puros_bran
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- Joined
- Dec 10, 2007
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First a big thank you to Carlos and Jim....
I've smoked this tobacco regularly since it hit the U.S. Market,sometimes I go as long as 3 weeks without a bowl of this tobacco, but usually I have a bowl almost every week. For the past year and a half its had its own pipe, a small Tsuge.
Upon opening the tin I am hit with a strong smell that reminds me of the tobacco barns of my youth. It is a strong smell with just a hint of a fruitiness. The tobacco
Is cute little dark brown mottled strips. The moisture content is just right. Some think the tobacco needs drying because its a bugger to light, but I'll deal with that in a minute.
I know some rub out their flakes. I've never understood that, if you like a ready rub, buy a ready rub. Most flakes I fold in half and stuff them in the pipe, Irish Flake gets folded into thirds.
I heard a story once where a newlywed couple was preparing thanksgiving dinner and the husband noticed the wife cut both ends of the ham off before putting it in a pan and placing it in the oven. He noticed she did the same thing at christmas and became curious. Upon asking his wife about it she admitted she didn't know why it was cut in that manner but she had always watched her mother make it that way. The next time the man was with his mother in law he remembered the Ham and asked her. After a bit of stalling and speculation she admitted she didn't know but she had always seen her mother prepare the ham in like manner. Later the family had easter dinner with all the grandparents,aunts and uncles, cousins, you know one of those huge family get togethers. Grandma prepared the ham,when she lifted the foil from the pan sure enough there laid a ham with both ends sliced off. When asked she gave the same answer the wife and the mother in law had given the young man, "that's how I watched my mother make them." Of course the husband was curious and began searching for an excuse to go visit his wifes great grandma..when mothers days rolled around he suggested they drive up and see the old lady as she may not have to many years left. Of course the young wife thought it was a grand idea and off they went. After hugs and an appropriate amount of small talk the husband broached the subject. "Grandma, your daughter,grand daughter, and now your great grand daughter all cut off the ends of a ham before they cook them, when asked they all give the same answer.'I don't know why, but I watched mom do it that way'. Grandma, did you cut off the ends of hams because your mother did it that way?"... GreatGrandma rolled her eyes and replied "no child, I cut the ends off my ham so they'd fit in my pan"
The same is true for Irish Flake, theres no mystical flavors resulting from a tri-fold.. The pipe I use it in is small, a tri-fold of the flake results in a perfect fit.
Now as for getting this lit: if you are a stick match guy you will not like this tobacco, I bet it take 6 or 7 hits with flame to get it to burn. A lot of folk think the tobacco is to damp because of this and allow it to 'dry'... I think that's a mistake. These little strips are very dense, there's a ton of tobacco in your pipe. It reminds me of the ammo for a Russian Tokerov, the 7.62x25 doesn't look like much, but damn there's a lot of powder behind that bullet.The cross section of the little pipe may fool you into believing there's not much tobacco there..but if you dump it out and rub it you will be shocked. All your doing when you allow this to 'dry' is losing the tobaccos oils that produce it flavors.
Once lit it stays lit with a regular paced puff. I lit this bowl when I pulled out of Louisville, I still have plenty left and I'm almost to the Illinois line,that's almost two hours, needless to say this tobacco has a great burn.
"Pb you've told us a story, made some off the wall comparisons, rambled and ratchet jawed about all kinda nonsense, how bout telling us how it taste?".. Well ok if I must, this is about the foulest crap I've ever smoked. Just kidding, I love this stuff
. This is a very monochromatic blend. If your looking for layers of flavors and subtle hints of berguamont and ceder, you better go smoke a Pease weed.. If you want a good full bodied, slightly sweet smoke you've came to the right tin. The flavor reminds me very much of a good strong rope tobacco with a healthy dose of heavy dark smokey burley. I don't mean PA or even Wessex Burley slice burley...I mean a double,maybe triple shot espresso version of what makes Pease Cumberland so good.
I've read the arguments, I know some think this is 'topped'... I don't agree. The only possible thing I can imagine this being topped with is ground up and stewed tobacco essense. If you take the sweetness from the virginia (maybe that's what they are calling topping? ) out of this blend, it is as close to smoking pure barn hung tobacco as you can get. Its not an old enough blend to see what aging will do to it, but I can't imagine much change. The smoke is very heavy but it doesn't have a lot of volume. There's not even enough to get a good smoke ring out of it, but it feels like it is going to explode out of your mouth. The first and last 10th of a bowl has an almost spicy flavor, but for the most part its like smoking a stick of Vitamin N enriched Butter, rich,smooth, and creamy.
I am a lousy judge of nicotine content, blends most people crybaby about, I suck down like water. Some months back I gave up a 20+ year 2 pack a day habit. Irish Flake is one of only a handful of pipe tobaccos that actually sates my almost maniacal urge to light a cig. I usually go about 2-3 hours without the mind drifting to thoughts of Winstons, so I imagine its a veritable nicotine bomb, but like I said I'm really not the guy to ask.
Anyhoot maybe someone will come along and give a real review of the weed. I'm not much of a reviewer but I wanted to put some words into the ether about one of my favored tobaccos.
