Beginner Perspective of Peterson's Nightcap

[frozenchurchwarden]

In my smoking notes I put down that Nightcap is not as much a "Campfire" as other blends, it's actually more on the subtle side.
I'm starting to wonder if the OP is actually subconsciously a bit disappointed by the lack of fullness out of Nightcap.
Go for a G.L. Pease Lat Bomb if you want the best of what Latakia has to offer.

 

[Infantry23]

Nightcap is one of the first English blends I ever tried. I love it...it kinda feels like "home" to me.

This is EXACTLY where I am emotionally lol! I like Nightcap a lot, but the emotion of it being an early introduction to English blends still sticks with me.

 

[wolflarsen]

On my list is Sutliff 503C Heavy English and 504c Aromatic English, John Bull, Peterson: Early Morning Pipe and GL Pease Spark Plug.

​

My suggestion would be to quit messing around a go straight for Plum Pudding Special Reserve if you want an A+ latakia experience. Or keep an eye out for Frog Morton Cellar from Pipestud if you're feeling rich.

I love latakia blends and the only one on your list I ever liked is 504c. I liked it and would still say that I do but haven't smoked it for years if that tells you anything. My first nirvana smoke was Mississippi River. Quiet Nights has that incense thing going on that makes Penzance famous. Exotique and Pembroke are living legends that are only available once a year or so and well worth waiting for. I'm not trying to tell you what to do but imagine that you'll be disappointed with most or all of the blends on your list.

 

[aurorasofautumn]

I have a curious relationship with Nightcap. On the one hand, I have quite an emotional attachment to it, as it was one of the first tobaccos I smoked when I was starting out. On the other hand, 4 out of 5 smokes are not much more than OKish and I sometimes even wish I had loaded the pipe with another baccy. Then again, 1 out of 5 smokes turns out to be absolutely sublime and perfect for no reason whatsoever. Maybe it's the humidity, time of the year, my personal mindset or just because the stars are perfectly aligned at this particular moment. So this basically bears the questions whether 1 out of 5 is worth it for me and my personal answer is that I'd rather smoke Germain's Special Latakia flake when I absolutely crave for a heavier and "meatier" English, which to be honest is not the case so much these days as it once used to be. Despite this preference, I still smoke a bowl of Nightcap for nostalgic reasons every once in a while, but if pressed would have to admit that it really is a wee bit overrated in my humble opinion.

 

[VegetableSpoons]

Heh. I didn't care for it either, when I tried it as a new pipesmoker. I just found it muddled and sort of acrid. I should revisit it now that I have more experience. I have found a number of blends that beat Nightcap at its own game, as a dark Latakia+Perique blend. GL Pease's Blackpoint and Quiet Nights, in particular. I don't know if it's still available, but Lane Crown Achievement was another one I preferred over Nightcap.

Would you say Blackpoint is as good as Quiet Nights? I have a tin of Blackpoint with a few years of age on it that has been burning a hole in my cellar.

 

[Ethan]

What? No bonsai?? ?

We need ...more bonsai

 

[B_Rock]

I am finishing a tin of Nightcap as I read this thread. I worked my way up to Nightcap after smoking EMP and MM965. I see these as the building blocks of English blends with Nightcap turning it up to 11. Its in the same vein of Quiet Nights & Warped Sarto - full bodied English blends that force me to slow down and ?. Enjoyable, but not an “all day smoke”.

 

[chopper]

My introduction to Latakia was not favourable - I described the bag note of Becks ol' Limey Bastard as "asphalt, burnt rubber and butt" - once blended 50/50 with Windsail Virginia, I enjoyed one small bowl at night.

It took me some time to acquire a taste for Latakia but I still don't like Lat-forward blends.
Now I quite enjoy mild English, Balkan, American and 'crossovers' where the Latakia does not dominate the other leaf.
Jesses Own is one of my favourite blends with Latakia [and Perique]
Sutliff Early Morning Pipe Match [Sunrise] would be a good blend for a newbie to try.
Count Pulaski would be another I highly recommend.

 

[StrawBunyan]

Nightcap was my first proper pipe tobacco, the moment I popped that tin my hair stood and I said "this is it", and proceed to smoke nothing but Nightcap for 2 years straight.

I recently smoked a tin and find it as delicious as I always did, you don't have to come 'round to it, but you may.

I just started smoking a pipe and the first thing I put in that pipe was nightcap. I had the same reaction you did when I popped the tin. I knew I would love it and it didn't disappoint it was everything it smelled like and so much more. And every day I find new flavors in it. I was just thinking today..."can I just smoke this all day everyday?" But I am afraid I am going to ruin the experience if I do that. I've got about half a tin left and just ordered another and atleast for now it will be in my cart for every order, I'm stocking up.

 

[badbriar]

Nightcap is perhaps NOT a beginner's blend. Many / most reviews put this one at full, however, I find it to be a bit less potent than that. A gorgeously strong-ish English blend that hits on all cylinders. Leave this one to the big boys!

 

[Aomalley27]

I’ve a feeling what the OP found distasteful was the Perique element.
It’s quite bold in Nightcap; and doesn’t have near the proportions of Virginia to offset/mute it versus; say a VaPer like Bullseye Flake.

 

[F4RM3R]

I have tried Nightcap at different times of the day.. different weather conditions and it's at the bottom of the list for me. Though I am a brand new smoker, I am really interested in learning the science of blending.

