Peterson Irish Whiskey

I'm thankful I tried this before reading reviews on this site. From the get-go, the underlying blend is the type I prefer generally (Virginia, Burley, Kentucky), and I generally like both Irish whiskeys and Peterson as a brand, but dislike most aromatics, so I'm putting my biases are up front here.

Moisture out of my 2 year old tin was perfect, I found lighting in a wider bowl to be rewarding. Overall the flavor of Irish whisky comes through and is well complimented by the blend. Having a glass of An Fear Coin (The Quiet Man) highlights the fact that the blend is a little sweeter than many actual whacks by virtue of the Virginias. The Nic hit is a little stronger on this, but not quite on par with Burley Flake 4 or Gawith XX, it was capable of giving me a hiccup or two. If you like "american" blends that prominently feature burley I'd recommend giving this a shot. I've found a wider bowl with slower puffing to bring out the most flavor and enjoyment. Can easily see how puffing too fast would make this an unpleasant experience. Recommended for the more seasoned pipe smoker who is just getting back into aromatics.

IRISH WHISKEY (a.k.a. Irish Mixture due to the new EU laws) is a flavored mixture in the old tradition. I mean this is a flavored blend not in the American or Danish style (no Black Cavendish in it) and not even in the line of the modern English flavoring, such as Peterson Sunset Breeze, Sweet Killarney, Luxury Blend and so on, but it is rather in the line of the classic English school, of the classic English flavoring.

However I want to clarify that this is not the old English style (Samuel Gawith 1792 Flake and Bracken Flake) nor the Kendal flavoring (Gawith, Hoggarth and Samuel Gawith). Irish Whiskey is a classic: a Virginia /Burley blend flavored with some whiskey, without Black Cavendish and no concoctions. A classic English flavored blend, such as Dunhill Royal Yacht, Peterson Hyde Park, Samuel Gawith Firedance Flake. And it is tasty, strong enough, it doesn’t tire and it doesn’t cloy. A good to excellent flavored blend, perfect if you smoke with a shot of whiskey (try it, it makes a difference). Therefore in my personal rating system (from 1 to 10) my score is 9 and three complete stars.

It started off strong for me, but the flavor toned down after the first third of the bowl. I couldn't really pick out any whiskey notes, however at the time of this writing, I am only 50 blends deep and I feel I am too new to the hobby to be able to dissect this blend properly. Two stars for now, but that may change when I revisit this blend in a more experienced future.

I got a fully dried tin from my friend who got it as a present and could not stand the nicotine level of the blend.

A little scared with the past comments that stress that the nic-hit may be a little too much for an unexperienced smoker, I decided to try to add it first to blends I already enjoyed and in which I would not object to have some more of the vitamin N. Not that I do not have any smoking experience (more than 30 years of strong cigarette smoking), but I am not that experienced with pipes, and who knew how it could turn around.

After moisturizing the contents of the tin, the Solani 656 Aged Burley Flake and Mac Baren Vanilla Cream became my guinea pigs. Mixing them with the Irish Whiskey did not cause any problems with the nic level, and I finally loaded my first full pipe of Irish Whiskey.

Well, it was a great smoke. Earthy, heavy and I would say dry, unobtrusive natural sweetness in background and a very refreshing and prominent accent from the flavouring. Cannot say if it is a whiskey. I am more of rum and cognac guy. Maybe I have to take a whiskey shot and see how they compliment each other. But these two tastes go very well together and feel great. Burns slowly and clean. Leaves little moisture. If you want to get full taste, do go slowly. You will not regret. The aftertaste is very pleasant and stays around for some time.

The nic-hit happened to be somewhere in the medium range to me. I definitely feel it, but it may be even a little milder than I would like to get and was not overwhelming. Having said that, I would keep here the warning for people new to smoking in general, who have not dealt with more or less strong tobacco before. This blend can hit you hard as happened with my friend.

Just as a side note: in my experiments with blending mentioned above, I have found that mixing Irish Whiskey with Mac Baren Vanilla Cream (1:2 or 1:3), creates a decent tasty blend. Irish Whiskey sweetness goes very well with Mac Baren sweet blend, but also adds a very refreshing spicy and sourish note to it (which in my opinion is kind of missing there). Also, it adds some nicotine and helps with the burning of this mild aromatic mixture. Mixing 1:1 will leave nothing from Mac Baren taste.

