Peterson 3P's Peterson Perfect Plug

Disclaimer: ive only smoked one tin of this stuff. I mostly smoke a good deal more than that before reviewing but i figure it may never get to that point, and id like to offer my opinion on this blend anyway. 3P is a nifty ultra dense plug that is very moist and hard. I dont smoke all that many plugs, but i think this is the firmest ive run across. A sharp knife will do the deed, and the resulting flakes should be well crumbled and given ample drying time if you hope to have a go at smoking it. Once accomplished, this little number can be gravity loaded and coaxed to burn fairly well. The plug smells of deep fruit. This translates to the smoke, and while it isnt very sweet, there is a prominent fruit scent throughout. I think of it as a less potent and deeper variety of what is used in university flake, approaching Erinmore territory in flavor (but not intensity). The va to burley ratio is very nice, and long stoving has melded the two into a lovely whole. Overall it is absolutely respectable and well done, has ample nicotine, and on paper would be my ideal smoke. While ive enjoyed each bowl of it, i never really craved it. I couldnt tell you why, i guess there really is no accounting for taste. I think this is a unique, very well made plug, and can offer a recommendation easily, i just personally follow my longings when it comes to tobacco, and for whatever reason i just dont long for it as i do for my old standbys. Easily a 3 star offering and could be 4 for some.

This is, in my opinion, the best Peterson tobacco. Now, Im partial to plugs I have to say, although it is a bit of effort to prepare. When i smoke all day and am on the run I take a ribbon or broken flake in a pouch (like Germain's Plumcake, or C&D's Opening Night, or GL Pease's Union Sq...etc) but often at home, I take the time to smoke plugs -- which I think carry a special quality of taste. Perfection Plug is very cool...and in that sense I can think of only Solani Aged Burley Flake being as cool as this. The taste is a touch smokey and the burley is high quality and dark and earthy. There is a bit of fermentation and the plug itself is almost black in color. It has that odd raison like smell to it when you unwrap it but the taste is 98% tobacco taste. Whatever else is in there is very very very mild. Overall, if you like plugs or want to try plugs, this is a good one. The Gawith Hogarth bulk flakes are sort of the gold standard for this type of pipe tobacco, but Peterson is now in the running I'd say. The nicotine hit is a tad over medium, but never harsh. It is a very cool long burning and rich smoke.

An excellent tobacco. It looks like a piece of candy, smells like something from 1001 Arabian Nights. I have cut off two thin slices, rolled the flake, and loaded it into my pipe. The layers need to be enjoyed together as a whole. I let it dry for 3-4 hours, then lit it. It had a cool, Virginia taste to it, that matured until the end of the bowl into something like a dessert, however it was never overwhelming, more many and earthly in character. It smoked like a good quality cigar, yielding the properties of the pressed leafs gradually. The room note is quite pleasant, I had a nice Chianti while smoking, it's a real reward. For the second bowl I rubbed two thin slices of tobacco from the same batch, used a different pipe, it gave off its Virginia character even better, that matured over time. It burns slow, you need to take care of it, however it is indeed worth the patience. One of my favorites so far. I find it interesting, that there was a difference when I smoked it as a flake. Perfect indeed.

Well, I'm not going to lie, I just don't get it.

I purchased a few tins of this about 10 years ago. Smoked a few bows and settled on....meh. It is not bad, but I struggled to find what all the hype was about. I put it away and recently saw the tins and though I would check in on it and see what some age did to it. My conclusion? Still rather meh.

This is a great example of how different smokers taste different tobaccos. Based on some folks extolling the virtues of this blend, I realize it is me who is missing something. It is a quality product, I just can't find the excitement.

This is a true traditional plug. The type of stuff I imagine centuries ago people kept in a pocket and sliced a bit off when necessary. It is a bit of a pain to prepare compared to the ribbon cuts, but I personally have always felt a kinship with the traditions of pipe preparation, so I don't mind one bit. The tobaccos are very dark, and even with 10 years of age, it definitely needed some drying time.

The flavors are for me, pretty middle. Virginias are present, but don't present the great virtues of virginia. The burleys are there but don't give off the full nutty flavor. It just does not interest me that much.

Alright, so the tin note isn’t much, actually delivers little smell since the plug comes packed in a plastic bag.

So, after your take the plug out from that plastic bag you get.... a brick, man! This might look like a delicious brownie, but it’s so hard that you can compare it with a brick or a stone.

The tobacco is very well pressed, and to my advantage, it was full of sugar crystals. Unfortunately, I don’t have the code for the date of this tin, but it should be few years old if it has so much sugar crystals.

The tobacco itself also has little smell. Little floral notes, which keep reminding me of University Flake. Only after it is cut and rubbed the smell starts to be felt better, adding some nice citrus and floral notes, again, very similar to University Flake.

