Robert McConnell Scottish Cake

Unfortunately for me, this review is based on a sample only. About four bowls, if you're counting.

Scottish Cake is a blend I can easily see me smoking all day...heaven forbid. It has enough strength, enough sweetness, and enough snork (Perique), to keep me interested. It also can be smoked mindlessly without fear of your palate being taxed, tongue bite, etc. It has the right mix to accomplish both. That is something I thoroughly enjoy. The more blends I attempt, the closer I've come to the personal conclusion that Va/burs are the way to go for an all around smoke...the rarefied highs of a good VA, without the necessary attention to detail, and the down to earth goodness of burley, without the ensuing 'meh' boredom and bitters. The trick is getting the benefits of both, while minimizing their negatives. I don't know if it is the Perique saving the day here, but Scottish Cake succeeds. I honestly shouldn't crow about this until I've smoked a steady diet of it, but too late!

Four stars.

The review below is part of a VaPer Showdown that I conducted between several VaPer blends:

I got the tin the other day and I immediately cracked it open and took a whiff. Mmmm, it smelled like the sour fruitiness of the Virginias and the peppery spice of the Perique. I think that I read somewhere that this might have a small amount of burley mixed in there for good measure. It is a course cut flake and I rubbed it out a little more to help with drying. The appearance is kind of a red, and light and dark browns (mostly dark brown). I let it air out and dry for about 15-20 minutes and then loaded it up into my Peterson Bent Bulldog.

Right off of the bat this was a great tasting blend. Lighting was extremely easy with only one false light. As the bowl progressed, the flavor got fuller and fuller and leveled out at about a medium to full in taste and strength. The Virginias provide the sweetness throughout and while there is a decent amount of Perique in this blend it never overpowers the taste. It?s always there in the background and weaves itself in and out through the Virginias. It has a great, lively flavor that never goes flat. Also, I never had any kind of tongue bite even though I?m sure I got it going hot a few times. The Virginias never go sour either.

The smoke aroma comes off as sweet and fruity and for some reason it smells a bit chocolaty to me. Not sure why that is or if it?s another scent that I just can?t identify but it is close to chocolaty.

Now, I know that I?m going to cause a stir by saying this but I enjoyed this more than Escudo. And the tin of Escudo that I?ve been smoking from is 4 years old. Escudo seemed to have a lot of ups and downs throughout smoking it whereas this blend is steady throughout. It burns slow and it didn?t require a lot of relights from me. With that said, this is just me and my opinion. I know that Escudo has a huge following and I?m one of them but I?m ranking this one above Escudo. Not far above.

Here are the standings so far:

1) McConnell ? Scottish Cake 2) Escudo 3) Treasures of Ireland ? Limerick 4) Dorchester 5) Luxury Bullseye Flake 6) Kajun Kake

This just about knocked my socks off. It was the first tobacco I tasted that cemented me in pipe smoking. It's fruity, sweet, toasty, and goes perfect outdoors with a campfire. I think a nice glass of Laphroaig complements it quite well.

If you're choosing between this and Scottish Flake, go with this.

EDIT: this just gets better with time. I have a good amount of blends laying around but when I have a tin of this it disappears fast. I need to find somewhere reliable to buy this in bulk. Will ask the pipe store next time I'm there.

These Virginias are wonderfully fermented to a deep complexity, with more flavors of dates, and figs rather than hey, or grass. I can't tell if Kentucky and the perique are jostling for attention here, or not. I feel as if deep Virginia has them both hushed. But I'm a cigarette smoker with an insensitive palate. I know Virginias aren't alone here. But I couldn't tell you who is in the passenger's seat. It rubs beautifully, and you may have no problem lightening it straight out of tin, but I recommend 15 minutes of drying. I rub it, place it on a clean surface, then smoke a cigarette. That's enough drying time for me. It will make a good smoke for summer, but even better in winter due to its depth. I say, its like a different class of VaPer.... you have the sweet, citrus grassy class, then you have the deep figgy class. This is definitely not a grassy kind, at least not to my taste. I love it for the reason that I can have my luxury navy flake with citrus hey, then I can switch to this marvel of a blend and still remain out of English blends, where they tend to overwhelm my palate, rendering me even less perceptive towards subtle flavors of VaPers. Amazing, well rounded, cool burning, consistent, and relaxing blend. If you have never had this type, don't judge it after only one bowl. If you don't think it's for you, walk away for a week. Then come back to it again. Its wonderful.

Smooth, sweet and plummy, with no trace of topping or flavoring. Just enough citrus to keep your taste buds perked up. Slow burning, yet producing a large volume of luscious smoke. The Kentucky leaf takes it out of the VaPer genre, but Vaper aficionados simply must try this.

I smoked this in the 1980s and it was a great tobacco...I smoked it again recently, it is still a great tobacco. Beautiful tin note, raisins and honey. Smokes really well all through the bowl. The blender may have changed but this is just as good as the original.

This is quite a rough and chunky rub out of the packet, I found it easier to pack after breaking it up a little bit more.

The aroma is very light and this impression carries on through to firing it up.

The perique is barely there - which is good for me! - just enough to give that slightly snuffy sensation at the back of the nose, but in a pleasant way.

Beyond that, the Virginia is very much to the fore with the addition of a slight, almost zesty tang, again very pleasant.

So overall I am enjoying this. Seasoned perique-heads may find this a touch on the mild side, those who tread carefully around the Louisiana wallop as I do might find this a nice surprise.

EDIT: Having come back to this blend I find I am enjoying it more and more, it really is a fine example of its kind. Rating increased from 3 to 4 stars accordingly.

Highly recommended.

Year after year I keep going back to this mellowy wonderful blend. The balance is excellent with the Burleys and Perique. It has always reminded me of Autumns long ago. This is almost rubbed out flake. Lights nicely,tastes like aged mellow naturaly sweet tobacco goodness. One of my all time favorites!

This is my second Va/per experience after having tried escudo.. so my knowledge on how this rates by comparison to other tobaccos may be somewhat limited.. But I will give my thoughts as sometimes a beginner's mind can be helpful.. My first reaction is to how marvelous this tobacco smells in the tin.. very fruity - kind of plum like.. not at all what i was expecting. Very moist.. this is a tobacco that really tempts you even before being smoked.. the texture is very coarse as it would be when you break down a flake in your hand.. I like it - very easy to handle and load into your pipe.. I pack it with my own variation on the frank method.. I prefer not to tamp too much - but this tobacco burns so well that not much relighting and tamping seem to be required.. my first reaction is that there are more flavors going on in this than in escudo (don't get me wrong i love the earthiness of escudo) - i think you pick up more on the virginias and kentucky than the perique at first.. i am also getting a slight fruitiness.. after a few more puffs a richer choclatey flavor is emerging.. now i am getting more earthiness.. the rest of the smoke is just pure pleastness.. I like this a lot - a nice mellow yet satisfying flavor.. I would highly recommend to other beginner s..

Revisiting nearly 10 years later (wow time flies).. this is still a favorite. The Kentucky and perique are mild. Every thing is so well married. It comes on soft but always leaves a big impression. I crave it.