G. L. Pease JackKnife Ready Rubbed

Hard to follow Hedgehog's review...

This was good. Strong but good. However, it didn't send me, and I didn't finish the tin. It wasn't the strength, just the flavor. For my money, Triple play is the way to go.

I've been interesting in trying some of G.L. Pease for a while having heard generally good things online about his blends. They are. though. a rare oddity in the UK, being available, along with a few other of Mr Pease's offerings, only from the fabulous Gauntleys of Nottingham. Also, at £16.50 a drum, half as much again as most tobaccos here, it is not a leaf I can purchase regularly. However, a rare gap in my normally all to limited finances allowed me to purchase this and a couple of offerings. I must confess that my choice in tobaccos was largely dictated by stock levels as there were only three blends not awaiting replenishment, JackKnife RR just so happened to be one of them.

Upon receipt, I was pleasantly surprised by the packaging, a nice shiny drum with a loose label gently wrapped around it, perhaps not quite as slick as tins from more notable brands but had a good "cottage industry" feel to it. Diving straight in to the drum, I was immediately impressed by the look of the tobacco inside, chunky rubbings with a rich brown colour. The smell, too, was wonderful, a lovely barbeque sauce flavour. A quick pop in the pipe led to a flavour much the same, it made me want to order a pizza just so I could order that bbq sauce with it to dip the crusts in. the fun did not end there, it has a nicotine kick like no other, save for the other Pease tobaccos I bought. This tobacco I found, however, seems to be at it's best when at it's freshest. The flavour has faded quite quickly since then and there is now little of that barbeque sauce flavour. There is still some pleasure from smoking it, just not as much as when I first tried it.

On the whole then, a good tobacco that doesn't seem to hold it's flavour. It could be me, maybe I'm not storing it right, even though it doesn't seem right to remove it from it's cute little drum. As things stand with my finances and all, I am in no hurry to order some more. If things change though, like a turn up in my financial fortunes, I may well invest in a new tub and stash it in a jar and give it another chance. To be honest, I think it deserves it.

Good, not great. The tobacco has that ketchup smell often found in McClelland blends. It's quality tobacco, and packs well. It's much better towards the end of the bowl. There is just no pizzaz to this stuff. No topping, no perique. Just plain old Virginia. Some folks will love it. I like a little more to my blend.

Tin note of sweetish barbeque and spices. Tobacco is brown and light brown Ready Rubbed. Moisture content is good, but drying may be preferred for some. Larger pieces may need attention and rub out easily. Burns slow with few relights. The strength is strong and nic is medium to strong. No flavoring detected. Taste is full and very consistent, with notes of wood, dry vegetation, floral, bitter, bread, nuts, spicy, rich earth, mildly sweet, mildly oak smoky, a mildly tangy citrus background note, and a peppery retro. Kentucky is leading with Virginia supporting. Room note is tolerable, and aftertaste is good.