Can be quite hard to cut it in flakes, unless you have a very good and sharp knife, otherwise I would recommend you simply cut out the corners. Be careful, you might not cut the plug but you might cut your fingers, which will make the blood run into the tobacco and will be like a casing or topping for a new “sensational blend” with blood flavor (I know it’s weird hearing this from a Romanian hahah). Also, be sure to cut it on a cutting board, not on your desk, as you might scratch or cut the desk too.

I’ve smoked it both rubbed and flake. I took notes from time to time, and I will present everything I’ve encountered so far.

First month:

Tried different ways of cutting it, tried it flake and rubbed. Even if the plug feels like it’s dry (and hard as a rock), don’t be fooled. After you cut the flakes, make sure you leave them to dry enough. It’s actually quite moist and if it’s not dry enough you will encounter difficulties at lighting it and keeping it lit.

So, I suggest that you cut flakes as thin as you can and leave them to dry for at least 30 minutes, preferably one hour. After that, you can either smoke them as flakes or rub them.

If it was cut well, dried enough and packed correctly in the pipe, it actually lights up fairly easy. The first smokes deliver a straight taste, mostly earthy and bready notes, with just a little sweetness and some fruity notes barely noticeable. Leaves a nice white ash.

1 month later:

Yeah, the cake itself doesn’t smell like anything. I cut off two slices (two flakes) as thin as possible and let them dry. The flakes also have little to no smell. The problem was, I cut the flakes but forgot about them outside, and they dried over night. They were very dry, I was worried, but I decided to rub them and fill the pipe.

It did light up easy, but again, there was no taste at first. The taste started to appear gradually, very shy, giving hints of sweetness and citrus notes. By the middle of the bowl, if you sip/puff slowly, the fruity notes will come out more along with the sweetness of the virginia (which like I mentioned, was full of sugar crystals). The fruity notes are actually berry notes. However, the earthy and bready taste is more pronounced than the sweetness and fruity taste.

Another note I took, is when I let the flakes sit for 3 hours, since I had to leave home for something important. Got back home, laid in my chair and started watching a movie, when I was struck by an amazing cold, fruity, naturally sweet smoke. The burley was there, but not as straightforward as it was before and this was the only time I experienced these notes with this tobacco.

It is not as heavy in vitamin N as University Flake, yet it does have its good share of nicotine (which for me, is great). However, University Flake is, in my opinion, far better than this blend.

I believe this is a tobacco that is worth aging. Even if burley doesn’t age well, the virginia does, and in this blend, it might help a lot.

Almost 4 months later

Well, I’ve smoked this baby again in the last two days, and tried it as a flake and rubbed. burns very well for a flake, but the flavor isn’t as great great as it should be, so I recommend rubbing it.

Also, i recommend drying it more than less. even if it doesn’t seem to be wet at the touch, it actually is, and 30 minutes won’t do much to this. Leave it for at least an hour. Even if it’s super dry, it won’t bite, it won’t change its flavor (which is almost absent no matter what you do with the tobacco). But if it’s wet, even a little, it will light up damn hard, will ask for several relights and tamping.

Kept on smoking this and came to the conclusion that it’s a good, decent tobacco, but nothing special about it. Good nicotine amount, but tastewise is kind of poor, actually even sour to some extent and the casing/toping can barely be noticed, and at times it’s actually quite flat. Clearly under University Flake.

Boy, this tobacco seems like it doesn’t end! I have the tin for over 4 months and I still have half of the plug. I wish it would be the same with my favorite blends. Unfortunately, I rarely smoked this one as it doesn’t deliver me any real pleasure.

Don’t know what else to say about this. Ah, the room note is pleasant! Forgot to mention that.

ORIGINAL REVIEW 12-5-2014

I was sent a two bowl sample of this in the form of a very small rectangular cube. I sliced it in to very small flakes. About a half inch by a half inch and sliced the first few small flakes into cubes as the flakes would not easily rub out. I crammed them into a bowl in a rush out the door to work and had a very hard time lighting it. Once I got it going it went fine, but I found it rather boring as it got to the bottom of the small bowl.

The next bowl I did entirely different. I rubbed out the small flakes the night before and packed my Savinelli Trevi 320ks the night before smoking it so it would adequately dry. What a difference this made. The next day when I lit up it did so easily and I was immediately engrossed in a rich smoke pungent with dark fired Kentucky. Truth be told, I had a hard time finishing the bowl as I was feeling the effects of too much nicotine on an empty stomach.

The second time the bowl never got boring, but was just maybe a bit too strong for me. The person who sent this to me thought it may, perhaps, supplant Irish Flake as one of my favorites, but it did not do that. It did show me that Irish Flake was not the limit to how strong a Peterson blend could get.

And to the very strong blends, it is one of the tastier ones I have had. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes them strong and who can't get enough of Dark Fired Kentucky in their smoking diets. I may get a tin of this or two down the line to give it a fuller test, but for now I will leave it at three stars.

