JackKnife Plug

[atskywalker]

LOL! That must've been a Freudian Slip! Coming to think of it SexPence sounds more "enticing" than SixPence :D

 

[cobguy]

Peter Heinrich Dark Strong Flake

Rattray Stirling Flake

Solani 660 - Silver Flake

Newminster #403 Superior Round Slices

Peterson 3P's Plug

SG Cob Plug

 

[jkrug]

Big fan of JKP and Six Pence also. I will have to give Navigator a try and see what that's about. So many great blends and so little time to try them all. ::

 

[atskywalker]

Just fired a bowl of Triple Play. it is a very refined smoke for sure. So far the Perique is not overwhelming me but then again I find out what Perique does to my mouth later . Its certainly not a substitute for JKP but a good change of pace.
The other thing is that I think I've been smoking too much JKP. I've been having stomach aches for the last few days and yesterday I woke up feeling like I'm hungover (I didn't drink!). Given the strength I'm wondering if I've overloaded the system with vitamin N.

 

[glpease]

Sex Pence? Strumpet Funds?
JKP is a stout tobacco, for sure. Strangely, despite my position as a founding member of the Nicowimp Club (really - I don't tolerate many strong tobaccos well at all), I can smoke JKP without too much concern. But, we're all different. There are blends that others find mild that will send me into tail spins, and stuff that I smoke without incident that affect some others to dramatic ends…
It's all part of the Magical Mystery Tour that is our delightful pastime.

 

[mrenglish]

Six Pence has been really growing on me. I'm about half way through a tin and each bowl is better than the previous. You definitely cannot go wrong with Jackknife or Triple Play, they are definitely worth it.
Good to see you posting again, Greg.

 

[captpat]

I like ODF, found JKP to be well.... meh I've got some with several years on it so at some point I'll see if aging helps.

 

[atskywalker]

OK. 3 days into my tin of Triple Play and I'm tolerating the Perique quite well so far. I can only say wow! Its got a certain fruity note that is just incredible. Is this why people describe Perique as "plum"?
It also packs a wallop of vitamin N. In fact I'm feeling it more than I do with JKP.

 

[glpease]

The fruitiness is the interplay of the perique with the virginias. People often attribute "spiciness," "pepperiness," "plumminess," and other descriptive terms to different "types" of perique, but it's actually the way the stuff plays with the other tobaccos in a blend that makes the majority of the difference. And, yeah, TP's got some kick. Again, it's one of those things that will affect different smokers more or less depending on tolerance, body chemistry, moon phase or cosmic rays. Personally, like you, I find JKP gentler than TP on my nerves, but others report the opposite. It's all part of the vast mystery that is Tobacco.
Glad you're enjoying it!

 

[atskywalker]

Greg! Thank you for your response.. I'm honoured. I started going through your blends one by one six months after getting into smoking a pipe. You're name is certainly the Apple Inc. of Pipe tobacco :lol:

 

[tarak]

I've got a plug of JKP that's been getting happy for 2 years in a jar- can't decide when I'll try it. I've grown a great appreciation for GLP blends after initially not being blown away. I find they just explode with some age. I won't smoke them when they are absolutely fresh. Pease is a genius. BTW, I've got a picture of me lighting a pipe that looks just like a picture of him, so I think I'm pretty special.
If you're liking Dark Fired, I do think you've got to give ODF a spin as others have noted. Personally, I like my dark fired in metered doses- as an accent rather than the main course.
If you're interested in a much more subtle direction, rather than a punch in the face, I'd try GL Pease SixPence.

 

[atskywalker]

@tarak - Thanks for the suggestions. I love ODF and in full dose. Its sublime.... Tried and loved SixPence as well although my experience with it so far is that it mostly smokes hotter than I like. Navigator, IMHO, is one of Gregs best blends among those I tried.
On another note. I opened a tin of JKP Ready Rubbed having finished my plug tin. I can almost say they behave very differently. Something is lost in the ready rubbed version and I can't really put my finger on it. Its less "Full".... Its still a very tasty blend but I'd stock up on JKP proper and maybe have a few tins of Ready Rubbed for when I'm on the move and can't prepare a plug (I don't prepare the whole plug upon opening as some people do - I like going through the ritual of cutting ).
Insight on what is lost in the Ready Rubbed would be great. Maybe by the man himself .

 

[glpease]

On another note. I opened a tin of JKP Ready Rubbed having finished my plug tin. I can almost say they behave very differently. Something is lost in the ready rubbed version and I can't really put my finger on it. Its less "Full".... Its still a very tasty blend but I'd stock up on JKP proper and maybe have a few tins of Ready Rubbed for when I'm on the move and can't prepare a plug (I don't prepare the whole plug upon opening as some people do - I like going through the ritual of cutting ).
Insight on what is lost in the Ready Rubbed would be great. Maybe by the man himself .

