Peretti Midnight

Midnight lives up to its name. Open the can, and the light seems to get sucked into the tobacco. It's not only black, but much of it is flat black. It's an attractive tobacco, in a "dangerous attraction" kind of way.

The texture of the blend is something like a combination of small ribbon cut and broken crumble cake. The tobacco's easy to pack: Just drizzle it into the bowl until it's overflowing then use the ball of your thumb to pack down whatever tobacco was above the top of the bowl. You won't get it all in, but you will end up with a well packed bowl

This blend lights with a few matches, and burns pretty well. This one needs the occasional relight, but it's not overly fussy. Pipe cleaners inserted to wick up moisture will come out with very dark stains on them. You'll want to dispose of these quickly. You'll have a few relights near the bottom of the bowl if you want to smoke all of the tobacco.

The flavor profile is simple and straight-forward: Cavendish sweetness and Latakia smokiness. There's a bit of a few other things here, like the flavor stoved Virginias, but those are all very much in the background. The Cavendish brings its sweetness, and the Latakia adds some smokiness, and that's about it. The blend doesn't change much as the bowl progresses. It is what it is.

I keep some of this around, because sometimes I want a Latakia blend that I can smoke while ignoring it. Midnight fits that bill perfectly. It doesn't need any attention or any fuss. Pack it, light it, and smoke it...that's it. For those moments, there's no better tobacco than Peretti's Midnight. For a sit-down-and-pay-attention smoke, there are better choices on the market.

This is a solid, straight forward tobacco which will appeal to those who like aromatics and want try an English blend, and vice versa.

The tobacco is a mix of ribbon and crumble cake and is as black as its name. This is from the evenly balanced mix of Latakia and black cavendish. I can’t see or taste any Virginia; they seem to be completely subsumed by the two major players. Neither do I taste the pirique, which is a shame as it would add a great touch.

The quality of the tobacco is excellent and it ages well, as the Latakia softens only a bit. I prefer either more complexity or more robust flavor, but it is definitely a good smoke for those times you don’t want too much of anything.

Appearance: Very dark, almost dead black mixture of random cut.

Aroma: Very smoky smell of Latakia and a base of slightly sweet Cavendish.

Packing: Pack easily into any normal sized bowl. I tried it in pipes ranging from group 3 through 5.

Lighting: Lights quite easily, sometimes with one match.

Initial flavor: Tastes exactly the way it looks, a smooth background of unflavored Black Cavendish

Mid-bowl: For me, a boring experience. There is just enough flavor to keep me puffing, but it doesn?t vary at all. Burns slowly, very cool and fairly dry

Finish: No change at the end.

Summary: The lack of a significant Oriental component causes this blend to fall short of my preferred range. If that?s a nice way of saying ?I don?t like it?, OK I don?t. Which is a shame, because it is a nicely done blend with high quality.

Peretti offers many truly top-shelf blends, but Midnight is not among them. Still, not at all bad, and it’s frankly hitting the spot tonight.

To me, Midnight smokes like a crossover blend - a sweet-ish, mildly aromatic English. The flavor is derived from what seems like 55% cavendish and 45% Latakia. Apparently dark fired Virginia and perique are in here too, but they are barely perceptible.

I much prefer a straightforward, traditional English to this. But for those who enjoy smoky Latakia softened by a bit of sweetness, you could do worse than a sample of Midnight.

Am I wrong in immediately thinking of Lancer Slices upon smoking Midnight, and that’s not a bad thing at all. Peretti blends are truly top notch, give this one a whirl.0