Peter Stokkebye Irish Slices

I do not usualy smoke flakes or rough shags, (I'm a light aromatic man) finding them too strong and pungent. However,I was drawn to this tobacco by the fantastic smell it had in the jar so I baught some on impulse.

The big flat flake-cakes had a realy good moisture content and feel to them. The smell was of woodsmoke, spiced wine and a more subtle caramel. the overall impression was of fine church incense.

The flakes rubbed out easily and filled well. Had to light it a couple of times to get it burning nicely, then it stayed lit well. the taste was creamy, spicy, and oaklike finished with a slight sweetness. it burnt clean and cool to a grey ash with next to no dottle. There was no bite even when i was drawing fiercely on it to get it fired up.

I was very impressed by this tobbacco, I was expecing to be overwhelmed by taste and strength but it was a lovley medium to full bodied smoke. It goes a long way too the flakes rubbing out loosely to get a nice fill from only a small section of the cake. My only gripe is the Nicotine level is a little on the high side. Buy some you won't be disappointed.

Stokkebye’s Irish Slices, arrives a long, wide (1.25in) strip. It is dark brown and “leathery” in appearance. It offers a little bit of the medicinal scent that I associate with Peterson’s Irish Flake, which is a blend that I am not fond of anymore. I have rubbed it out and smoked it in small pieces. I prefer the latter. In the pipe, I really enjoyed this much more than Peterson’s. For me the Virginia’s lead the way with the Burley in smaller role. The topping is much lighter than I expected. It is a fairly sweet flake and not overpowering in strength with, for me, only coming in at about medium or very slightly above. It also offers some earthy flavor too, but again, for me, the star of the show is the Virginia's. There is no bite at all, even when I push it. The taste is straightforward, but delicious. I think this would be fantastic to cellar. I seem to be on a very pleasant streak of four star blends of late and Irish Slices is no exception. Sadly, this blend has now been discontinued by Stokkebye. One has to wonder if Stokkebye had offered this outside of the UK market if there would have been enough demand to keep this blend alive? It's a shame.

I had gone to buy the last tin of McBarens Bold Kentucky, I'd just got a couple of pipes off the bay and even after salt treatment, still had a ghost in them and while picking up a tin of Mick McQuaid's square cut, he had no plug, I had my arm twisted to try this, very unsure, as Kevin who once had a great range of Sam Gawith, has gone over to the dark side, and his shelves are stocked with G&H and as he produced the tobacco from the back end of that range, I got worried, I just don't like G&H, with all due respect, they have an excellent range and devoted followers. Unfortunately for me, I just do not like "florals" and having no idea that this was infact made by Peter Stockebye, I was shown a long wide leathery strip of tobacco, "Smell this" said Kevin proudly, Irish slices. "I already have some Irish Flake" I said, hoping to put him off, not an easy thing to do with Kevin, "Try 25g then" he said, and I agreed. I wanted something strong when I got home and so tore a small piece off and rubbed it out, and as mentioned by others, this was a little more difficult than your usual flake, this was then loaded into a small German clay pipe, just in case it was loaded with the dreaded florals, at least I wouldn't ruin a good briar. Both the burley and the Virginia could be detected at once, I didn't detect any topping or flavouring and if it's there, it's minuscule, a fairly but not overpowering robust down to earth tobacco taste with each component complimenting the other, I knew from the first puff I was going to like this, and I did, I like a good straightforward no nonsense tobacco and that's exactly what I got. Would definately come into my top 5 of the heavy hitters, in third place to Warrior Plug, then Mac Barens ODF neither of which require the use of cigar leaf to ramp up the flavour. We're I to ask for more ? It would be in the flavour department and a bit more vitamin N wouldn't hurt either, yes it does go out from time to time but mine seems to burn down to grey ash if dried a little and not once did it bite. Although not quite worthy of 4 stars, there's not enough "cons" to call for a 3 and besides its a good smoke for anytime of day, its biggest plus for me ? It's walking distance to Kevin's.

This is the yoeman of tobaccos. It's sturdy, reliable. It's the same from top to bottom. It can be smoked morning, noon and night. Virginia sweet and yet robust. There's salt and pepper. And simple spicey niceness. It's makes no claim to be haut cuisine, it's rather the sausages from the local butcher for your English breakfast.