Rattray Stirling Flake

Phew! What a heavy hitter. Just opening the tin and taking a sniff gives you a nic hit! Its floral, woody and somky. The flakes are cut beautifully. The fold and stuff method works really good with this one. Lighting the baccy is easy, also keeping it lit thanks to the good moisture. Burns slow a cool. Now, the smoke is like the tin aroma. Floral, woody and smoky Kentucky dominates and the Virginias support mr. K with grassyness and sweetness. The nic hits like a train. I love it. Highly recommenden!

First of all, I should say that this stuff is definitely a great tobacco, if it wasn’t already made obvious by the 4-star rating. Definitely one I’d highly recommend to anyone to at least try and especially to people who enjoy the heavier stuff.

Now, on to the substance of it:

I’d say this stuff is a near-perfect mixture of the three different types of tobacco. It definitely isn’t overwhelmed by the DFK taste and smell in the way that something like newer Irish Flake or HH Bold Kentucky is, it’s a much more balanced and even-keeled blend in that sense.

While it’s definitely solidly in the strong category in both flavor and nicotine content, I never found it overwhelming, it’s not too in-your-face. Simply a good strong blend that really compliments a morning coffee if you like a decent dose of nicotine to start your day, as I do. Typically I have a half flake of HH Bold Kentucky (from the larger flakes found in the one pound box, not the smaller ones in the tins) with coffee in the morning and Rattray’s Stirling Flake could easily and deliciously fill that role. It did today and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

It’s much less sweet than the molasses and bbq sauce notes you get with Bold Kentucky, the Stirling is much more of a dry and roasty-toasty classic tobacco taste and aroma. Which is often preferable to me actually, I’m generally not a fan of sweet tobacco.

At no point does it get harsh and it certainly won’t cause tongue bite, which I’m quite susceptible to. Even when really ripped vigorously. From sipping to ripping, any way you want to smoke it, it’s a pleasant experience.

For classic tobacco taste and aroma, along with a solid nicotine hit, you’ll have a hard time finding anything that’s better than this stuff. I’ll be ordering more for sure.

Today's trial: the Irish Flake of 2009 in a square tin and the Stirling Flake of 2022.

Appearance: some differences can be seen immediately. Irish Flake had been sliced into long, narrow flake strips the length of a tin, each of the flakes weighing about three grams. The Stirling Flake strips are the “standard” rectangular size, wider, stacked in two stacks. Each flake weighs about four grams, with its small volume provoking you to stuff more than one, which I wouldn't recommend for a beginner. Irish Flake is a little lighter in shade, less dense. Stirling Flake clearly has more glycerin and propylene glycol treatment. Despite all of the above, both tobaccos are similar, mostly dark with occasional yellow flecks. The flake have a great consistency, easily broken if desired or twisted into a tube for "envelope" stuffing. However, knowing the strength of the mixture, I did not risk smoking it this way.

Flavor: There is also a definite difference here. In Stirling Flake the anise topping is brighter, bitter chocolate and Kentucky smoky note prevail over the rest, Virginia tones of field hay, wheat bread and tangerine are in the background, and burley gives it all a woody and nutty support. Inhaling this flavor, after a couple of minutes, I felt a faint note of leather. And in Irish Flake, the aniseed topping note over the years has gone deep into the overall flavor, giving room for woody, nutty burley notes framed by smoky and chocolate Kentucky with a slight coffee tone. Virginia's light notes of dried field hay, wheat bread and tangerine, along with the lightest touch of leather, give this bouquet a subtle sweetness in the scent, being somewhat off-putting. Overall, aging has clearly benefited the tobacco - the flavor is more whole, though less bright.

The taste of both tobaccos left no doubt that they were practically the same. A beautiful bouquet, with smoky, chocolatey, woody and barely noticeable citrus tones melded together, lightly supported by very light sweets of Virginia. The Stirling Flake is a bit brighter towards smoke and chocolate, but I attribute that to its youth. The blend has no harshness from the start, is tolerant of overheating, and the flavor is extremely mild. There is nothing superfluous about it, it tastes like an expensive vintage pipe tobacco. It smokes very slowly, cool and extremely dry, burning to almost white ash and leaving absolutely no moisture in the pipe. The strength of both tobaccos is clearly much above average. Three grams of one Irish Flake was just enough for me to feel quite a tangible relaxing nicotine kick. In the case of Stirling Flake, the effect was a little stronger, but do not forget that the plate of this tobacco is a few grams heavier. The aftertaste is smoky and woody, unsweetened, mild, but persistent.

