Fruit flavors are lighter than I expected, and dissipated quickly. The floral casings remind me of Ennerdale Flake, but much more subdued. Nice Virginia blend underneath. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this tobacco. It’s balanced, very subtly complex, really tasty. Burned cool, even rubbed out pretty fine. I’m not an Aromatic Blend guy, but I could literally smoke this all day long.

My humble opinion - 3 ½ Stars

Erinmore Flake is quite an inoffensive VaB cased with a fruity aroma, so mild that I couldn’t even say it is natural or chemical.

Yes, it has meat and it’s well behaved . Those half-shaped flakes are beautiful and easy to ply and stuff (two flakes a hour or more into a group 4 bowl). The bowl burns smooth his way, but nothing builds as I would expect, to the point that I would prefer some more flavouring… EF has nothing to do with FVF, or Capstan. Even the Golden Sliced has something more to offer.

It’s just boring me, that’t the the fact…

UPDATE After a few tries, I come to the conclusion that there is Tonquin in this mixture, the way my stomach and head react tells me so. A shame, those flakes are quality but I smoke the pipe for my leisure and relaxation and this flake produces neither. It is certainly recommended for those who enjoy this kind of mixture.

It’s a high quality straight virginia that, like other “single malt” flakes, has its own character, one which the copy has right: it’s a bit flowery and fruity. That said, I find myself once again arrayed against the opinion of the vast majority of my pipe smoking brethren in that I don’t detect any hint of the strong casing so easily discerned by others.

Indeed this tobacco seems to have the most wildly variable “Flavoring” ratings of any tobacco on this site. I appear to be one of the tiny handful of reviewers who, like ivycap and Spike, believe that there is no topping here. Perhaps I’m mistaken, but the fruity, flowery flavor I discern I would simply ascribe as being a characteristic of the flake itself. But pineapple? Just because there’s a pineapple in Erinmore’s logo doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a flavor to be found in the smoke. I was actually looking forward to it, and was disappointed not to find it.

Erinmore Flake is a quality virgnia, to be sure, but one I won’t buy again. There’s a quality to this smoke that doesn’t agree with me, one that opens a mild but unpleasant pit in my stomach, and not in the same way as other strong Vitamin N blends. Still, it’s worth a try, and like other quality virginias this one benefits from a very slow draw. I would also recommend letting it dry out quite a bit.

I first tried to smoke it with the fold and stuff method with two flakes stacked on top of each other (fold and stuff one, then fold and stuff another). I figure that if you have a flake, you might as well smoke it in that form, otherwise, what's the point? But that basically didn't work at all, the tobacco was very hard to get going and kept going out all the time. The flavour was very harsh, no detectable sweetness or taste at all for that matter. After a few attempts I gave up, re-read some reviews on here and saw that some people were recommending rubbing it out fully. What a difference. The smoke is now has a slightly sweet, citrusy, with a hint of pineapple taste, and is surprisingly spicy and full compared to the tin aroma. The room note is very close to the tin aroma however, and is quite appreciated by my companion (and I thoroughly enjoy it myself when I come back into the room after smoking it).

Conclusion: at first I was ready to dismiss this tobacco completely as a harsh, wet and unpleasant aromatic, but now I find myself liking it more and more. It is certainly close to entering my rotation. There is however a bit too big discrepancy between tin note and taste; I would like it to be a bit sweeter, then it would be a perfect 4 as far as I'm concerned. Now, personally, I have to deduct one star. Try it though, you might love it.

Update: deducting another star, the discrepancy between tin note and taste is just too big to make an interesting tobacco. I will finish the tin but I probably won't buy it again.

Well,the tobacco comes in flake form,very hard pressed. It makes it difficult to fold the flakes also you need a lot of matches.... not much flavor to detect... boring...

So! here it comes, i crumble the flake up like a Mixture looks like.For a medium Size bowl you need arround 1 1/2 flakes. And i fill my Pipe gentle full. Then i tamp the tobacco gentle a littlebit down so that i can put some fine rubbed tobacco on top.

Tobacco flavor is very well present from top to bottom. Dont tamp the tobacco to tight when you smoke it!

After you rubbed out the tobacco let him air dry for about 10-15 minutes!

He has a fruity(Citrusnotes) flavor,a littlebit sour too but not bitter. When you fill your Pipe to thight he get hot and bitter after five minutes.. Its a love or hate tobacco! I Love him.

