Iwan Ries IRC Slices

(3.18)
Old Belt flue cured Virginia flake with a touch of perique.

Details

Brand Iwan Ries
Blended By  
Manufactured By  
Blend Type Virginia/Perique
Contents Perique, Virginia
Flavoring
Cut Flake
Packaging 1.5 ounce tin, 7 ounce tin, 1.5 pound bag
Country United States
Production Currently available

Profile

Strength
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
None Detected
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Pleasant
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Mild to Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming

Average Rating

3.18 / 4
3

7

1

0

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 11 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jul 02, 2009 Mild None Detected Mild Very Pleasant
Lots of black mottled leaf in this flake. Cavendish with a twist, I suppose. The Perique is very gentle and stands way off in the background but is noticiable.

Not very stout for a Virginia flake and smokes faster than most. Not a bad offering for those who prefer not to sit and think much about what they are smoking. The flavor is pretty stable from top of the bowl to the last shred of leaf.
5 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 14, 2010 Medium Medium Medium Pleasant
Boy Iwan Ries really has a winner here in my opinion. I've smoked about a pound of this blend and whever I get low on it I find myself treating it like a top shelf blend that I use sparingly. But when I got a bunch It's everyday. However, IRC is easy to contact for more. This blend 's slices break up really nicely and doesn' need any drying before filling and lighting. Not too shabby for a roll and stuff method either. Slowly smoked IRC slices makes my mouth tingle slightly in a good way! A fantastic room note too, burns nicely all the way to the bottom. no complaints here and as you can see I AM a fan of this blend and it is in my rotation. No not rotation it's everyday a least a bowl or two.

This puppy gets a strong THREE stars.
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Aug 27, 2015 Medium None Detected Medium to Full Pleasant
I was just in Chicago and, of course, had to stop by at Iwan Ries. The selection there, of pipes, tobaccos or cigars, is mind-bogglingly large! I like VaPers, ever since smoking Duhill's Deluxe Navy Rolls. So I dedided to try IRC Flake, which has a golden to chocolate brown striation. The pouch scent is pleasant, reminiscent of raisins or figs. As others have remarked, the flakes have just the right moisture content to rub out nicely. The tobacco is then easy to fill into a pipe. It lights on 2 matches and smokes cool, though I would advise you to sip slowly, otherwise this tobacco could bite! The perique is a little too subdued for my taste, though the tobacco does provide a nicotin kick about 2/3 of the way through the bowl. It burns down nicely to a white ash. A nice tobacco worth your attention. And if you ever go to Chicago, make sure you visit the shop!
Pipe Used: Vauen straight bulldog & Vauen bent billiard
PurchasedFrom: Iwan Ries & Co., Chicago
Age When Smoked: new
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jul 17, 2010 Medium to Strong None Detected Medium to Full Tolerable
A good Va-Per offering from IRC. Although not ordinarily into this niche, I do enjoy my Perique in English blends. IRC describes the Perique component as a whisper. I would call it a shout. Earns a solid 2 stars, as it is ok as a fill-in, but not good enough to be part of my regular rotation.
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 08, 2008 Mild None Detected Mild to Medium Pleasant
IRC Virginia Slices is rebranded Stokkebeye Luxury Navy flake and all LNF reviews apply here. IMO this is a delicious, very subtle VaPer. If you like that genre, give Slices a try. The pouch aroma is pleasant. I have found that it is best smoked slowly and favors a well rubbed out, loose pack. The thin slices are easily crumbled. As mentioned, the Perique component is very light, but it?s enough for me. Slices lights up well, smokes to a fine ash, and seems to be indifferent to pipe capacity. For a long drive, I will load up a Baronet EX 315, 121 and enjoy. It could comfortably be an all day smoke for a VaPer fan. It can bite if pushed but that hasn?t been a problem for me. This is a very economical tobacco, if you don?t live in Illinois. Thanks to the geniuses running Cook County (Chicago) our Sin tax is moving up to 24%. I am a long time IRC customer, but I now smoke LNF purchased from P&C in NY (which also has an obscene sin tax for residents) and since I live in Illinois, I pay no tax. What a country! Slices seems to me to be Denmark?s answer to Carter Hall. It is a great, everyday, mild smoke at a good price.
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 11, 2008 Mild Mild Medium Pleasant
I like this flake, as I do with most Virginia/Perique blends. This is a nice change from the heavier St. James Flake by Gawith. It burns cool to a white ash, does not bite, and is reasonably priced. The slices are thin and evenly cut which I liked when packing the pipe. Unlike the previous reviewer, I just lightly crumpled the flake, smoking it in a well seasoned small (group 3 or 4) bowel. The taste is very even from top to bottom, plummy and sweet. This is a nice tobacco - top shelf - and worthy of the IRC logo.

