Peterson Signature Flake

The tin I opened for review had an issue date of "October 12, 2017."

Appearance: over the years, the Virginia blend has generally darkened somewhat. Nevertheless, the individual varieties are still quite distinguishable - the blend is a thinly sliced, even flake of fine quality Virginia, with shades ranging from the color of wheat bread crust to the color of milk chocolate. The moisture content of the tobacco is near perfect. The overall tobacco consistency can be compared to such "monsters" as Mac Baren HH/Capstan or Fribourg & Treyer.

Flavor: fresh hay, warm bread, dark raisins, bitter and slightly spicy English orange jam, barely noticeable woody note, a drop of dark buckwheat honey. There is a suspicion that the notes of jam, spice and honey are brought into the tobacco by the dressing, but they are extremely harmonious with the overall flavor, complementing it and giving some variety.

The taste almost repeats the bouquet of flavors: sweetish mixed grass, yeast-free dough, just a little woody flavor, a little dark raisin. Overall, there is little sweetness in the taste. As you smoke it almost completely disappears, and the hay and woody notes come to the fore. This is especially noticeable in straight pipes. The tobacco smokes exceptionally smooth and cool enough without any roughness or bite (provided you keep the tempo of smoking inherent to pure Virginia blends). If you fill the pipe with whole flake plates, the smoking will be even slower and cooler, and the flavor accent will change a bit more towards the woody notes. Nevertheless, the strength will not change, being lower than average. The tobacco slowly burns into a whitish dusty ash, leaving almost no moisture in the pipe. A leisurely smoking of 3 grams can easily last an hour or more. The aftertaste is sweet with a woody undertone, quite pleasant. The smoke is light, almost odorless, easy to disperse.

Bottom line: a very decent (and alas quite underrated in the general public) Virginia flake. In my "league table of ranks" it beats Wessex and Mac Baren flakes, being quite capable of competing with Capstan Yellow Flake, for example. I'm truly sorry that this blend was produced so briefly. But you can still find it on sale sometimes, and it's worth buying a tin or two just to try it. In any case, the first tin I opened was immediately grabbed by my friends to try, and the feedback from them was overwhelmingly positive.