Peterson Irish Cask

This being my first review, I decided to review my daily smoke. I keep a tin in the truck and a jar on my secretary. (Sometimes called a dry sink) aside from being a bit drier in the jar, not really different. I keep the #52 in the truck (lovat style) and use the #01 at home (standard bent style). The #606 (pot style) is silver banded and mostly for parties. The smell fresh from the tin is sweetish, like dates and figs. Sort of like those seven layer bars some women make. Also has a hay smell to it a bit. Not the shredded bagged variety. More like the barn straw that comes in bales with the wild flowers in it. Easy to pack and get lit, normal for peterson ribbon cut. The charring light is, to me, kind of earthy. Sort of like fresh tilled earth, and a little nutty. Slight taste of the perique as well. As I work my way through the bowl, it turns a bit darker and gets spicy. Sort of like dark roast coffee grounds and fresh cracked black pepper corns. Finishes well, gathering intensity towards the bottom. Tends to smoke better slowly if you have the time to do so. I recommend this to others, maybe not newer smokers. It could be a bit much for someone who's experience is limited to lighter tobacco blends. Wife rating in my house has been referred to as manly. So not pleasant, but not awful. So not to worry offending most non smokers.

I fell in love with it. It was an adventure smoking it, has a mild taste it's like medicine for your soul. Started out with a hay-like Virginia taste, continued with a hint of Perique, burned with a single match most of the times, leaving white ashes. Reminded me of my childhood, of warm autumn evenings. I really enjoyed it after a hard day's work, my GF loves the spicy scent. One of my favorites so far.

I love the mild Sherry flavor in this blend. It adds to the complexity of the other components which would be very tasty on their own. Very nice Virginias that stand out in this smoke. Nice body and a very relaxing blend. Highly recommended.

Excellent pipe tobacco in every way...

When opening the tin, there is a special bouquet of fruity and smoky perfumes.

On a Meerschaum, the taste is stronger and straighter. On a Briar pipe, the taste is much mellower and nicer, I think because it gives it a sweeter taste.

Slight liqueur taste, the Perique and the Virginia are there, the Burley and Cavendish break that strength. I tasted some smoky flavours which are very special for such a blend of various tobacco. The N hit is definitely there.

Very highly recommended.

My first Peterson, I bought it almost two months ago and fell in love, when you first smoke it you notice the grassy like taste and the delicate aroma of burnned oaks, but after a few bowls you start tasteing a gentle cherry taste, mixted with some kind of a sweet ashen flavor, my daily afternoon smoke!

I'm slowly becoming a Perique freak and this blend is partially respsonsible. I have been smoking a stash of Dunhill E.M. and Irish Oak does bear a passing resemblance to that old Dunhill blend. Though Irish Oak has a bit more taste and a bit more Perique.

This has risen immediately to the top of my rotation. It is full but not too full. The background is indeed rich and the Perique, imho, is slightly over the top. I don't really mind as it doesn't bother me until the end of the bowl. Meanwhile there is a very satisfying, complex, and smooth biteless smoke until the peppery, difficult finish. One of my favorites, with a richness and elegance reminiscent of a Dunhill.

I just picked up a tin of this at my local cigar shop. Great stuff! I was looking for another virginia blend with perique, something without latakia as I smoke so many other blends heavy with the stuff. I love Escudo and am finding myself discovering I like Virginia based blends without all the heavy condiments.

I don't necessarily agree with the reviews by a few others. I find this to be a nice woody Virginia Perique rounded out with the Cavendish and Burley. It isn't sweet at least not in the typical Virginia way, I taste the oak quality from the aging in barrels, or at least that's what I think I taste, not so much a sherry quality though.

Tin note: I found similar yet strikingly different to Escudo, grassy, hay-like, with a distinct fermented dried fruit sort of smell.

Taste: I love it! I taste the woody Virginias, the slightly peppery, but to me fruity, Perique, the Cavendish and Burley lend some body and depth but I don't taste as much Burley as I would think, and I know and love a good Burley. Perhaps it's the Cavendish that has picked up a tinge of the sherry, less of a wine flavor than an oaked dark fruit sharpness. The retrohale exhibits the same tastes as Escudo with variations, to me it's a smooth, creamy, toasty, slightly caramel with raisins or figs taste. I don't get the comparisons to cigarettes, perhaps that was a trait of the original blend, I don't know this is the first I've tried it. But to me it lacks the acrid taste of cigarettes, at least American ones typically blended with Turkish. Maybe, just maybe I could see the comparison to an all Virginia cigarette, but even then I find Irish Oak to be far tastier and less one dimensional.

Smoking: Lights easy, packs easy, I smoke it in my other Virginia pipes with no trouble, no ghosting, my tin might be a bit aged, so it's the perfect moisture level right out of the tin, no tongue bite. Doesn't smoke hot at all, no matter how I might get puffing, which surprised me considering the components of the blend. I can get carried away puffing for more of that great taste on many virginia or burley blends and will find the bowl heating up quickly, not so with this one.

All around I find it to be a superb smoke! If you like VaPers give this one a try, I have and it's a nice change of pace. If you like aromatics this probably isn't for you.

This one works for me. I love it. I really like the plain no nonsense woodsy taste and the strong nicotine. You might have to kick back. You can taste the oak that it was cured in. The virginias in here are not bright and sweet and difficult to find the sweet spot with. They are up in your face, smooth, and woodsy and you can enjoy smoking this with little concentration. Each pull gives lots of thick smooth white creamy smoke. It's a little monochromatic but does get a little spicier down the bowl. Maybe too monochromatic to be an all day everyday smoke for me. I like variety. But surely good enough to be once or twice everyday smoke.

It's not for everyone however. The roomnote is nothing special I'm sure. But to compare a fine tobacco as this to cigarettes is foolish. It's not a raspberry mango rum creamcake by any means. And there is no latakia for the other end members. It is however a strong easy smoking pure tobacco mixture that taste really good, gives nice thick creamy smoke and behaves well in the pipe.

It's perfectly suited to fall day in the woods. Makes me want to chop word or skin a mammal or something. At least not shave. I enjoy sitting outside watching the leaves change and smoking on this one. The nicotine can put you in a totally different frame of mind. So much so that when I come inside after smoking I get the second glance from someone whos wondering exactly what I was smoking.

I'll keep this one around for days when I don't care what people think of the smell coming out of my pipe. Wait that's everyday. I'll keep this around for days that there's mud on my boots. That works.

4 stars for being a tobacco I will keep one hand.

I did not know what to expect from this blend because of the mixed reviews here but nought love it that i though it was time to try it. So with a 50 gram tin in hand I loaded my large pot and settled in to a pick me up smoke with a cup of dark roast coffee very strong. It looks like quite a mix and is of a number of tobaccos. It was mostly ribbon cut and smelled sweet and pungent in the tin. It loaded nice and seemed to be just the right moisture level. I lit and right off noticed was that it is very mild with no tongue bite at all. Has a sweet fresh VA taste but the Perique makes it's presense known throughout. Has a slightly tart sweet flavor and aroma. I have found in this a nice VAPER that just tasted darn good and I am a burly smoker normally. This one could become one that I always eep some aroound. No tongue bite whatsoever and burned all the way down. Highly reommend it.