John Sinclair Highland Sliced

25g Pouch

Not many reviews on here for this, what happened did everybody mistake this tobacco by its OTC looking tartan packet for Clan or something? ;You should of got your eyes tested! Did you think it was an aromatic or another borkam riff whiskey? You idiots!

Sinclair HIGHLAND SLICED has never been an 'aromatic' and all that word implies in its life! - this was an absolute dark, meaty pooey flake and its been MIA a while because it was discontinued!

Those who never got a chance to smoke it don't know what they have missed. If you went to a pipe club, you would keep this hidden in your sock and not share it with anybody else because its too good. That's how good it is or how mean I am, but that's your fault!

The pouch aroma is of a wood barn with a kind of barn yard outside with a bit of shit about the place,chicken shit or like an avery;think of Gauloises backy if you ever opened a pouch of that;that sort of smokey shit, good shit. And a bit of other animal shit when its dried in the sun and got a bit of hay trod into it on the earthy tracks. Its got a country farm smell with a wood smell as well.

Dark woody brittle yet tough flakes that break like lolly sticks good, they snapped. Topping aroma of sweet and bitter cranberrys and full bodied red wine. Taste of meaty roasted turkey breast,the outside skin part with all the salt and pepper on and cranberry jelly and rich red wine. Deep woody wood ,salt and pepper ,drift wood, malty, peaty, earthy, strength, power, long lasting, cool, no bite what so ever. Better than Irish Flake, more complex taste IMO.. Highland sliced is roast turkey where Irish Flake has roast pork. Its a subtle difference.. The nicotine in Highland wasn't as strong as Irish Flake but you could finish the bowl before the bowl finished you.

They say its a Virginia flake but I sense more, I recon its got burley or smokey Kentucky,its taste and pouch aroma of the tobacco side of the equation is like an Italian Toscano Antico cigar. Strong smokey,meaty full bodied.

I already had a jar and a spare pouch before I heard this was going missing. In 2015 I bought the last 5 pouches from a supplier who couldn't fulfil my order for 10 because they were out of stock. Its been in my cabinet a few years drying out in the pouch because I stupidly let the sun bake on the cabinet.. But I always smoked it dried anyway and so it doesn't matter.. Just opened a pouch from 2014 and lit up; all the wine and cranberry topping was still preserved in it and came through loud and clear with the rest.

I still have 5 pouches left to last me ,plus my jar; I have left it alone a few years because I wanted to save it like a row of cigars in a humidor and smoke it on special occasions. I didnt have an occasion this morning, I just wanted a bowl to make it an occasion. This stuff is Christmas dinner in a pipe. You Americans might think of it as a thanksgiving.

Only a few tobaccos by accident of their design taste like cooked meats to me and this was one of them. I thought I had done this review a few years ago but I must of forgot;i was too busy enjoying the pipe to be bothered perhaps. Burns down slowly to a thick heavy talc ash. Anyhow this was a total 5 star tobacco R.I.P, and for those who never smoked it I am not rubbing it in or anything, but how do you feel? Mmm yummy yummy are you jealous?

One of the best kept secrets is gone, thats what happens when you keep it a secret.

Ahhhhh. This is one fine flake, in some ways similar to the noble Peterson Irish Flake, both in th tin aroma and in the taste, but it is defu=initively less strong (the aroma and taste, that is).

This flake not only contains VAs, it also has some DFK that I love so much, because it always gives backbone to mixtures.

A nice discovery on this fine Sunday, that made me forget the disappointments of Dan Tobacco's Hamborger Veermaster & McClelland St - James Woods.

Cheers, lads!

A quite extraordinary tobacco. Now, it is strong, yes: but only the inexperienced smoker will find that this strength hits him straight off in an unpleasant way. For the experienced smoker, the negative side of the strength creeps up on you quite a long time after smoking, but in my experience that negativity also fades away quite quickly.

The direct fullness of this tobacco's flavour and aroma, when experienced for the first time, is quite revelatory. It is rich, it is warm, it is oaky, it is above all DEFINITE - you cannot in any way miss it. Apart from anything else, you will also immediately realise that this is a high quality tobacco, and wonder about the quality of an awful lot of 'not so definite' baccy you've been stuffing in your pipe all these years. Your respect for John Sinclair goes through the roof - all this, and you've only had your first puff or two of Highland Sliced!

As others have stated, it smokes cool and slow. No bite.

This is one of the best tobaccos I have ever smoked. I'd love to smoke it all day, but it is too strong for that, as my throat attests. However, I only get the throat effect a while after smoking. I find that the effect will fade away again within a few hours.

Update, 6th December 2011: Mein Gott, this stuff is strong. Just too strong for my throat, unfortunately. I will buy it in future, but only very occasionally. Anyone with an iron throat will enjoy the challenge, however.

If "full-bodied", "Full-flavoured" and "strong tobacco flavour"" means harsh, bitter and stinging, then this tobacco pushes all those buttons.

