Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) Yachtsman Plug

(3.18)
A very traditional style of pipe tobacco presentation providing a link with established craftsmanship of Irish tobacco blenders. Expensive top quality heavy bodied flue cured Virginias are purchased from established leaf auctions in Africa and Brazil. To this full natural flavoured tobacco is added aromatic burley to balance and smooth the blend. Conditioned with water, the blend is slowly pressed in large steam presses for several days to meld the rich and varied aromas. The cakes are then divided into plug form, allowing the smoker to cut it and rub it out to his own preference.

Details

Brand Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG)
Blended By Murray Sons & Co, Ltd
Manufactured By Scandinavian Tobacco Group
Blend Type Aromatic
Contents Burley, Virginia
Flavoring Other / Misc
Cut Plug
Packaging 50 grams pouch
Country United Kingdom
Production No longer in production

Profile

Strength
Medium to Strong
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
Mild
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Pleasant
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming

Average Rating

3.18 / 4
5

10

2

0

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 17 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 07, 2016 Medium Medium Medium Very Pleasant
The strong nutty, earthy sweet burley competes for attention with the very earthy, citrus and fruit attributes of the African and Brazilian Virginias. They also offer the slightest hint of grass. The toppings, which I think include a little tonquin as well as honey, and a little fruit, are very sweet. They sublimate and mute the strength of the tobaccos to some extent, though the toppings weaken just a mite after the half way point, and then I tend to notice more tobacco flavor, particularly the burley. Has a medium nic-hit. The plug is hard pressed and needs a little work to suit whatever your preference is. The pressing also creates a fermented sweetness to the product. The tobacco may need a little dry time. Burns slow, requires a fair amount of relights, but doesn’t leave much moisture in the bowl. Has a very pleasant after taste and the room note won’t scare people away. Not an all day smoke, but one that bears repeating if it’s something you enjoy.

-JimInks
13 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 08, 2006 Strong Mild to Medium Full Pleasant
This plug was from a tin that had to be 30 years or so old. I snatched it off Ebay and while the tin was very rusted, the tobacco within was in good shape.

I'm not sure I would recommend this to anyone other than those here who enjoy a powerful Virginia/Burley blend with plenty of extra flavoring added. And frankly, whatever casing was added to this stuff has fermented or something, because I smelled a true rotten fruit odor when the lid was lifted.

I needed a power saw for this Murray's Plug. Once loaded in a very small bowled Ruthenberg, I lit up and was immediately socked in the face by a strength of leaf and fullness of flavor I have seldom encountered. Overwhelming on both counts. I tasted a somewhat burnt toast type of flavor with an extremely ripe and fruity sort of aftertaste.

Although not certain, I think I may have managed a full bowl before sliding off the couch onto the floor. My oldest son (twice my size) said he then carted me off to my bedroom after wiping sweat off my forehead and drool from my mouth.
9 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 15, 2019 Medium to Strong Mild Medium Tolerable
Edit: It appears this tobacco, along with a few others have changed recently in Ireland. Yachtsman Plug seem the have gotten rid of the sweetness and settled on a raw tobacco flavour, I don't know if it's better off for it, but it's certainly not worse off. Think a raw flavour a la Irish flake, though not as refined. There's too few pipe tobaccos, in my opinion, that concentrate on getting a raw flavour, everything's got this additive or that, so it's a welcome change of pace

Still recommended.




This is the best OTC tobacco in Ireland at the minute, If you're a budding Irish pipe smoker and you want to know where to start, you can't go wrong with this. It's a consistent lengthy smoke, it's got strength without being overpowering with a subtle sweet flavoring on the retrohale, and a medium nic hit

4 stars, recommended
Pipe Used: Various
PurchasedFrom: Local shop
Age When Smoked: New
4 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 11, 2018 Mild to Medium Very Mild Medium Pleasant
Excellent Irish Plug not unlike Warrior Plug and Mcquaid Plug. It has a nice treacle topping and can sometimes remind me of Stonehaven in that regard. I was gifted this by a forum friend last Christmas along with some vintage Condor Plug and the original Warrior Plug from the 80’s, both of which were just phenomenal. Anyway, if you’re a fan of traditional plugs head over to the James Fox site and order yourself some.

Essential.
Pipe Used: Stanwell
Age When Smoked: 1 year
4 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Aug 30, 2017 Mild to Medium Mild to Medium Medium to Full Pleasant to Tolerable
A rich and smooth VaBur plug with some sweetness from what smells and tastes like a treacle and honey combination. Much the same as I recall Warrior Plug's flavoring and profile to be like, although I haven't had that one in a few years. Also very similar to McQuaid although different component tobaccos and not as much casing as Mick McQuaid. A good medium body of nicotine but not too strong and seemingly smokes smoother in a smaller to medium sized bowl. The smoke can get a little bitter if you push it to get too hot. A solid, very dense plug of the Irish tradition and so similar to these other Irish plugs. Nutty burley with a smooth and sweet Virginia that is balanced just right with molasses an possibly honey and worth a try for the plug or Virginia/Burley fan.
Pipe Used: briars
PurchasedFrom: Vendor at the NASPC pipe show
Age When Smoked: Possibly up to a year or so of age but fairly new
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 08, 2016 Medium to Strong Mild to Medium Medium Pleasant
Murray & Son - Yachtsman Plug.

