I'm new to plugs. Love flakes. Im still getting the plug process down and I'm not afraid to admit it. Gaslight was a learning experience for me!
Advice About Plugs/Bricks
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It's kind of tricky. My technique is evolving. I was really into thin slices for awhile, then gave in to cutting it more like flakes. Weirdly it seems less messy than some other tobacco types.
Of the 32 blends in my cellar, 30 are flakes and 2 are plugs. The plugs I smoke are Wessex Gold Brick and Peterson 3P. Flavor wise they are very different but a plug is pretty much a plug. I honestly would smoke many more plugs if the UK stuff was available here in the US. I like playing with a good plug, slicing and dicing a plug entetains me in some weird way. I tried smoking GL Pease Jacknife but there was way too much red virginia in it which burns the shit out of my tongue.
If you like plugs, you may want to try your hand at ropes. Now those are different. You best be prepared for some serious nicotine though. The 2 I have tried were both Samuel Gawith ropes, XX Twist and Brown Rope no 4. Brown no 4 was like smoking a barbecue brisket, really smokey to my tastes, I like the XX Black better.
If you like plugs, you may want to try your hand at ropes. Now those are different. You best be prepared for some serious nicotine though. The 2 I have tried were both Samuel Gawith ropes, XX Twist and Brown Rope no 4. Brown no 4 was like smoking a barbecue brisket, really smokey to my tastes, I like the XX Black better.
I heard of this guy who was in jail and would bum a smoke, put in the cheek and gum like Skoal and then at the end of the day dry it out, roll it up, and trade it to the new inmates for food. :crazy:
I am pretty new to pipe smoking and smoking in general, less than two years on both counts. I did however get an education of sorts when I worked at The House of Windsor tobacco company in the Red Lion area of Pennsylvania back about 1982. I was there as a basic laborer with ManPower but the folks that worked there were very generous with their time and knowledge. One thing I found out was that tobacco pressed under just pressure alone changes somehow and tends to be more complex. Vary the time and pressure and you can vary the taste. Add heat into the process and more possibilities are there, literally changing the flavor of the same tobacco by just using pressure and time.
I started as many do thinking I would likely enjoy aromatics most and bought too many as I find they sit as I delve deeper into more traditional forms of non-aromatics. I have found flakes tend to appeal to me more than ribbons etc. I have tried one cake and one crumble cake so far and the cake, GL Pease Gaslight I have found very enjoyable and complex. I am not in a situation at the moment where I could experiment much but have thought about building a press and trying to take just ordinary retail tobaccos and seeing how they might change by just pressing them.
Just as an aside back in the late 1800s into even the 1950s or so the Red Lion area was a huge tobacco center for all sorts of tobacco. I know that House of Windsor made pipe tobacco and also machine and hand rolled cigars of the highest quality. At one point about 20% of all cigars sold in this country came from that one small region and from literally hundreds of suppliers and makers. Slowly over the years they merged and merged again and as tastes and politics changed many fell by the wayside. It's my understanding that the House of Windsor was the last hold out but it to has since gone under. Just wish I had been a smoker back then.
Oh and I have a piece of Gawaith Black XX on back order waiting to try it.
I started as many do thinking I would likely enjoy aromatics most and bought too many as I find they sit as I delve deeper into more traditional forms of non-aromatics. I have found flakes tend to appeal to me more than ribbons etc. I have tried one cake and one crumble cake so far and the cake, GL Pease Gaslight I have found very enjoyable and complex. I am not in a situation at the moment where I could experiment much but have thought about building a press and trying to take just ordinary retail tobaccos and seeing how they might change by just pressing them.
Just as an aside back in the late 1800s into even the 1950s or so the Red Lion area was a huge tobacco center for all sorts of tobacco. I know that House of Windsor made pipe tobacco and also machine and hand rolled cigars of the highest quality. At one point about 20% of all cigars sold in this country came from that one small region and from literally hundreds of suppliers and makers. Slowly over the years they merged and merged again and as tastes and politics changed many fell by the wayside. It's my understanding that the House of Windsor was the last hold out but it to has since gone under. Just wish I had been a smoker back then.
Oh and I have a piece of Gawaith Black XX on back order waiting to try it.
The upcoming War Horse Bar will be worthy.
Like many have said here, the depth of flavor seems to be intensified, along with a certain creaminess, and a fuller body.
Are you friggin' kidding?!?!?!?
:lol:
I spend more money than I should just to enjoy certain plugs unique characteristics,
I end up paying over current USA market prices to have the privilege...
