The big flat flake-cakes had a realy good moisture content and feel to them. The smell was of woodsmoke, spiced wine and a more subtle caramel. the overall impression was of fine church incense.

The flakes rubbed out easily and filled well. Had to light it a couple of times to get it burning nicely, then it stayed lit well. the taste was creamy, spicy, and oaklike finished with a slight sweetness. it burnt clean and cool to a grey ash with next to no dottle. There was no bite even when i was drawing fiercely on it to get it fired up.

I was very impressed by this tobbacco, I was expecing to be overwhelmed by taste and strength but it was a lovley medium to full bodied smoke. It goes a long way too the flakes rubbing out loosely to get a nice fill from only a small section of the cake. My only gripe is the Nicotine level is a little on the high side. Buy some you won't be disappointed.

However I cant ignore the pain its causing my nose when I exhale from it. It´s such a shame, otherwise I would smoke this often.

I have no idea what the original blend was like so I can't draw any comparisons. I can offer my thoughts on the blend you can buy today.

Like the other Murrays flakes I sampled that were taken over by PS, the flakes of Irish Slices are very long, double the length of a Samuel Gawith flake for example. Irish Slices are dark in colour, creating the expectation of a strong smoke with plenty of fire-cured flavour.

In actual fact, I found that there is a good deal of VA tang in the smoke, which only mellows out to typical Kentucky flavours after the half-way mark. Surprisingly, there was so much tang that I actually suffered some bite and mouth irritation for the first few bowls. Although there is a slightly sweet and fruity topping present I don't think that contributed...more likely it was over zealous puffing on my part and perhaps a slight body chemistry issue. Either way, switching pipes and cube cutting the flakes helped to alleviate this problem.

Irish Slices are strong, but not as punishing as my favourite rope tobacco. They are also not quite as flavoursome as I expected, and for that reason I have to rank them accordingly.

Somewhat recommended, as although this is a decent tobacco it didn't quite live up to my expectations in terms of flavour and smoothness. I eagerly await popping the seal on my first tin of Peterson's Irish Flake, which I hope will compare favourably and perhaps deliver a similar overall experience to Irish Slices but with a bit more flavour and 'smokeability'.

By all means try this solid blend, but perhaps hold back on any large orders until you have tried it and are sure it's one for you.