Bendigo Plug

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mawnansmiff

Lifer
Oct 14, 2015
7,385
7,295
Sunny Cornwall, UK.
Never heard of it Simon, what era are we talking about?

Cracking sign by the way.

Out of curiosity I looked up the word 'bendigo' in the OED, one meaning refers to a 'neckerchief with a bird's eye pattern'. More interestingly & perhaps related to Bendigo tobacco was what was listed below that entry.....

3. More fully bird's eye tobacco. A variety of pipe tobacco in which the whole leaf, including the rib, is finely sliced, with the sections of rib giving the appearance of a bird's eye pattern (see sense A. 1) to the finished tobacco.

1834 Yorks. Gaz. 18 Jan. (advt.) The very best Bird's Eye and Shag Tobacco that is manufactured.

1858 A. Trollope Three Clerks I. ii. 29 Mary, my dear, a screw of bird's-eye!

1929 R. Graves Good-bye to all That (1960) 262 Selling a packet of Bird's Eye tobacco to the Poet Laureate with one hand, and with the other weighing out half a pound of brown sugar for Sir Arthur Evans's gardener's wife.

2021 www.smokingpipes.com (accessed 28 May 2021) Gawith Hoggarth & Co.: Dark Bird's Eye..1oz: $4.34.


Regards,

Jay.
 

simong

Lifer
Oct 13, 2015
2,532
15,277
UK
Interesting stuff jay!?
Although I'm pretty sure it was named after a racehorse. It was quite a big seller, if you come across any old photos of the streets in Dublin, more likely than not you'll spot a Bendigo sign or advertisement somewhere. As to which era, I'm not sure but I think it survived up until the 70's maybe.
 

jguss

Lifer
Jul 7, 2013
2,413
6,218
More seriously, one source suggests that in addition to a dark flake Bendigo came as a roll and plug. The plug and dark flake at least were introduced by 1892 were available as late as 1947. W & M Taylor was founded in 1800 and located at 119/121 Frances Street in Dublin. Their other tobaccos included a Smoking Mixture and an Irish Roll.
 
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jguss

Lifer
Jul 7, 2013
2,413
6,218
Addendum: I see at some point Bendigo came as a Mixture too, available in Mild, Medium, and Full.

And yes, I think Jay’s right. Given when the tobacco was introduced it seems highly probable that it was named for the horse.
 
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paulfg

Lifer
Feb 21, 2016
1,567
2,932
Corfu Greece
there was some mention of bendigo plug in this thread.
It would appear it was still being produced around 2002 all be it by gallahers ,going on the date of the posts refered too and the mention of its possible demise in the near future

 

simong

Lifer
Oct 13, 2015
2,532
15,277
UK
there was some mention of bendigo plug in this thread.
It would appear it was still being produced around 2002 all be it by gallahers ,going on the date of the posts refered too and the mention of its possible demise in the near future

What a great old thread, cheers Paul!?
Never thought it would of still been around as late as 2002. Sounds a blissful plug doesn't it.?
I thought it might of disappeared in the 70's after seeing a couple of photos of o'connell st. After reading the thread it was just the neon advertising that went.
'Smoke Bendigo' just above the Guinness (1960's)
image.jpegBenson & Hedges replacing the Bendigo (1970's).
image.jpeg
 
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paulfg

Lifer
Feb 21, 2016
1,567
2,932
Corfu Greece
More seriously, one source suggests that in addition to a dark flake Bendigo came as a roll and plug. The plug and dark flake at least were introduced by 1892 were available as late as 1947. W & M Taylor was founded in 1800 and located at 119/121 Frances Street in Dublin. Their other tobaccos included a Smoking Mixture and an Irish Roll.
this thread shows pictures of advertisments showing Bendigo mixture and Bendigo cigarettes as well as roll & plug
see post number 10

 

condorlover1

Lifer
Dec 22, 2013
7,994
26,608
New York
He is around on one of the other pipe forums. I don't think he ever forgave myself, John or Dan (Woodsroad) for what was done to his beloved War Horse Bar. In his mind it was the tobacco worlds equivalent of suggesting Eddie Murphy should be the next James Bond!
 
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hawky454

Lifer
Feb 11, 2016
5,338
10,220
Austin, TX
He is around on one of the other pipe forums. I don't think he ever forgave myself, John or Dan (Woodsroad) for what was done to his beloved War Horse Bar. In his mind it was the tobacco worlds equivalent of suggesting Eddie Murphy should be the next James Bond!
He was passionate about pipe tobacco and it’s history, sometimes he could get a bit too into it but you’ve got to admire his passion. I believe he only frequents the Reddit sub forums now. I definitely miss his amazing posts but he does it to himself, I think Reddit is the only place that will still have him.
 

karam

Lifer
Feb 2, 2019
2,341
9,012
Basel, Switzerland
Never heard of it Simon, what era are we talking about?

Cracking sign by the way.

Out of curiosity I looked up the word 'bendigo' in the OED, one meaning refers to a 'neckerchief with a bird's eye pattern'. More interestingly & perhaps related to Bendigo tobacco was what was listed below that entry.....

3. More fully bird's eye tobacco. A variety of pipe tobacco in which the whole leaf, including the rib, is finely sliced, with the sections of rib giving the appearance of a bird's eye pattern (see sense A. 1) to the finished tobacco.

1834 Yorks. Gaz. 18 Jan. (advt.) The very best Bird's Eye and Shag Tobacco that is manufactured.

1858 A. Trollope Three Clerks I. ii. 29 Mary, my dear, a screw of bird's-eye!

1929 R. Graves Good-bye to all That (1960) 262 Selling a packet of Bird's Eye tobacco to the Poet Laureate with one hand, and with the other weighing out half a pound of brown sugar for Sir Arthur Evans's gardener's wife.

2021 www.smokingpipes.com (accessed 28 May 2021) Gawith Hoggarth & Co.: Dark Bird's Eye..1oz: $4.34.


Regards,

Jay.
If you haven’t watched The Professor and the Madman I’d highly recommend it, it’s about the fascinating story of the OED origins.