Peterson Sherlock Holmes

The Sherlock Holmes tobacco blend is a slightly flavored Virgina and is offered by Peterson of Dublin, Ireland.

The tin aroma of this tobacco mixture is of a light unobtrusive floral odor with a honey background. This aroma in itself is peculiar and is quite pleasant. This blend is a mixture of Brazilian Virginia and Mysore Indian tobacco. The Brazilian flue cured Virginia is considered by many to be a near second to the original American Virginia. The Mysore Indian tobacco is a lemon/orange flue cured Virginia tobacco grown in India which possesses a neutral character. The color of the blend is a nut brown with a tinge of red and orange.

Peterson?s Sherlock Holmes tobacco blend has a shorter ribbon cut and does not require any rubbing out. This tobacco mixture packs well and although it arrives a bit moist, only a small amount of drying is necessary.

This blend lights easily and remains lit without much effort. The Sherlock Holmes blend burns to a salt and pepper ash. No matter how free from moisture this blend becomes, it always seems to burn completely until the near bottom where the smoker is left with a wet and stubborn portion of the tobacco that ultimately gets disposed of. The room note is pleasant with smells vaguely similar to dried fruit.

The taste of the Sherlock Holmes tobacco blend is slightly sweet with nutty undertones. The flavor is indeed similar to that of apricots. The aromatic floral aroma does not carry over into the flavor of the blend much at all. The flavor is monotonous and is one-dimensional. Although this is a Virgina blend, it never truly asserts a sweetness that is most always present with the smoking of the leaf. A slight amount of tongue bite was noticed but the burning tobacco remained relatively cool for a Virginia blend. Not much smoke developed during the smoking of this blend and the smoke that did form was thin a wispy. The blend?s finer ribbon cut and the weaker characteristics it possesses concerning flavor and smoke, limit the blend as an indoor smoke.

Peterson?s Sherlock Holmes tobacco blend is a dilute aromatic Virginia mixture with satisfactory burning characteristics. Although seemingly composed of decent tobaccos, the Sherlock Holmes blend fails to develop any noticeable and interesting flavors.

I tried this due to being intrigued not by the Sherlock Holmes picture but by the image of tasting exotics from places one usually doesn't get tobacco from. The smoke reminds me a a Sumatra cigar (which was the Cuban of the early 20th century), which was mild, very full mid flavor, very slightly sweet in a dusky or musty sort of way. The bright leaf threatens the necessity of benzocaine for the tongue, but I found it smokes dry, and with virtually no bite, if at all, certainly none if just sitting in a still room. The flavor is subtle, in fact, it took a couple of pipes to have it come out fully in the one I was using to try it. As I've smoked it more and more, other flavors are coming out, and I get hints of other types of leaf flavors and a subtle casing that I don't identify as apricot or anything yet. It's a light smoke, but if you inhale it, it is dry enough to be cough inducing, and the full medium body can make this just a hair bit too much for all day smoking. However, it's now in my rotation as a change of pace and light smoke instead of sweeter virginia blends, and it's different enough to not recommend to not just any smoker, but to say the the right smoker will find this one a must to have with the rest of the collection.

Update 5/1: I'm finding that I like this blend more and more, but be warned, it WILL leave it's flavor in any pipe you smoke it in. I highly recommend that you devote a pipe to it, as it's flavor can be detected even in a pipe I use mainly to smoke heavy English blends in.

I purchased this because I liked the tin and am a fan of Sherlock Holmes. I really will smoke anything but I am not a big fan of fruit flavorings. This is a very smokeable blend and while it seemed to have a slight apricot fruit flavoring it was not objectionable. Sure it is pleasant and mild with a unique taste, but somehow I want more from a expensive tobacco. I think it is worth trying, I enjoyed my can of it, and it will certainly appeal to the people who like their tobacco to taste like tobacco. It is a better grade of tobacco and will not ruin a fine pipe like the cheap drugstore brands. I guess my inate cheapness prevents me from enjoying it as much as it deserves, since I enjoy so many tobaccos which cost less than half as much. I am like the guy who when he goes to a fancy restaurant is uncomfortable comparing in his head the food and prices to his favorite diner down the road.

To me this is an odd smoke, quite strong in the nicotine department but light on the the taste and texture. There is a hint at the famed VA sweetness, but it never truly develops, there are overtones of hay and other 'botanical' type scents. It is a 'proper' tobacco and therefore is a quality leaf offering no problems with packing, lighting and keeping lit... if smoked with a modicum of care it will be very well behaved and leave just a little ash and hardly any moisture. There is not much of an aftertaste either; not ashy or earthy but what I assume is plain VA. It is very dry and I should think would benefit from being smoked at tea-time on a croquet lawn in the English summer afternoon with a cup or two of Darjeeling.

I must say I prefer the nutty creaminess of a Burley blend like University Flake but this is a fine tobacco with a reasonable room note.

