Peterson Irish Whiskey

First of all it needs to be said that there is hardly any whiskey flavoring in this blend. Upon smelling the tin I hint of whiskey can be detected. However, smoking it is a different story. I like to think I'm pretty receptive to aromatic blends, but I cannot taste the whiskey at all. What I do taste is top quality Virginia leaf.

If you're someone who likes only a slight hint of flavoring added to your Virginia blends, this blend is certainly for you. However if you're someone who's looking for a whiskey flavored explosion, avoid this blend.

As for the Virginia's themselves it's a lighter Virginia, not dark and toasty, but more earthy and hayish with a slight, very slight touch of citrus.

No tongue bite and no gargle. Very well-behaved.

As a straight Virginia this blend gets four stars in my opinion, but for an aromatic blend I have to give it only three stars due to the lack of flavoring.

50g round tin.

Tin aroma:Opening the tin it smells archetypically 'Peterson' in a familier cavendish aromatic sence,but not so potent as their other aromatic offerings - a slight familier sweetened vanilla-esque/maple syrup-ness factor.

A deeper sniff and i get the richness of the base baccy which is quite vineous/winey like a brighter virginia,and an earthy soily peaty burley with a slight burnt/toasty raisin bun factor(kentucky i presume).

An old peterson product brochure has a more elaborate description of this offering: "A traditional Irish ready rubbed blend renowned for its smooth smoking quality.This blend incorporates various selected Virginia leaf to provide roundness of taste.Kentucky fired,Indian cured and aromatic Thailand Burley are then added to the main blend.Finally a light spray of Irish Whiskey essence gives this tobacco its final unique aroma."

Yes it has a mild whisky ghost essence;this is the second time i have purchased this (@7 years later)because i wanted to revisit this baccy because i found it difficult to finish first time round in my earlier piping days.(i didn't actually like whisky that much at the time,but i had a morbid curiosity to face a challenge when i saw this on the tobacconist shelf;i thought what the hell).

Anyway this new tin is considerably milder on the nose regarding the whisky topping than the first tin thats for sure,but the same taste more or less baccy-wise in the pipe while smoking in the pipe.

This my first pipe re-trial 7 years later is in a red pyrolytic linered synthetic bowl material 1970's "the smoke-village shape"venturi pipe,basically because i think it has the right sympathetic draught for a 'Kentucky'mixture and that it doesn't ghost like a briar if this trial becomes a trial.

Tin appearance:Brown-dark brown slim cut ribbons - i distinctly remember the last tin being more of a rubbed flake appearance,so maybe its changed a little bit(7 years);this new tin seems more rubbed out.

I still have my penciled notes on this written on the Peterson brochure which came with my first 'Peterson rustic bent apple 303'(a nice pipe i havent used in ages)with 'P-lip' and moisture trap stem.

I ordererd the whole range of Peterson tobacco online to give me my first taster of baccy beyond supermarket/service station/newsagent OTC UK brands(some of those Petersons i still make a mandatory purchase of btw.

Evidentally i found this one a challenge at the time and is i suppose a bit of a 'crossover' blend in simular league perhaps to other 'stand alone' enigmatics like their own "Irish Oak",Erinmore Mixture,and maybe Condor ready rubbed.

Old notes: "Tin aroma:of the whiskey you find in cheap sickly liquer chocolates and not like the actual drink at all:Between old spice aftershave,vodka, and a sweet syrupy 'Drambui',but more sort of an artificial synthetic perfume immitation whiskey"..

(this put me off trying other whisky blends for a few years and made me weary of whiskey itself)

More:"room note of mild old bakery spices and bells scotch whisky smelt from a distance. The initial tin aroma soon leaves the tin and doesn't intrude in the smoke as much if left to open air for a couple of days.

The taste of the baccy beneath this whiskey topping(?)is of a very cool neutral alegorically "white" flavour - almost like plain white flour,but not tasteless;actually full and strong but monotone - just sort of natural nice akin to a peat bog watery earthness/water biscuits or rye bread/german pumpernickel. Savoury more than sweet.

Different to any others i have so far tasted,nice strong substratum but totally offensive poor topping,couldn't finish this tin off easy"(wasn't keen on whiskey at the time but hoped this would be an easy smoking equivalent). "Very cool tasting drysmoke,no tongue bite and as cool as a cucumber esp compared to other Peterson aromatics like 'Sweet Killarney'.

Tobacco texture like cool moist compost soil(Irish peat). Aroma sociable enough but sickly whiskey factor spins me out. Quite slow burning,but would be nicer without the whiskey essence which intrudes over a quality tobacco."

(present time)I wanted to like this tobacco at the time because the baccy seemed quite serious and the nicotine seemed quite strong as well.I was smoking this in two extreme pipes at the time:a bavarian briar like a swiss looking mountain folk pipe,and a clay Wilsons churchwarden,the first with quite an open inner draught and the clay with a tight draught smoke tube.

Irish whiskey seemed quite consistant in both obove pipes in taste but milder in the long clay which i eventaully over a year later used to finish the tin off.

