Asking a Dumb Question

Stick anything in a strong enough press and it’ll become a plug. I doubt if the cut of the original blend matters all that much under a 10 ton press.

I believe that Condorlover and Woodsroads of SToP coined the term "chugs."

A rather interesting question. You'll have to work harder to come up with a dumb one. This seems like the long way around to plug tobacco, to slice it and rub it out again, but I'd be intrigued how the end product smokes. It seem like it would have lost some oils and moisture drying out as shag, but this might have a good result in flavor. If you run the experiment, I'm sure Forums members will be fascinated to read about it, and discuss it further.

I'd guess a C-clamp would apply a few hundred pounds (?) so it is in a different league from a 10-ton press, but the principle's the same.

In theory any press can do the same job if you reduce the surface area enough (of course in practice no-one wants to make a plug 1/4” at a time).

I’m guessing somewhat but the impression I get from looking at pictures of plug tobacco is it starts as a fairly large brick, even if that’s just an 8x8” square, if you reduce your quantity to 1” square at a time you would only need 1/64th as much pressure. My own body weight is almost equal (much closer than I’d like) to the pressure of a 10 ton press if I’m just standing on one square inch of plug.

A decent vice should be able to manage much more than that.
Now I’m just thinking about how much space I could save if I start pressing everything.

When I was brainstorming what to do with the tobacco that I grew, I considered pressing plugs. I have access to all of my metalworking tools, such as a ten ton hydraulic press, metal frames, etc... But, then I wasn't sure how I was going to store the plugs. I could make large ones, but... large jars? or small ones that could fit into a jar, but I hate cutting small plugs into small little flakes. So, I found hundreds of videos by tobacco farmers showing how their families had twisted tobacco to roll them and press them for hundreds of years. And, twists were easier to pack into jars.
If you are wanting to save space, think ahead to how you will save the plugs once pressed. However, if you just want to save space by packing more tobacco tighter into jars, Woods made this excellent post a while back... http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/the-tobacco-press-that-you-already-own
But, for me and how I smoke, I don't like opening jars and smoking out of them for long period of time. When I pop a tin or a jar, I want to have it completely smoked by the end of the week. So, couple of ounces in a small jar works best for me. YMMV

A Campbells soup can. Wax Paper and some C clamps. Stuff and clamp. Wait a week. Walla.
Of course that's completely an amateurs Kake maker.

I “squished” five different tobacco’s in a eight press ton for seven days. It came out great. I can’t figure out how to post here easily but you can see it on Instagram under my same moniker.