Today’s my first go at Red Bull, and I don’t even know quite where to start. Guess I’ll start with the packaging. Red Bull has done something that sets it apart in the realm of tap boxes (and who knew there would be a ‘real’ of tap boxes?!) Rather than a sliding panel, as seems to be the norm based on my experience with brands like Poschl JBR, Samuel Gawith, and Bernard, Red Bull comes in a tap box with a flip-top arrangement secured by a divot press-fit onto a matching peg. The box itself feels very solid — perhaps its walls are thicker than the competitors’ tab boxes, perhaps it’s only that the box itself seems slightly more compact.

On to the contents: Seems to be a medium grind with medium moisture — there is some market clumping when I tap this stuff out into the ol’ boxcar, and it’s very easy to take. Once in the nose, what hits me immediately is just a lovely blast of menthol and eucalyptus.

I don’t get much of a sense of the underlying tobacco, frankly; for me, it’s purely a menthol+eucalyptus show, and it is that loudly and proudly. Interestingly, though, it’s nowhere near as overpowering as Hedges L260. Now, I don’t know if this menthol blast is obscuring a strong burn, or if there just isn’t much of a burn to be obscured, but — try to guess what I’m going to say next, eh? — there’s no detectable burn to Red Bull.

And I’m very surprised by that, because the nicotine hit from this stuff is a whomper. I could easily believe that heavy smokers could toss the butts with a box of Red Bull, and never fret about nicotine cravings.