Standard Tobacco's War Horse Plug Review - Old vs. New!

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condorlover1

Lifer
Dec 22, 2013
7,996
26,614
New York
I don't usually do reviews. I leave the reviewing of tobacco to the experts like Jim Inks whose refined palette is able to sort out the many and varied tobacco nuances that a smoker of my tastes would miss or be oblivious too. With all that being said I was handed a sample of the new War Horse Bar which has been reviewed by Dan on the Standard Tobacco website (www.standardtobacco.com) and also on the Standard Tobacco FB page. At the same time I also received a sample of a 1970s War Horse Bar that was one of about thirty I purchased from a gentleman in Ireland whose Uncle had run a corner store and I had shipped the plugs to Dan for the Vegas pipe show as a conversation piece for the Standard Tobacco trade stand. To make sure we got a true and accurate reading of the old verses the new Jim Inks kindly agreed to risk life and limb and smoke the old and new and give the team his input - a brave man is Jim and we should all raise a toast to him for this one!
I smoked the old in a small meerschaum 'cutty' pipe after cutting the tobacco up very fine. It had an oily feel to it with a very pleasant smell which contrasted with the 1930s plug we experimented with at the beginning of the War Horse project a couple of years ago which had definite undertones of damp raincoat and meter cupboard. In common with Jim's review I found this stuff was difficult to light but once you got it going it burned without too much fuss. The head ash was a steel grey color and the moisture content was just about perfect so no pipe gurgles or extraneous pipe cleaners were required. In terms of flavor I would refer you to Jim's review as he nailed the various subtle differences in taste, to me it tasted a little 'Condor-ish' but with a very pronounced room note which I swear I have encountered before whilst sitting in the public bar of any number of Northern English public houses. In terms of strength, I found this tobacco very satisfying and comparable to smoking Condor plug although I would not recommend it to the novice pipe smoker on an empty stomach. A small bowl easily burned for 45 minutes and I am not a puffer but I can really see why this plug was so popular and like a lot of things I am mystified why it went out of production.
The new War Horse Bar was a very interesting animal and needed very little effort to prep it for the pipe. Very old plugs can dry out and you find yourself using a modeling band saw to slice the damned things up, this was not the case with the new War Horse Plug. In terms of size and composition the color and thickness resembles the old one very closely and the tobacco aroma was roughly the same so I think all kudos to Russ for hitting that nail on the head. Once prepared it took a couple of lights to get it going but once it was going it was fantastic. Again for those who want the gourmet review of it and the flavors Jim is the man but from my perspective as the proprietor and stockholder of the Standard Tobacco Company I thought it was bloody excellent and I shall be buying the stuff and phasing out Condor plug in favor of this one. In the words of Victor Kiam ..."I liked it so much I bought the company...". :rofl:

 

prairiedruid

Lifer
Jun 30, 2015
1,998
1,117
Condorlover1 phasing out Condor???? War Horse must be damn good and there's snow forecast in hell tonight!

 
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