I'm with Pseudo Nim on this one. It's very monotone and cetainly did not make me think of cosy Scottish hunting lodges. It made me think of burning tyres or a scrapyard fire. I could not detect any of the floral casing or sweetness described in earlier reviews.

I should have taken more notice of the description "for experienced smokers": My olfactory nerve endings have not net been rendered crusty enough not to be stung by this overpowering blend. I'm glad I couldn't buy a 50g pouch.

I'm sure some people like it though.

It's almost impossible to smoke this without comparing it to Irish flake. This isn't to say that they're the same, they're not. They're like siblings who, because they are similar, have their differences starkly highlighted.

Sold in 25g pouches, the flakes are longer and shorter than Irish flakes but with the same colouring and density.

This doesn't have the sweetness of Irish flake replacing it with a malty, astringent peatiness that intensifies as you progress down the bowl. It reminds me of an Islay malt with Laphroaig's medicinal (almost TCP-like) saltiness.

Ageing may knock some of the sharp corners off this flake, but as these are what give the blend it's character I'm not sure it's a good idea.

If you like peaty malt whisky, Irish flake or fuller flavoured smokes then you'll love Highland sliced.

Excellent dark flake. Quite light in taste, but nice and strong. Smokes beautifully, and draws cool to the end.

This is a strong, pleasant, satisfying smoke, comparable in some ways to G & H's Dark Flake (though without the "cigar" overtones) and Peterson's Irish Flake. I must say I wish the flakes were thinner and easier to handle. They are unusually thick and rigid and each one takes an awful lot of rubbing out. The flavour is very full and consistent and – a bit surprisingly, I thought, in view of this tobacco's texture – it doesn't need constant relighting. There's a bitter edge to it that comes through if you puff too hard, especially towards the bottom of the bowl; but it gives a long and relaxing smoke if you don't. The only drawback, in my experience, is that it smokes rather wet.

Highland Sliced isn't very far away from Condor in terms of strength and smoking qualities, but it doesn't have the distinctive "floral" or "soapy" taste that Condor has and that so many people mention with dislike. In this sense, it has all the strengths of Condor and none of the weaknesses. It reminds me too of an old and long-departed tobacco called Warlock Rich Dark Flake (anyone remember that?). It's a bit too strong to be an all-day smoke, maybe, and too strong ever to be a real favourite of mine; but if you like a strong, dark flake, you'll enjoy this.

Edit (15 September, 2010): having smoked quite a bit more of this since my original review, I'm inclined to 'promote' it from three stars to four. If you smoke it in circumstances where you can just relax, take your time and smoke very slowly, it really is a delicious tobacco. The deep richness of the flavour comes across more and more as you become accustomed to it, and it's one of the coolest tobaccos I've ever come across. Puff hard and the nicotine will flatten you; sip, and all the nuances of flavour and fragrance will make themselves felt. On more mature reflection, then: not for the novice, but, for the discreet and experienced smoker, first rate - highly recommended.

(Availability is patchy, though. It's worth bearing in mind that E.A. Carey's No. 7 Flake, available by mail order, is very similar to Highland Sliced; you'd have to have a very sophisticated palate to tell the difference blind.)

Update, December 2015: Dammit, Highland Sliced has been discontinued! Is nothing sacred? For as long as E.A. Carey remain in business and continue to produce their dark flake, all is not lost; the same is true of Peterson's Irish Flake. I'm afraid it's only a matter of time, though ... the spectre of prohibition is hovering, at least in the UK.

Update, May 2016: I see that E.A. Carey have now withdrawn several of their blends from the market, in response to EU regulations governing tobacco additives. Increasingly it looks as though our pipe smoking hobby is facing death by inches. Ichabod.

A stout smoke. This could pass as Irish flakes bigger, meaner brother.

HS has a pronounced topping which can sometimes get bitter.

It's a fine flake nonetheless and one I wish I had reliable access to. 🙁

I am smoking this as I type and my first (yes, first) impressions are very favourable. I have found myself away for a long weekend without sufficient baccy so I thought I would pick something up. I spied a packet of Highland Sliced on the shelf of a small and somewhat sparsely stocked tobacconist (from a pipesmoking perspective) and decided to give it a try. Very glad I did.

Strength is pleasing and the flavour reminds me somewhat of another recent discovery, Revor Plug. However, this flake is sweeter, less 'meaty' and has more of the british floral thing going on. This said, for me at least it does not cross the line into being 'soapy', which is something I do not enjoy.

Ready to smoke straight from the pack with only minimal drying time it behaves impeccably in the pipe. I am in the habit of running a cleaner through every so often as I smoke, and it is coming out dry and clean every time. Zero bite. Smooth and tasty. I rate the room-note as pleasant because I enjoy it, but I've yet to hear a comment from a non-piper.

This is a very solid baccy. If it continues to please me to this level I shall be making another visit to that little tobacconist's shop for a couple more packs before I return home.

Edit on 28th May 2011: Many moons later and I just cracked another new packet of this tobacco from the same little tobacconist. It still rocks. Irish Flake wishes it was this tobacco!