Is Shackleton blended scotch a good representation of what “smoky” tastes like?

I’ve now tried 4 types of blended scotch and I only enjoy one of them. This isn’t necessarily a brand review post, but discussing the brands briefly will help with my question. I can’t pinpoint what smoky is supposed to taste like in scotch.

When I first tried scotch I wasn’t thrilled. It was a bottle of Dewar’s 12 and It mostly tasted like ethanol to me. I wanted to love scotch so I kept trying.

The next scotch I tried was Cutty Sark. I used it to make a Rusty Nail and it is still the best scotch I’ve tasted. No soot flavor, it’s more like citrus really.

Then I tried Monkey Shoulder original. I hated it the most despite it being the most expensive. It tasted like ashes and pepper. It was like drinking hellfire.

Now I’m drinking a bottle of Shackleton. It kinda tastes like ashes but not nearly as harshly as Monkey Shoulder.

Is this ash flavor representative of what smoky is supposed to taste like?