Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Revor Plug

Another fine tobacco that I was able to sample today at a Cigar and Pipe Store from a fellow pipe club member AKA Italian Stallion. This is a nice dark plug about 3 inches long and an inch wide. A part of the end was cut up and rubbed out. To me this one smoked smoother, and seemed to have less nicotine than say, Bold Kentucky, Old Dark Fired, Rustica, etc. I really enjoyed this in a cob which I think (though probably not true) provides a better flavor profile than say in a briar. I just seem to pair this type of tobacco with a Corn Cob. Maybe a Southern thing, who knows. Lots of beautiful smoke pouring from my pipe and no Lakeland essence that I could detect. Reading the history of this blend was very interesting on this page. If I did not have so much baccy, I would buy some.

Opening the pouch, a scent of currants, cocoa and other sweet stuff penetrated my nostrils, and it was wonderful. I could also smell the Kentucky miles away. It so very slightly reminded me of SG 1792 Flake's fire cured smell.

Glossy bar as described, easily cut into ribbons or coarse cuts. It needs to be a bit aerated in order to be smoked correctly without having to relight often.

One is welcomed by pure bliss of heavenly smoke, medium to strong N hit and a wonderful special aroma that is so "lakelandy" yet unique.

Recommended!

Oh, my goodness, this plug is clothed in rectitude. Tastewise, a medley of Black Irish X, Stonehaven, Brown Bogie, and St. Bruno. There is a BIXish grilled meat taste upon lighting (maybe not as meaty as the SG Black XX). A fourth of the way down I swear I am smoking Stonehaven as the meaty flavor turns vaguely cocoa, and the tobacco turns nutty. The background is Brown Bogie (without the salt), but sometimes the VA background becomes the foreground. I do not taste the 1792 tonquin, but at times I feel it, sort of. Toward the bottom of the bowl it resembles St. Bruno. The flavors do shift back and forth as Warwick puts it. The finish I liken to undercooked brussel sprouts, not in taste, but texture.

This plug seems huge compared to a Warrior, Yachtsman or McQaid plug. An illusion, of course, but a 50g Revor seems heavier than a 50g Warrior plug (enough of that nonsense). I would not describe it as glossy, but it is very dark, a matte near-black bar, about 1.5 x 2.5 x 13 cm. I slice it thin and smoke it immediately with no drying. I like it in a small, bent egg Ardor that I originally reserved for straight Virginias.

RP burns cool and steady with a wallop less than that of Brown Bogie (more like St. Bruno flake). Yes, we have no bite, gurgle, or dottle. It barely warms the pipe bowl, and just when I am sure it has gone out, I find it hasn't. Righteous burning characteristics, to be certain.

07/27/09 UPDATE: I am revising some of my reviews. I have given out more 4 star ratings than anything else. That practice is probably not helping. So, I am reducing RP to 3 stars, not because I like it less than I did before, but because I am limiting 4 stars to fewer than 25% of all my reviews. One day I may use the 4 star rating to designate my top five.

