Peterson Irish Flake

This being Irish Flake's 137th review, it's obvious that this tobacco has made an impact on a lot of people. Yes, it tastes very interesting: complex, with lots of fruity Virginia flavor. Yes, it smells great. My wife even complimented the room note.

However, to me, the most dominant characteristic of IF is the strength. I simply cannot enjoy this tobacco as much as I would like. If I stop being careful, if I get caught up in how good it tastes and smells, then the nicotine will overwhelm me, to the point of head spins, profuse sweating, and nausea. I was smoking it driving home the other night, and I was so immersed in the nicotine high, I drove right past my house. I have smoked things using bongs and roach clips that did not effect me this strongly.

Delicious, but way way too strong for me. Three stars for the taste, minus one star for the overwhelming strength.

Well, there's not much to add to this really. It is strong! You can feel the nicotine tingling the back of your throat and even a slight accidental inhale will most likely choke up someone such as myself that is not use to inhaling smoke.

The flavor I would say is rather bold. It's not sweet really by any means in my opinion. It's a very straight pure tobacco, and it's a bit to harsh for me. I think this is a good tobacco, but it is not really for me. It's certainly worth the experience. So if this one catches your eye, read some of the 4 star reviews and see what those guys have to say, because they are probably a lot more experienced than myself. It's definitely a sipper though! You might want to smoke half the bowl and come back later, which is not really my thing.

I did not find the nicotine dosage being that high, had to smoke 4 bowls in a row to get stung by it. Being a cheap bastard, I did not throw this away, instead I used it as a morning smoke, it did actually help up my morning low nicotine level, but no dizziness or likewise.

I keep it at two stars, being a good quality tobacco leaf, and I have had much worse smoking experiences (Orlik club). The recommendation is based on the level of nicotine. And therefore it might act as a quick fix in the morning.

Flavorful, fine smoking attributes, and a beautiful presentation all make Irish Flake appealing. However, apart from the rope tobaccos I have smoked over the years, this is the most powerful pipe weed I have smoked, and it has not failed to turn me greener than clover.

I have yet to tame it (or be tamed by it?), as I have 1792 Flake, Haddo's and Escudo. Irish Flake makes Nightcap seem more like Lane's 1Q. Apparently, I cannot eat a meal large enough to deliver me from the "Nic hit."

IF is sweeter in some ways than its other British comparables, it is also unscented and uncased, though an extremely faint note of berries greets me when I open the tin. I look forward comparing IF to Solani's Silver Flake, a blend also containing flue-cured and fire-cured leaf as the main players. If you have ever sniffed Irish High Toast snuff, you have some idea of the flavor profile of IF.

If you need extreme nicotine jolts, enjoy well-rounded tobaccos, perk up at the smell of fire-cured leaf and want your tobac nearly straight-up, here you go.

Upon opening the tin, you find a rather moist, darker flake with a earthy aroma that was nicely prepared. Packing and lighting are easy and a cool, uniform smoke without any bite results. But this blend is beyond hi-test and would be classed as a racing fuel of tobaccos. Even in a small bowl for a brief puff, the nicotine content and full flavor from the darkfired leaf are more than I choose with my normal VAs and the taste lacks the sweetness I prefer but includes hints of the Lakeland perfume that I dislike.

im a new pipe smoker and i have tried 2 different tobaccos so im new to the stuff, but it gives you no tongue bite but a little bit of throat bite burn. cool burning i think.

Fully enjoy these flakes. I cut the slices in two and get a better length of tobacco which make filling a lot easier. I let it dry out for a lease 1/2 hour. it's strong taste seems to come out if I do this. tatse better than SG Navy Flake

There is definitely an added flavoring/aroma topping on this flake, but it's by no means overwhelming. In fact, I don't much notice it while smoking, but in the tin it's obviously there. That said, I'm not sure what it is! It's a "manly" smell... like something you might smell in a barber shop or maybe in a tin of chewing tobacco. In fact, my only direct association with this smell is my grandfather, who was not a pipe smoker but was a tobacco dipper--maybe slightly medicinal, herbal, or even floral. For me, half the fun of smoking this tobacco was smelling the tin aroma each time and trying to figure out what that top note is!

The flakes are no trouble to prepare for smoking. I usually tear mine up or rub them out, and this way Irish Flake smokes without fuss. Smoked slowly, the Virginias and burleys come through in a delicious, straightforward way. I didn't notice a lot of flavor development or change through the bowl, and I attribute this to the high burley content and the fact that I smoked in small bowls to keep the nicotine at bay.

One thing I noticed on multiple occasions was that I got really nice aromas from the bowl while tamping the ash. I don't know if I should call this a room note, side stream smoke, or "tamp note", but for some reason I really looked forward to tamping and smelling the bowl.

As I'm sure others have noted, that this is a stout tobacco. Plan accordingly.

Im fairly new to smoking pipe tobacco. Iv been smoking aromatics starting out but asked the owner of my local b&m what would be a strong smoke packed full of nicotine for a transition from 2 pack of cigarettes a day to the pipe. he recommended Peterson irish flake and I'm taking to his recommendation well. Ive only had one cig today compared to my usual 2 packs. The taste of the Irish Flake is very nice and the way it makes my nasal passage and mouth tingle is exactly what I was looking for. I'm saying Good bye to marlboro and hello to the new rewarding world of pipes.

Update- this got boring quick but it will be alright to keep around for some other time.