G. L. Pease JackKnife Plug

I overall enjoyed this blend. It was nutty and smokey with a liberal amount of nicotine. It has a small amount of sweetness. Though I wouldn't consider this an everyday smoke it certainly is a nice afternoon "winding down" tobacco.

Am I in love with this? No. Will I get a couple tins to cellar? Yes. This blend is too one-dimensional. If I'm wanting a one-dimensional plug that reminds me faintly of cigars, I'm currently grabbing Peterson's Perfect Plug. If I want Kentucky (I live in KY), I'll grab some of my bulk Mac Baren Old Dark Fired. Now I love the Pease Gaslight,but my grail, after several months piping, is Captain Earl's Ten Russians. This, will no doubt,grow on me, but pcurrently, it isn't grabbing me like it should. Kendal Brown twist also provides a nice N kick.

I may be one of the few people that likes triple play as much/ more than this one. But I may have turned a corner. I've discovered that if I really let this one dry out I enjoy it more. With the triple play blend I'm maybe less sensitive to the moisture content. If you try jack knife and it seems a bit flat let it dry more and try again, perhaps you'll have better results like I did. Good luck.

Well, based on the tin note, I was ready to buy half a dozen of these plugs. It smells so very good! Now, as a caveat, when I had my first (and only) bowl of this, I had just some Iwan Ries VA flake not 2 hours before. Perhaps that affected my palate, but I found this to not be all that great. I mean, it wasn't bad and I have already bought another tin to let age, but I wouldn't put it up as one of my top smokes. I'll have to revisit this review after a few more bowls of this. For now, maybe I'll just sniff it often! 🙂

like any tobacco, what you get out of it depends so much on the pipe and the place and conditons under which you smoke it. for example, i smoke it at home in a controlled evironment in a particular pipe which just seems to highlight any tobacco and it is a 4*. but on the golf course in a different pipe and certainly not the same condtions as my basement, it is completely different. this is the same for any tobacco. if i go to the beach and i have some salt air, they all react differntly. so when i see the comments about this or that it really doesn't mean all that much to me because i don't know where it was smoked, in what it was smoked and any of the other variables. yikes.

This was my first attempt at a plug tobacco. A sharp knife makes for quick work and ability to make flakes any size you want. I do prefer it more thin, but not quite shag.

I went after this one primarily because of the strength. Perhaps for a lightweight it will get your attention, but as a long time cigar smoker this is only so-so on the nic for me.

Flavor wise this one is interesting, perhaps because of the way I cut or load the pipe, but I do get one flavor to the next rather than a more blended taste. So, I’m either smoking Kentucky or a Virginia with each puff it can be different. Speaking in thirds, the middle third is my favorite on this smoke as it’s pretty rich and leans more on the Kentucky, at least on my taste buds. There is a faint spice feeling as well, but every once in a while a sweet Virginia peels through for a visit. It’s quite nice.

I don’t smoke this one often, maybe a couple times a month at best. I have to be in the right mood to smoke this blend. A better evening smoke and maybe more for cooler temps. That said, I’ll likely buy 4-5 tins of this that should last me well into the future and give me an opportunity to have age on some as people seem to rave a bit more about it after a few years. Easily a three star blend, don’t smoke it enough for a four.

After delaying for quite a while, I finally gave this a try, after a few modifications. After experiencing Dan's Salty Dogs, I've gotten a bit spoiled by the dense, hard, neat European plugs. They just cut so much better, more like whittling thin shavings from a wood block. American plugs... Not so much. I find they tend to be too soft and ragged to cut precisely. To that end, here's what I did to Jackknife before I ever put a match to it. First, I cut the block into four equal chunks. This makes portioning easier later, but isn't absolutely essential. Place an 84% Boveda pack in the tin with it, and seal it up for two weeks. Yes, it's too wet to be smokeable when it's first opened anyway, but just trust me. It will swell and become saturated. Then, place it between two wood shims (I just happened to have a flat cigar box lid I sawed in half for this purpose) and clamp it in the strongest vice you can find. Crank it as tight as you possibly can, then get your burley neighbor Olaf Svensson to give it a few more turns. You want it to start weeping moisture. Place it in a sealed space with some source of humidity. I have a large humidor to kept it in, but a cooler with a few Boveda packs will work fine. Leave it for at least a month, checking it once a week and tightening the vice as much as you can each time. After the allotted month, you will be left with a chunk roughly 1/3rd its original thickness, and as hard as a piece of melamine. Now, it can successful be wittled and smoked whenever you want. Now, for the actual tasting notes: the primary tin note is woodsmoke, with a hint of hay. If you grew up in the country, you know this smell. When wittled into a fine shag with a very sharp knife (can't beat a Buck knife), it smokes very cool and without bite. The taste is primarily the hay-grass-and-nuts of a fine European Virginia, with a surprisingly subdued backbeat of woodsmoke. I don't get much sweetness or tanginess from this one, more nuttiness and a slight umami note. The flavor is full, the nicotine content is getting there (7/10, 1 being 1-Q and 10 being Brown Irish Twist), and a narrow bowl is ideal. The room note is likely to be interpreted by either non-smokers or new Piper's as a strong cigarette. If you have the patience to prepare this (or to smoke raggedy chunks from the un-pressed block), it is worth the investment. If not, I understand there is a ready-rubbed version. I'd like to keep some on hand for when the mood strikes, but it isn't something I HAVE to have.