Peter Stokkebye Irish Slices

My understanding is that (before my time) Irish Slices were blended by Murrays. Although that original blend is no longer available, Irish Slices can still be obtained from a few UK tobacconists as a bulk blend which, according to the sticker on the jar at my local B&M, is now produced by Peter Stokkebye.

I have no idea what the original blend was like so I can't draw any comparisons. I can offer my thoughts on the blend you can buy today.

Like the other Murrays flakes I sampled that were taken over by PS, the flakes of Irish Slices are very long, double the length of a Samuel Gawith flake for example. Irish Slices are dark in colour, creating the expectation of a strong smoke with plenty of fire-cured flavour.

In actual fact, I found that there is a good deal of VA tang in the smoke, which only mellows out to typical Kentucky flavours after the half-way mark. Surprisingly, there was so much tang that I actually suffered some bite and mouth irritation for the first few bowls. Although there is a slightly sweet and fruity topping present I don't think that contributed...more likely it was over zealous puffing on my part and perhaps a slight body chemistry issue. Either way, switching pipes and cube cutting the flakes helped to alleviate this problem.

Irish Slices are strong, but not as punishing as my favourite rope tobacco. They are also not quite as flavoursome as I expected, and for that reason I have to rank them accordingly.

Somewhat recommended, as although this is a decent tobacco it didn't quite live up to my expectations in terms of flavour and smoothness. I eagerly await popping the seal on my first tin of Peterson's Irish Flake, which I hope will compare favourably and perhaps deliver a similar overall experience to Irish Slices but with a bit more flavour and 'smokeability'.

By all means try this solid blend, but perhaps hold back on any large orders until you have tried it and are sure it's one for you.