The smoke from tobacco is dense and persistent in flavor, has the aroma of smoldering resinous pine with the lightest phenolic flavoring.

Bottom line: the place is never empty. Irish Flake is dead? Long live Stirling Flake! This is an absolutely luxurious strong, but very mild tobacco. It goes great with peaty Irish or Scotch whiskey, being a strong afternoon or evening tobacco. I can recall that I had the same pleasure with Mac Baren HH Old Dark Fired (by the way, both tobaccos are similar in composition and strength, though slightly different in flavor and taste). As for the older version of Irish Flake, if you have it in your collection, don't worry about running out. Stirling Flake is an equal replacement.

P.S. For this trial I did not take the current version of Irish Flake by STG because I absolutely know that its form has undergone serious changes. The old version of the blend had equal proportions of air-cured, flue cured, and dark fired tobaccos - that is, it had equal amounts of Virginia, Burley, and Kentucky. The current version clearly has more of bright Virginia and less Kentucky, which you can see even with the naked eye. In addition, instead of the old anise topping, a mixed fruit and berry syrup has been preferred now by STG, somewhat similar to the current University Flake version. Together with the rich flavors of bright sweet Virginia and burley with a faint support of Kentucky, the result is a strange, somewhat watery sweet berry-woody-coffee flavor. That is to say, completely different. The current version of Irish Flake by STG will be considered fallen in the unequal struggle with globalism and the cruel market.

Rattray’s Stirling Flake is the sort of tobacco your grandfather could have smoked. It’s forthright, no-nonsense strength demands respect and a gentle pace. Taken with consideration, Stirling Flake relights well and is for long, slow contemplation.

I tend to cut into 2-3milimetre pieces, rub out and gravity feed. I try to loose pack because this forces a slow cadence. Sip don’t puff and you’ll get the fullness of this masterful blend. There’s a mild, lasting yet gentle sweetness. One of the world’s great tobaccos! Highly recommended for connoisseurs of dedicated experience.

As much as i enjoy Irish Flake, this is the better version. Listen IF & SF look exactly the same in every way. I have smoked both in back to back bowls so i can say that taste almost identical. So why say SF is better? Its the depth of the flavor that SF has that i find lacking in the STG made version. To me this is the better version. To each their own in this subjective world of pipe tobacco.

Although I’ve been smoking pipes since around 2009, I’m not the most seasoned pipe smoker. There have been a few long layoffs over the years.

So I’m a newcomer to the world of Rattray’s. I acquired today’s blend, Stirling Flake, last month when I took the plunge on several of Rattray’s more popular blends when they dropped on Smokingpipes.com for the first time this year, I believe.

Based on the other two blends I’ve had thus far, Stirling is a bit of an outlier among the Rattray’s family of blends. I’ve read that its birth is essentially the result of Irish Flake’s production being moved to another facility. So it’s basically supposed to be “Irish Flake Classic,” closer to the old Irish Flake than current production Peterson’s Irish Flake.

I’ll have to take “their” word for it, as I’ve not had the pleasure of the Dunhill version’s company.

Just like Irish, it’s marketed as “for experienced smokers” and a “heavyweight.”

They ain’t lyin’.

Current production Irish may actually be a little more civilized. If memory serves, it starts out a little smoother than Stirling.

Stirling lets you know right out of the gate you’re dealing with a heavy hitter, with leathery and espresso-like notes. It’s bold and powerful, but I wouldn’t call it harsh.

As we reach the midway point, the espresso taste takes center stage, along with a hint of spice. Some dark chocolate notes step forward, only semi sweet.

This baby is primarily bass notes.

The second half of the bowl, I start getting a little more of the leather again. The notes it offers over the course of a bowl (or a flake, if you will) are all in the same ballpark: leather, espresso, dark chocolate... they’re all neighbors on the palate, and that’s where Stirling Flake resides, throughout the smoke.