UPDATE 6-10-2019

I just got done smoking a full tin of this and after reading my previous review, I would not change a thing about that review, which is odd since I smoked so little of it before. The reason is that this is not a complex blend. It is very strong and very much a one note blend.

The combination of the Dark Fired Kentucky with whatever the topping is, will be the dominant flavor of the blend. I kept this tin in my truck after cutting the block into flakes and cubes. Once it is adequately dry, it actually lights up pretty easily. If you smoke it wet or fresh from the tin, it can be a little tough to light up. It performs wonderfully under fire.

There are really two reasons for smoking this in a small bowl. First, It is strong and a big bowl is pretty hard to finish. Second, as noted above, it is a one note blend and it can get boring after a while. If you are one who loves very strong blends, I would still leave this at three stars as I find HH Bold Kentucky from Mac Baren to be a more enjoyable "ass-kicker" than 3Ps IMHO.

After all the good reviews, I had to try this one. While it is a decent smoke, I don't see what all the fuss is about. While I did smoke the entire tin, I doubt I will ever buy this one again.

First, like a lot of plugs, this one is mottled to dark in color and very solid and tightly packed. Kind of reminded me of a hockey puck. It had the fermented aroma of many pressed and plug tobaccos, with raison or prune like scent. I could tell it was an aromatic but the flavoring is very subtle and other than a fruit like aroma, I could not tell what it is. This plug is so solid that I experimented between shaving some off with a knife and pealing some single leaf of the top and tearing it into small pieces. Both were easy to pack in the bowl but took several lights to get it lit. This was true even after letting it dry for awhile. The flavor was rich and full, I could taste the sweetness of the VA's and the fullness of the burley, but the strange fruit taste kept coming through. While I did enjoy smoking it, but to enjoy it, it had to be smoked very slow, I would rather it not have had the flavor added to it. I think the Va's and burley would have stood alone and provided a better smoke. I do enjoy aromatics, but this one interfered with the good tobacco taste instead of enhancing it. It burned slowly down with a steely grey ash and required frequent relighting to keep it lit which I found irritating after awhile. I never once was able to smoke it all the way down as the bottom layer of tobacco gained a lot of moisture and would not stay lit. I feel this was the result of the flavoring agent. The room note to me was more like a cigar instead of fragrant pipe tobacco and while not unpleasant, it was not anything I or others enjoyed the scent of.

Some really like this tobacco, I just thought it rather single layered and nothing to get excited about. I would not say it is bad, but there are many more that I would recommend over it so I can only give it two stars.

Peterson's 3P is the most dense plug I've ever come across. You have to cut it pretty thin if you want any chance of it burning normally. If you cut it too thick or peel layers off the top, then it's very difficult or impossible to rub it out properly. You really need to take your time preparing this one if you want to enjoy it fully... otherwise you'll need dozens of re-lights and it just won't smoke right. But if you take your time preparing it and smoking it... this is an outstanding tobacco.

Although you may read about a "fruity" flavoring, with plum or raisin - don't expect a "typical" fruity flavor. This one is much more subtle and old fashioned. It's a deep, rich Burley/Virginia, with the taste of quality Burley first, followed up by lighter, sweeter Virginias. The fruit is there only mildly, it's a complex fruitiness, but not overpowering or super sweet.

Bottom line: I'm guessing that most of the one star reviews were from smokers who didn't prepare this one right... because when cut thin and rubbed out thoroughly, this is a beautifully complex, dense, flavorful smoke that I can't imagine anyone disliking.

Perfect Plug? A perfect smoke, indeed!

Lovely tin note, of something raisin-ish that transponates to the smoke and spoils you with its fruity, mildly sweet and somewhat "warm" aroma. The Burleys lend a lot of body to the mixture, with some cigar-ish notes here and there, rich earthiness and some nutty notes underneath. Virginias rounding things off with its mellow sweetness and freshness, but the Burley is lead here for me.

The flavoring never overshadows the tobaccos, in fact I feel like they are in perfect balance and both take each half of the flavors I perceive. I also wanna mention that it ages wonderfully, I had 2 tins from 2013 and they are even more smooth and at the same time very rich in flavors. Smokes best for me in a cob!

Pack a bowl, play some music.. perfect smoking moment - 3P's! Ps.: I'm starting to belive the flavorings are raisins and/or dark fruits, along with some creamy-nutty flavor.. not in the natural burley's nutty quality, but moreso like a "nut-cream" flavoring alongside the raisin/darkfruit flavoring that's also mentioned in the descript. Anyways... I super love the aroma of this blend!

Update: This really only has a mild flavouring, but no other additives! https://service.bmel.de/tabakerzeugnisse/index2.php?detail_id=104605&site_key=153&stichw_suche=perfect+plug&zeilenzahl_zaehler=1