Follow-on: I filled an old (1975)Caminetto full bent (a size 6) sea coral with two slices lightly rubbed and it was as good as it gets - sublime. This is a wonderful tobacco priced right, next order will be for bulk quanity and it can age away.
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 27, 2006 Mild to Medium None Detected Mild to Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
This is a fine mild and mellow Virginia, with a hint of Perique. I am very sensitive to Perique, but this blend has just enough to give me that stewed fruit mouth feel, without blasting me out of the water!

Wonderful, toasty, no bite. And very inexpensive. Kudos to Iwan Ries for making this blend so accessible. I'd love to go to Chicago and poke around in this fabled tobacco shop...one of the best in the world. I love getting their catalog. Enjoy!
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
LV9
Sep 17, 2023 Mild to Medium None Detected Mild to Medium Tolerable
Mellow Virginia blend, the perique is there in a very subtle way, if you let dry out it smokes like a dream, when fresh smokes wet and bites quite easy, not much to say past that, middle of the road Virginia flake with a light touch of perique and with a hint of sweetness.
Pipe Used: Falcon bent.
PurchasedFrom: Iwan Ries
Age When Smoked: 12 years
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 27, 2010 Medium Extremely Mild Full Pleasant to Tolerable
I smoking this stuff more than 3 years. At the beginning, I didn't find something interesting here, but, after smoking 20-30g, just falled in love in it. Stright, bright and clear taste that does not changing a lot from the very beginning, till the end. The Perique is undistinguishable, only at the end of the pipe I can feel something like it. Nevertheless, the perique builds up the Taste. Without perique, this blend become the IRC Virginia blend. There is no bite here, a little moist in the pipe and VERY sutisfying smoke.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Aug 19, 2009 Mild to Medium Extremely Mild Mild to Medium Pleasant
I stopped in at the famous Iwan Ries tobacco shop in downtown Chicago last week searching for a new pipe and was particularly interested in finding a few flake tobaccos to try out. IRC slices was recommended and so I picked up a 2 oz pouch.

This VA/Perique flake smells faintly of vanilla in the pouch, rubs out very easily and was at a perfect moisture level to smoke right away. This flake lights easily with a very pleasant flavor, ever so slightly sweet with a predominant nutty flavor that many smokers will find quite appealing. IRC slices is a tobacco that once lit will burn without the extra relights I normally need with most tobaccos. The first two matches to properly light it was all I needed until I reached the lower 1/4 of the bowl - amazingly good burning, so much so that I hardly remember tamping anywhere near the number of times it takes with any other tobacco in my arsenol of blends! I asked my wife how the tobacco smelled to her as I was puffing and she hardly noticed it - a plus for indoor smoking.

On the cautionary side, one should LIGHTLY sip this tobacco once lit as it can heat up the bowl rather quickly, almost without your knowledge, so, slow down and puff this tobacco very slowly. I pushed things just a bit too quickly and found the tobacco to amp up a bit in strength and the nicotine buzz started - you know, it's like having that extra shot of whiskey that can put one over the edge kind of experience. Once I was "buzzing" I put down the pipe and guzzled some ice water to ride out the effects of the nicotine. I admit that I struggle a bit with Perique tobacco as the nicotine can almost overwhelm me, and sometimes I can break out into a cold sweat regardless of the amount in the blend. Most fans of Perique will find the amount just right, so don't be deterred from trying this flake blend. When smoked correctly (slowly) the flavor settles in and does stay rather constant in flavor and strength at least through the first 2/3 bowl and is a VERY pleasant smoke.

Bottom line, if you are a fan of VA/Perique flakes, you will most likely love this flake blend. The nice surprise here was the price - much lighter on your pocketbook than the import flakes. I'm going to recommend this tobacco even considering the Perique buzz and the hot burn as this was a first time learning experience with the tobacco and next time I'll slow down and smoke it in a smaller bowl. That said, this one is recommended.
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