Hey Gents.
What a surprise. Some of the only good baccies we get here in RSA are the Petersons range and I must say besides Uni Flake I have remained largely skeptical. Most of the stuff is heavily dressed and they tend to specialise mostly in Aro blends.

Well after reading the description on the baccy here:
http://www.peterson.ie/pipes/irish-oak.html

I decided to buy two tins for the cellar.
Muddler opened a tin this week dated 09/2007 and passed it down. This is a VAper and a nice one at that. The baccy is super compressed in the tin and a little drier than their other blends. I did give it some air time before I smoked it. The VA is golden in color and the ribbon cut style is evident of quality processing.
It burns real easy and a pleasure to smoke. I tried it in a Mastro billiard stack and the flavor became more intense and developed fuller in body mid way down the bowl. I managed to smoke all the way down to the bottom of the bowl with 1 light, quite an achievement for a billiard stack. The smoke is clean and dry did not gunk up the pipe at all.

Now it is described as being stored in oak barrels to mellow and get a woody taste. Well here I expected something earthy like Bayou morning flake but I did not.
I was struck by the sweetness of the Va that was dominant throughout the bowl, it seemed to be at the front the entire time. The perique is there make no mistake but it is predominantly VA up front. There is a hint of woody mellowness but not as powerful as described on the package description. I did not mind this at all.
The pepper characteristic of the perique I needed to look hard for. Here it is not like say McClelland 2015 where the VA and the Perique are at a 50/50 stand off for dominance, which I love in the blend as it moves both ways.
With Irish oak it is the opposite and that is not what is to be expected in a VAPER. As mentioned it is golden VA dominant but well contrasted by the perique in the background.
All in all a great smoke and comes highly recommended especially for my RSA brothers. This for once is a great baccy which is locally available.

The parting shot for me was the VA sweetness that is memorable. this may also be due to the fact that the VA had almost 3 years to work it's magic in cellar.

Heads up here boys, it is well worth smoking.
BD and Mudd, lets get cellaring!!!!

great review piet. thanks for sharing!

An excellent review Piet. Glad you're enjoying the tin buddy.

If you like Irish Oak, you may want to try some Old Dublin: here are some of my tasting notes

A light-Med English blend with a strong oriental influence. It is light-Med in body and burns very well. It has a smokey aroma, tasty zesty, has a little bite to it, but doesn't quite satisfy as much as heavier blends.

Thanks for the review Piet. I am gonna have to put it on my must try list. See what you guys do to me.

Very nice review, thanks Piet!

Great Review Piet, I will have to add a tin to my VaPer stash.

I have often wonderrdabout this blend, Thanx, Ken

Thanks Piet. I opened a 'fresh tin' last week - I didn't pick up the sweetness as you describe from your cellared tin - perhaps time made a significant change to it. Still a good backy in my book, I'll have to find the patience to start cellaring properly..

Thanks for the heads up, that was a very useful review!

Hey Piet, thanks for the informative review ... I have an open tin that I'm thoroughly enjoying. The tin does not have a date stamp on it but I suspect it was waiting at Sturks for a year or two for me to snatch it up as I do get the sweetness of the VA. I will def get one or two more tins to cellar. BD's first cellar ... gonna be the beginning of great things
Rob nice to see you on the BoB again. Are you going to be at Alan's place for the braai on Sat?

Thanks Piet. I'm on the road a lot selling corks and screwcaps for my new business so being online is a bit of a luxury at the moment (just like getting a paycheque).

Dean I am Alan (RobT - GlobalAlan - same guy) See you Saturday. Oh and you are most welcome to bring some of that aged Irish Oak if you insist..