Eli Manning got two superbowls rings, both against the dynastic Patriots and the most successful quarterback of all time, before his more famous older brother – but if you hear about the great quarterback Manning, do you not think about Peyton first? Northwoods is the Peyton Manning of Boswell’s English tobaccos. There are nine English tobaccos from Boswells but Northwoods is the first and often only English blend from their house you’ll hear about.Â
Aromatic and mild Englishes make up the better part of the Boswell portfolio but Railroad Station is one of their truer English blends – though in fact, it is Scottish, with cavendish in the mix. Some regard it a smoke bomb, others find it mild, but most often folks ignore it behind it’s more famous brother. Let’s pull this one out of the shadows and give it a moment to show how it shines.
OVERVIEW
BULK or TIN:Â Â Â Bulk and Tin
SIZE:Â Â By the ounce or 2 oz tins
ORIGIN:Â Â Coal Country USA
AGE WHEN SMOKED:Â Â Around 2 years
BLENDING HOUSE/PRODUCER:Â Â Boswell Pipes
BLENDING COMPONENTS:Â Â Virginia, Black Cavendish, Latakia
STRENGTH:Â Â 2/7
SOURCE:Â Â Boswell Pipes
ENVIRONMENT
WHERE:Â Â
The Alleghany Front
WHEN:Â Â
January-February 2024
WEATHER:Â Â
Snow and warm and snow and warm and…
WHAT’S ON:Â Â
The twitter of the bravest birds
PRODUCTION
RELEASE TYPEÂ Â available
SPECIAL RELEASE Â N
AVAILABILITY BREAKDOWN
o Bulk Â
o Tin
RESEARCH & BACKGROUND INFO
- This is often touted as the the heaviest Latakia of the Boswell English Blends
- Was at one time named ‘Railroad Station 965’ to nod at Dunhill My Mixture 965
- Like 965 this is a Scottish blend – an English blend with cavendish
PRE-LIGHT OBSERVATIONS
LOOK & FEEL OF THE LEAF
This is a very average looking English blend, about half chocolatey brown, half black or nearly so, medium width, medium length ribbon. It’s quite moist to the touch which is not average for an English.
TIN AROMA
Smoky! There’s some earth and raisins peaking out from underneath the smoke, and below that, barnyard.
SMOKING EXPERIENCE
LIGHT & DRAW
Packing Style:Â I went old school with a 2-3 pinch method at first, I found it needed some strength to squish it in properly. Then I switched to the Frank which I think worked beautifully.
Fire:Â Bic
SMOKE & ROOM NOTE
Woodsmoke and incense. Quite mild in nature.
FIRST BOWL
>>Â No dry, 3 pinches, Savinelli 121
Sugar, must, and earth. Very musty. Vinegar and salt twang. A touch of woodsmoke. Very classic medium English. A touch of soap. Garlic and onions move it into a medium balkan instead. Gets a bit smokier but still not a smoke bomb in any way. sweet, musty, garlic, onions, vinegar, salt, with a earthy-smoky finish. Red wine. Grows more heavily balkany with the alliums and salt leading the way, segueing into white sugar, salt, vinegar, with a smoky fade out. Strawberry, parsley, vinegar, garlic, onions, salt, sugar, smoke, and earth.
In the last third the smoke builds to the next level. The smoke turns a bit…fatty. Usually I say oily but this is more like the rich coating of bacon fat over the tongue, that’s neat. It’s lost some but not all of the sweetness. Strong black tea. Grass and hay. Get’s quite sugary again, so sweet hay, and woodsmoke – quite like Ardbeg An Oa if you’ve had that. Vinegar and salt creep back in, then the strawberry and herbs too. In the tailings it comes apart, tasting watery and washed out.
I was surprised how mild of English this was considering the reputation and the aroma of the tobacco.
SECOND BOWL
>> 3 hour dry dry, 2 heavy pinches, Savinelli 121
Well this starts how the first bowl ended, watered down. Musty, cocoa, earth. Must bomb. Citrus peel and white sugar. Very sweet, very musty. Salt and smoke. Lemon peel, sugar, must, salt and smoke, with just a hint of garlic and onions.
Salt, garlic, and onion, cocoa, soap, must, lemon peel and some lavender touched smoke. It’s very sweet and very salty – no hints of wateriness here. Black tea comes in. This is straightforward and tasty. A hint of lemon and caraway seed.
In the last third it’s sharper, some vinegar but mostly lemon juice and lemon peel. Salty, sweet, and now pretty smoky. Artificial strawberry, pepper, and leather.
Usually drying an English makes it pop. This got a bit of a lift, shifting into balkan like territory earlier, but it also brought out some more florality.
THIRD BOWL
>> 2 hour dry, Frank Pack, Missouri Meerschaum Washington
Sugar and smoke. Must, earth, and salt. It’s a nice medium smoke this bowl. Salt, mild vinegar, garlic and onions. It’s hit that balkan stretch early and harder. It’s very sweet. Hay and grass, with a touch of pepper and jam. Smoke, salt, vinegar, red wine, garlic and onions, herbs. The pepper grows, as do the red wine notes.
Halfway through the leathery-earthiness roars forward displacing the sugar and salt. Earth, smoke, garlic, red wine, white vinegar. This is quite winey. Grows saltier, allumic, creamy, coffee, cocoa, earth, and leather. Hint of lemon peel. Red wine, cocoa, coffee, smoke, and salt at the end.
Well that was a revelation. It wasn’t a smoke bomb, but it was finally at a respectable medium English level. The balkany herbs, garlic, and onion were earlier and stronger. The red wine sang. And that earthy shift was delightful and unexpected.
RATING & FINAL THOUGHTS
FLAVOR PROGRESSION
Wet, it starts cohesive, balkany, grows smoky in the last third and then begins to fall apart, going grassy and watery. Dried it pops quite a bit more, both in the sugar, salt, and especially the smoke departments. In a taller, narrower bowl it grows even smokier and shows an previously unseen earthiness, with room to let the red wine speak.Â
BURN EXPERIENCE
With proper drying time it takes light and keeps lit pretty easily, but it can nip your tongue easily.
SIMILAR BLENDS
It does remind me of 965, but with some more balkany notes, like a smokier Balkan Saiseni. So GLP Maltese Falcon or Dunhill London Mixture. Dried and in a taller bowl it tasted like a toned down Rattray’s Black Mallory.
RATING BREAKDOWN
0.25Â / 0.50 … Craft & Aesthetic
0.35Â / 0.50 … Tin Aroma
0.50Â / 0.50 …Â Lighting Process
6.50Â / 8.00 … Smoking Experience
0.25Â / 0.50 …Â Personal Enjoyment
COMPLIMENTS & CRITIQUES
- Well crafted English
- Easy packing and smoking
- Can be bitey
STAYS ON THE RAILS.
Boswell’s Railroad Station began as a stand in for Dunhill 965, but it’s stepped beyond that. To the medium English, er, Scottish blend, some extra oriental leaf is added that gives it a classic Balkan like complexity. It’s never a smoke bomb, never a wild balkan, but sings along, a nice, well balanced, English. To return to the football analogy, it’s more Eli than Peyton, a system quarterback. It’s not going to make heads turn, nor will it put anyone off. Even the aroma of its smoke is pleasant, a surprise for an English blend. It’s very good, but not quite a must smoke, unless you are already a big devotee of Boswell’s.