So, here's the rundown on the rubdown. At the moment the ReadyRubbed version is cut and spun, it will taste exactly the same as the plug from which it was made. Things, however, begin to change almost immediately. The plug will have a higher percentage of its leaf going through fermentation because of the plugging, while the ribbons will have all that air around them, resulting in a very different aging process. Within days, seriously, the two become noticeably different from one another, and in a month or two, they'll seem almost like different blends.
I've been exploring this stuff for quite a few years now, and can with certainty say that over a short to medium timeframe, plugs age differently from flakes, which age differently from discs, which age differently from ribbons. The exact same tobacco presented in different forms will each take on unique characteristics. After several decades in the tins, my best prediction based on these shorter-term experiments is that tins of each will begin to converge, eventually, and probably asymptotically, into possessing greater similarity to each other again. See me in another thirty years, and I'll have more conclusive evidence.

 

[atskywalker]

Thanks Greg. One seldom gets direct insight like this from the creator himself :wink:
What I understood from your explanation is that a plug would probably reach its peak potential faster than the cut/spun leaf due to the higher percentage of leaf going through fermentation. I'm personally starting to (subjectively) notice a link between density and flavour. Plugs, flakes, and disks taste fuller to my palette.
I'm wondering what a Navigator Plug would taste like! Can something so already perfect be improved just by changing its form?
May you live long and prosper :D

 

[glpease]

What I understood from your explanation is that a plug would probably reach its peak potential faster than the cut/spun leaf due to the higher percentage of leaf going through fermentation. I'm personally starting to (subjectively) notice a link between density and flavour. Plugs, flakes, and disks taste fuller to my palette.
I'm wondering what a Navigator Plug would taste like! Can something so already perfect be improved just by changing its form?

Density both in the tobacco's form and in how much we tend to pack the bowl with is part of that difference. For instance, one particular pipe requires about 1.6g of ribbon to fill the bowl for smoking, whereas if filled with a sliced plug, rubbed out to my preferred consistency, it takes about 2.8g. Quite a difference. The plug lasts longer, yes, but it also delivers a much denser and more intense smoking experience. More tobacco in the bowl translates to more flavour, as well as a longer smoke.
Navigator as a plug would ferment differently, and as you mentioned, would likely reach its peak sooner, but it's not clear that it would be an improvement. Might be an interesting experiment...

 

[tarak]

Hmmm, I have yet to try Navigator. So many blends, so much time. I've been focusing on getting some Haddo's in the cellar because with a bit of age....yum yum city. I think I'll be doing a TAD in October, perhaps its time for Navigator.
I do have some 2 year old ODF (its not for me), if you find yourself long on Navigator, we could trade
Fascinating input from Greg on the aging process in various cuts. Aging aside, ready rubbed robs you of the satisfaction of cutting your own tobacco like some kind of Alaskan Wilderness Man.

 

[atskywalker]

Greg. Thanks again for the feedback. Maybe one day you'll get interested in carrying out that Navigator Plug experiment. I haven't tried all your blends of course but I've found Navigator and JKP to be just legendary. My understanding is that you excel in Latakia blends (I guess hence Lord Latakia ). Only Latakia blend I tried of yours was Odyssey which as you described it was HUGE and overwhelmed me. I can understand why Latakia lovers would LOVE it but so far I haven't developed the taste for it in large quantities.
My cellar is full of tins of your blends so maybe one day I'll discover my Latakia perfection level through one of them.
PS: My first blend of yours was Cairo which I actually consumed in Cairo while spending sometime there (I grew up there) . I loved it and for some reason I felt the essence of Cairo in it as you described. Maybe it was the psychological priming your description evoked but hey! That's the mystery of it all as you describe.

 

[saltedplug]

Dark-fired is one of my favorite tobaccos given its dark, smoky, strong nature. Cumberland, JackKnife Plug, Triple Play and Silver Flake are all favorites, but really, in the vernacular of Mr. Pease who said that he had used just enough to give one of his blends "dimension," the DF in Silver Flake seems to me to be really quite small, to add just a touch of darkness.
Dark Flake is made from Malawi Dark-Fired and Indian Air-Cured, and perhaps the former is grown from seed that produces DF elsewhere, which is the same story that I remember reading about Kendal KY; standard varietal seed grown in the tropics. At any rate, though darker, Dark Flake has the Malawi whose decription includes the words "dark-fired."

 

[vink]

You should really try Solani silver flake, the VA is more upfront then with ODF tho. Fresh you get the kentucky taste, but with just a little age, a nice sweetness is present all along. I've been told Sixpence is pretty similar, but not as good!

 

[misterlowercase]

Density both in the tobacco's form and in how much we tend to pack the bowl with is part of that difference. For instance, one particular pipe requires about 1.6g of ribbon to fill the bowl for smoking, whereas if filled with a sliced plug, rubbed out to my preferred consistency, it takes about 2.8g. Quite a difference. The plug lasts longer, yes, but it also delivers a much denser and more intense smoking experience. More tobacco in the bowl translates to more flavour, as well as a longer smoke.

I hadn't really paused to consider this angle.
Thanks for the pause,

it made me think.
It might seem obvious, but I hadn't really given it any thought, and reading this description prompts me to wanna hunker down and get more serious with thinking about tobacco, as I'm often lazy and don't get as critically engaged as I feel I should.
::