American Made Plugs Versus UK Made Plugs.
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Who knows whether this is genuine or not, but an "18th-century Tobacco Plug" was put up for auction earlier this year that looked like this:
https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/woolley-and-wallis/catalogue-id-srwo10095/lot-f2ac4ccc-8ba2-4e6a-920b-a56b009980d3
https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/woolley-and-wallis/catalogue-id-srwo10095/lot-f2ac4ccc-8ba2-4e6a-920b-a56b009980d3
Pitchfork, that image finally explains to me why we call plug tobacco plug. I suspect the name derives more from the original shape of these compressed tobaccos than anything else. That most definitely looks like a plug to me.
To me, and perhaps it is only my opinion, plug in the modern sense is a different shape of course. It is rock hard and more than likely made of the whole leaf. If it is made from compressed ribbon cut and comes apart relatively easily then I would consider that a crumble cake.
I also don't believe that plugs are made by allowing the steam to come into contact with the tobacco. I always understood it to be a method of heating the compression plates.
To me, and perhaps it is only my opinion, plug in the modern sense is a different shape of course. It is rock hard and more than likely made of the whole leaf. If it is made from compressed ribbon cut and comes apart relatively easily then I would consider that a crumble cake.
I also don't believe that plugs are made by allowing the steam to come into contact with the tobacco. I always understood it to be a method of heating the compression plates.
Great find! Love the history, but I would like to know if there's still a valid distinction between cake and plug as there once was:
Plug- compressed whole leaf
Cake-compressed cut leaf.
Jay- Tobacco placed in an airtight (or nearly so) compression chamber and put under great pressure for days or weeks would lose very little moisture. Heat would not be able to drive out much moisture under that pressure, and the mass would be tightly compressed, also limiting evaporation.
I have a plug or cake in my cupboard that's been there two years—in a tin, but one with a plastic top— and while the edges are dry, it's plenty moist inside.
Plug- compressed whole leaf
Cake-compressed cut leaf.
Jay- Tobacco placed in an airtight (or nearly so) compression chamber and put under great pressure for days or weeks would lose very little moisture. Heat would not be able to drive out much moisture under that pressure, and the mass would be tightly compressed, also limiting evaporation.
I have a plug or cake in my cupboard that's been there two years—in a tin, but one with a plastic top— and while the edges are dry, it's plenty moist inside.
Plugs would have been a great way to get contraband tobacco into prison. I wonder if prison plugs are bigger or smaller in England. :
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My understanding is that the term plug was in bygone times used loosely to describe any tobacco that had had pressure applied to it during processing, be it a simple block or slab of pressed tobacco or a tightly wound twist or rope.
These were then cut to length by the tobacconist for the customer for him to either chew or cut apart for smoking.
"Plug- compressed whole leaf
Cake-compressed cut leaf."
I would amend that to...
Plug: Hard pressed tobacco
Cake: Light pressed tobacco
...hence we get crumble cake which crumbles due to the light pressing. FWIW the only plugs that I have had that would easily crumble apart are Temple Bar and Jack knife Plug...both American made.
Whole leaf or cut leaf really doesn't come into it.
The tobacconists of old would buy in ready prepared tobaccos (of all kinds) and make up mixtures or plugs using these prepared tobaccos as and how they chose to suit their customers.
Regards,
Jay.
These were then cut to length by the tobacconist for the customer for him to either chew or cut apart for smoking.
"Plug- compressed whole leaf
Cake-compressed cut leaf."
I would amend that to...
Plug: Hard pressed tobacco
Cake: Light pressed tobacco
...hence we get crumble cake which crumbles due to the light pressing. FWIW the only plugs that I have had that would easily crumble apart are Temple Bar and Jack knife Plug...both American made.
Whole leaf or cut leaf really doesn't come into it.
The tobacconists of old would buy in ready prepared tobaccos (of all kinds) and make up mixtures or plugs using these prepared tobaccos as and how they chose to suit their customers.
Regards,
Jay.
Jay- Have you a cite or two for the above? By tobacconist do you mean retail only, or retail and large firms such as Dunhill or Fox or Davidoff?
Hah! I seek only truth and light..... Yeah, sure.
But I believe it's useful for a distinction be made between cake and plug. Maybe that's impossible. I don't care what it was called in near or distant past, just if today there's a legitimate distinction.
Waiting for Russ, Greg, Joe, or Jeremy or any other great blender to chime in....... Crickets.....
But I believe it's useful for a distinction be made between cake and plug. Maybe that's impossible. I don't care what it was called in near or distant past, just if today there's a legitimate distinction.
Waiting for Russ, Greg, Joe, or Jeremy or any other great blender to chime in....... Crickets.....
"- Have you a cite or two for the above? By tobacconist do you mean retail only, or retail and large firms such as Dunhill or Fox or Davidoff?"
John, no efforts on my part are going to sway you so perhaps you ought consider starting a thread yourself to give you the truth and light that you so desire? Forever asking for citations is getting wearisome, how about looking for them yourself?
This is supposed to be about American versus UK made plugs and how they differ, that is all. I take back my comment suggesting you have a bee in your bonnet, you have a whole bloody nest in there ::
"Waiting for Russ, Greg, Joe, or Jeremy or any other great blender to chime in."
Folks who don't make solid plugs either!
Regards,
Jay.
John, no efforts on my part are going to sway you so perhaps you ought consider starting a thread yourself to give you the truth and light that you so desire? Forever asking for citations is getting wearisome, how about looking for them yourself?
This is supposed to be about American versus UK made plugs and how they differ, that is all. I take back my comment suggesting you have a bee in your bonnet, you have a whole bloody nest in there :
:"Waiting for Russ, Greg, Joe, or Jeremy or any other great blender to chime in."
Folks who don't make solid plugs either!
Regards,
Jay.
This is how I have always understood it. The denseness of the plug should not make much of a difference on the name. Is should depend on the construction (whole leaf or ribbon cut).
To me, it seems everyone is in agreeance, Jay is the one who seems to be holing on to this idea that the denser the plug the better...
I will just leave this video hear...
How they make Union Square
No, I think Jay is saying that how Americans define plugs is different than how the UK folks define it. Or, not so much define it, but their's is different.
To me, if I cut a plug and it falls apart, why the heck was it a plug in the first place. Whereas when I cut up Warrior or Velvan, or Condor,(which is what Jay is talking about) I get dense little cubes that cannot be rubbed out.
To me, if I cut a plug and it falls apart, why the heck was it a plug in the first place. Whereas when I cut up Warrior or Velvan, or Condor,(which is what Jay is talking about) I get dense little cubes that cannot be rubbed out.
"this idea that the denser the plug the better..."
Not at all Neil, not necessarily 'better' but that the density of the pressing distinguishes a 'plug' from a 'cake', that is all.
Regards,
Jay.
Not at all Neil, not necessarily 'better' but that the density of the pressing distinguishes a 'plug' from a 'cake', that is all.
Regards,
Jay.
I believe the common distinction has to do with the tobcco used and not pressure: Plug = whole leaf and Cake (Kake) = ribbon cut. Why are we trying to make it anymore confusing than that?
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