I have tried cutting it into flakes and folding, and I have had exceptional luck with a thick slab rubbed into a ribbon. I found the best flavor in my tall, thick-walled, paneled billiard which I thought would provide the least enjoyable smoke for this blend. I am nicely surprised by this.

Dry it out a little bit and it could be a one light tobacco. I will recommend JackKnife to anyone looking for a sweet bold satisfying blend.

I can't wait to try one from my cellar with some years on it.

Enjoy.

That said i cut it the thinnest i can as to get so to say a shaggy cut . Thickly cut it was smooth but had to relight too often. When i ribbon cut it or cube cut it it was smoother but lacked taste a bit then i cut it the thinnest i could and got a smooth , tasty and good burning tobacco .

I love Cumberland but this one is in a certain way smoother.

GLP did again a great job !!!

I've tried smoking this all three ways (shag, ribbon rubbed and cube). They all have their own progression of flavor. Of the three, I prefer the shag. It really emphasised an almost Perique peppery flavor that I really enjoyed.

I hear that GL Pease is going to be doing more blends in a plug. I look forward to that as well as smoking this blend once it has aged a while.

Earthy, smokey(without latakia), flavorful and cigar-like, with a fairly strong nic hit to boot.

I didn't notice much flavor changing through the bowl, this is a more homogeneous taste, which in this case, is not a bad thing.

JNP tastes more like a fine cigar than any of the cigar leaf pipe blends I've tried.

Destined for greatness. A real masterpiece.

Jack Knife Plug arrives very moist. I tried it fresh out of the tin. I tried it moderately dried out and I tried it crispy dry. All three moisture levels presented three different impressions as the smoke washed over my taste buds.

First, it is a "loose" plug that breaks up easily when sliced. You can ribbon cut it, shag cut it, cube cut it, broad cut it or apply chunks to your bowl. I always ribbon cut my flakes for an even burn and less relights.

The flavors varied only slightly as I worked my way down the bowl. When fresh out of the tin the flavor seemed muted. I enjoyed it much more moderately dried. At the crisply level the burn was quicker and the nicotine hit made me quiver in delight. This blend bears an old time deep & rich tobacco taste (delicious) that belted me and the flavor swayed only slightly to the sweet side as I puffed.

As for my thoughts about aging Jack Knife Plug. Do it. I did detect that unmistakable "fresh" Virginia taste as I smoked this blend. The listed components as well as the flavor presentation leads me to believe this one will mellow and provide a depth only the ocean can match once it's had 3-5 years added to it. I only hope I live long enough to try a 10-15 year old tin of Jack Knife Plug. I can't think of a better way to go to Heaven!

As stated by him and of course echoed by previous reviewers, preparation and pipe enter into the experience of JKP's enjoyment. The decision of a plug was his stroke of genius: ALL tobaccos rely on preparation and choice of pipe; we just tend to forget that and blithely do what we always do. But a brown bar staring back at us forces us to consider just what the hell we're going to do about it and accept a conscious responsibility for our enjoyment. It starts with getting to play with knives. (Great tin art, by the way.)

Me, I like dicing it. I like my smokes a bit on the moist side and this cut helps maintain an even level of flavorful steam. A shag cut would pack too densely or else burn too fast.

As to the bowl, it came as no surprise to me that a corn cob with no prior memories of latakia worked perfectly. Burley blends always seem to like cobs and this was no exception.

It seems odd to describe a taste by using a color (dark), but that's how coffee roast tastes are described, also brown sugar, chocolate, rum, even poultry meat. Kentucky leaf is the molasses cookie of tobaccos and what I like most about JKP. Not all of it is Kentucky, of course, Virginia is present to sweeten it. (Ironically, to acidify it in a chemical sense.)

I also like the fact that I didn't have to wait for this blend to age, unlike many Pease blends. There seems to be a culture assigned to this blend in particular to obtain mass quantities to hoard for aging. I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest maybe JKP won't necessarily improve much and perhaps backfire. Esoterica's Stonehaven, a blend I'd compare this to, lost much of its flavor spectrum during six years I cellared it. (Though fundamentally different, Penzance did too.) Time will tell with JKP. Compressed tobacco is a different environment for aging processes than loose or exposed leaf.

I didn't expect this to become a regular with me; I don't have the tolerance for nicotine others have. Because of its ritualistic preparation, JKP is kind of a novelty for when I have the time and place for it. Nevertheless, I will always want a chunk available. Thank you, Greg, for giving us something to ponder and for the leaf choice.

