Peterson University Flake

This is one of those love it or hate it blends. I have a friend that smokes this religously so I thought I would try it out. I tried to like it in that I tried it several pipes and took the advice of my friend who smokes this regulary and just don't like it. I find it to be rather harsh - not in temperature or tongue bite but in a way that made me feel kind of naucious. I don't think it was the nicotine content because I regulary smoke GLP Haddos Delight which has a high nicotine content and I've never had that effect from it. Some people may love it but I rather hate it.

I'm returning to this blend after having had a tin of it about four years ago. I obviously thought it was at least marginal then because I did finish that tin. Well, a tin fell off the shelf in the warehouse here and was dented so as to make it unsalable. Since it was a costless proposition, I figured I'd give it another try.

It's also worth noting that I really wanted to like this. I love the tin and I love the whole Peterson thinking man's blend motif. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out that way.

It's horrendous. At least to my tastes. I find it harsh, sharp and astringent. There's something in the topping that I find very unsettling (physiologically, not ethically of course ). It made me feel rather nauseous and set my teeth on edge. Given that I smoke many blends with far more nicotine (G&H, SG flakes and such), it can't be that.

I'd comment on flavor, but I really didn't notice any in my disgust and revulsion at the reaction my body was having to this blend. Needless to say, I didn't complete this bowl. I don't think I could, even in the interests of quality tobacco reviewing.

The aroma of chocolate and raspberry signals a problem. However, the flavor of the smoke offers only a hint of berry, but it is enough. The flavor of the tobacco is acceptable but not distinctive. As with a good many aromatics, this tobacco leaves the unpleasant aftertaste of cooked extract, and it lives on. I did manage to smoke the entire tin over a period of six months. I love berries on ice cream, not in my pipe. Paddy.

UF is a bit of a conundrum. Based on its name, tin art, and tobacco appearance, you would think that this tobacco would turn out to be sophisticated and complex. Upon lighting up I found this to be the case for a short while. Under a fruity topping I found an interesting melange of tobacco flavors. Right about the time I started to really get into it however the flavors changed to more of a cheap burley cased with some cherry. The relights on this stuff are terrible. All I can taste is sour, cheap burley, not the sophisticated, upscale tobacco taste I had anticipated. This stuff was better in a corn cob but not much. Although I am new to quality burley blends I have to say that all of the other ones I have tried are much better. This stuff comes out of the tin very moist, but at the same time this is as good as you are going to get. Drying it out only makes the cheap burley taste that much more evident. Speaking of taste, somehow they have managed to take all of the good qualities of burley out of this smoke. There is no nutty richness, and though I never got bit, this stuff did burn a bit hot. I find that Macbaren Navy flake is much better if you are looking for a tasty burley flake. I was excited at the prospect of trying Edgeworth slices and Kingfisher after trying MNF, but after UF perhaps I got my expectation a little too high. I will just have to try them and see. This stuff was very nice in the nicotine department however, and packs a relatively nice punch. Oh well you win some and you lose some!

Unfortunately, this blend did not agree with me at all. Upon opening the tin, you are greeted by medium brown and light flakes. The tin aroma is nice, with a touch of frutiness, a mild casing? It seems a little moist, but rubbed out fairly easily and packed easily as well.It lit easily and only needed one relight.The flavor seemed harsh and not like other flakes I have recently tried. It reminded me of the stale, nasty odor of the cigarettes my co-workers smoke, blech! I trudged on through three bowls in different sized pipes dedicated to virginia blends but the flavor just kept pushing me away.The burn was nice with no tongue-bite and left a light grey ash with no dottle. For flakes, I will go elsewhere, but thank God for "Old Dublin", now that I like......

I really don't like this stuff. I find it harsh and strangely unflavorful. While I am a devoted flake lover - even a burley flake lover - and find the composition of this flake to be very attractive - nice and thick and crumbly - I do not recommend this blend. There is a slight top note of berry or cherry that never entirely leaves the smoke, which I find disagreeable. I detect no Virginia. The burley aroma and flavor never completely develop, unlike a Macbaren burley blend. And I get a little dizzy from, I assume, the nicotine content (cherry buzz?).

Sorry, Peterson. I love one of your pipes, though.

IMHO, this blend has changed drastically from what I used to enjoy out of square-shaped tins 10-15 years ago. I took a little break from pipe smoking and after I resumed and depleted my stash of University Flake, I purchased 2 tins fresh from SmokingPipes.com and have been completely disappointed by what once was a treasured favorite. It’s now my understanding that this blend has changed production houses a few times over the decades; not sure who produced my previous tins, but production under STG has changed the taste and not for the better. Due to the fact that the name of this blend has remained the same throughout it production history and the reviews on this site aren’t segregated as such, it is hard for me to distinguish whether my experiences are shared my others. I experimented with various moisture levels/drying times as well as tried both folding/stuffing and rubbing out the flakes. The mildly sweet fruity flavor is gone, the tobacco just tastes harsh to me now. Strangely, the tin note still smells the same to me.

it smoke really easily stuffed in flake or rubbed out. taste a little better when folded only for me but honestly the topping did not do well for me. Taste like a perfume and soap. for the first time in my pipping journey (about 30 blend) i might throw this away.

19/09/24

Well after about 2 weeks and several bowl the topping have toned way down... Still not the best blend i have smoke but far better than it was. The topping act more like a sweet virginia would taste with small hint of berry. I still won't buy this again.

This has got to be one of the worst tobaccos I've ever tried. Absolutely unsmokable. The flakes break up in 1/4 inch chunks, mostly very dark, dry and not easily packable. It lights up easily and stays lit. The aroma, as such, has notes of cherry, as in the distilled artificial flavoring one finds in cheap juice, which is not pleasant, at all. Once lit, it smells like a cheap cigarette, except if you try to inhale it, it feels like inhaling burnt plastic. Pretty much all peterson and other pipe brand tobaccos seem to be much lower quality than even the worst bulk tobacco, IMHO. Definitely not recommend buying this tin.