Peterson Irish Flake

Plenty of reviews on this great stuff. But it deserves mine too...

Tin is only a bit moist, perfect for long term storage. Tin note is not unpleasant, perhaps Heinz 47 Steak Sauce? You get about a dozen nice sized flakes, perfect for two small bowls or one medium-large bowl. The flakes dry overnight and are easy to rub out. After a slightly persnickety relight, you get a very well behaved long smoke. Burley flavor is there, but so is sweet dark Virginia and a hint of cloves. Very smooth smoke that is flavorful and easy on the mouth.

Strength is nothing to be intimidated by; N build-up is predictable and pleasant. You can put a pipe of this aside and relight later; the flavor will still be pleasant. More dottle than a typical flake, but still very well behaved and the pipe is left easy to clean. Goes very nicely with Constant Comment Tea, hot with milk and sugar. This is 100% good smokable tobacco; a great value from smokingpipes.com at $9 per tin on sale.

I got this as a sample and very few of the reviews captured what I've experienced - that's why I decided to write this review.....

In the tin I got an immediate Oriental aroma. Then on first light, a burst of roasted coffee/chocolate beans. On re-light, the roasted mocca continued, but very faintly, while the oriental notes were ever present.

I enjoyed this tobacco a lot.

http://youtu.be/8332jnEfgps

Update Sep 2014. Earthy, creamy and musky. Everyone says its high in Vit N and only for those with enough hair on their chests..... Key Largo kicked me more. Really a nice tobacco.

Here is where we split apart who has or not a good resistance for nicotine.
I´m not saying it´s the strongest tobacco in the world, but u need be careful.... It gave me hiccups after 1hour of good smoke, i mean, this is what i expect from strong tobacco.

I really love it. It has the body i like to smoke when it´s cold or during the winter. Not that complex, but delivers a good quality mixture of bold and mellow tobaccos. The flakes comes lil bit wet, a time drying out is necessary, i had better experiences with cobs than briar, i´m not sure why or if this is just my imagination, but for me this is a tobacco to be smoked in cob´s.

It has a special space in my rotation, i can compare it with 'bold Kentucky' or 'old dark fired', all of them are quite strong and belong to the same "family" of body/strength, imo they lie on the same shelf.

Smoking now.

Sample bag contained thick intact flakes that had some age on them. The aroma had a vinegar tang, some smoky woody notes, and maybe some dark fruit? Did remind me or bbq sauce. Rubbed out rather course and put into a wide bowl.

So disclaimer I’m not a fan of burley tobaccos. This reminds me slightly of HH ODF however this is not as sweet or bbq flavored. Which is one of the only burley Virginia DFK blends I’ve smoked.

Woody, more dry wood, nuts, vegetative plant material like autumn leaves, spicy, and mild smokey characteristics. I want to say I get some mild dark sweetness from the Virginia too. The retrohale is where it shines for me, getting more of that smokey wood note, dark earthy semi sweet Virginias and some spicy notes.

Some people say this is creamy… it is in the sense of a heavy maduro cigar. Happy to say that it did not bite my tongue like burley heavy tobaccos do. A little mouth tingle and no bad aftertaste. A hearty smoke for sure. A woody burley and earthy Virginia type of smoke with some spicy notes and little sweetness. Not my wheel house but if it is this should be on your list.

I found the nicotine doable after a heavy lunch. The nicotine is definitely way higher your average non aromatic pipe tobacco. I smoked another bowl later in the day after an adult beverage and the nicotine hit was a bit higher than I like from a pipe. Crossing into cigar territory. Would probably not smoke more than a bowl at a time. Certainly not an all day smoke unless you can smoke cigars all day. If you smoke cigars like I do treat it as such. It did light and stayed lit just fine. Smoked well.

I have 3 more bowls left so I will up date this accordingly.

Thirty six years ago I rotated three tobaccos, they being, Ogden’s Rebbreast, Players Digger Flake and Gallaghers Condor long cut, these three tobaccos were my favourite blends. At that time all three of the aforementioned tobaccos were easily sourced at any newspaper shop come tobacconists you cared to mention, it would be hard to single out any one of the above tobaccos as my personal favourite, but I did love digger flake. At that time Digger Flake came in a unusual tin in that the tin was hinged and the tobacco was wrapped in cellophane, before that it came in a standard oblong tin that was yellow in colour, but for me the hinged tin was the best, on opening the tin one was met by a most delightful mouth watering smell of pure tobacco nirvana. Anyway without further nostalgic ado, onto my review of Peterson’s Irish slices. Irish slices used to be made in Belfast by the now long closed Murray’s tobaccos, who up to twelve years ago also made a loose Digger tobacco. For my money Peterson’s Irish Slices is an exact copy of the now long dead Digger tobacco, yes I know of a tobacconists in the UK that purports to selling loose Digger tobacco, but for my money it is of no comparison.Peterson’s Irish Flake in its present incarnation is the closest thing to Digger Flake in the modern tobacco world. The Irish Flake is not for the faint hearted as the nicotine hits harder than a mule kick to the head, but smokes ultra cool right to the end. This tobacco needs respect if one is to reap the full benefit of its fruity, sweet top notes. This tobacco is for the man who likes a strong tobacco and is a fine companion to smoke at night, when one is ruminating on ones day or the madness of a world that at times is hard to fathom. Smoke this tobacco slowly and appreciate the fact that we as pipe smokers are the guardians of a lost world and as such are thinking people who do not follow the herd mentality. Peterson’s Irish Flake is a bowl full of nostalgia that gives you much more than a quality smoke, it gives one a little respite from the aforementioned craziness and conjures up a lost world of eccentric non-conformists who lived in peace with their pipes. To summarise, if like me you were a fan of Digger Flake then this is the nearest thing out there, if you are a newbie then this is a must try tobacco, that will not fail to deliver a full satisfying smoke that the Lakeland’s and aromatics cannot deliver, that being a satisfying cool slow burning smoke with no tongue bite and a Irish slice of pure pleasure.