It's a bit tricky for me to work out how to rate this; I HATE how hard it is to get prepared, yet I do enjoy the smoking quality from it.

Some plugs feel pretty loosely compacted, they'd almost qualify as being a Krumble Kake. Others are so firm they could be used to build a house with; that's what we have here: very solid, pretty dark, and unbelievably hard to cut.

Even though it's badged as an Aromatic, there's absolutely no falseness to the pouch's aroma, nor does it smell particularly aromatic once it's been chopped up.

For the first five minutes, the smoke has the same attribute: aside from the tobacco's, there's no extra taste. It takes a good few puffs for any flavouring to come through, and when it does, to me, a honey flavour's on top. There's also floral, fruit, and alcoholic notes, but these takes a little longer to appear.

I'd say the nicotine sits at about medium, unless deliberately inhaled, then it veers more towards being strong.

The burn from YP is good: easily initiated, medium temperature, and very steady.

Would I add Yachtsman Plug to my rotation? No, it's far too tricky to prepare. I value my time more than wanting to spend it chopping, slicing, and dicing! The quality of the smoke's really good though. If it wasn't for the time it takes to get it prepared, it would be a four star blend, but as it takes so long, I think three stars is about fair.

Recommended.
Pipe Used: Mastro Cascia
PurchasedFrom: James Fox
Age When Smoked: New
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 30, 2018 Medium to Strong Very Mild Medium to Full Tolerable
A good example of the Irish tradition of plug tobacco: a robust Virginia & Burley nugget with a discrete casing.

The plug is dark and very dense indeed, but coming quite moist is easy to carve shavings off for the pipe if your penknife is sharp. I've not had to dry them at all after rubbing to get an even burn with no relights, but I do cut shavings with very thin edges, which seems to act as kindling.

It takes the flame easily, and the initial flavour is quite mild, building in intensity as the bowl progress. The flavour is nutty and a little sweet, with hints of rye bread. There's someone a hint of sourness which I think comes from some fruit juice used in the casing, but apart from that the casing is very subtle indeed, blending into the tobacco flavours. The overall impression is of a very natural tasting tobacco. It burns to a bit of dottle, and I can relight and smoke just about all of it without it tasting off. Tongue bite is impossible, and it burns cool.

It goes well with a stout or porter, and could be an all day smoke if you like smoking all day. Personally I have a pipe a day, sometimes two or three if I'm on holiday, but this is the sort of tobacco which doesn't demand too much attention so ideal for use in the workshop or out walking.

It seems this is still available in Ireland, along with Condor plug, both in plain packaging now. I'll buy it again if I'm over there, as these are the last survivors of the Irish tradition. Mick McQuaid was better, and Condor is more heavily scented. Yachtsman is very well made and well with a try if you want to experience a national tradition of tobacco making (albeit this is now made in Scandinavia) which may not be about much longer.
Pipe Used: Peterson Zulu, Civic sandblast, falcons
PurchasedFrom: Petersons in Dublin
Age When Smoked: New
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 01, 2008 Medium Mild Medium to Full Pleasant
Murray's. Yachtsman. Navy Plug.

True to its Navy roots, this plug refuses to cooperate in rubbing out to anything closely resembling a ribbon or shag when sliced thinly and aggressively rubbed out. You get chunks, and by God you will like these chunks. Period. No debate.

This one also has its Irish roots hard wired into its DNA.

Somewhat akin to Peterson's Irish Flake in strength, density and composition. A wee bit of flavoring not apparent in Pete's offering, but not an intense "granny's panties" topping (not that I'd know anything about that comparison from personal experience).

A nice, pleasant addition to very good tobacco, very compressed in texture. Lights well, burns very slowly. No bite.

A nautical bit of weed if there ever was one. Aptly named. With its coarse texture, perfect seasoning and impeccable breeding, this is THE tobacco for smoking while pursuing an afternoon's relaxation on the water...

...or sitting on your ass reviewing pipe tobacco while sipping a lovely beverage. Once this weed reaches cruising altitude, it produces huge clouds of wonderful smoke. Just don't attempt to tame this beast with a dull knife, a shortage of matches or a bad attitude.

Very nice plug offering.
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 19, 2021 Medium to Strong Extremely Mild Medium Pleasant
Not even close to being an aromatic (thankfully).

The casing seems to me to be mostly some kind of sugar syrup, with possibly the vaguest hint of tonquin. And I mean just a hint.

The base tobaccos are probably much the same as most of the other plugs that STG brought into their portfolio. Mostly Va with some burley and a splash of fire cured leaf. It's good stuff. Smokes cool and slow and is easy to prepare and look after once lit.

I slice this across the grain and across the grain again to make a cube cut. No dramas at all.

Good, no nonsense pipe tobacco of a type we might not see around for much longer.
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 20, 2014 Medium Extremely Mild Mild to Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
In terms of the tobacco, a moderate, darkish flavor, rather more burley-like than VA. The casing defeated me for a while, as this seems to pick up ghosts more easily than most, so I finally tried a new clay and got a very light berry flavor.

The plug is fairly easy to carve up and cut down. Once done, it takes a light about the same as the average plug, and stays lit very well although often as a low smoulder. Not an amazing plug, but well worth trying if you come across it.
Pipe Used: briars, meerschaums, a cob and a clay
PurchasedFrom: James Fox
Age When Smoked: just after arrival
1 person found this review helpful.
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