Day's Work Day's Work

As a professor of history, I do not know where subscribers got the idea that in the 19th Century there was no difference between chewing and smoking tobacco. It is true that some late 19th Century tobacco manufacturers sold their smoking tobacco in small cans that were marked "For smoking or chewing" but these were not really considered chewing tobaccos by the average person. They were just an "emergency" source. Plug tobaccos were always intended solely for chewing and the process to make them goes back to the 1500's. The Days O Work brand is one of the oldest brands of plug tobacco, having its origin in the 1700's. Plugs were intended to fit in a man's vest pocket and were consumed by Eastern gentlemen cutting off a small piece at a time with a tiny tobacco knife. Pioneers carried the tradition westward where the common pocket knife took the place of the specialty pocket knife. The inner tobacco has always been Grade B but included smaller leaf stems, while the outer wrapper (described as paper here) was made from the finest cigar wrapper leaf. Original manufacture was by stacking leaves in a door sized form and covering it with a flat board. Weights were then added to press the tobacco over several weeks time, where it could then be cut into plugs with a roller knife before wrapping in the finer grade leaf. Today they use hydraulic pressing to speed up production but the remainder of the process remains the same as in the 1700's.

It's chewing tobacco. Why anyone would try to smoke it in a pipe is mind boggling.

This plug was probably meant to be chewed, but in the 19th Century no distinction was made between a chewing and a smoking plug. Vintage containers from before 1930 often indicate "for smoking OR chewing", and I am not aware that there is any processing distinction between chewing plugs and smoking plugs, just as there isn't any between "dipping" snuff and snuffing snuff. I regularly inhale Garrett's Scotch Rappé, presumably meant largely to be "dipped", and I can assure you that it is a very fine, unscented composition that wouldn't be out of place up the nostrils of a French marquis.

DAY's WORK, for which I paid all of $3.50 at PATHMARK, is mostly, if not wholly, dark air-cured ["Kentucky"] burley, bronze-coloured, neatly and tightly pressed into a plug. As with twists, its shiny, oily surface smelled of nothing in particular beyond a certain leathery redolence when held near the nose. I had some difficulty lighting it, but after it caught on it smoked cooly and steadily without gunk.

The taste was not all that different from HALF 'N HALF?or Orlik's Dark Strong Kentuky. The dull, earthy flavour of dark burley, not unlike a smoked sausage, free of bite or fireworks, wafted through my shank, sort of like black coffee, not too strong but unsugared. I rather liked its plain-spoken one-dimensionality. A bit of a strong, silent type: utterly reliable, will not keep you awake nights.

A very inexpensive way to learn about plugs; if you like burley, I think you might like this.

They now soak it in a syrup which makes it sticky and sweet. You can no longer taste tobacco. It is now for kids. Unlike their original which had no syrup.

A good smoke if a bit cumbersome in its prep..

This is most certainly a chewing plug and today is sold as such. In days past plugs were often marked and sold "for pipe or chew". Its readily available locally so I figured I'd give it a try.

Appearance: This comes as a little brick wrapped in cellophane. Under the cellophane it has some type of paper wrap around the plug. It smells very "sweet tobaccoy" and is extremely wet and very sticky. A nice state for a chew, not so much for a smoke.

Preparation/Packing: As mentioned by previous reviewers here this takes a long time to get into smokeable condition. I completely cut the plug up into cubes and left it sitting out for a week on my counter. It does eventually dry out and can then be further cut down or rubbed out. From there load it as you would any other cube/rough cut. For best results I found it better to pack it a bit on the loose side due to the moisture and this seems to make it easier to keep it burning.

Smoking: Days Work will demand more then a few relights due to the very heavy casing even when dry it's not the best burner. It's taste very much reminds me of Prince Albert. By my tastes it's almost uncanny. The mentions below of raisins and molasses are spot on and show themselves both before the smoke in the plugs smell as well as during the smoke in its taste. I detect a hint of cocoa in there as well. Slightly sweet and no detectable bite even when pushed make this a very nice smoke! A bowl will last you quite awhile as it burns slowly. The taste holds through all the way to the finish, however expect a clump of dottle here. This will lesson the drier it is when you smoke it. I do appreciate the lack of an ashy finish that can sometimes accompany the very similar Prince..

Conclusion: This is a tough one for me. It's quite good and quite a pain in the ass to get smokeable. With as many good plugs & ropes out there as there are it's hard to justify the extra effort required here. That said, a part of me feels it's worth it. Easily 3 stars, for now I'll keep it in stock.

This is Prince Albert as a plug..

It is my duty to inform you that this is not for smoking but chewing as far as I know.I bought this twenty yrs. ago as just that,and thats what I did with it I would not even think of putting it in a pipe.I don't know how it got on the reviews but its not pipe tobbaco.

This plug cut "chewing tobacco" is best left for exactly that.

Any serious plug smoker would find this a waste of time no matter how you would slice and rub it out. Very "sugary" and sticky to begin with and even with letting it dry out it still was difficult to deal with. I can appreciate the other reviews however, if you've decided to try plug tobaccos go ahead and spend what you need, to buy a regular plug...

Simply a waste of time...

As a regular plug tobacco smoker for over 40 years I would recommed either Golden Bar or perhaps Yachtsman plug tobaccos for beginners.

I tried this several times over the last two weeks and smoked about half the plug... packing it in various ways and experimenting with several type cuts. For the most part it was smoked in a Castello Sea Rock straight billiard.

Plug chewing tobacco encased in a yellow tobacco leaf colored paper. It’s strong and will give you a large dose of nicotine. Mostly dark burley and some dark fired leaf soaked in black strap molasses, and cane syrup. As far as plug chewing tobacco goes Days O Work is quality chew. This was my grandfather’s chewing tobacco, and my first taste of tobacco.

Chew it don't smoke it. But, this is the strongest chew I've ever had, and a damn fine one as well it really gives you the full tobacco experience. This is a real mans chew it's not candy chew like redman golden blend.

I am almost embarrassed to review this. It was only a couple bucks so I threw it onto an order of other tobaccos. It's a compact, sweet smelling plug, like molasses and maple syrup. It isn't a whole leaf plug but seems to be shredded tobacco tightly compressed into a plug. I'm not a chewer, and yes I did chew a bit which was immediately followed by spitting, rinsing, gargling, and brushing my teeth. The tobacco is very wet...not moist pipe tobacco wet, but covered in a sticky syrup, almost like hookah tobacco wet. It was gummy and sticky on my fingers and almost impossible to fully rub out. After airing out for 4 or 5 hours it was still sticky. I stuffed it into a meer and tried it out. Like others have said it just won't light, and I roasted my tongue trying to get it to light up. Once it did get going it tasted sweet and I could taste the burley but by the time I could taste anything it went out again and again and again and then I got this syrupy steam into my mouth that tasted foul. After that...I dumped it out and shook my head wondering why on earth I even wasted the couple bucks on this. Maybe 50 years ago it was smokable but not today... chew it...don't smoke it...or use it for potpourri for its sweet smell for all I care... this is not like the SG or G&H plugs...