I've smoked this tobacco regularly since it hit the U.S. Market,sometimes I go as long as 3 weeks without a bowl of this tobacco, but usually I have a bowl almost every week. For the past year and a half its had its own pipe, a small Tsuge.
Upon opening the tin I am hit with a strong smell that reminds me of the tobacco barns of my youth. It is a strong smell with just a hint of a fruitiness. The tobacco
Is cute little dark brown mottled strips. The moisture content is just right. Some think the tobacco needs drying because its a bugger to light, but I'll deal with that in a minute.
I know some rub out their flakes. I've never understood that, if you like a ready rub, buy a ready rub. Most flakes I fold in half and stuff them in the pipe, Irish Flake gets folded into thirds.
I heard a story once where a newlywed couple was preparing thanksgiving dinner and the husband noticed the wife cut both ends of the ham off before putting it in a pan and placing it in the oven. He noticed she did the same thing at christmas and became curious. Upon asking his wife about it she admitted she didn't know why it was cut in that manner but she had always watched her mother make it that way. The next time the man was with his mother in law he remembered the Ham and asked her. After a bit of stalling and speculation she admitted she didn't know but she had always seen her mother prepare the ham in like manner. Later the family had easter dinner with all the grandparents,aunts and uncles, cousins, you know one of those huge family get togethers. Grandma prepared the ham,when she lifted the foil from the pan sure enough there laid a ham with both ends sliced off. When asked she gave the same answer the wife and the mother in law had given the young man, "that's how I watched my mother make them." Of course the husband was curious and began searching for an excuse to go visit his wifes great grandma..when mothers days rolled around he suggested they drive up and see the old lady as she may not have to many years left. Of course the young wife thought it was a grand idea and off they went. After hugs and an appropriate amount of small talk the husband broached the subject. "Grandma, your daughter,grand daughter, and now your great grand daughter all cut off the ends of a ham before they cook them, when asked they all give the same answer.'I don't know why, but I watched mom do it that way'. Grandma, did you cut off the ends of hams because your mother did it that way?"... GreatGrandma rolled her eyes and replied "no child, I cut the ends off my ham so they'd fit in my pan"
The same is true for Irish Flake, theres no mystical flavors resulting from a tri-fold.. The pipe I use it in is small, a tri-fold of the flake results in a perfect fit.
Now as for getting this lit: if you are a stick match guy you will not like this tobacco, I bet it take 6 or 7 hits with flame to get it to burn. A lot of folk think the tobacco is to damp because of this and allow it to 'dry'... I think that's a mistake. These little strips are very dense, there's a ton of tobacco in your pipe. It reminds me of the ammo for a Russian Tokerov, the 7.62x25 doesn't look like much, but damn there's a lot of powder behind that bullet.The cross section of the little pipe may fool you into believing there's not much tobacco there..but if you dump it out and rub it you will be shocked. All your doing when you allow this to 'dry' is losing the tobaccos oils that produce it flavors.
Once lit it stays lit with a regular paced puff. I lit this bowl when I pulled out of Louisville, I still have plenty left and I'm almost to the Illinois line,that's almost two hours, needless to say this tobacco has a great burn.
"Pb you've told us a story, made some off the wall comparisons, rambled and ratchet jawed about all kinda nonsense, how bout telling us how it taste?".. Well ok if I must, this is about the foulest crap I've ever smoked. Just kidding, I love this stuff
. This is a very monochromatic blend. If your looking for layers of flavors and subtle hints of berguamont and ceder, you better go smoke a Pease weed.. If you want a good full bodied, slightly sweet smoke you've came to the right tin. The flavor reminds me very much of a good strong rope tobacco with a healthy dose of heavy dark smokey burley. I don't mean PA or even Wessex Burley slice burley...I mean a double,maybe triple shot espresso version of what makes Pease Cumberland so good. I've read the arguments, I know some think this is 'topped'... I don't agree. The only possible thing I can imagine this being topped with is ground up and stewed tobacco essense. If you take the sweetness from the virginia (maybe that's what they are calling topping? ) out of this blend, it is as close to smoking pure barn hung tobacco as you can get. Its not an old enough blend to see what aging will do to it, but I can't imagine much change. The smoke is very heavy but it doesn't have a lot of volume. There's not even enough to get a good smoke ring out of it, but it feels like it is going to explode out of your mouth. The first and last 10th of a bowl has an almost spicy flavor, but for the most part its like smoking a stick of Vitamin N enriched Butter, rich,smooth, and creamy.
I am a lousy judge of nicotine content, blends most people crybaby about, I suck down like water. Some months back I gave up a 20+ year 2 pack a day habit. Irish Flake is one of only a handful of pipe tobaccos that actually sates my almost maniacal urge to light a cig. I usually go about 2-3 hours without the mind drifting to thoughts of Winstons, so I imagine its a veritable nicotine bomb, but like I said I'm really not the guy to ask.
Anyhoot maybe someone will come along and give a real review of the weed. I'm not much of a reviewer but I wanted to put some words into the ether about one of my favored tobaccos.
