Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) Yachtsman Plug

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.

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.

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.

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.

3 stars for this. It was very pleasant but not up in the heavens like the truly wonderful Mick Mcquaid plug. It was discontinued for a while but thankfully it is now available again. James Fox has them on their web site in Ireland. It's a rich, very traditional plug, in the navy tradition of British tobacco. It lacks any top flavouring and doesn't suffer either. Not as strong in my opinion as Warrior plug. Goes well with a morning coffee whilst perusing this site.

I came upon this plug and the Tobacconist James Barber via the Internet.

A more refined plug than say, Cob or Cannon. It could be mistaken for a fudge brownie by a small child, except for the rich tobacco aroma and there are no walnuts. It is dense and moist so whittling isn't what you do, but it cuts with a utility knife. Not gooey, but close to that. Rubbing out seemed a daunting task, so I teased it to a reasonable texture. I didn't dry it and, no, it doesn't stain the fingers.

Sweet tobacco. I detected no Lakeland essence. The burn is cool and dry. Some plugs and twists turn hard, almost charcoal-like in the bowl. This stayed spongy as I tamped the powdery ash on my way down. Here is just the right blend of burley and African and Brasilian virginias to create a naturally sweet and flavorful smoke. Delicious. No bite potential. In no way harsh. A pleasant smoke as only plugs can deliver.

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 Yachtsman Plug 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.

update: going through my reviews here, i find that i'll have to downgrade a good deal of the praise i've given so many blends. 4 stars should, i feel, be reserved for the blends i find truly exceptional. so, this is downgraded a bit. end update.

slightly edited review, based on smoking it back-to-back with warrior plug:

this, on the whole, is very similar to warrior plug. they're so close that i suspect the blends in themselves are almost identical with the only real difference being the light flavouring. like warrior plug, this is first of all baked, fermented virginia with perhaps a bit less burley added, and a bit more pronounced berry (plus a smidgen tonquin-) flavour.

it is good! smokes slow and cool, with deep fermented virginia notes and a little sweetness peeping through.

i find it rather strange that warrior plug is described by the manufacturer as being more flavoured than this. perhaps the blends are different from what they used to be in their murray days, as they're now both probably made by orlik.

It's a plug! A very dense, dark, moist block of solid tobacco - not an aromatic but there's a rich and very pleasing caramel/toffee/butterscotch smell with a background of - something like - cooked black cherries. You do need a sharp knife but once sliced I found it rubbed out rather easily into moist tangled strands. It would probably benefit from a bit of time to dry - but I just stuff it in and spark up (& it burns fine). There's not much of the fruit note in the pipe, something of a (what I'm learning to describe as) Lakeland soapy floral beginning - but it's not like smoking a bar of Imperial Leather - and this fades at once. I'd agree with the noted similarity to Peterson's Irish Flake. There's no bite; there are no complicated aromatic arabesques - it's a fine straightforward tobacco; there's a healthy dose of vitamin N and the smoke is cool and plentiful. It's not, to my mind, quite as yummy and powerful as Irish Flake but it's a perfectly fine alternative to it.

UPDATE

I used the Stein Method on this tobacco, ie chopping it up really fine, and just gravity fill the pipe, gently tapping the bowl for the tobacco to settle.

alot of more flavor is now apparent, even though the pipe gets a bit hotter. Taste is now at medium, and I have to up it to ***

ORIGINAL review follows:

Me and Pipestud must have gotten completely different tobaccos.

The one I recieved is a mild, slightly sweet VA/Bur. A bit dissapointing since I got this entierly on the review submitted here 😉

The burn characteristics of this tobacco is truly outstanding. The room note is quite nice.

A sharp knife is needed to cut the plug, since it is quite stubborn.

I bought two plugs, I have smoked one of them, and I will gladly smoke the other one. Don't know if I will buy another though. Not because of this being bad in any way, just not my cup of tea.