Samuel Gawith Chocolate Plug

This is the plug version of SG’s Chocolate Flake, and is very similar with a couple of differences. The chocolate topping is light, and its effect varies. It perks up some here and there, and pleasantly lingers when it does as it plays well with the tobaccos. The Cyprian Latakia is smokey, earthy, musty and woodsy sweet, and beefs up the blend without burying the other varietals. The Virginia offers grass and tart and tangy citrus, while the burley is mildly molasses sweet with a few nut, wood and earth notes, and is the third star in the mix. The strength is barely medium, while the taste falls a step or two short of that level. The nic-hit is in the center of mild to medium. It’s a little more rounded, balanced and lightly creamier from the pressing than the Flake version is, so the taste threshold is little less potent. Won't bite, and has no harsh or dull moments. Barely has any rough edges. It needs some dry time. Burns slow unless you chop it to pieces. Smokes cool and clean with a smoothly consistent, semi-sweet, lightly savory flavor. Leaves some moisture in the bowl, and requires a lot of relights. Has a short lived, pleasant after taste and room note. An all day smoke.

-JimInks

Samuel Gawith - Chocolate Plug.

Wow, this is one tough plug; it' VERY compacted and hard to slice. It's not all bad though, the flavour's good.

At first, I wanted quite a well rubbed consistency, but after trying diligently to reduce it to a fine crumble I gave up and stuffed some larger cubes than I'd have preferred into my pipe. Due to the size of the pieces of tobacco the pipe's tricky to get lit; I had to use my jet lighter. And then, it needs lots of attention otherwise it keeps going out.

Once lit, the chocolate's quite strong, yet it doesn't seem as potent as some of the chocolate aromatics I've had; it's very easy to taste the added flavour, but it doesn't have that 'stickiness' to it like Bob's Chocolate or some of the others do, it tastes more like the actual coco ingredient than just a chocolate bar; it tastes quite 'refined'.

There isn't too much to say about 'the basics'; meaning the nicotine and tobacco flavour. The nicotine's about medium and the tobacco flavours are a little outshined by the fabulous/natural way the chocolate comes across.

I enjoy this, but sadly I haven't smoked Sam G's flake version for awhile so can draw no comparison. For what it is though, a good blend with a unique chocolate appurtenance, I think three stars is about right.

Recommended.

Based on an ounce. Dense plug that required some skill to slice properly. I smoked a bowl of this alternatively with a bowl of Chocolate Flake (which is in my regular rotation) to compare the two.

This is most definitely Chocolate Flake in plug form. As I'm a lazy sort, I much prefer the flake and my deduction of a star is very simply due to the effort required to get this to smoke the way the flake does with a minimum of effort. This one tasted essentially the same as the flake. With normal moisture, the chocolate topping was very much in evidence with each puff with the latakia well to the rear. The main flavor was the bready tangy virginia along with the toasted nut sweetness of the burley. When dried the latakia and the topping traded spots with the chocolate to the rear but still very noticeable in each puff. This plug did exhibit some unevenness in flavor compared to the flake, but while it's worth mentioning, I don't want to dwell on it. I hate to make definitive statements based on a single ounce, as tobaccos need to be smoked under several circumstances, and one ounce doesn't cut it. But again, I'm sticking with the flake as it's much easier to prepare.