I will note that i definately ghosted both pipes,i eventually gave the bavarian pipe away and the long clay toook over a year to let go of the whiskey ghost(everytime i went to use it i would get the vile fake whiskey at certain moments).

2ND Tin review: This second tin is tasting like the first tin after i had really let the first tin air out and age a year - i am currently smoking this strait out of the fresh new tin ok. The chances are that if this new tin was like the first example that i might even like it now because i have more tobacco and whiskey experience,and can accept more robust and tricky smokes and aromas.(funny how things change)

In a way i am dissapointed that this 2nd tin has not got the original aromatic potency of the first one,but its working alright in this intermediate gauge @4mm smoke tube draught pyrolytic pipe.

I get an earthy Burley - mature aged virginia - slight oriental - very Kentucky - and slight sweet Cavendish(the brochure doesn't actually mention Cavendish or Oriental BTW)

A robust full whole wheat factor like a digestive biscuit,toasty sweet bread and a malty brown sugar base,witha a very mild whiskey topping,earthy as Irish peat.

I suppose it tastes a cross between Peterson 'University Flake','Erinmore Flake' and possibly 'Condor Ready Rubbed' if you don't include their applied aromatic properties.

Contains nicotine on par with 'University Flake'.TBH and realistic,i think it was sensible of Peterson to ditch their earlier applied Whiskey essence,because as far as whiskey goes, it was like a confection liqueur blended with vodka mixed with 'old spice' aftershave and pavement vomit..This new incarnation is basically what i would of liked to have smoked first time round and is now a definate repurchaseable candidate for rotation..

Any whiskey drinker with an imagination now has a perfect white canvas from which they can apply their own 'real' whiskey to augment it if they wish.(i got some 'Bells Scotch Blended','Jack Daniels' in the cuboard,,maybe some 'Lambs Navy Rum'). But;even as it is,its fine and i have re-christened this in my mind's tongue as "Petersons Sweet Irish Peat Bog",for an instant memorisation of its overall earthy impression.(I haver about 50 baccies on the go at the moment,so this won't go too quickly).

Knowing this is safe in my ghost repellant pyrolytic venturi pipe,i expect this new incarnation of Irish Whiskey would perform safe and well in my cooler 'falcon' pipes.

This is definately now a 3-star*** baccy and i'm glad i revisited it.It has definately improved although i think the original rubbed flake presentation gave a cooler smoke.

Since the latest change to St. Bruno Ready Rubbed(about a year ago now, I think) I have not enjoyed it nearly as much. However, I do not fear, as Peterson's Irish Whiskey makes a fine replacement.

It's not the same as St. Bruno but it is certainly playing in the same ball park. A Virginia and Kentucky blend with a pleasing, yet subtle, sweetness. It has less of the sweet herbal notes which I enjoyed in St. Bruno but brings an added breath of sweet alcohol to the mix. It's not overwhelming, though. At least I didn't find it so. The main player here is definately the mix of Virginia and Kentucky leaf. If you are familiar with the Va/Ky blends from Gawith Hoggarth, G.L.Pease's Cumberland or Peterson's own Irish Flake you'll be recognise some of the charicteristics of this tobacco. It's not floral like the lakeland blends can be, it is sweeter and has less black coffee notes than GLP's Cumberland and it's not nearly as strong in nicotine as Irish Flake but there is some noticable common genetic ground between all of these blends.

The fine, mahogany brown, strands make for easy packing and few relights. This blend is trouble free and genuinely satisfying in both flavour and nicotine.

Recommended.

the second peterson tobacco i have tried, much better than sherlock holmes. there is much more flavour and it is deeper and more complex than some of the other irish blends i have tried. overall a great smoke but may not be for the novice.

The Irish whiskey flavoring is faint, but I believe this allows for the true, and great, tobaccos to be the highlight of this irish blend. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is looking to mature their tobacco palate away from sweeter aromatics.

My first pipe tobacco... Took a few bowls to get used to, but by the end of the tin, I was loving it. Gets a bit on the strong side at the end of the bowl, but overall very nice. Buy more.

Hmmmm...I fail to detect the Irish Whiskey. That being said, I discovered if you open the tin, and let the tobacco breath for a day or two, you'll find a quite tasty smoke.

I've been through almost an entire tin of this tobacco now and I have to say I've enjoyed it. Being of Irish heritage, I'm a sucker for whisky and this blend has just the right flavor of it. It burns pretty evenly and not too quickly. The aroma is well received by those I've smoked it around. Surely worth a go if you like whisky.

Opened the tin at the same time as Irish Oak and Sherlock Holmes in order to work my way through Peterson's Traditional Blends. My favourite tobacco's now are BBF, Flake Medallions and Holker Twist. Still searching for 'my' Latakia blend.

Basicly I smoke these Traditional Blends when I cannot decide what to smoke, be it in the morning as first pipe of the day or in the evening as first pipe before or after dinner.

All three fulfill this role admirably and Irish Whiskey to this date is the only Whiskey flavored blend I like. Mainly because the flavor -after the tin has been opened a month- is very unobtrusive but jus enough to endear it to me as a change from the other 'traditionals'.

Recommended to try and taste for yourself..