Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) Erinmore Flake

First of all, forget the pineapple! It is a traditional welcome sign to welcome guests into your home. The tobacco is not pinapple flavored. This is a strong one note tobacco. If you are one that can't smoke at work or home and need a quick nicotine hit, give this a try. It is too strong for an all-day smoke for me, but if I had limited time to smoke, this would be a good choice. I have found if you chop it up first before trying to smoke it works very well. If you just bend the flat slabs or trist them up to stuff in the bowl it would take 4-10 matches to get it going. Very dense, heavy smoke. I doubt most women or non-smokers would like this blend.

As usual I don't understand the strong reactions to this blend. Although the topping is certainly unique, it certainly wasn't as intense an experience as the previous reviews led me to believe it was going to be. That said and done, I found this to be a very tasty flake indeed. The Virginia base was good, if not as smooth as some I have encountered, and the topping was delicious. It reminded me of a fruitcake flavor for some reason with licorice and anise in the back ground. This is a rich smoke and so might be a little strong first thing in the day. I find I enjoy this the most outdoors on a brisk day, or in the local pub (a wonderful little joint called The Girdlestone) with a pint of Guinness! This baccy burned nice and cool for me and I never had to use a pipe cleaner due to moisture. I wonder how long it will remain in production due to the new anti-smoking legislation that has been recently passed in Ireland. If I need to I won't hesitate to cellar a goodly amount of this stuff, It's worth it!

I'm afraid that I must admit that I did NOT try this to join in on the debate over this blend. In fact, I didn't even know there was such a heated debate over this blend! This was a recomendation from a friend of mine at the smoke shop. I thanked him very much for the recomendation later. I have had experience with flake cut tobacco before, so the rubbing process didn't elude me much. What I have found is that when you rub the flakes out, you must make a decision between the lesser of two evils. The evils I speak of are 1) rub it into long ribons, and it tends to smoke itself out, and loose some flavor; 2) rub it into smaller ribons and cubes, and it smokes much hotter, but with much more flavor. I tend to opt for #2 since I am accustomed to hotter smoke since I love Virginia and Burley. Yes, yes I know, I know, I'm American! One thing that stood out for me was that everyone claims that they smell pineapple when the open the tin. I never noticed that untill I read these reviews. When I open the tin, what I smell is a tart, tangy smell, almost like a citrus essence! After I read the reviews, I smelled the tin again, and I guess you can smell the pineapple flavors in the casing. Something to think about there... I don't have much of a choice other than to agree with some of the warnings that others have made about smoking this in a large bowl. I enjoy this the most when it's loosly packed into my Savineli Bent-Bob. The smoke is almost intoxicating. The flavors of the casing marry well with the smoke of the Virginia, making a very aromatic smoke in the room. My friends like the smell of the tobacco, but the room note has to be "pleasent to tolerable" because of the thickness of the smoke. All-in-all I have to give this a solid four out of five stars. The mixture of flavors and the wonderful (to me at least) smoke are definatly a winning combination!

When I first started smoking a pipe some 35 years ago, I made the mistake of believing that tobacco should be quite moist for puffing. Back then, I first tried Erinmore and thought it was an abomination. I never finished the tin. Now that I know better, I decided to revisit it. The tin aroma is fruity and almost smells like cologne. I have a new method for heavily flavored blends including scented ropes. I took out a flake and laid it on a piece of paper until it was almost completely dry. I then rubbed it completely out until it almost became granular. I then left this to dry until very little moisture was left. During this drying period, most of the casing evaporates. After filling a Meerschaum pipe, I rehydrate the tobacco by breathing through the bowl a few times. The result was a fairly strong heavy, rounded Virginia/Burley smoke with a very decent nicotine content. The strong tin aroma was hardly noticed during the smoke, but it did present a nice room aroma. Using the method listed above, this is a decent smoke for those that like heavy tobacco blends. I will keep this around for an occasional smoke. I will only smoke it in a Meerschaum, as it will flavor a briar. Not recommended for beginners or those that find the room spinning when smoking strong blends.

Went back and forth with this one. Sometimes I loved it, sometimes I didn’t, but it is quality leaf through and through. The topping wasn’t as reviled as some make it out to be. I love the tin note, chocolate covered raisins with a strange tutti frutti whisper, banana and lemon too. NOT pineapple, cmon people…… This blend definitely has a good little nicotine kick so I prefer it after a night of drinking vs in the morning. It also pairs great with a bold tea, try it with a robust cup of Puerh and be amazed. Took me a while to get through the tin because I rarely found myself wanting a bowl but it’s a high quality classic. Love it or hate it, it’s a must experience tobacco for all pipers.

I had a can of the Murray version, found it today, came here to read the reviews and decided to open it up and see what would happen,

It's a blend of fruit flavors, not just pineapple, and I found something like Hal O 'the Wynd in The middle. To that end, I added 10%Crumble Va. Perique to my second bowl, and I ended up with Hal O'the Wynd with a slightly fruity texture.haha

I am now ready to buy (STG) - Erinmore Flake and I want to know what has changed.

This is one that kind of got lost in my cellar. Bought a tin in 2014 (~6 yrs ago) and smoked a few then just moved on to other blends. It was not memorable. Then, due to moving I have been forced to go through my horde of pipes, tobaccos, ect, came across this well aged jar. So, I figured I would give it a go. I was really pleasantly surprised. I am mainly an English smoker, but do enjoy a little bit of everything on occasion. I really like a strong flake smoke, but I am not necessarily a huge VaBur fan. Perique and Latakia are more my jam usually. Getting off topic. This is a great blend. Its strong, its no nonsense, I dont have to fight it to keep it lit or deal with an inferno that bites my tongue. Just rub it out, pack it in and light up and go. I do not get the overpowering fruitiness that many claim to experience. But maybe that comes with age, as this stuff is well over 5 years old. My only regret is that I did not cellar more back in 2014! I agree with many other reviewers that this is not an all day smoke or will it be in my "regular" rotation, but it will be a very good go to when I am in the mood for a nice strong flake.

"A superb blend of premium Virginia leaf topped with a secret recipe and aged under pressure to marry the flavors. The aged cake is then sliced thin and packaged. Can be rubbed to suit any taste. Medium in strength with a refreshing aroma. A cool clean burning all-day smoke."

I think the tin description says most of it, except that I am surprised just how pleasant this is given the reviewer acrimony. I like the tin and side stream aromas. This could have part of my rotation of classic aromatics if Murray & Sons stayed around. Perhaps a replacement will come along and keep the tradition alive. Though, jrcigar.com does still keep restocking this.(?)

Note that this does some effort to light, even with rubbing it out thoroughly.

Back when I was a college student (more years ago than I like to think about), I smoked a pipe, and Erinmore-- both Flake and Mixture-- were favorites of mine. Those, and Dunhill Elizbethan Mixture, were my mainstays. I gradually drifted away from pipe smoking, and recently came back to it after many pipeless years. Naturally, one of the first tobaccos I bought was Erinmore Flake. I find that I'm not as fond of it as I used to be; I tend now to prefer English mixtures well charged with Latakia. I still enjoy a pipeful of Erinmore occasionally, when I'm in the mood for something lighter and more aromatic. The tutti-fruitti tin aroma does come through in the smoke, but I find it diminishes as I smoke. Gradually, more of the natural tobacco flavor comes to the fore. To me, the flavoring isn't all that objectionable, but I definitely have to be in the right mood for Erinmore. The room aroma is pleasant enough, less objectionable to non-smokers than my usual English blends.