Player's Navy Cut Flake

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excav8tor

Can't Leave
Aug 28, 2010
447
2
South Devon, England
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Player’s ‘Navy Cut’ Flake.

History

John Player & Sons, known simply as Player's, was a tobacco and cigarette manufacturer based in Nottingham, England. Although Player’s cigarettes and tobacco are still being manufactured in the Nottingham factory, the company was brought into the Imperial Tobacco Company in 1901. Today, Players still brands under that name within the Imperial Tobacco Group.

One of its most famous brands of tobacco, for both pipe and cigarette smokers, was the famous ‘Navy Cut’ with a logo depicting a bearded British ‘Tar’ wearing the cap tally ‘HERO’ within a life ring, which has changed little over the last 100 years.

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Review

This is not only my first review of a tobacco, it is my first review of the first flake tobacco I have ever tried. I trawled the internet to see if there were any other reviews out there, but couldn’t find any that said anything other than the ‘bulk standard’ descriptions given out by ITG i.e. ‘A blend of Virginia tobaccos producing an exceptionally smooth smoke with a pleasant aromatic flavour.’

Having smoked only Ready Rubbed brands I was not quite sure how I would react to a OTK Flake tobacco. After handing over my £9.59 for 50g of the stuff I was a little surprised at how small the package was, and had to check twice that it was actually 50g. On opening the outer packaging there was a small foil sealed plastic dish which I carefully pulled out and looked at. It was at this point I decided that I should really be reviewing it for you guys out there so I sat back and slowed things down. On opening the pack and smelling the contents I was pleasantly surprised by the smell. As a RYO smoker too, the smell reminded me a little of my regular RYO tobacco ‘Golden Virginia’ so I decided to do a smell comparison. The ‘Navy Cut’ had a much sweeter nose to it, reminding me of dried fruit. After rushing to the kitchen to grab a bag of raisins I opened the bag and there it was; the same smell.

I then took a single flake in my palm and gently rubbed it out. It was not as moist as I thought so rubbed out quite easily with very little effort and no sticky feeling to it. Loading my pipe was no different than with Ready Rubbed. After my char light I settled back to enjoy it. It is an easy tobacco to stay lit and using my Peterson’s 314 Premiere it lasted for about 45 mins with out re-lighting and only the occasional tamp. It was an exceptionally mild smoke with not even a hint of tongue bite and surprisingly no gurgles. It is what could best be described as a typical English Blend being heavy in Virginia tobacco’s. The other thing that struck me was that with my usual brand ‘Condor Original Ready Rubbed’ it left a bit of a soapy ater taste on my tongue. There was definitely no soapy after taste with the Navy Cut.
Recommendation

All in all I was very very pleased with this tobacco. As a current RYO smoker, I am pleased that I have found a pipe tobacco that compares in taste and flavour to my regular brand of RYO tobacco. I am therefore hoping that I can use Navy Cut to make the difficult task of changing over fully, which I am sure it will. I would have no problems at all recommending Player’s Navy Cut Flake to any new pipe smokers (because of its mildness), to smokers wishing to change over from smoking cigarettes to pipe tobacco and finally, existing pipe smokers that are looking for an English blend tobacco. Although the company description would suggest that this is an 'aromatic' tobacco, it most certainly should not be confused with one. I shall certainly be buying more of this tobacco and can easily see myself making Navy Cut my prefered brand.

If you are looking for someone famous that smoked this tobacco, you need look no further than J.R.R. Tolkien himself.

 

unclearthur

Lifer
Mar 9, 2010
6,875
5
Excellent review of a tobacco I can't get here.LOL A very long time ago I used to on occasion smoke Players Plain and liked them , as far as cigarettes go.

 

fred

Lifer
Mar 21, 2010
1,509
4
Thanks for the review of this old standard in blends.

Unfortunately, I don't find it available in the USA

these days.

 

hilojohnny

Lifer
Oct 2, 2010
1,607
0
Thanks, excav8tor, for sharing your experience.....a very nice initial review....do not hesitate doing more as the spirit moves you.

 
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