Peterson Irish Flake

After reading the reviews I took away what I should... This is a very strong tobacco use caution. With that I knew not to smoke on an empty stomach and show respect with small easy puffs. I made sure to do both. I was amazed how rich and deep the taste I.F. has immediately after the hard light. Even with a few gentle puffs I could feel my heart race and my consciousness slowly disconnect as my body began to react to this high octane nicotine.

Taste: This is the first tobacco I smoked that tasted like the bouquet of the tin, however it was that (fresh sweet natural tobacco) but VERY deep. Has the foundation of dark fire cure throughout, even with small gentle puffs the deep fire cure rose from from the back of my throat to my nasal cavity. This is one strong deep musky tobacco.

Room note: I asked my wife what she smelled she said, "smells sweet," and like "tea." I realized that was the taste I couldn't quite figure out.. It's dark like an earl grey tea bag you left in too long, this is on top of the fire cure. It's probably the other tobaccos faintly peeking through. I recommend having this in your inventory but for me it's not an everyday smoke. Respect this one or you could get hurt. This would pair well after a fine meal of steak and potato.

"I can taste colors!"

Irish Flake. It should have a warning label, according to everyone that has ever smoked it. "May cause tongue twisted nicotine fueled rants about the gold standard and or those uppity kids and their crazy denim trousers". The smell was definitely fire cured, smoky, strong. I grew up on a tobacco farm in the Carolinas so any time I smell cured tobacco I associate it with the smell of a barn. This smelled like an entire barn was packed into this small tin - very strong, sweet, even with strong floral notes and hay coming along for the ride.

Using the "Z-Roll" technique to create a cylindrical "plug", I put this into a very large bowled meerschaum, which gave me about 1/4" of headspace between the top of the plug and the rim.

I really like the flavor of this tobacco. Lightly sweetened tea, heather, some pithy bitterness at the finish, and a lingering woodsy sweetness at the back of the palate. A quick French inhale revealed something resembling mint. Don't get me wrong, the predominant flavor here is big, manly, mean... but with a sensitive side... Hulk in the front, Bruce Banner in the back.

The room note, think of the taste of sweet tea that has been scented with heather and mint. Very pleasant, and while this tobacco has fairly massive flavor, the smell was very mild and even dissipated quickly.

Expecting a sledgehammer of Nicotine, I made sure I had some food just prior and a large glass of water to go with this beast. I'm glad I did, because despite my precautions it was a heavy hitter - but not unbearable with the right precautions.

The only negative? Despite letting this flake dry on a sheet of paper for 30 minutes, I still had a tough time keeping it lit. I'm sure though, had I used a tighter bowl, I wouldn't have had the same problems.

***UPDATE 2014-07-18*** Although my "newb" tobacco tastebuds have changed quite a bit since my first review, I found that my love of Irish Flake is still what it was upon my first review. Additionally, for almost a month prior to my most recent procurement of another tin, I literally had a "craving" for this tobacco. There aren't many tobaccos I can say that about. I really like this stuff.

Well, this one is rapidly stating its case for the most often reviewed tobacco here at TR. It's becoming very popular.

Beautiful flakes with a very noticeable tin aroma of some kind of fruit. But this is no Erinmore, as this fruitiness does not come through in the smoke. What comes through is exactly what they proclaim on the tin - pure tobacco with a hint of sweetness.

With all the claims of high nicotine content in this one, I was all set to be knocked on my fanny. But it never happened. If someone can smoke the black and brown ropes, they will laugh at this one's nicotine wimpiness. But it does pack a punch so it's best smoked later in the day or on a full stomach, and probably sitting down. I usually loaded two full flakes and had no problems with nicotine overload.

This is a wonderful pure tobacco. My tin was a little overly robust, a little young and a little lacking in the refinement I get from Solani, Wessex or Edgeworth burley flakes, but it was still very good. I reviewed University Flake and wondered what it would taste like without the berry topping. Irish Flake has answered that question. This one won't make my regular rotation but I'll buy more to smoke occasionally when I'm in the mood for something feisty.

A very good flake, just not a amazing one for myself. I do rate Peterson's University Flake a four while this is a 3.5 for my tastes.

I'm tightening up on my ratings and only give 4 stars to my top 5 blends that are in my core rotation of tobaccos. Those at this date are Escudo, Penzance, University Flake, Churchill & still deciding what the 5th will be.

This is a good tobacco if you can handle it. Good tobacco taste with good smoking qualities but this stuff kicked my butt. I read the reviews and thought maybe I can handle it....I was wrong. This is a tobacco for the hardcore veteran piper. I need some hair on my chest before I'll come here again. NICOTINE!!!

Don't be scared off by the strength hype this gets. This is a strong but very well refined, tasty, elegant and smooth smoke with rich VA and Burley.

There are stronger out there. I haven't got a great tolerance for high nic and folded 2 and a half flakes into a big billiard of this and smoked for over an over without being much put off, only right near the end did I get a bit woozy. MacBaren Dark Fired, GH Rum Flake, even GLP Sextant knocked me over far harder.

Its a great mix. The proportions are just right. I didn't get much or any sweetness, just pure, unadulterated tobacco throughout, and it got warmer and richer as the bowl went on. This for me is the closest you can get to straight tobacco right now, you just have to know that before you fire it up.

The burley comes through with some nutty niceness near the front, mellows at the middle as the VA's really set fire and come into high gear, and then at the bottom its heavy VA's with the Bur still peaking out here and there.

The smoke was rich, I dared not draw a lot, I sipped for most of it.

Very very good.

Really strong natural flavor. Spicy, creamy, rich with real heavy bass notes all the way and not too much in the highs. This is a truly honest offering, mixing the major types of old-fashioned leaf in fine proportion. Not for everyday, as it is a bit one-dimensional, but a nice relaxing mid-evening smoke especially before something sweeter & more complex. I don't find it sweet or raisiny, but it tastes & smells just like the tin note to me. Good stuff, but I like University a bit more.

I reserve 4 stars for a blend that has "something special", so although this is an excellent tobacco, I give it 3 - I have tried other flue cured/dark fired blends that have more character. Definitely a strong blend, not for the faint-hearted!

Smooth and even burning, although the last 1/4 is a little harsh. I like the sliced flake cut, although because of the density a 50g tin does not yield as many pipefuls as (say) a ribbon-cut. E.g., a medium pipe of Amphora is about 2 gm., the same pipe holds nearly 5 gm of this blend (rubbed). OTOH, a pipeful lasts a long time. I have been looking for a strong, old-fashioned blend, and this definitely qualifies.

For a somewhat lighter sweeter smoke, this blends well with a Black Cavendish, and for a more "Oriental" taste blends very well with various blends containing Latakia & Yenidje.

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.