My only previous experience of this strength of tobacco has been Peterson's Irish Flake, which I quite liked, but found too strong at the time. This was about a year ago, and I've once again started looking for a full Va to make a more robust, personal blend with. I was intrigued both by plugs and by the reviews of Revor and quite unexpectedly found it in a local newsagent/tobacconist last night. I couldn't wait to try it. It's quite clear as soon as you open the pack that this is a very different product from most other tobaccos. Jet-black, solid plug, smells divine, mysterious and just a bit dangerous. I was very sensible with my first taste of this...a half-bowl in the Falcon I keep for trying new blends. First things first, no soap- thank God! To get things somewhat back to front, I have to say the most distinctive thing about this blend is the wonderful aftertaste, which is quite different from the actual smoking. Rich, "fermented toffee" flavour, bourbon-like and extremely satisfying. It lasts for hours, but this might be because my taste-buds are still in shock. To me, this tastes both darker and more natural than the Irish FLake, which might have some kind of casing to it, in retrospect. The "stickiness" of Irish Flake is missing here, leaving an extremely powerful, yet manageable smoke. It stays lit easily and has no problems with wetness. I did get that alkali-burn, but given the power of the tobacco, I knew this was going to happen and it wasn't bad enough to mar the experience. Lets be honest, the room-note would have you believe I was a 70yr old horse trainer, but I can handle that. The nicotine-hit got me stoned and my friends had to tell me to stop shouting and calm down (seriously). To blending:- I used a 65%/35% mix of Scottish Flake/Revor and had a full-sized briar a couple of hours after my first tiny taste. In these proportions, it probably overwhelms the Flake a little, but this is still in the "normal" range of strength, tho still I think, officially strong. I had been puffing heavily all last week, in an effort to tease out more flavour from the Sc Flake, but with this mix, I settled down, drew very slowly and kind of melted into the smoke, the way you're meant to. This lasted an hour of contemplative, easy richness. A very successful experiment, still dark, but not some kind of "test of manhood", as the pure Revor had been. This would be Highly Recommended if it wasn't such a specialist product, and I wasn't keenly aware that my palate is so unaccustomed to this style of smoke- perhaps a little one-dimensional compared to some other blends? It has introduced me to a new paradigm in tobacco and i suppose the most telling thing is, I plan to stroll down to that shop on my way home and get some more in.

I bought a pouch of this with a snuff order from Mr. Snuff about four and a half years ago. I tend to avoid plugs due to the extra effort that they require to prepare, but sometimes you have no choice if you want to try a blend. Such was the case with Revor Plug.

The plug was a pain in the ass to prep as I expected; and I will note, it was no more a pain in the ass than other plugs. Once I did get them sliced into uneven flakes and rubbed out enough to smoke, I was pleased with what I was experiencing. This is similar to other British OTCs such as Condor, Walnut Flake and St. Bruno, with some differences.

This has a slight floral twang which is nice. It is less floral than say Condor LC, but more than Walnut. It is a deep full smoking experience. It is in this way that it is closer to St. Bruno, but I much prefer the way Revor tastes over St. Bruno. The taste of the tobacco is smoky sweet from the interaction of the Virginia and the Kentucky. The topping is kind of brown sugar and molasses with some fruit and flowers. It is hard for me to put my finger on as it is with all these lakeland toppings. I like that is lightly enough applied that you are able to enjoy the taste of the tobacco.

It smokes very smooth, and like all GH blends that I have had the pleasure of trying, this one won't bite. It is a great blend and I wish I had more, ableit in ready rubbed form. This one is between three and four stars, I am giving it three stars because I prefer both Walnut and Condor LC to this, but I would much prefer this to St. Bruno.

If you like your baccy strong and old-fashioned, Revor Plug is just plain wonderful. The plug itself looks delicious enough to be edible. Despite the fact that nothing's done for you, it's easy enough to prepare for the pipe: it cuts and rubs easily (IMO it's better to "shave" the plug lengthways than to cut it across the grain). Then plenty of rich, tasty smoke all the way down, and very cool; though you'll probably need quite a few re-lights until you get the hang of it. The flavour is sweet but very full and natural: there's no sense that the native qualities of the tobacco have been interfered with or modified. It's made by Gawith & Hoggarth now, but it's completely innocent of any 'Lakeland' flavouring.

The plug looks as though it ought to smoke wet. It doesn't, though; not in the least. The room note probably won't please the family (my nearest and dearest weren't ecstatic), and it's probably too strong for an all-day smoke; but Revor is a great experience if you want to re-live the old days when granddad smoked this kind of stuff and men were men. It's strong, for sure; but it's gentler and more civilized than the Kendal twists and ropes.

Negatives? Availability is patchy sometimes. Also, being idle and no great lover of foreplay, I wish Revor were sold in a cut version, like Gawith & Hoggarth's Bosun Cut Plug, etc.. Other than that, I can't think of anything unfavourable to say about it. It's a little too strong to be one of my four-star favourites; but that's just me. This is a very fine offering by anyone's standards, and I'd recommend it to anyone wanting a traditional kind of smoke.

On a pessimistic note, this is exactly the kind of old fashioned baccy that is so rapidly going out of production nowadays, with the decline of pipe smoking as a hobby/vice (cf. Highland Sliced). Enjoy it while you can. I have a fairly strong suspicion that it won't be available for much longer.

