Peterson Irish Flake

Well let me start by saying that I chose this as my first review, because love it, or hate it Irish Flake is memorable.

As a former user of Copenhagen, I do not normally worry about tobacco considered high in nicotine. I should have respected this one, as my first bowl (on an empty stomach) threw me for a loop. I decided to roll two flakes into my Erikson bulldog and puff away as I normally woul on one of my English blends. Not my brightest Idea! After half the bowl I had to cry UNCLE! That is not something I am used to doing.

After learning from my mistake I find this to be a very strong, but pleasent smoke. It is very smooth, but it sure gets the job done. Perfect companion to a good whisky before turning in for the night.

There is definately a good amount of vitamin N in this, but if you are looking for a well developed, natural tasting, full flavored smoke...this is it!

The biggest problem i have found with this, is that if i do not open my windows, my dogs get stoned and become monsters!!!

Dark Flakes which did not need much drying were ready to be packed as is but I dried them for about 20 mins. Easily broken and packed

Pipe: MM Rob Roy cob

First 15 mins:

From the initial light, burley seemed to lead the blend with creamy nutty notes mingled with slight sweetness and sourness from the Virginias in conjunction with Kentucky... There is very mild presence of the cocoa topping/casing perhaps which is enough to mute the offerings from Virginias imo.

Retrohale: fuller creamy and nutty with mild sweet and spicy notes.

15-30 mins: The virginias and burley go hand in hand. I get the nutty,  woody profile of the burleys in equal proportions to the floral,  bread, fruity sweet and mildly vinegary (and some tea as after-taste on the palate) notes from Virginias. Kentucky is in the support role and perhaps contributing to the strength and the fuller profile than the notes itself.

Retrohale: creamy and mildly spicy

30-45 mins: Virginias are in the lead now offering fruity sweetness along with bread,  hay and mild floral notes. After taste of tea I'd noticed on the palate. Light woody notes with even milder nuttiness from the burley/kentucky

Retrohale: spice is up a notch with some sweetness.

45mins+: Interestingly I get more woody,  soapy notes mixed with some floral notes.  The sweet and sour notes from Virginias are not there any more. tbh, it's made the blend less enjoyable for me.

Smokes cool and dry at a decent pace. Needs only a few relights.

Overall fuller taste with similar strength. Interesting blend but not something I would smoke daily.  3.5 star️ until I reached the 45 mins mark which kinda ruined the experience... 3star️ overall.

Peterson's Irish Flake. Okay, I'll add to the noise here a bit.

Strength: Yes, it's strong. Not as strong as G. & H. Brown Bogey, not as strong as University Flake. But it is strong, and I wouldn't recommend this to the light aromatics crowd. It will in fact, knock you on your ass. I got vagus nerve spasms that nearly dropped me to the floor the first time I smoked this.

Taste: I didn't initially like this. It is strong and tarry, a pure tobacco flavor. Toppings, dressings, casings? Well, the description says this is topped, but the reviews generally say otherwise. I get a bit of rose geranium and other Lakeland scents, but I don't taste the anise that others have reported here. The flavor becomes stronger, less sweet and more cigar like as you smoke through the bowl.

This is a lovely, oily flake that smells nasty in the tin, but which smokes beautifully. At 34% relative humidity with central gas heating, this required about 45 minutes of drying time, if you don't want an oily, wet dottle at the finish.

Preparation: I folded and stuffed one flake into the bottom of my M.M. Danish spool. I then thoroughly rubbed out another flake and packed it into the top half of the bowl in two packing steps. A number of relights are required, even after the tobacco has been rubbed and dried. I am a vacuum cleaner, and I could not get this one to bite no matter how hard I tried. This is a bit of a surprise, because the tobacco is quite moist out of the tin and contains a goodly amount of Virginia.

I enjoy this as an after breakfast smoke with strong black coffee. Not at all an all-day smoke for most.

Room note: The wife grabbed the skillet and attempted to bludgeon me with it after smelling this one inside the house. The divorce should be finalized by the end of next month. (joke...no assault actually occurred).. Calling the room note "tolerable" is akin to calling a skunk "lightly perfumed." In other words, non-smokers will find the room note to be a justification for their radical anti-tobacco political stance.

Finish: If sipped more or less slowly, the finish is pleasant. As noted above, cigar-like notes emerge and much of the sweetness goes away. If dried, this leaves a dark grey ash and moist dottle, and the pipe should be cleaned after each bowlful. Three out of four stars.