Jar it up and leave it for a bit. If you’re interested in blending, then try a range of blends and get to know each type of tobacco used. When you come back to blends you’ve already tried, You’ll probably notice something new about them, maybe able better to pick out the flavours of individual components.

maybe even look into some straight blending tobacco or whole leaf for the fast track to blending.

i do all my own processing and blending from whole leaf so shoot me some questions if you have them! There really are no bad blends, just if you like em or not. Some aspects of a blend may be pleasing in some scenarios but not work in other contexts according to your tastes, but that’s the fun of blending as you can learn to tailor blends to your needs.

 

[STP]

It’s an acquired taste, that I haven’t acquired yet?

 

[karam]

I just started smoking a pipe and the first thing I put in that pipe was nightcap. I had the same reaction you did when I popped the tin. I knew I would love it and it didn't disappoint it was everything it smelled like and so much more. And every day I find new flavors in it. I was just thinking today..."can I just smoke this all day everyday?" But I am afraid I am going to ruin the experience if I do that. I've got about half a tin left and just ordered another and atleast for now it will be in my cart for every order, I'm stocking up.

Sorry I missed your quote. After several years and many more blends under my belt I’d call myself mostly a VaPer smoker, yet when i pop a tin of Nightcap it’s all I smoke until it’s done. As you say, keep finding more nuances to it.
Something I read on TR and have been doing: I pop a tin and unpack the ribbon in a jar, then shake it, leave it open for an evening, close, let it sit for a week or two and then smoke. I find this mellows it a lot.

 

[mortonbriar]

I will jump on the suggestion from @F4RM3R and say 'jar it up and leave it for a bit' with the date you tried it written on the lid. Shove it to the back of the shelf. If this is a hobby you stick with and enjoy then in a year or so you will probably have a more defined idea of what you are looking for in a smoke, and you can revisit the jar. I kept a spreadsheet for my first 200 blends, this is overkill for some folk, but it helped me figure out what I was drawn to and what component did not agree with my body chemistry.

 

[Grovius]

I keep two English blends open at any given time, and one of them is always Nightcap. Right now, the other is Pease's Quiet Nights, and they have lots in common but also different nuances (to me QN has more cardamom/lime peel and more creaminess, while the herbiness of NC is more sort of resiny). But, as always YMMV: I would recommend keeping having a taste of it and of other English blends, at least occasionally, as an exercise. I used to think I did not like dry sherries until a couple of years ago, and now I have to allocate part of my wine budget to it.

 

[Briar Lee]

In Kansas City in the red light district in 1973 the Humansville FFA chapter stayed at the Muelbach Hotel. Somewhere close to 10th Street and Vine, in the foulest and most dangerous part of town, was an honest to God real tobacco shop.

Every “drugstore blend” like Prince Albert was a quarter. The Dunhill cans were about 65 cents.

I still remember what I bought. A pack of Sherman’s Cigarettellos, another of Player’s Medium Navy Cut, a little tin of The Balkan Sobraine, for cigarettes.

Nightcap and Early Morning Pipe and London Mixture, for pipe tobacco.

They had real Punch and Hoyo cigars, big ones that cost a dollar.

With a carton of Winstons the tab was almost 12 dollars.

I didn’t get caught, ran back to the hotel and hid the sack in my suitcase and smoked all those up in the milk barn. I think I still have the Dunhill cans somewhere out there, they were just too cool to throw away.

The real bargain of the night was Player’s Medium Navy Cut, only 60 cents.

I watched the pimps and hookers roll by and smoked my Player’s and knew, that I was a long, long way from Humansville.



The Boxer

 

[anotherbob]

I really used to hate anything with latakia in it. And now it's one of those things where when the mood hits it's the best but o.k. at other times. It's one of those things either you like it or you don't and it's not worth worrying about. It would be no fun if we all enjoyed the same things. The raved about blends don't all do much for me.

 

[HopHand]

I kept hearing so much about nightcap and had to try a tin. I hated it at first and then after 7 smokes, I began to tolerate it. I believe Nightcap will simply be one of those tobaccos that will be smoked maybe 3x a year. I just feel like I am smoking salt & pepper. I respect Peterson as a business but this blend doesn't do it for me.

I couldn't agree more myself?‍
Only I won't be smoking it anymore after these tins.
After reading and seeing night cap and early morning pipe mentioned over and over and over I went out and ordered some. It's just not for me.

 

[HopHand]

In Kansas City in the red light district in 1973 the Humansville FFA chapter stayed at the Muelbach Hotel. Somewhere close to 10th Street and Vine, in the foulest and most dangerous part of town, was an honest to God real tobacco shop.

Every “drugstore blend” like Prince Albert was a quarter. The Dunhill cans were about 65 cents.

I still remember what I bought. A pack of Sherman’s Cigarettellos, another of Player’s Medium Navy Cut, a little tin of The Balkan Sobraine, for cigarettes.

Nightcap and Early Morning Pipe and London Mixture, for pipe tobacco.

They had real Punch and Hoyo cigars, big ones that cost a dollar.

With a carton of Winstons the tab was almost 12 dollars.

I didn’t get caught, ran back to the hotel and hid the sack in my suitcase and smoked all those up in the milk barn. I think I still have the Dunhill cans somewhere out there, they were just too cool to throw away.

The real bargain of the night was Player’s Medium Navy Cut, only 60 cents.

I watched the pimps and hookers roll by and smoked my Player’s and knew, that I was a long, long way from Humansville.



The Boxer

I kinda love this old FFA trip story. Some of my favorite can't tell in polite company stories all start with "Once on an FFA trip" Thank you for sharing yours.