SWEET HOLY JESUS!

The Peterson Company, makers of many rather lovely briar pipes since the late eighteen hundreds, years ago contracted with McConnell to produce some pipe tobaccos suitable for the Irish market as well as elsewhere. The entire McConnell portfolio went to Kohlhase and Kopp in Germany over two decades ago. K & K tend to use Orlik (now part of Skandinavisk Tobakskompagni A/S) in Denmark as their blending house. Several of these mixtures (now owned by Scandinavian) are well-made using good tobacco, and a number of them have also resurfaced under alternative brandnaming still held by the Germans.

Sadly, most of them are heavily flavoured shite.

Many pipe smokers are ruddy degenerates with lapsed morals and no taste.

I blame the Americans for this state of affairs. We encouraged nasty aromatics, and have heavily promoted them, resulting in the three most popular pipe store tobaccos being 1Q (a Cavendish mixture with honey and vanilla), BCA (black Cavendish doused with vanilla), and RLP 6 (Cavendish and Burley with vanilla). That probably also accounts for a staggering number of butch manly after-shave lotions having a touch of vanilla.
As well as frappucinos flavoured with vanilla syrup.
Goes great with Southern bobbykew.

Germans, Danes, and the Irish can't resist vanilla.


Now then, a series of short tobacco reviews.

ARAN
Vanilla and floral perfume.
Black Cavendish, Virginia. Very mild. If I were stuck in rural Ireland far from a tobacconist who had Sam Gawith or Orlik Golden Sliced, this might suffice. I don't like vanilla tobacco.

BALKAN BLEND
Non-aromatic.
Virginia, Latakia, Perique.
No Oriental leaf at all, so quite mis-named. Decent. Similar to many other blends, some no longer made. Not as sweet as Baby's Bottom, nor as mustily mysterious as Dorisco.
Mild to medium, earthy. A decent product.

CONNEMARA BLACK
Cherry and berries.
Black Cavendish and Virginia. A bland and objectionable product.

CONNOISSEUR'S CHOICE
Tropical fruits, vanilla, and booze.
Over-the-top effing fruity. Young boys will like it. I don't. Smoked a few bowls while working with Hecky, which while amusing because of his temper tantrums, left me with a mouth that felt like a train station pissoir.

De LUXE MIXTURE
Aromatic nut liqueur, vanilla, honey.
Black Cavendish and dark Virginias. An okay mild product with a fragrance that women like. Except for anti-smokers. They don't like how anything smells. Maybe you should try smoking tofu? They probably won't like that either.

FOUNDER'S CHOICE
Rum, mango, vanilla.
Virginia, Burley, Oriental. Pressed then cube cut. Burns well. While I enjoyed the several bowls I smoked to irritate Hecky, and some other people also liked it (very much), this is not something I would eagerly smoke again. A medium-bodied summery tobacco.
Worthwhile and educational.

GOLD BLEND
Hickory nuts, vanilla, cinnamon.
Black Cavendish, Virginia, Burley. Not overly flavoured, and on the milder side.
Aromatic smokers will generally like this, the rest of us will sneer as usual.

HYDE PARK
Rum and maple.
Virginia and Burley. Earthy yet floral. Very American in a way.

IRISH DEW
Vanilla, blossoms, chocolate, whiskey.
Virginias, Burley. Ready rubbed. Remarkably decent.

IRISH FLAKE
Non-aromatic.
Burley, Virginia, and Dark-fired, in (reportedly) equal measures. A rather splendid product of which I cannot smoke much. The tin aroma is awesome. There are over two dozen tins in my bookshelf that have been aging for nearly a decade and a half. I am scared to open them.
It has almost floral notes.
Earthy.

IRISH OAK / IRISH CASK
Sherry barrel odours.
Virginias and Cavendish, touch or Perique. Soury, plummy, vaguely reminiscent of a bodega. Very flavourful, suitable for Autumn somewhere rainy and dark.
Good at night, too spicy at dawn.

IRISH WHISKEY / IRISH MIXTURE
Booze.
Burley, Kentucky, Virginia. Easy smoke, might kick you in the nads. Good stuff.

LUXURY BLEND
Black Cavendish, vanilla, honey.
Burley, Virginia, Maryland, black Cavendish. A mild aromatic, but a medium-bodied tobacco. If you like aromatics you will love this, if you don't like aromatics you'll enjoy it, without regret, but probably won't buy another tin.

NUTTY CUT
Macadamia nuts, coconut, rum.
Multiple Virginias plus Burley. Mild. Not overly fruity.
Better living through chemicals.
No.

OLD DUBLIN
Non-aromatic.
Latakia, Oriental, Virginia, black Virginia ribbon. Medium to full. Top notch, and a classic. If you like English / Balkan, you may absolutely love this very fine old-fashioned mixture.
The Turk comes through splendidly. If you prefer aros, this is not for you.
Berkeley used to smell like this, especially near the university.
Until the Vegans took over.

PETERSON'S PERFECT PLUG
Miscellaneous spritzes.
A hard block of Virginia with Burley. I tried smoking this, but don't think I'll ever do so again. It is dark, full bodied, and sort of potent. Highly regarded by many people, most of whom I do not know. For reasons.

SHERLOCK HOLMES
Assorted stone fruits and citrus.
Ribbon Virginias and Burleys, basically in the same vein as Samuel Gawiths Grousemoor, but more kick. Just as degenerate and likely to appeal to elderly perverts.
I like both products.

SIGNATURE FLAKE
Non-aromatic.
Virginias. A medium-bodied Virginia flake, and a very nice one too. No longer made. There are three one hundred gramme tins in my stockpile from 2015, which I will not share. Well, except if it's a woman with soft cheeks who likes sherry.

SUNSET BREEZE
Amaretto liqueur.
Virginia, Burley, black Cavendish. It's actually very good, despite what the mention of Amaretto liqueur might make you think. Too much casing for my taste.

SWEET KILLARNEY
Sweet caramel cream.
Virginia and black Cavendish topped with creamy caramel. Vanilla, nougat. A high quality overly sweet mediocrity. The room note is pleasantish, if far enough away.
I think many English people might like it.

UNIVERSITY FLAKE
Plums. Fruit.
Burley and Virginia that, while excellent, remind me of Hello Kitty. I do not find it nearly as enjoyable to smoke as some people, bless them, but if you have to smoke a pimp tobacco because of your kinfolk and their berserk ideas about smells, you could do far worse.
It is somewhat strong.

When I was still a teenager living in a small city in the Netherlands, before coming back to the States, Peterson pipes were something I knew about even though they were unavailable there. Since then I have acquire a number of them, many of which are among my favourite briars. There is a goodness about them which harkens back to an earlier age.
The venerable company is now owned by Laudisi enterprises.

TOBACCO INDEX


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