Just not capable of being an everyday smoke.

This is a blend that I would describe as not bad but not worth to keep on hand. It has an odd perfumey aroma in the tin and smoke. I find it to be somewhat monochromatic in that its flavor pretty much stayed the same through the bowl. It burns well and fairly cool but just does'nt get my attention. On the other hand I dont't think I would mind a pipe full of this on a rare occasion. For those of you who enjoy a perfumey, flowery kind of smoke, you may enjoy this. Just not the kind of blend that I would gravitate towards.

I have smoked about a dozen bowls of this, all in the same group 2 prince, and think that I have finally put together my thoughts on this. Initially, I was a bit disappointed because the blend was not what I expected. I had been looking for an oriental/VA when I purchased this. There is no oriental leaf in here that I can taste. However, I have now gotten past that and am comfortable rating it on it?s own merits.

This is different than the usual VA, VA/Perique, and English blends that I smoke. In particular, this has a characteristic perfume odor and taste that lasts for the entire bowl. This was offsetting at first, but I have come to welcome it in the one bowl per week or so that I have been smoking. This is definitely a morning smoke, as the smoke has little body, and is almost non-existent as a 2nd or 3rd bowl. A recent smoke of tobacco that had been opened for about 18 months, and sealed well, resulted in a very rich flavored smoking experience.

The leaf itself is ribbon cut, of medium brown to red color, and packs reasonably well. The tobacco arrives fairly wet out of the tin, but dries quickly, so I do not think that there is much, if any, PG. While drying before smoking is a good idea, the tobacco does not smoke overly wet. It lights well, and stays lit without a lot of effort.

The initial floweriness of the smoke fades as the bowl is smoked, but is never completely gone. I find the bottom of the bowl to become a bit ashy, despite the small size of the pipe in which I am smoking this. However, it smokes down to the bottom, leaving a nice dry ash. The ashy taste at the bottom is reduced by tighter packing and by letting to tobacco dry out more before smoking.

This holds a fairly unique place in my rotation, and is a change of pace blend. I don?t plan on cellaring this, but may buy it again. It is certainly a nice change of pace.

April 2002, updated July 2002, January 2004

I was at a tobacconist months ago and I saw this tin on the shelf. I came back recently and it was still there. I might as well give it a shot, I thought to myself. Upon opening the tin the smell reminded me of a combination of University Flake and Erinmore Flake. I enjoy both of these tobaccos so it was no problem. The tobacco seemed to be moist but it burned well in my pipe. The flavour was quite sweet, bordering on aromatic. As a matter of fact because of the tobacco's sweetness I might categorize this tobacco as an aromatic if I had to make the choice. The flavour remained constant throughout the pipe and changed little which I'll admit I was a bit disappointed with. Smoking tobacco should be a trip, not a destination. The tobacco was unoffensive, and enjoyable, but to a degree unremakable. If this tobacco were a song it'd be a chart topper in the 80's probably by Tiffany. Catchy in a bubble-gum sort of way, but give it a year or so and you forget it. I'm not saying that I want my tobaccos to hold me by my ankes and shake me 'till change falls out of my pockets, but I appreciate a bit of edge that this tobacco seems to be lacking.

I first smoked this blend, soon after I somked a bowl of Erinmore. For those that don't know, Erinmore must be one of the most intense tasting tobaccos ever made. Very sweet, very aromatic, and very hard to discribe flavor wise. It was to much, which brings me back to Holmes. When I opened the tin of Sherlock Holmes Blend for the first time, I was not too impressed. The aroma coming forth from the tin, could best be described as musty. At first I thought I had a bad tin, but I was assured by my tobacconist, that was the way it should smell. So, I filled my pipe, applied fire, and I was in heaven. I thought I found the best tobacco in the world. The flavor reminded me of Erinmore, but less so. It burned very cool, and the taste, I could only discribe as Flower Like, but with a good bit of tobacco flavor always coming through. I smoked Sherlock for almost three months as my regular tobacco, until one day, I bought a tin, which was bad, or at least not what I had been smoking. It was just bad. Maybe, I just got sick of the stuff, or maybe it realy was bad. Soon after though, I turned away from aromatics, and discovered my true love. English! So I must credit old Holmes for directing me to English blends. Maybe, just maybe, he knew all along I should have gone there. It would be just like Holmes, to allow me to deduce it for myself?

This blend arrives a bit damp in the tin. It lights well however and remains lit with little effort. It has little to no tongue bite and smokes cool. The aroma is a delightful apricot that leaves a pleasant room note that my wife really likes. Although the flavor is rather monochromatic throughout the bowl - I really like the change of pace that this blend offers. It offers a rather unique taste and aroma compared to my other tobaccos. I find it a pleasant late-night smoke. I would recommend this blend to anyone looking for a mild, steady, change of pace tobacco. Neat tin artwork also.