I bought this one after a recommendation when I once inquired about what good plugs to get. Not having heard of it before, I wasn't sure what to expect but, knowing GH, I knew the odds were I'd get a good one.

The bar of tobacco in the pouch was definitely a change from the normal, almost cube-like, plug that I've had before, it's thinness making it seem more like a fragrant chocolate bar than something smokeable. That note in the pouch, too, was nice, quite floral, smell something of rose perhaps. As noted before, the bar is very crumbly so it's nigh on impossible to cut anything like a flake off it, but it does make it easier to break up. The packing really depends on how you cut it but, for the most part, I had no issue with this. The lighting, however, was an utter pain so it does require some drying out and even then it requires a relight or two, even after some pretty hefty airing. The smoking itself is something else though. The first two or three bowls tend to cycle between a meaty, steak-like taste, which is not too dissimilar to a GH rope I tried (Black Bogie or some such) that was so rank I tossed it, and one of a sweetness and flora, one thinks of some kind of berry sauce on red meat. After that, it settles down into a nice melange of the two. It is quite a queer flavour and fairly heavy as well, not for the faint hearted. The only downside at this point is the strength, this is a potent one and up there with some of the strongest I've had.

On the whole then a cracking tobacco. The flavour is very nice, even with that meatiness, it is cracked down a notch or two from that rope I tried and the addition of the casing is a bonus. I don't know if I'd smoke it without the casing but I'd certainly more likely to stick with it than that rope. That is academic at this point though. The only real downsides are the dampness and the strength. The first, while not stopping the tobacco from being anything like unsmokable, does take the edge off while the latter does make smoking anything afterwards a little difficult, I do feel nicotined to the hilt and have struggled smoking anything afterwards when having this early in the day. It is best enjoyed last thing at night in my book. I wouldn't recommend this to a beginner, if I'd smoked this when I first started it probably would have put me off tobacco for a month, so if you're a newbie, save this one till later. A lot later. Saying that though, still a great tasting tobacco with only a couple of flaws that makes pre-eminently worthy of three stars.

This is a really tasty plug. A long bar instead of a little square like some other plugs, this one pulls apart easily. I usually pull a few layers off then clip it into small pieces with scissors. Then a mild rubbing-out and it's ready for packing.

Other reviewers have described it well, but I have to respectfully disagree with those who say there is little or no flavoring. I sense a significant topping, more so in the aroma, but also significantly in the taste. It's definitely in the aromatic category IMHO, and I don't like aromatics, so it's kind of surprising that I like this so much.

But it's not the goopy kind of aro that tastes chemical and cloying. There is a sweetness here, but it's mild and natural. By natural I don't necessarily mean just tobacco-only sweetness, but a topping that enhances the tobacco experience instead of hiding it. It's rich, tasty, definitely unique, and very enjoyable. The flavoring subsides (or changes?) a bit as the bowl progresses and a toastiness comes through which is very nice. Lakeland soap is omnipresent but I actually like that so it's not a problem for me. Once it gets rolling, it provides big clouds of rich smoke and remains cool throughout the bowl.

This is apparently manufactured by Gawith & Hoggarth as it appears on their website. Typical of their fare, it's a quality weed and well worth the effort to acquire a bar or three.

Revor is well described in physical and smoking characters by grimpeur. I will add that this is a superb tobacco for the new pipe smoker, especially if they are giving up cigarettes. I am prescriptive on this on two grounds. 1: There is absolutely no bite whatsoever and the tobacco smokes cool, with plenty of smoke. 2: It is strong and the fullness of flavour will go a long way toward replacing that simple "hit" from cigarettes. However, it is not a cigarette replacement. This is full on pipe smokers tobacco. The plug is a long strip about 1x1/2 inch by 6ins long. If it was a flake it would be a krumble cake, reminiscent of the texture of Penzance. As above that Jack Tar, OOh are Jim lad, Cap'n Hook reflection of most other Brit plugs is completely absent. This is the best plug this Brit has smoked in an age. Great stuff. with the full four stars intact. I could not find a fault big enough to knock a star off.