Dunhill Nightcap

[Carlos]

I just opened my umpteenth tin of Dunhill Nightcap. This is a blend I didn't much care for when I first started having success with the pipe. Sometime a year ago last fall, I think that's when the attraction really started. Or was it a year earlier? Amazing stuff, really.

It's rich. Like a cooked chuck roast with plenty of fat. Having been seared prior to the baking. Then cooked with onions, carrots, celery. Perhaps some turnips. Too good, and too rich to partake a lot of it.

When a tin is first opened there is that smell of good fermentation. It's a promise really. Of excellent smokes to be had soon. Pour it out on paper and it has a nice mix of colors. Enjoy that view, for it will soon change. About 55% coal black. The rest in about equal portions. Two shades of light leaf which will soon turn brown and be harder to distinguish. A medium brown. Then a reddish brown. The reddish brown seems to be similar to some pressed, very dark almost flake tobacco mixed in the blend. Some sticky pressed and some sort of sticky ribbon cut.

Nightcap has flavor to spare. Plenty of nicotine. Goodly amounts of a spice that makes me sweat on top of my head. I think that's the perique making me sweat. One needs to be careful with a fresh opened tin. The moisture can make a bowl smoke a bit hot, if you are not cautious. As it drys, you can be more aggressive with the packing and smoking of it. If you can take the nicotine hit it offers.

The latakia used seems to be a fairly common charcoal like flavor. Not unlike the crispy, blackened edges of a good steak. This is a blend that I wish more blenders would strive to emulate.

 

[ftrplt]

Over many years (45+) Nightcap's been one of my "old reliables." I have several tins, including three Orlik's. I do long for the days of the "knife-cutter" tins of Dunhill-made Nightcap. Oh well, life goes on :cheers: ipe: FTRPLT

 

[Kapnismologist]

A feast, to be sure. Nightcap is a classic. Although I too do not smoke it everyday, I never tire of it, never. I have three pipes, all zulus, dedicated to it from day one and will never switch them as long as there is Nightcap to be had in the cellar (which, fortunately, I should be good on for the foreseeable future due to some very serious panic buying last year). Thanks for the review - I think I will have a bowl tonight!

 

[wojtekpastuch]

I smoked a couple of tins when I was a begginner and when it disappeared from the tobacconist shelves here in Poland I almost forgot about it. Last summer my father brought me a couple of tins from his trip to Texas When I opened the tin the first word that popped into my mind was "rich". The smell of a fresh tin is just fabulous. I smoked the first bowl in my favourite pipe (an old blasted Parker billiard) and it was a truly divine experience. I keep two tins in a jar and smoke it from time to time (I try not to smoke it too often since I will have to make an order from the USA to get more). I love it even if it's not what it used to be years ago.

 

[JesseW]

since I will have to make an order from the USA to get more

No you won't, I've heard it's difficult to get in USA today. German www-shops have it.

Great tasting stuff but way too strong for me, just when I start to enjoy it to the full, my stomach asks me to stop.

 

[Pseudo Nim]

I had a chance to try this last year and turned it down, I knew it was being discontinued in England. So what was the point in getting to love something when it's gone ?

I felt the same way about 965 but finally broke down and paid way over the odds for three tins, worse was to come............... I did'nt regret it. Fortunately, both 965 and Nightcap are available in Germany, but for how long, who knows ?

Going to have to place an order for both and finally try Nightcap.

 

[Stefanos]

Fortunately, both 965 and Nightcap are available in Germany, but for how long, who knows ?.

Do the tins have that horrid warning sticker on the front?
Carlos' food metaphor is apt. It was almost too rich, which is why I would usually go with Standard Medium.

 

[Pseudo Nim]

Fortunately, both 965 and Nightcap are available in Germany, but for how long, who knows ?.

Do the tins have that horrid warning sticker on the front?
Carlos' food metaphor is apt. It was almost too rich, which is why I would usually go with Standard Medium.

I would think so, after all, it will most likely be Orlik production and of course, the EU must look after everyone, all these years, I never realised just how incapable I am were it not for the EU PC's

 

[JesseW]

Do the tins have that horrid warning sticker on the front?

Not just the sticker I think... that German text is part of the label ie. cannot be removed. At least that's how it is in my recently bought Early Morning Pipe.

 

[Carlos]

Anyone care to estimate the percentage of Perique in the blend.

 

[jlong]

Nightcap is hard to get. I understand Dunhill is no longer being distributed in the US. There is a copy being made at $7.00 for 2 oz (check out link). Haven't tried it yet but will get around to it.

Nitecap Copy

 

[ftrplt]

Pipes&Cigars also has the Altadis "substitute" blend for Nightcap. I've never tried it. Has anyone?? FTRPLT

 

[wharfrathoss]

dunhill is supposed to start releasing their blends in the US within the year. don't know what blends yet, some of the ones we're used to seeing & some discontinued ones also.

 

[jlong]

Pipes&Cigars also has the Altadis "substitute" blend for Nightcap. I've never tried it. Has anyone?? FTRPLT

Added an OZ to my cart. Order will go out early next week some time. Will post.

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

Although I only smoke latakia once in a blue moon, Carlos, your review with the cooking and food analogies really brings home to me what a wonderful blend this must be.

 

[jlong]

My Altidis copy arrived Friday. I have smoked over a half dozen bowls and I really like it. What sucks is I have never had the real deal so I have no idea how it compares. It is a good smoke. It is smooth and rich with a good amount of nicotene. It has the meaty flavor described above and the latakia does have a charcoly note to it. To sum it up, this is a quality blend at an OTC price.

 

[HistoryMajor]

I have a single tin of this stashed away that I don't want to open...I guess I'll have to bite the bullet at some point.

 

[SmokeyTweed]

Same here HM!

After looking into it i wanted to age this tin or two until they are perfect. That way when its discontinued i'll know what i was missing.

 

[Trout Bum]

Thanks for the review, Carlos. It makes me wish I had bought a tin when I could have... I do have two tins of 965, of which I have yet to try. I also have some EMP and Royal Yacht, but alas, no Nightcap. Oh well, I guess I'll survive...

 

[gospelman]

I, too, have one tin of Nightcap, just sitting there waiting to be opened. Every once in a while I'm tempted, but I wait...because I don't want to not have it. That doesn't make a damn bit of sense, I know, but...

I used to stock up on London Mixture, and now that it...and the other Dunnies are gone, I really hate to crack open that tin of Nightcap. I guess I'm hoping that the oft-mentioned re-release of Dunhill weeds will include Nightcap (and London Mixture).

Mike