in a smokeable dryness and it lights really easy. If you smoke at a regular pace I find it reduces to a fine white ash.

When you light up, the Orientals are up front. They are flowery, herbal, incense-like, and tangy. Next the Latakia comes like a blanket, it is very smooth, woody, salty, meaty. The Virginias are here offering sweetness and fruit. I taste Perique but it is in the background, it adds a nice spiciness. There is a lot going on and I really enjoy the complexity.

The taste is a medium-full. I like the way the smoke fills my mouth. This is like a dessert blend, it is so rich and full that I only want a bowl or two of it. The strength is actually medium, which I really enjoy. It makes this blend the sort of thing you can start the morning with, or something that you can close the night with. All in all a solid four stars and it's easily one I could see myself buying again.

What a lovely blend, very well rounded. A pleasant bbq tin note, ready to smoke right out of the tin, no drying required. Just shave a little off, pack and light! Simple as that. Has a very nice bold meaty taste, but it has its sweeter moments too. Burns cool and clean, doesn't leave any moisture in the bowl and doesn't need many relights. Fond memories of smoking this outside on a cool summer evening, with some lemonade or tea. This stuff ages beautifully as well, recently been enjoying a 20 year tin. It mellows out and gets sweeter with age.

An honest meat and potatoes blend which goes about it's business in a frank manner ideally suited for cold snowy nights after the world has retired.

Plenty of Latakia and Perique with the Virginias and Turkish in a minor supporting role with even combustion and fairly cool. Uncle Nic was rather well behaved too, a pleasant surprise actually. The best part for me was the oily mouthfeel, not drying whatsoever; lipsmackin'.

I'm glad to try it again since it's been many years. Recommended as being quite good but not praise worthy, I won't be buying tins for the cellar Stimulus Package being my preference.