Orlik changed the Tin disign a little bit. There is mow a Printed Handsignature from John Murray on it... Maybe they boost up also the flavor a little bit.

As a side note, you can smoke this stuff aggressively, and it still remains fairly well mannered, with a OK nic. kick.

Erinmore Flake taste fruity. Tropical flavors. Sometimes it feels like smoking an aromatic, but with the full tobacco strength and taste.

At first, when i read all the other reviews i did not believe that there would be any pineapple flavor.

Here's what i taste without any prejudices...

Pineapple, occasionally hints of coconut linger through.

Smoking this baccy reminds me of the movie-scene in "Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas", where johnny depp and benicio del toro are sitting outside at the Flamingo and drinking cocktails.

Just Tropical.

Hate it or love it!

I love it, once it has dried out a bit.

There is no pipe-smoker who respects himself and has not tried this tobacco at least once. Timeless Tobacco consistent taste and quality over the years, now produced by Orlik SA Of course, most smokers prefer FLAKE but I've only smoked Mixture. With its distinctive flavor (more like pineapple) you can either hate it or love it. To me, however, it leaves a horde taste in the end. Quite heavy and moist when opened, it needs to be dried overnight in order to smoke it easily in the morning and leave you a cool and pleasant feeling. A timeless tobacco which should be treated with respect.

It has the kind of strength and constitution that I associate with lakeland flakes, but the flavouring used is sufficiently different that it isn't really comparable. It is definitely more 'aromatic' than 'lakeland floral'. In fact, halfway through the first bowl I realised where I had tasted something like this before: Sunday's Fantasy by Radfords. That is a mild aromatic, chunky ribbon-cut blend with a strong (as in I can't get it out my pipe) top-flavour of apricot and vanilla. The dressing used on Erinmore Flake is very, very similar.

As others have pointed out, this one definitely seems to work best rubbed out and well-dried, which makes the top flavour less assertive. With that done I find it acceptable, but it isn't as smooth as a lot of scented flakes and I can't help thinking, "I would rather be smoking St Bruno."

My tentative conclusion is that if you like apricot flavoured aromatics and are looking for a flake with a similar taste and a higher vitamin N content then this is the one for you. For me, when the craving for a stout flake with some added flavour strikes (which is currently quite frequently) I will be sticking with my GH&Co florals and British OTC flakes.

I will probably finish the tin, but shan't purchase again. I can see this hitting the spot for some folks so it gets a 'recommended' rating, but it definitely won't be for everyone.

Wandering into Edwards of Denver recently, I saw the tin up on the shelf and asked Tom for one. He smiled and said it was one of his favorites.

Upon getting the stuff home I was eager for that pineapple flavor. Opening the tin revealed a familiar smell, but with more licorice than I remembered it having. Rubbed it out, loaded it up into the kaywoodie prime grain I reserved for Erinmore, tasted licorice, a hint of pineapple and the flavor of good virginias.

Excuse me. Where is the pineapple? I got this because I wanted the pineapple. There is a pineapple on the tin. Right on top. And yes there is a smidgen of pineapple but I wanted Dole. Do you hear me? I wanted chunks my friends- juicy pineapple chunks coming out as smoke and I got...a parsimonious hint of pineapple, just tickling my tongue into thinking that the pineapple is there, but just barely.

The next time I spoke with Tom about this he indeed confirmed that the blend is far less drenched in pineapple than it once was. Sigh.

The good thing is that quite likely the quality of the tobacco is better than it was some time ago, but I have other options for good viginia without the licorice- not so fond of that.

I'll finish it surely, but I probably won't buy it again. It is a classic and when sipped very gently there is a bit of what I recalled about this famous blend. Sic transit gloria mundi.

Packed a couple flakes, lit in and wow. Not a pleasurable experience. Imagine smoking a bowl of fine flake beside your better half while she fills her hair and the room full of some aussie mango hairspray or something. That's about as close as I can get. About mid bowl the perfume barely subsides. Enough that you can taste fine tobacco in there. Smokes great, no bite. I'd love to try this tobacco without the perfume. The bottom of the bowl got a little ashy for me.

I've smoked a couple pipe loads before reviewing this and with the same results. I haven't tried airing it out, so that's next. Maybe enough of the kick will air off to make this smokeable. I'd hate to waste a tin. But personally I just think I really don't like this tobacco at all. Why I torture myself I'll never know. 1 star for being tobacco.