GH&C Black Irish X

[shawn622]

I received a sample of GH&C Black Irish X on my last TAD order from P&C. I love P&C, they never have a problem with letting you sample some tobacco for your next order. I received this sample and it is a piece of a rope. Black and about 3/4" in diameter. I sliced off a couple of coins, rubbed them out and packed my little Medico Bulldog. The tin note was different. Sweet with some fragrance that I have never smelled in my short tobacco experience. As in my other review I will start by saying that I do not consider myself competent enough to write an actual review. This is more or less just my experience with the product. I used wooden matches that P&C provides with all their orders. Char light was super smooth, but a taste of burning hair filled my mouth. "Surely this can't be right." I thought to myself as i examined the bowl to make sure there was no foreign matter. I grabbed my pipe tool and dug around, then dumped it on a piece of paper and it was tobacco only. The pipe was thoroughly cleaned yesterday so the taste from the char light had to be the tobacco. I repacked the tobacco and went for the 1st true light. Puff, Puff.... Ugh still the taste of burnt hair only now it was like burnt hair and burnt marshmallow. I am now stumped. I decide that coming from one of the oldest tobacco companies in the world, there must be something else to it, so i went for another light. Wow, same as first light. This is not a tobacco to suit my taste. I am sure that I'm just not refined a smoker to appreciate this tobacco. I don'tr even know what category to place it in. I refuse to say anything bad about this tobacco, only that it is not for me. I emptied the bowl and decided to post about my experience here. Maybe someone can bring to light something I don't know about Black Irish X. Thanks for reading. Have a great day!!!

 

[galeon]

I can't help with this blend or with rope/plug tobaccos as I've never smoked them, but from what I've heard they have deep, strong flavors and super high nic contents and need to be dried out for quite a while. I'll have a sample of this sent to me with my next TAD purchase if SP.com sends samples like P&C does. I'll let you know what I think after a few bowls. (That is if I can get past the taste of burnt hair!)

 

[shawn622]

Hahaahaha. Ok man. I wanted so bad to be blown away by this stuff too. It looks really good, just not forte.

 

[spartan]

And dark chocolate smells amazing, but it's not for everyone either.
Appreciate the lighter tobaccos. Dark ones like these are either for people who love the dark bold notes that are hard to ignore, or they burnt off all their taste buds and need this because they swear it tastes like arabic coffee lol.
I can't wait to try the stuff! haha.

 

[reichenbach]

I love strong tobacco so I did some research on this a little while ago and one of the reviewers on tobacco reviews said this type of tobacco was one of the reasons people only lived into their 30's in the 1700's. I thought that was a pretty funny way to put it. Some one else said it will kill the fleas off of your cat.
Use that as a frame of reference, I guess. I haven't tried the stuff so I can not refute or commiserate with the burnt hair flavor notes but I have burned my mustache before (quite often if I'm being honest) and that is not pleasant.
I can't wait to hear what others have to say.

 

[papipeguy]

Ropes are a different breed altogether. They take a lot of work, in my opinion; but you've had the experience. It was a sample and now you know they're not for you. Check mark and on to the next great experiment.

 

[shawn622]

Spartan.... I love the dark, Latakia stuff man. Seriously. But i didn't expect this to be like an English, I figured this stuff was going to be a really sweet tobacco cased heavily in molasses because of the color. The description was very vague. It looked a bit like black sausage on the picture, but i believe sausage would have been a huge improvement :rofl:

 

[sjpipesmoker]

For my taste, their ropes are too strong and takes too much time to prepare and smoke.

 

[irishsmoker]

This sounds like my kind of tobacco!!

 

[shawn622]

Give me your address and I will send you the rest of me sample Irish. I'm Irish too. My name is Shawn O' 8)Day

 

[swilly]

Yeah, there's something crazy about smoking A ROPE. Indeed it seems strong. Have any cigar smokers here tried this stuff? Whenever I see "strong tobacco", I think of 1) a dark cigar and 2) Royal Yacht.

 

[kalc]

I hav tried their maple twist and love it - being a heavy smoker, i prefer strong nic blends!

 

[gecko13]

I like the Irish X, and the SG equivalent. Seems more and more I like a strong nic blend for my final evening pipe before bed.
:puffpipe:

 

[jbbaldwin]

I ordered a tinned XX rope some time ago and was overwhelmed with everything about it. I put it away for a few weeks and then cut some coins, let them dry for about 4 hours and found that it was a little more palatable. The last time I opened the tin and tried the cut-and-dry for several hours the smoke was downright enjoyable.
I don't know if the tobacco is changing all that much (doubtful) or I am just getting used to it. (There was a time I didn't like lima beans, either, but with repeated exposure I have developed a taste for them.)

 

[gageploungin]

I'm smoking my first bowl of it right now. I didn't let it dry long enough I think. The burned plastic taste is still prevalent but about 1/3 of the way in I pick up a STRONG earthy Virginia taste. It's kinda hard to tell though, because I'm out of my body and looking down on myself walking in rapid circles and clucking like a chicken due to the nic hit of this stuff. I'm going to dry for a few hours next time.

 

[gageploungin]

Update: I let this stuff sit out uncovered for about 24 hours. The burnt taste was pretty much gone. Pretty tasty actually, but VERY strong. I think the more you dry this stuff the better it gets. A lot of trouble to go through for a bowl imo.