Rattray's - Stirling Flake

[deathmetal]

Some say this blend is what Irish Flake once was and what its creators intended it to be, but it stands on its own: a strong Virginia flake, backed by muscular Burley and smoke-cured Kentucky tobaccos. This mixture results in a solid but nuanced flavor with plenty of kick, but varies enough over the course of a bowl to make a pleasurable all-day smoke.
A flavoring of anise crests the waves of first dark-fired, then Virginia and finally a rich, nutty, coffee-like Burley. Caramelized tastes rise within that, sweetened by the anise. Compared to Irish Flake, this is stronger and more intense in its melding of Burley and Kentucky flavors; where Irish Flake tends toward the strong side of medium, this is on the soft side of strong. It will not put the average smoker on the floor like the 'Happy' Brown Bogie but it will make its presence known. Reality clarifies after a half-bowl of Stirling Flake.
These flakes are thicker than the Irish Flake, and unlike your average Virginia flake, tend toward the more assertive taste sensations within that tobacco, helping it to complement like the broad Burley and sharp dark-fired flavors like notes in a chord. The anise provides a high harmony, but when it evaporates, the remaining dense flavor rises and finishes out the bowl with strength.
Some tobaccos grab you over time, by revealing what they have to offer by showing how it can be appealing. To those who like martial tobaccos, Stirling Flake unveils its power immediately: this hard-hitting tobacco flavor and experience fulfills what we think of when we conjure up an image of a tobacco made for heavy duty use. It delivers consistently and leaves behind white-grey ash in soft snowflake-like particles.
While some may bemoan the 'downfall' of Irish Flake, I see these two as brothers: the medium-strength version provides hours of pleasure without becoming overbearing, but for the driven person on a day of intense concentration, only the warlike sensation of Stirling Flake will do. This blend became a potential favorite quickly, and then a daily smoke as its many idiosyncrasies and texture of flavors came to light.
http://www.tobaccoreviews.com/blend/9178#review82526

 

[cobguy]

Nice review! I was gifted a tin of this by Seadogontheland (Geoffry) and really enjoyed it.

 

[pipebuddy]

Sterling Flake IS Peterson's Irish Flake. K & K was the producer for Peterson but Mac Baren managed to get the rights to produce it (last year or something close). So K & K decided to keep making them and renamed them under the Rattray's family. All the new Rattray's that popped on the market over the last year or so are Peterson offerings under new names.

 

[deathmetal]

They are not identical, hence the statement that it was Irish Flake as originally intended. It is glorious in every way.

 

[stickframer]

Great review.

 

[seadogontheland]

Strong Stuff!! Very Good review!!

 

[deathmetal]

It became a near-instant favorite. Someone else in another thread mentioned how this tobacco is sweet without being an aro, and I attribute that to its natural flavors and the anise which is not overwhelming but fits right in to a harmony of other flavors. I think I'll do something pointless like write to Wal-mart and demand they carry it.

 

[pipebuddy]

[/quote]They are not identical, hence the statement that it was Irish Flake as originally intended. It is glorious in every way.

If you were smoking Mac Baren's production of Irish Flake, this would be possible. But I can't tell as I haven't tried it.

In any case, I am not going to argue with you if you find they are different tobaccos. But the reality is that they are the same tobacco. Mac Baren, at the beginning of 2014, has acquired the rights to make the Peterson tobaccos over K & K, which was the producer until then. The latter, in (bad) reaction to losing its rights to produce Peterson tobaccos under the name, has decided to continue to make the Peterson tobaccos, but under a new name, and simply introduce them as "new" tobaccos in the Rattray's family.

The funny thing here is that K & K does not have the equipement to make Flake tobaccos. So it sub - contracted Orlik to make the Peterson Flakes on its behalf. When the rights to produce tobaccos under the Peterson name, Orlik simply continued to make the exact, identical, same good ol' flakes and put a new label on the tins.

 

[jmill208]

Notes: After K&K lost the Peterson range to Mac Baren, they did not want to waste their recipes. They tweaked them a little and simply renamed the old Peterson line to be re-released under the Rattray's label: Malcolm Flake being Erinmore Flake; Sterling Flake being Irish Flake; and Wallace Flake being University Flake.

Copied from Smokingpipes.com
I recently cracked a tin of the Wallace Flake, tastes like University Flake to me. I wonder what the "tweak" is?

 

[mawnansmiff]

Excellent review DM, my order of Stirling Flake arrived this morning and I shall go over the review again tomorrow when I fire up my first bowl.
Along with the SF I also got some Full Virginia Flake, St. James Flake, Lakeland Dark Flake, Golden Glow (enjoying that one right now) and some Elizabethan Mixture. All new to me blends so I anticipate a good day tomorrow trialling them all ::
Regards,
Jay.

 

[hawky454]

Just added this one to the wish list. Never even heard of it before. I love Irish Flake so now I've gotta see which one I love more!