A strong blend with a dominant part in burley and spiced Kentucky. The earthy Virginia is still present giving a somewhat bread/buttery note. Very creamy and smooth tobacco, but one should fill up their bellies before smoking it due to high nicotine content, I' d say higher than nightcap. The kind of liquorice topping makes it less brutal, especially at the end of the bowl. Tongue bites are kept at bay. I highly recommend smoking it in a churchwarden accompanied by a strong espresso blend

Before I even bought this the first time my tobacconist suggested University Flake before buying this. And I'm glad that he did. UF is like the little brother to this tobacco and still babies you with the flavor of plum and VAs.

Irish flake on the other hand is a grizzly deck hand with no time for plum. I imagine this is what tobaccos of the early 20th century tasted like. Full bodied flavor and a heavy dose of Vitamin N. Unless you want to feel a little lightheaded, you should eat a nice meal before this. Definitely not an aperitif smoke.

The flakes are cut very nicely and are relatively moist so it pays to let them dry out for at least 30-40 minutes fresh out of the tin. I personally like folding and stuffing this flake but that choice is up to you.

If you decide to pack the whole flake, it's a nice long smoke. The bowl takes its time and wants you to appreciate the marriage of the Kentucky and Burleys. You can expect some earthy notes, maybe even raisins and chocolate flavor profiles as well. If you're a strictly Balkan and Oriental lover, this may not be the blend for you. It does have a decent Burley kick in the back of the throat so I would advise you have a beverage at hand. Nice cup of tea (unsweetened chai tea especially) goes really well with this blend.

I've heard compliments and complaints about the room note but I think it's pleasant. It produces a scent that is very nostalgic for me. I have had neighbors when I was a child that smoked something that smells like this.

Typically I stuff the flake in the morning and leave my pipe at home while I'm at work. Come home and make dinner and enjoy one of these before bed. That was probably my favorite way to enjoy this blend. No worries about moisture levels and if the N got to be too much, I had already finished the day's work.

I rated this as a 3 out of 4 because I have recently been smoking 1792 Flake and HH Old Dark Fired. They both provide a little bit more in the realm of flavor but this is still a top notch tobacco. If you are a Burley fan or looking for something heavier, this should be next on your list.

This will be a simple review for a simple tobacco. This is strong. This is burley. This smells, and somewhat tastes, like a high quality cigarette tobacco (drum, bali shag or something of that nature, for example). For me, this is the tobacco equivalent of a shot of espresso. Strong, simpler, pure, and perfect for the morning. This burns slow and (again) delivers strength so you now have a use for your smaller-chambered pipes.

Honestly, I was afraid of trying Irish Flake. I'd heard so much about its strength that I shied away from buying a tin for such a long time. Last month, however, I finally received a sample - two small nice-smelling flakes - and I was determined to give Irish Flake a try. I'm not going lie, this stuff is strong. It doesn't smell good to non-smokers, and it doesn't even smell good to (cigarette) smokers either. I like the musty and nutty smell this blend gives off, though. You'll know that you're smoking something since it's pretty full-bodied. It didn't bite me and it didn't burn too hot on me, fortunately. It tastes rather sweet in the beginning due to the flue-cured VAs present. Towards half of the bowl nicotine kicks in and the burley and Kentucky make themselves known and push the sweetness into the background. I'm a nicotine lightweight which had me worried initially, but the hit wasn't as strong as I was expecting. Sure, I was dizzy and my heart rate was slightly higher than normal but it's not that bad. All in all, I would definitely tend to smoke Irish Flake after a good dinner. I'll be buying a tin sometime soon.

Overall a quite nice flake tobacco. When I first popped the tin it reminded me of a really dark unsweetened iced tea mixed with a campfire. It has a very earthy and outdoor kind of smell.

I folded the flake to put in it in my pipe. It was a pretty snug fit, but it burned slow, dry and didn't require an relighting. When I started smoking it all I could think of was chewing tobacco. It tastes just like Copenhagen straight. This is not a tobacco for a new pipe smoker. Overall it was quite strong and smoking the whole flake in one go might be too much for some.

The room note is quite strong. I tend to smoke outside on the patio and my wife usually doesn't say anything about it. With this tobacco she asked me if I smoked inside that day because it was so strong. I enjoy the smell, but it really lingers. Also, don't keep any books or papers near the popped tin or they will absorb all that smell.

Certainly stronger than Dunhill (light) Flake and Gawith Full Virginia, but stronger isn't always better.

This is a tasty strong VaBur with some DFK thrown in for good measure. I smoked mine mostly rubbed out, but I did try folding as well, and that worked too.

This is a full flavored burley forward blend. The burley has a slightly sweet and bitter profile and it is backed up by a spicy, smoky Kentucky. The Virginia gives it a smooth sweet undercurrent. There is a hint of a topping that gives it a note every now and then that I can't quite identify. The topping is very subtile, and this is really tobacco flavored with a side of tobacco.

This is a great blend, but it is probably not something for the novice.