Rattray Sir William

The unburnt tobacco's aroma isn't reminding of Whiskey AT ALL...it's hard to pin-point to be quite honest, but I've read someone mentioning "something along the lines of Coconut" and this comes as close as you might get. Yet the flavorings seems mildly applied and also in smoke I wouldn't identify as an "Aromatic" per se. It's somewhere along the lines of Petersons 3P's or ST. Bruno, which I consider "semi-aromatics", where the tobacco has enough room to play.

The flake is rubbed out very finely and almost ribbon-ish, and therefor easy to handle, pack and light. In the pipe the flavoring again isn't too whiskey-ish, but more floral and somewhat "exotic" (think pina colada maybe). Yet I'll grant it a mild malty quality that might remind of Whiskey. The main attraction are the tobaccos in here, which harmonize very well with the flavoring. Slightly smoky, pleasantly spicy and earthy, with only minor sweetness to it. They harmonize vrey well with the described flavoring aroma and are more present than the flavoring is.

Not too shaby I'd have to admit! It's totally NOT what I was expecting... but it's an OK smoke, that I enjoyed smoking and of which I can easily see people having pleasure with this blend. So 2,5 stars, more of a 3 stars tendency, as I'd "recommend" this.

Update: As I've grown to have smoked more Whiskey flavored blends and flavored blends in general, I'll downrate to 2-stars, as this is average, but nothing fancy! 😉

Cracked open this yellow beer can and was greeted with a soft cocoa aroma sprinkled over a light leather oil mix, which sort of morphed into a sweet caramel Whiskey topping. Nothing overly sprayed, sticky, or overtly Aromatic here, just a natural pile of tobaccos with some sugar.

The medium brown ready rub, left little to rub out (just a springy ribbon cut here), packed tightly, and fired up with ease. The initial puff has a decent nicotine hit without being overpowering the now dialed back flavor, making for a mild Aromatic without much froo froo and some Whiskey residue in tow.

For me, it was a miss, as I generally like more candy in my Aromatics, but for those of you whom appreciate the taste of Burley (the Virginia and Oriental are way in the rear), give this one a try.

Appearance: 50 gram tin of the 2022 release. The blend of tobacco is a little brighter and lighter, which can be attributed to its freshness. Overall, it wasn’t affected the quality of the blend. And it also doesn't have any lighter varieties of Virginia, but there is clearly more Virginia than in Irish Whiskey. Perhaps in another situation it would have pleased me, but here there is a clear departure from the Irish Whiskey.

Flavor: the light aroma of a good cookie - flour, butter, a little alcohol, a bit of coconut (WHAT?!), coriander and cinnamon, faint notes of citrus and berry essence. Behind all this, you can barely smell the Kentucky notes, but if you sniff longer, you can catch a slight scent of cocoa. As for the whiskey flavoring… Well, if it's here, it's obviously been skimped on. In any case, the smell of coconut and bread notes overpower it.

Taste: the base is made up of burley and kentucky notes - smoky, woody, nutty. But, at the expense of its freshness and clearly more than in Irish Whiskey, initially the Virginia tends to remind with its sweetness and hay flavor that it is here as well. Overall, the flavor is initially a bit brighter than that of Irish Whiskey. The tobacco is somewhat unbalanced and stiff - perhaps it should have been left to rest for a couple of years in a tin. By the middle of the pipe, the blend gets more smooth than at the beginning, where it is quite demanding on the smoking tempo. I found no indication of the orientals mentioned on some sites - the blend is a quality Virginia-Burley blend, with the sweetness of the virginia quickly coming off, with kentucky as support. However, the amount of virginia continues to be felt when smoking - the tobacco clearly smokes hotter than the previous blend. The strength of the tobacco is also different, it's closer to medium. At least in a very large pipe, I didn't feel the nicotine kick. The tobacco burns into a fine light gray ash with a slightly larger dark fraction. It leaves some moisture in the bowl. The aftertaste is sweet and woody, slightly tart, but not persistent.

The smoke from the tobacco has a woody smell with a slight cocoa flavor.

What's the bottom line? Weird-smelling coconut German blend (thankfully, it's not in the flavor) that has more Virginia than Irish Whiskey. If you forgive Sir William its coconut smell from the tin, it could be considered a regular everyday Virginia-Burley blend for smoking in a relaxed setting.

Strong flavors, the whisky is there, as also Burley and Kentucky. The smoke is warm, and the temperature goes fast easily. But after a while is not so complex, or at least in my case, it was a little bored at the end. I was quite expected of this blend, perhaps too much. After all, is not one of my favorites.