Say I wanted to blend my own nightcap.......Help needed

[Hater]

Dunhills nightcap that is.

Tobacco reviews has the ingredients as VA, Latakia, Perique, Turkish.

My B&M has all of the above.

So, if I wanted a pound how many ounces of each do you brothers reckon on?

Thanks in advance!

 

[puros_bran]

Lol it's not that easy.

And there's also brown toasted cavendished tobacco in it.

 

[tech2576]

Buy about 40,000 lbs of each. By the time you get it right, it will be time to order more!
Good luck on your blending experiment. Just understand, Dunhill didn't JUST throw it together and you won't either. You may very well blend something you like, great! If you don't this time, don't give up. You never know.

 

[monbla256]

OH MAN !! You found a copy of Alfred's book with all the blend formula's !! Please put some pages up here PDF files are fine

 

[Hater]

Ok let's try this a different way.... I know that you need to
Add less Perique because of its strength. Is it normal to also add less Latakia?

I'm thinking 3.5 oz va. 3.5 oz Turkish. 3 oz Latakia. 2.5 oz Perique and 2.5 toasted cavendish.

Thoughts?

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Erm, challenge aside, you could just go spend less money and less time just buying a ton of Nightcap. 8)

Not to discourage you from trying your hand at blending. Maybe you'll come up with a winner. Maybe not Nightcap, but very possibly a winner.

8)

 

[williamcharles]

We know Nightcap is heavy in the lat so I'd start with 50% but go no higher than 65%, which is probably too much. Five percent perique is very noticeable in a blend so I'd try 5% to begin but not more than 15% total. I'd split the remaining percentage between the virginia and the turkish. Understand that this is a guess and is just a starting point.

To get a close match, IF you did work out the proper proportions, you'd also need the same tobacs used in Nightcap.

The latakia will most likely have to be Cyprian since Syrian is rarer than hounds teeth today.

There are a lot of turkish strains out there so you'd have to try a few.

Then there are the virginias to work on. Which strain and how much? Is there more than one strain of virginia in Nightcap?

You're taking on a big job. There are a lot of questions to be answered and most of them will have to be answered through experimenting.

Altadis came close with their offering. It's not a perfect match but it's good. I like it.

Like Kyle said, you just may come up with a winner even if it isn't a match for Nightcap.
Good luck to you.

 

[puros_bran]

I was wrong. The Cavendish is 965, not nightcap. My apologies.

 

[Carlos]

Still, you are going to have to duplicate the Vitamin N strength. So you are going to have to track down the Virginia/Virginia's used to get that strength. Latakia doesn't do it. Nor does perique. Their effect in a blend is pronounced flavor wise, but they are themselves mild to medium in strength. There may also be a process that must be duplicated. A toasting, steaming, pressing, aging trick.

 

[monbla256]

Ok let's try this a different way.... I know that you need to
Add less Perique because of its strength. Is it normal to also add less Latakia?

I'm thinking 3.5 oz va. 3.5 oz Turkish. 3 oz Latakia. 2.5 oz Perique and 2.5 toasted cavendish.

Thoughts?

Are you trying to replicate which of the 3 versions of this blend? The original Duke St. version from 1951 or the Murray version of the 1970's/80's or the current version as is now made by Orlik? This blend, as do ALL blends having been made for many decades goes thru many iterations depending on the source of the component tobacco's and much of what you would accomplish would depend GREATLY on the tobaccos used. You might be best just buying your Nightcap in the tin and working on trying your hand at a blend as you would want it

 

[gandalfpc]

It will be easier to whip up something you like than to copy an existing blend, especially considering the wide variety of tobacco components available to blenders, and the handful available to the consumer.

Virginia's span the gamut, as do orientals, and there is a fair amount of variation in latakias as well. The chance your B&M has the right components for a near match would be quite low...

On the other hand just whipping up a good Latakia forward English with a pinch of perique is a snap, as is adjusting the levels of perique and Latakia - try different base Virginia's, try McClelland, C&D and G&H for great components...

Have fun, mix small batches, weigh everything, keep good notes, let mixes marry for two to four weeks tightly packed in jars before sampling...

McClelland 5100 red cake and Old Gowrie both make nice bases. (old Gowrie has some perique I believe)