After lighting I experienced nutty and earthy flavors that I assume came from the burley and it left an oily feeling on my tongue. After smoking it for a week my overall impression was of rich dark earthy flavors with a hint of walnut tempered with the delicious sweetness of the Virginia. The finish was very short and left my mouth feeling oily; a few times I was also left with a buttery taste. The ash was gray and white and the room note was very pleasant leaving the room smelling like an old tobacco shop's fragrance. This blend had quite the nicotine punch but it was very mellow without any bite. I also smoked this in a different pipe for each bowl, and I could not find one in my rotation that it did not taste great in.

This was not the Holy Grail of tobacco for me, but I found it to be a superb blend. I love the strength and the marrying of the different tobaccos and the flavors they imparted at different times. Anyone who loves burley should definitely give this a shot, and if you crave a strong hit of vitamin "N" then you also should not pass by this blend. I will definitely buy more of this as I want to try cutting it different ways to see how that affects the taste, and I want to cellar some and see how the different tobaccos develop after stewing together for a few years.

Did the thick cut slice and rub for ribbon cut and dropped into a Ser Jacopo Rowlette Poker, full of flavor this way for me

Well enough said...off to grab many a tin of this one

Not only is this the Burley Blend that all other Burley Blends should be measured against, but it may be the Pipe Tobaco Blend that all other blends should be measured against. A Grand Slam of a Home Run for Mr. Pease. Ten stars out of four.

An unmistakeably and easily understated blend. The perfect Gentleman, smooth and gentle, yet with the unmistable presence of that special someone that commands the attention of all as they enter the room. Well rounded, but unforgettable. Perfectly mannered, but with no mistake commanding your attention and discretion. Gentle, yet strong as steel. A man's man of a tobacco, and what every woman would want of a man.

If you don't got none, get it! If you got some, by all means, get more!!!

(I should note here, that I'm not 100% certain of the difference between dark-fired Malawi and Kentucky. Maybe someone can explain the difference. . .but to my taste, they bring a similar peppery strength).

Until I tried JKP, I just assumed that dark-fired Malawi/Kentucky was just a completely dominant flavor. Functioning kind of like Cyprian Latakia. You can have more or less of it in a blend, but pretty much everything containing it is going to contain that very distinct, dominant note. But Pease has turned me around on that. JKP is a brilliant blend, with dark-fired flavors intermingling with brighter Virginias, and even a background of deep, almost cocoa-tinged aged leaf flavor (which I associate with aged Burley, but maybe that's not the source here).

All that is a long way of saying that JKP has become a top 5 blend for me. Which, for a guy admittedly addicted to trying every blend on the market, comes as a surprise. I tend to like a lot of new tobaccos, but not really love any. Jackknife Plug just suits me. Strong, complex, earthy, slightly sweet. It's amazing stuff.

And, one last thing, I find JKP morphs according to the pipe it's smoked in more than any blend I've found. In a smaller "Prince" style, it's very dark-fired heavy and sharp. In a chimney form, the mellow Virginias come through more. Such interesting stuff. Can't say enough positive things.

It is rich, full, heady, and has the texture of a cigar (as someone said), but no cigar leaf here. The earthy deep burley flavor is sweetened and lightened a little by the red and bright Virginias. But you must like strong, full, almost raw tobacco flavor to enjoy this. But it is not overpowering nor as strong as some fo C&D's burley flakes (e.g., #3).

At this point I must sound like everyone else who gives this one rave reviews. It deserves rave reviews, as what else would you expect for a blend called JackKnife! You better like it.

Out to stroll the moors with this one.

Presentation: Excellent Tin Note: Excellent, pure tobacco accented by the flue cured Preparation Flexibility: Excellent Smoking Characteristics: Very Good (needs to dry a touch) Taste: Excellent, pure sweet notes and hints of smokiness

This blend is a joy, it's very unique, very creative and delivers a pleasant all- tobacco smoking experience... The pure tobacco presentation also lends itself to great aging potential...

The best blend on the market today in my opinion.

As I was growing up in northern Minnesota, my cousin and I would frequent the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) and the bordering Canadian counterpart Quetico Provincial Park. In all, these comprise hundreds of square miles of true wilderness, a majestic and indescribably beautiful place where the only allowable mode of transportation is canoe and backpack—no roads, no motorboats, nothing. Even airplanes are not allowed to fly over. The area is rich with history, most notably of the French Voyageurs who would paddle their huge birchbark canoes, which held literally tons of merchandise, down the St. Lawrence Seaway to the North Shore of Lake Superior. From there they transferred their goods to smaller canoes and traveled into the interior to trade their goods with the Natives. They wintered at Hudson’s Bay and came back out in the spring laden with furs for the hat and coat industry in the Old Country.