Prep: Was a bit on the wet side like most flakes, but required little drying.

The Kentucky is obvious, with its bbq, smoky, character. The burley pops in with its nutty, molasses notes. The virginas are evident, adding sweetness, but are in the backseat. This is a full flavored blend, staying consistent throughout the smoke.

Flavor wise, this is a wonderful blend. However..... Granted I am a weakling when it comes to nicotine, but boy this was heavy in that category. A dizziness and headache hit me mid-bowl. I enjoy a nic punch but this is simply too strong for enjoyment.

If you are a nicotine chaser, grab a tin; you'll be quite satisfied. If you arent or you are new to the heavier nic blends, tip toe around this blend. Flavor profile alone 8/10. But personally 5.5/10

I really like that menacing disclaimer on the tin: "EXPERIENCED SMOKERS ONLY!". It may give a kind of guilty pleasure to speculate like this: "Well, if I like this stuff and smoke it often, then I should be a truly experienced guy. And even more: if I - unlike most guys on TobaccoReviews - don't find this smoke excessively strong and even like to inhale it, then I must be not just an Experienced Smoker, but I-don't-know-what, maybe a Guru of Smoking" 🙂

Actually, I'm not thinking this way. Unfortunately, through decades of heavy smoking I've become so "experienced" and so dependent of nicotine that few blends can really satiate my nic crave now. I'm not happy at all with that hyper-tolerance. If I could, I'd prefer to roll the time back to become young and inexperienced again. And enjoy those long gone spins from a pipeful of Irish Flake and from other good things in life. Alas.

Irish Flake is a good potent stuff. I feel notes of wood, earth, rye bread and baked potato (it's not called "Irish" for nothing). It's one of the few tobaccos nicotinized enough to my taste. And it smokes really cool. There's a slightest anise topping in it, I find it pleasant and adding to the magic of this blend.

Irish Flake is simple, non pretentious, and is indeed "true to the pure", as the tin description says. A masterpiece by Peterson, much like University Flake; these two are like no other from Old Pete.

Highly Recommended for all Experienced Smokers. And a Must Try for inexperienced ones. Because when they are experienced, they'll need some memories from the past.

This is an awesome blend, my current favorite! The tin smells full and salty; like real tobacco! It doesn't need anything to hide the lovely musty scent. It does come a little moist, i'd say leave a whole flake sitting on a paper towel for at least an hour before smoking. That gives me the best results at least. Everyone seems to have their own way of packing a flake, but I use the "Z" method. Fold it in thirds, then in half and jam it in. Light tamping to get her set. Takes a little bit to get it lit; but once it is, I haven't had much trouble with it going out or a hard time relighting when I let it sit. Once you've got her going, sit back and sip. Enjoy this full, rich, flavor! This blend is nothing fancy; that's not to say it is dull. There's a lot of intricate flavor here, you won't get bored with all the subtle notes dancing across your tastebuds. It's sometimes got a hint of sweet, a bit of salty, but mostly pleasantly nutty and bold. Sipping is a requirement here, not just for the high nicotene content but also to enjoy all the subtleties. Irish Flake is meant to be savored. Never bit me, even with some heavy puffing. The room note is bold like the flavor, but not unpleasantly so. I definitely get the tea notes other reviews have pointed out. I could just kick back and smoke this all day. Great way to get your vitamin N fix, but not too strong to enjoy on its own. Not reccomended for new pipe smokers or for a short smoke; being a flake it burns long. My only complaint is that they don't sell it in a bigger tin!

I'm surprised the average rater only notices a mild flavoring on this one. An incense like note was pretty prominent to me. Not that I really minded (though I'd be interested in trying this without it for comparison purposes). As a hard-hitting scented flake, this ranks up there with 1792 in my estimation, and that's saying a lot. Creamy, toasty, spicy, with just a bit of an edge to remind you you're smoking a man's tobacco, this stuff delivers. Get you some.