Samuel Gawith Grousemoor Plug

This stuff is a LOT better than the tinned grouse moor. I bought this from cup o' joes a while back, and it tastes very superior to the tinned blend.

Smooth, very "soapy" and lakeland-ey... Another old-world style tobacco with a long and rich history. The topping is very floral, and the tobacco is very good stuff.

7 out of 10.

Long live Gawith!

Holy monkey crap -- superconcentrated industrial-strength Grousemoor!

The plug version of one of Gawith's most notorious tobaccos is not for the faint of heart. Not only is the tobacco about three times stronger, but the floral taste is overwhelming; it never gives way to the natural tobacco flavor the way the ribbon version does -- hell, it doesn't even leave your mouth for about an hour after you've smoked it. If you hate Grousemoor, avoid this stuff like plutonium.

On the other hand, after smoking this, the ribbon version will seem like a stately, ever-so-slightly flavored smoke...!

I've been a 4 star fan of Grousemoor (50 gm tin) for years and always stock up when available. As such, I've always wanted to try the plug version and recently purchased an 8 ounce brick. A brick it is! Very dense and hard, but with a beautifully sweet smelling scent mixed with that aftershave-like essence typical with SG and GH offerings.

Preparation was not easy, and after cutting/peeling away some layers, I immediately loaded my pipe to try this. It was difficult to get going and to keep lit, but well worth the effort once it stayed smouldering in my pipe. It reminds me more of GH's Brown Flake Scented, another favorite of mine, rather than the 50 gm tinned Grousemoor. In a double blind test, I wouldn't say that the plug version is the same as the tinned version. For me, they are two different tobaccos with the same name, and I don't mind this at all! The mouth feel is very nice with this and it does have a nicotine kick that can creep up on you, taking you by surprise. It was sweet all the way through to the end of the smoke. Takes to relighting after having let sit for a while without harshness. All in all, a pleasant smoking experience. The aftershave essence seems to diminish as one smokes through the bowl, but a tonquin-like sweetness remains throughout and is delightful. I can't say that I taste the lemon grass that is present in the tinned version, or note any other similarities to it.

I don't mind the preparation involved with this. The only downside is the price..around $45 before taxes and shipping for an 8 ounce brick..ouch! In spite of this, I rate it highly with 4 stars.

I’ve tried Grousemoor and I’ve tried Grousemoor plug and both are very similar (obviously), the plug burning somewhat slower than the tinned variety, if it’s cut thicker than the ribbon.

I do have a confession to make however; when I was jarring up this plug I was short on jars and thought “well, the Grousemoor has a very distinct smell and flavour; I’ll just toss it into the jar with the Canon plug and (as we say in Yorkshire) it’ll be reyt.”

At worst I thought that the last bit of Canon plug would take on the lemon grass quality of the Grousemoor and that wouldn’t be so bad as to be a terrible thing. Besides, I said that I’d get another jar, separate them like two lions that can’t be in the same enclosure, and everything would be rosey.

The down side to my plan was that I didn’t take into account how quickly I would forget to get another jar - it turns out, really quite quickly!

I was doing some general cleaning on the pipe shelf the other day and there, at the back of the umpteen other jars, was the small jar that I had forgotten all about.

After a good year to a year and a half coseyed up in the jar, I thought I would investigate and...I can’t tell which one is which; not By sight, smell or smoke and it’s not that the Canon has taken on the lemon grass, Floris scent of the Grousemoor it’s that the Grousemoor flavour has totally gone.

Not withstanding this rather large oversight on my part - if you like the aromatic qualities of the tinned version then this could be a slower version for you to try.

For me this isn’t an all day smoke but it is in the rotation at certain times.

Tastes like hippy.

I'm reviewing this to steer people who aren't fans of the "Lakeland"-scent well clear. From 10' away, you can smell the floral aroma coming off the unlit plug (which smells a lot like patchouli to me). This scent doesn't go away as you smoke. It stays there, oscillating between overpowering and noticeable.

I suspect there is a large contingent of people out there who like this topping. . .the way to rounds out the rougher edges of a VA blend, and the way it perfumes the air like incense.

I'm not entirely averse to the experience, especially during the last 1/3 of the smoke when the tobacco grows richer and there's some interesting interplay. But it's just not my thing. So my recommendation is only 2 stars.

A strange tobacco, this. Tastes like cookies.

Curious about plugs and ropes, I some time ago placed an order with the good people at www.pipesandtobaccos.com, the Swiss tobacconist that provides the intriguing Schurch blends.

Grousemoor Plug is not a tobacco I plan to try again. At first, it was great fun cutting slices from the plug and then rubbing them out. The rewards, unfortunately, do not justify the effort. It has a very interesting flavour, flowery and very sweet, but one can't keep it lit. Whilst smoking this, one becomes convinced that one is smoking matches, not tobacco. When it does manage to burn, it burns HOT. Searing, parching smoke.

The British know how to make very fine pipe tobaccos. St. Bruno, for instance, or the eternal Condor. Grousemoor Plug is not one of Britain's finer attempts.