Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) Warrior Plug

I bought this for the first time in Sneem, Ireland. I was in a drug store and picked up a few plugs to sample the Irish pipe tobaccos. What a great suprise. It's a great virginia blend. The tobaccos are married in this hard little brick and this one is delightful. You pare away pieces of the tobacco and rub it a bit and in the bowl it goes (typically a billiard bowl). This stuff is not cheap but you get a nice long smoke out of the bowl and it is savory. It burns clean to the bottom of the bowl. You can still get it by ordering from some of the fine tobacconists in England. You can't use a credit card anymore (what genius made that rule????) but you can buy it from Mr. Barber in the UK. Buy it!

Here's another tobacco that has suffered in the translation.

I used to smoke this years ago, and a fine, full-bodied, tasty smoke it was, just the thing for a small to medium-sized bowl after a decent dinner. Not a tobacco for the novice or the unwary either, as it could produce a few head-spinning moments if its copious smoke was gulped with too much enthusiasm.

With these fond recollections in mind, I bought some of the recent Orlik-produced version and opened it with keen anticipation. It looked good, felt good and was obviously carefully manufactured. So far so good.

Having produced the necessary shavings and rubbed them out a tad, I filled a trusty Peterson 86, lit up and puffed away. Much smoke billowed out, but where was the taste? The entire bowl was bland in the extreme, a total disappointment. This is Warrior Plug's ghost, an insubtantial doppelganger of the real thing. It's a harmless enough tobacco, but it will disappoint those who expect the glories of its illustrious predecessor.

All this maked me painfully aware that when I bought this plug, I also bought some Mick McQuaid Plug from the same manufacture. I hesitate to open it.

Some plugs and ropes are so goopy you need half a bowl of kitty litter just to soak it up. Not so with Warrior Plug.

I whittled thin slivers, let them dry thoroughly and just crammed 'em in a tall Peterson Billiard. Took to the match with no resistance and smoked slowly all the way to the heel.

I picked up some toasted almond and berry flavors, but I don't think they are added...just tasty natural tobacco nuances. No bite factor, and subsequent bowls DGT very well. No ghost in the wood or the cake that forms quickly with this tobacco. A good hard cake with no brittle flakes. Nicely done.

Update November 13, 2008: Almost an entire plug has gone up in smoke. Warrior Plug has many positive similarities to Erinmore Plug...the light fruit flavors being the most obvious. Still a chunky monkey, it burns slower than Erinmore, and the flavors last longer before the base tobaccos push through. Delightful.

The few places that sell this usually offer it with the proviso that it is a strong tobacco, for the experienced only.

Out of the foil wrapper, the plug gives the appearance of a brick of oily tar; perhaps almost as scary as one of the black twists. Cutting thin slices (if nothing else, ordering plug tobacco will keep your knife-sharpening skills up!) does nothing to belay this impression. I did find that my sample did need quite a bit of drying-time.

When it's finally ready for smoking, match to bowl, preparing for the worst...Hey! It's smooth, and with a medium taste, quite accomodating. I'm not sure if it is or is not slightly sweetened, but it certainly is slightly sweet. Although the room note doesn't draw raves, neither does it inspire brickbats. Overall strength I would put on par with S.Gawith's Full Virginia Flake.

I would, and will, order it again, but I won't be in that great a rush to do so. There's a lot of work that goes into the smoker getting it ready to load; I would expect something quite unique to make it worthwhile. A medium-full, heavily steamed and pressed Virginia isn't all that uncommon.

Lucky us!

A very generous gift from one of a pipe forum’s members has allowed me the opportunity to sample this beast. I was thinking, wrongly, that it would be the plug equivalent of Erinmore flake, only to be informed by my contact that Erinmore actually came as a plug in its own right at one point. This is a dense, dense plug but by crikey is it good. Any plum topping is, I suggest, more to do with the tobaccos and how they are getting along in the press - Erinmore has that fruity, top note (some, wrongly, say pineapple imho) so does Warrior but in more of a chocolate bar kind of way. I get “Fruit and Nut” when I smell it in the jar; there is a chocolate quality going on that reminds me of Bob’s Chocolate Flake but then there is an earthy, maltiness that reminds me of a Revor Plug. This got me to try a pinch of Chocolate Flake, a whisp of Revor and a smidge of Elizabethan Mixture but I was still far from the Warrior. On my initial smoke, I carved off a flake and stuffed it in the bowl. This was, in my opinion and with the help of hindsight, wholly the wrong approach so, for the next attempt I cut a flake and let it sit for an hour or so, before ramming it home and, nope, not the right thing to do either. After further attempts the correct method was found - slice a flake, let it sit out for a while, then cut into cubes and add, gently, to the bowl and, by golly, by gosh, this stuff is good! It smokes fairly promptly for a Va/Bur that is similar to St Bruno or Walnut Flake (though not identical by any means) a bowl was done and ash in 20 mins or so. My new dilemma - this is out of production (why pray tell?) so where will I get any more from? This is a good all rounder, satisfying, smooth, with a good flavour that could easily be added to the other blends that I have fallen in favour with. If you get the chance, get some and enjoy it - hopefully it will come back like Lazarus n the near future.

A nice little nugget of comfort in the Irish tradition, sadly discontinued.

Its a hard pressed dark brown rock, slightly oily on the surface. Carve thin shavings off with a sharp penknife and rub a bit, before filling your pipe. This way if you shave off just the right amount, the last pinch is crumbs and works as kindling, and it will light with a single match.

The flavour is full, unadorned tobacco right from the start. Well stoved Virginia and Burley, giving a hearty smoke. Bread toasty flavours, some hay and grassier notes as well. The "spicy dark plum" topping promised by the tin is very subtle indeed, but there is some dried fruit taste going on here, akin to a well aged Christmas pudding - yum! I get less of the nutty taste than Yachtsman, and no bitterness.

The aroma is rich and may upset non smokers, or wives, but I find it quite pleasant. You can smoke it to the last crumb, the flavour doesn't develop much but it provides ample satisfaction. Any dottle it leaves is dry.

In summary, a satisfying plug, which I'm sad I'll probably never see again.

I'm not sure how I've missed reviewing this, but better a few years late than never! This is a good, solid VaBur, each contributing a wide range of soft notes, making it mildly complex. There seems to be a slightly sweeter note (molasses? treacle?) in addition to the tobacco and fermentation. This isn't a 'wow' blend, it's a blend for when you are seeking a nice, solid, thoughtful bowl.

Ha! Just get it while you can, and read all the 4 star reviews and prepare to add your own. Looking for flavor befitting a warrior? Get it!

I've been waiting to open my plug for a while now and when I heard it was being discontinued in the UK I moved it up in my rotation in order to see if it's cellar worthy.

I'm prone to finding burleys rough and harsh in the mouth and I do find this starts off a little rough but smooths out fairly quickly. The plum flavour isn't in your face indeed I only really pick it up as a little extra sweetness which is pleasant, I do wonder if something other than plum is added. The start of the bowl tastes a little tarry and bland to me, almost muddled. As the bowl moves on the sweetness increases and the virginias in the blend come more forward. It's just a little meh

The plug isn't too dense and cuts nicely. It does need some dry time and for me I liked it a little more when cube cut as the flavours seemed a little stronger. Has a lovely fermented fruity smell when you open the pouch, in fact this is the best thing about the plug.

I shall not be cellaring warrior plug