Peterson Sweet Killarney

Sweet cream carmel! This is a very mild sweet blend. It has a mild blend of tobacco's and a hint of the sweet cream carmel flavor. Leaves a sweet taste in the mouth long after the smoke. The aroma is a weak pleasent one. I would try this one if you like the mild sweet tobaccos without a fruity flavor.

This is indeed and unusal one. A fan of aromatics, this one left me confused. I am quite fond of Old Dublin as well as most of the Mac Baren line. Knowing what to expect from Peterson, I did not expect a candied taste like I get from some of the really cheap dime-store brands that taste like burning tires off a cherry truck.

That being said, the tin aroma of this blend almost knocked me over and I was close to tossing the the lot untried. Being Peterson however, I gave it a try, and I'm glad I did! After the first bowl I wasn't about to review it until I had finished the entire tin.

This one is an aquired taste, I believe. Enjoyable and considering the tin aroma, not overly sweet, this one surprises with its lovely taste and aroma. This is recommended as a good after-dinner smoke. Although for me it takes a backseat to some other more subtly topped blends.

I'm not sure if I bought the same tobacco or not?! I looked at the distinctive label, and it looks the same, but that's where the similarity ends with the other glowing reviews.

In a word, I'm disappointed. I really wanted to like this tobacco. I have a couple of steady-diet smokes from my local tobac shop, but I wanted a high-quality, dessert smoke. Sweet, but not rot-your-teeth sweet. Flavourful, but not soaked in PG so you need to let it air out for a month before smoking. A good mix of nice tobaccos, not just sticky Black Cav.

With most aromatics, I find that either the taste and smell are full, and so is the tobacco (full of PG). Or it's a more natural tobacco, and the flavour is gone by the first third of the bowl.

From what I read, Sweet Killarney met all my criteria. At last! I've tried it twice now. It's a nice tobacco, but the aroma and flavour were no where near what they were described as here. They were so muted as to be almost not there. Some sweetness in the tin, and a hint in the first third, but after that...gone!? There is some redeeming quality in the tobacco itself, but I'm going to have to blend this with some English blend to give it some lift. The Virginia is still there by the half-way mark, but all-in-all not even close to what I had hoped for.

Maybe I'll have to try the Sunset Breeze, but at $25/tin here, I'm not sure if I'll spend the cash.

UPDATE: I had a tin of Irish Oak as well. Not bad, but a little heavy on the nicotine. (That's another review). I decided that since this tobacco needed a little body, maybe I should mix the two. It's not a bad combo. The SK provides a little lightness to the IO. The IO provides a little body to the SK. My "new" tobacco would definitely score higher.

This is an odd one. I have dabbled in aromatics from the mundane and downright awful (Cherry Paladin and Borkum Riff), to the subtle and sublime (Poschl Tabak's Blue Train). I thought, well, I can tolerate Peterson's Irish Oak, and I like Old Dublin. Maybe Sweet Killarney is a winsome Irish lass? Not! I found this tobacco to be a bit too sweet, a tad on the moist side, and the caramel flavor was cloying. The room note went along with the flavor for me. To be fair, I'm going to give it another try, on another day. Can't recommend this one at this time. I might throw some Latakia in and see what happens...if you never hear from me again, I will have expired from caramelitis!

2014 tin: Creamy, smooth and vanilla sweetness from the get-go. Pleasant caramel nougat nose note. An occasional sour note and very light spice. Great blend to recommend for a newbie as the bite is minimal.

This was my first blend but I’ve smoked it several times again. Generally speaking, this review concerns it when I first bought it, and I loved it. Real nice fruity-caramel flavor, however, after a few months of aging, it loses 90% of it’s flavor. It also has zero nicotine. Recommended if you want something sweet yet fancy.

Fresh from tin. Smoking now.

Tobacco is presented nice in the tin, ribbon cut of burley and cavendish with Virginia flake mixed in. Pretty interesting. The whole thing is “pressed” into one big hockey puck so some rubbing out is needed. Very fun to work with. The smell is caramel popcorn 100%. A sweet buttery caramel nutty aroma.

Packs fine if you rub it out nice. It’s not a heavy cased tobacco so it’s not too wet or goopy. Lights nice I didn’t need any relights and I’m 3/4 the way though my second bowl.

The taste is a subtler then the smell but it is a nutty burley with a caramel butter taste. Kettle cooked caramel popcorn. I do get some grassy hay from the Virgina as well. But this is definitely sweet as the name says. The retrohale is pleasant however you’ll notice the Virgina. Puff light and don’t chase that caramel flavor and you’ll be rewarded with a nice aromatic with a rewarding taste. Did leave moisture in the bowl though. Don’t puff this one hard and fast, pipe will gurgle and give you a bad taste.

All and all I’m glad I picked this up. The reviews set me up to not expect much but if you want a SWEET caramel flavored aromatic then here ya go. Aromatic fans I would recommend this too however this kept giving me tongue bite even after drying. So it didn’t work too well for me. Very one dimensional caramel flavor. Blended it with other aros for a nice treat.

If you want a caramel flavored blend then I would recommend if not I would pass.

First sample in 2009 when I first joined TRs under a different handle. I've since started the pipe hobby again & recently re-registered. I found this blend to be similar to Blue Note & Solani 131 Red Label in tin aroma & similar in taste, strength, etc., but not a total clone. This will bite like wildfire if one isn't careful to take slow, small sips while indulging. Not overly searing to the palate in that respect for an aromatic & does provide a slight sweet flavor.

One would expect more sweetness from the name & tin note. It leaves no goopy dottle in the bowl but it will leave a ghost in there for the next couple of rounds. I don't smoke many aromatics these days & this review is based only on the merits of an aromatic blend. It didn't propel me into purchasing another tin but it isn't totally awful. Could use a bit of "refinement."

First sample in 2009 when I first joined TRs under a different handle. I've since started the pipe hobby again & recently re-registered. I found this blend to be similar to Blue Note & Solani 131 Red Label in tin aroma & similar in taste, strength, etc., but not a total clone. This one isn't too bitey but one must take care to sip while indulging. Not overly searing to the palate for an aromatic & does provide a slightly sweet flavor.

It leaves no goopy dottle in the bowl but it will leave a ghost in there for the next couple of rounds. I don't smoke many aromatics these days & this review is based only on the merits of an aromatic blend. It didn't propel me into purchasing another tin but it's not too bad. Could use a bit of "refinement."