...and it ain't exactly logical or gentle for my budget LOL
I could happily puff PPP everyday, but I enjoy the variation,
most especially Velvan Plug which is divine.
PM me yer cartoon-ass'd addy and I'll send out a sampler pack Cap'n!
:D
Note to our more sensitive readers:
No, I did not insult the Cap'n by saying he is a cartoon ass,
it is a long running in joke between us!
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/and-i-bring-you-the-most-epic-pipe-turds
:!:
:
:
...dunno if War Horse is gonna be called a bar or a plug,
but whatever it's called, by all accounts it will be most excellent,
and planned to be released in 25g size to remain true to the workingman spirit of its ancestral forebear.
I am quite excited for the release.
but whatever it's called, by all accounts it will be most excellent,
and planned to be released in 25g size to remain true to the workingman spirit of its ancestral forebear.
I am quite excited for the release.
Hmmm, did you change medications MLC? Ha ha, that's a 180 degree change towards War Horse. I am looking forward to it also. Since I saw this thread before the holidays, I have acquired a bar of Wessex Gold Brick and smoked half of it so far. It is good, and I look forward to trying other Wessex offerings, but still, IMO, it's not outstanding, good on the verge of great, but there are just so many Virginias out there.
I found that the brick fits right into one of the small Mason Jars that I use easily. I've also found that I like to carve off slices from two different sides to make the brick dwindle down in size, but keep it's dimensional ratio. Ha ha, I'm just a nerd like that. ::
I found that the brick fits right into one of the small Mason Jars that I use easily. I've also found that I like to carve off slices from two different sides to make the brick dwindle down in size, but keep it's dimensional ratio. Ha ha, I'm just a nerd like that. :
:
Big difference between R/R (which imo should not have been released) and the new Plug, which is pressed in Denmark by Orlik just like all the other stuff I love.
Apples 'n oranges.
8)
I actually do need a certain medication but I have no health insurance.
Nuvigil is very expensive.
:|
Timely bump. Plugs have been all up in my heazy the last week or so after cracking open my second tin of Triple Play. The first was a bit of a disaster in retrospect. I didn't have a sharp enough knife to make clean slices yet I decided to slice the entire plug and jar it as a broken flake which I would rub slightly for expeditious smoking. For the second tin I decided to only cut a single flake at a time. The difference is so profound it's like an entirely different blend. And the difference is Perique.
As perique dries it's impact rapidly deteriorates within a blend, ime. This is an issue with perique that I've posted about before. I think perique blends are best somewhere within the first 2 weeks of popping a tin. Even when jarred immediately I find the impact moves from fruity to bready with fruity overtones in a similar time frame.
Anyway, back to TP, in my first tin the perique was a subtle fruity note while in the second it was the foundation of the blend. Losing the perique makes the blend all about the midrange; smoky notes playing against the sweet, slightly tangy red.
At this point I'm a plug convert. I want every tobacco to come in a plug. A quick search at spc shows a very narrow range of plugs, all but two of which feature perique as a major component. That's cool and all, but I'm curious about how other styles respond to being plugged.
I've found but haven't ordered/smoked Peterson's Perfect, Wessex Gold, Jack Knife and Kendall Plug (by which I'm particularly intrigued as BBF was last seasons favorite).
I'm not quite wizened enough to wet my walking stick in the murky waters of codgerdom, does anyone have a recommendation for plugs from a US vendor?
Bird's sing cheap, cheap, cheap.
Edit: too much going on this morning to type quickly. MLC EPIC HAUL :worship:
As perique dries it's impact rapidly deteriorates within a blend, ime. This is an issue with perique that I've posted about before. I think perique blends are best somewhere within the first 2 weeks of popping a tin. Even when jarred immediately I find the impact moves from fruity to bready with fruity overtones in a similar time frame.
Anyway, back to TP, in my first tin the perique was a subtle fruity note while in the second it was the foundation of the blend. Losing the perique makes the blend all about the midrange; smoky notes playing against the sweet, slightly tangy red.
At this point I'm a plug convert. I want every tobacco to come in a plug. A quick search at spc shows a very narrow range of plugs, all but two of which feature perique as a major component. That's cool and all, but I'm curious about how other styles respond to being plugged.
I've found but haven't ordered/smoked Peterson's Perfect, Wessex Gold, Jack Knife and Kendall Plug (by which I'm particularly intrigued as BBF was last seasons favorite).
I'm not quite wizened enough to wet my walking stick in the murky waters of codgerdom, does anyone have a recommendation for plugs from a US vendor?
Bird's sing cheap, cheap, cheap.
Edit: too much going on this morning to type quickly. MLC EPIC HAUL :worship:
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