diff --git a/lib/Encode.pm6 b/lib/Encode.pm6
index 1173e94..4664200 100644
--- a/lib/Encode.pm6
+++ b/lib/Encode.pm6
@@ -2,6 +2,14 @@ module Encode;
 
 use Encode::Latin2;
 
+my class X::Encode::Unknown is Exception {
+    has $.encoding;
+
+    method message {
+        "Unknown encoding $.encoding."
+    }
+}
+
 my %encodings =
     'iso-8859-2' => &latin2,
     'iso_8859-2' => &latin2,
@@ -10,7 +18,8 @@ my %encodings =
 ;
 
 our sub decode($encoding, buf8 $buf) {
-    die "$encoding NIY" unless %encodings{$encoding}.defined;
+    X::Encode::Unknown.new(:encoding($encoding)).throw unless %encodings{$encoding}.defined;
+
     &(%encodings{$encoding})($buf);
 }
 
diff --git a/t/01-basic.t b/t/01-basic.t
index db5c5dc..171ddfe 100644
--- a/t/01-basic.t
+++ b/t/01-basic.t
@@ -5,5 +5,4 @@ use Test;
 
 plan 1;
 
-Encode::decode("niy-encoding", buf8.new(97)); 
-dies_ok { Encode::decode("niy-encoding", buf8.new(97)) }, 'dies if NIY'; 
+throws_like 'Encode::decode("nyi-encoding", buf8.new(97))', X::Encode::Unknown, message => 'Unknown encoding nyi-encoding.';