I can't taste much whiskey in this blend, but I think I can smell some a bit. I think there is more Virginias then what is let on. But it does not burn hot. It has a great VaBur taste and is around the strengh level I like.

Peterson’s Irish whiskey is the one of the traditional Irish blends. Burley leafs from Africa, Brazil, India and dark fired Kentucky from Italy, lightly flavored with Irish Whiskey for a unique aroma.

Tin: Upon opening the tin of Irish Whiskey, you are greeted predominately by a wonderful, grassy, Virginia smell. There is also this "dried fruit" smell, which very much reminds me of the tin note of Royal Yacht by Dunhill.. There is a slight hint of whiskey, which gives the tin note a caramel, toffee-like hint.

Packing/Lighting: Moisture level is perfect. Will not require drying at all. It packs and lights, and stays lit easily like any ribbon cut.

This blend can get hot if you smoke it too quickly. However, if you "sip" and take your time with it, you will generally get a nice, cool smoke.

Strength: Irish Whiskey is a wonderful blend to smoke, and it is a great tobacco to smoke throughout the day. It has great middle ground as it's not too mild, and it's not too strong. However, if you mostly smoke mild blends, the nicotine might take you by surprise, but it should not be an issue.

Taste/Room Note: Despite the name, it's not an aromatic pipe tobacco. Irish Whiskey is a traditional blend with a very mild whiskey flavouring. The topping is incredibly mild, and is more detectable in the room note than the taste itself.

The room note to me is very pleasant, but for non-smokers, they will probably not care too much for it.

Occasionally, while smoking this blend, you will get a slight caramel/sweet note of the whiskey, similar to the tin note. The blend mainly has a straightforward Virginia taste with its grassy notes, and Burley/Kentucky with its toasty, nutty flavour. That raisin/dried fruit tin note is sometimes there in the smoke as well, it is something you will notice when you spend enough time with this blend. This blend can be "retrohaled" if you wish to pick up on the flavours more.

Final Thoughts:

Like - Good flavour, good volume of smoke and strength. A very satisfying smoke indeed.

Dislike - Whiskey flavouring could've been a bit stronger.

Very dry smoke. Have a drink handy.

Overall, a very fine pipe tobacco. If you're finding that what you're smoking is a bit too mild, give Irish Whiskey a try. You won't be disappointed.

Another excellent blend from Peterson. More of a Virginia forward English Cavendish than a proper aromatic. The whiskey topping is only present as a back note to the tobacco itself. Both in taste and aroma, being almost undetectable. This blend is quite similar to Peterson Irish Oak with only very minute differences between the two. A superb blend if you prefer tobacco taste over flavoring. I prefer mine with a pinch of Frog Morton. The latikia and orientals in the Frog add a lovely body and character for those wanting more of a Scottish Style smoke. Either way, an excellent blend. Cheers.

I received a tin as a gift since I'm fond of it's casing in a bottle, and Stokkebye #2 is my 'everyday' smoke. So while I'm not sure I can add anything the 100 other reviews don't cover, I can make some comparisons to the somewhat simular and much less expensive Stokkebye.

The pouch note smells less like booze and more like cake, much like another irish whiskey blend, Erin Go Bragh. It's a collection of very thinly shredded dark brown tobaccos with a few bright burleys just to mix things up. Straight out of the tin, the blend seemed pretty moist which became extremely apparent on packing, and especially lighting. It was very, very hard to get it to stay lit. And it sports some bite which discourages hard hitting (although not as much bite as the Stokkebye #2).

Once I (finally) got it going, I was treated to a very middle-of-the-road smoke. That's not necessarily a bad thing, mind you. It seems that Peterson is going for a very mild smoke, and that's exactly what they achieve. Mild, smooth, with very subtle casing. Notes of honey and caramel. Oddly, no vanilla. Which is the note irish whiskey is somewhat famous for. It does pack a lot of vitamin N for a aromatic (although I think not as much as the Stokkebye, although the jury's still out on that matter. At any rate, it's close).

All in all, a mild, pleasent smoke that gets the job done in the nicotine department. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the blend, but there's also nothing so right that compels one to indulge it's higher price tag on the regular.