It’s a one trick pony, but it does it well.

This impressive offering burns cool, isn’t inclined to bite and requires a slightly higher number of relights than normal for me.

There’s also a little burley presence throughout the smoke, the nuttiness in the background, the dryness on the palate.

I can definitely see myself buying more of this in the future, although their are other heavyweights I prefer, namely Gawith Hoggarth Brown Irish X.

For this reason, I give Stirling 3 stars. It’s a very good, worthy contender. But it’s not the heavyweight champ.

I originally bought this tin because I was experimenting with more Dark Fired blends. As it turns out there is a lot of people who think that this blend is the uncased, original version of my favorite Irish Flake. And I have to admit they are almost identical to the eye. So besides smoking the tin for a review, I've been smoking it alongside Irish Flake. It's pretty darn close, of course I know the IF has an anise topping but they have some interesting similarities to say the least.

Let's admit it. No one is going to buy a tin of Rattray's based on tin art. But once you open the tin you find 12 identical, almost black flakes that smell wonderful. The tin note is leather, spice and nuts from the Dark Fired. Don't think I've fallen out of my chair, but it reminds me, in a fond way, of the smell of a bonfire in autumn. There is some Virginia hay and sweetness coming in the back.

They come a little too moist for my liking so I like to let them sit out for 30 minutes or so, or I like to cube cut and let my pipe sit full overnight. Lighting is fine with a cube cut but needs a little more care when using the fold and stuff method. Burns slow and cool. I really have to puff fast to get this to heat up.

Once lit, you get gorgeous plumes of white smoke from the naturally high oil content in the Kentucky. There's a lot of barbecue spice coming from the Dark Fired along with wood leather, earth and nuts. It's very rich in a good way. The Burley adds nuts, earth and rounds off some of the spiciness of the Dark Fired. The Virginias are in the background adding a slight sweetness, citrus and hay. I don't normally mention drink pairings, but I think this goes well with coffee or Rye Whiskey.

The taste is a medium edging towards medium-full. It definitely coats your mouth in a way that leaves you satisfied. The strength is a medium-strong, I typically smoke this in the morning after a light breakfast, but if I don't I can feel the nicotine in the back of my throat. I could buy this in bulk and I consider it up there with Irish Flake and Old Dark Fired. This is a blend I could see myself smoking daily. I give this a solid four stars.

Rattray's Stirling Flake is simply a fabulous blend. The tin note upon opening was pure tobacco. It is smokey, leathery, and a little tarry. I think the burleys have the lead here. They are slightly nutty, earthy, and a little sharp. The KY keeps pace with them and occasionally take the lead. This must be where the leather and smokiness comes from they also have notes of dusty earth, woodsy, and maybe just a note or two of floral in them as well. They are not quite as spicy as some blends but that KY spice is there running alongside the rest of the flavor profile. The VA's may also have an earthy, woody note as well but it is hard to tell with everything else going on in this big full blend. They definitely have some dark fruit notes that suggests that red VA has been used. About the 1/2 mark I begin to pick up on some grassy, mildly tart and tangy citrus that also suggests that maybe a small amount of bright VA has been used as well. This will fade in and out and stays way in the background. The VA's add some sweetness to the blend that counters and plays off of the smokey, woodsy, spice of everything else. There seems to be light topping that reminds me of licorice root extract but it is very mild and does not intrude on the tobaccos but may help tone down the burleys and KY. Also, at about the 1/2 way mark I get some cigarish notes too. These will stay until the bottom. Simply a brilliant flake that I like better than the current version of Peterson's Irish Flake but there are similarities to it. My money will be spent here, however. Well worth a try if you like big blends. The nic hit is strong and satisfying. Enough that I do not need a second bowl right away. The finish is med to long but does not linger for so long as to affect other bowls from other blends. The room note is pure tobacco, which I love but others find it strong so be aware of it if you are smoking around others who may object. I have already ordered more to cellar.

Not particularly tasty or sweet but not harsh or bitter, but the insane amount of nic hit negates it for me. I'll stick to Marlin Flake