These tough little men would portage their wares in canvas “backpacks” with the aid of straps that went over their foreheads, often carrying more than their bodyweight to the next lake where they would re-load and paddle until the next portage. All summer they worked their way deep into the wilderness, and all winter they would spend their earnings on booze and Indian women.

The Voyageurs ate pemmican and slept under their canoes. As they traveled they would paddle their canoes vigorously for one hour then pause a few minutes for a pipe. The distance they traveled was measured in “pipes”, and a typical day lasted eighteen pipes. When we traveled the BWCA my cousin and I would also take “pipes” although back then I didn’t smoke, so we would lie back in the canoe for ten minutes and soak in the warm sun, drinking water directly from the lake (no longer recommended), perhaps munching on some wild blueberries we had picked, and loving every minute of it.

The reason for this story is that I cannot help but think the Voyageurs would have enjoyed JackKnife Plug. This is an outdoor tobacco meant to be smoked by strong men (and strong women I suppose!) who love the smell of pine sap in the air and campfire smoke in the evening, and the plaintive cry of loons echoing across a wilderness lake. The plug may well have been the Voyageurs’ preferred form of the wonderful weed, as it would travel well, take up little space, and provide the flexibility of flake, ribbon or even chew if they preferred.

I surmise they may well have used clay pipes, but I have yet to try it in my clay. But I’ve smoked in several pipes and have concluded that JackKnife is yet another Pease masterpiece that will stake its own claim in the annals of great tobaccos. Rich and earthy from the start, and full of nicotine, JLP is sure to please those looking for an all-natural, strong, rich blend crafted from North American native varieties of Nicotiana.

I but several slices about 1 to 2 mm thick. Then I gave them a good rubbing, creating a very nice ribbon. Although it felt moist to my fingers, it packed well and burned beautifully. Perhaps one relight per bowl was necessary, never more than two.

Every pipe I tried provided an enjoyable smoke. But in my GBD pot, which has a bowl about as wide as it is deep, I found that some ashy flavors were emphasized a bit too much, and the overall taste was a bit too strong. In my self-made freehand, with a bowl about 2 inches deep and seven-eights inch deep, I found that the flavors were not strong enough, and exhaling fully through my nose – something I rarely practice – was very doable. My smallish Savinelli straight bulldog provided a sublime experience, just the right combination of flavor, strength, heat and burn. Any one of these might be just what you’re looking for, so please try it in several different types of bowls.

As the bowl progresses, the flavors remain relatively consistent, and while the Virginia sweetness occasionally elbows to the forefront, mostly Greg’s blending genius remains on display with a rich, delicious and harmonious flavor that simply satisfies and leaves one wanting another bowl. The smoke from the other end often has a perfumed quality, and I’m not sure where that’s coming from, but it’s very nice. “Earthy” is perhaps a somewhat overused adjective but it’s accurate. Earth, a bit of smokiness (but not much), and a meaty, burnt-toast richness are the hallmarks. And a few flavors I just can’t pin down which makes this a very intriguing blend.

I am a big fan of pure Virginias and rich English blends, but I occasionally smoke (and enjoy) things like Kendal Kentucky or Dark Plug for a switch. I’m beginning to believe there will be no need for those any longer when I’m reaching for a Latakia-free experience. JackKnife has it all, including the pure genius of being part of the “New World” series which apparently seeks to celebrate those varieties of leaf native to this great soil of ours.

There is good reason this stuff is flying off the shelves. I’m glad I bought five tins out of the gate. I am very anxious to experience this blend over the coming years and watching it develop into something that will probably become truly majestic. Five stars out of four.

Also, the flavor was interesting. I got the deep dark flavors with the hint of bright sweetness but this sweet character only opened up on a host of occasions and would only stay for a short while. It was the most enjoyable palate cleanser and it kept this blend from becoming a tasty but monotone one. I bought it for its stoutness and I was not disappointed but those fleeting bursts of sweetness were perfect... too long and they turn this into a lemon/chocolate candy. I have to think Mr Pease did this on purpose! :)

3.5 stars for this rounded down, more due to the fact that I haven't yet figured out how to keep it lit as I'd like than to any inherent flaw in the tobacco. I'm getting more of this one.