Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Bosun Cut Plug

Another of my forays into kendal legendary floral additions and I have to say with this one I am not disappointed.

Opening the pouch you are greeted by a lovely rose geranium aroma, very much akin to Turkish delight with a sharp undertone of clove. Quite a dark mixture which although the flowers are the first thing you smell you do get a good waft of the dark fired.

Packing the pipe, I rub my portion out fully, after that packing is a breeze, moisture is spot on as is the lighting.

First up the flowers on lighting are way more subdued they are there but not the powerhouse ala ennerdale. The smoke is very woody, yet creamy, heavy yet silky. First thing it reminds me of is condor, this is extremely similar in my book. But way way way better. This never bites or get hot, because its the type of smoke you want to savour every little draw, this is excellent stuff.

All in all if you like Lake lands this is must try, it's nice in between of Coniston cut plug and ennerdale, and makes a lovely morning pipe. The strength is strong and I wouldn't recommend this to the total newbie but if you are a regular smoker then this shouldn't pose no problems.

Room note is delicious but the smoke is thick and heavy so it may raise the odd eyebrow.

All in all stellar stuff from kendal and one I shall be making a repeat purchase of.

4 stars all day long.

This is a very strange tobacco. In my limited experience I have never come across anything even remotely similar.

Pouch note could be a pot puri or old ladies perfume. It's chunky flakes. Used a cob for the cob. Nice touch I thought. Rubbed out well and took flame well. First few puffs very perfumy. I was about ready to give up. But then it morphed into a really nice full smoke a bit like 1792 with a bit of cigar thrown into the mix.

So overall I enjoyed it. But can't recommend it too much because of the perfume etc. But try a bowl or two. You might like it

18th February 2020 Iwould like to add I've now tried this several times and find it a great smoke. So I've changed my review to 4 stars.

Cracking stuff. Truly a tobacco for those that enjoy want a traditional lakeland blend but don't want one of them "soapy" lakelands.

Out of the pouch you have a mostly broken flake of various sizes, as the name suggests it is a cut plug.

Moisture is a little wet but nothing compared to Samuel Gawiths levels of drowned rat.

Scent is sweet and very deep. The clove oil (which needs to be in more blends if you ask me) is prominent with the rose geranium playing a lesser part. Both scents pair very well with the top quality Virginia tobacco.

When it comes to packing ill say a few things. Rub it out well, pack it lightly and don't bother drying it. If you leave it out to dry you'll loose some of the wonderful floral and clove oils. Better off to suffer a relight or two than loose them.

As for smoking well it is very easy to light. Your dominated by a lovely clove taste at the fore with the floral and sweet yet dark Virginia in the background. This will continue for about three quarters of the bowl. Then the rose will burn off with most of the clove and you;ll be left with a more prominent Virginia taste with wisps of clove.

Strength is medium. Good for any time of the day.

One, okay two last things.

Firstly you MUST dedicate a pipe to this blend, it WILL chronically ghost any pipe you smoke it out of.

And secondly I highly suggest jarring this stuff up the second you get it, so none of those oils evaporate.

Though of unquestionable quality, I find Bosun Cut Plug lacks a little something. It tends towards the insipid, the soporific. It's wet in it's indecisiveness.

Yet it will appeal to the St Bruno brigade longing for proper packaging.

Don't misunderstand me, it's a jolly good tobacco!

Shortly after writing the review I had the brilliant idea of beefing up Bosun with a small portion of well shagged Happy Bogie.

It worked quite well.

It has been dubbed Midshipman.

I smoked Ennerdale for a while, but for me the casing was a little overpowering .With Bosun Cut Plug the flavouring is perfect.The rich virginias are highly satisfying.Smoked slowly in a small pipe I have a half-hour of tasty,sweet pleasure..with a pleasant amount of Nicotine.

This was the first pipe tobacco I ever smoked. As such, I was in no position to review it upon first try. My first memories, though, were fairly unimpressive, though I put that down to my rampant inexperience, so didn't feel the need to go back to it. However, having done the rounds with a few other tobaccos, I decided recently retread my footsteps and give this another go, see if the landscape looks a little different second time around. The smell in the packet was as I remembered it, a good waft of rose, almost reminiscent of Turkish Delight. Sadly, for me, the pipe taste doesn't live up to that promise. It took me about half of the 50g packet to discern the flavour, a pleasant enough soapy, tarry flavour, perhaps a little hint of similar flavours found in Samuel Gawith's Squadron Leader - a personal favourite. Having continued on with the rest of the packet, I am reasonably happy with both the flavour and the aroma from the bowl, not fantastic but still worth a smoke. My only complaint is the, at times, almost rampant tongue bite that has, on occasion, hit very early on. Could be that I'm smoking it wrong, perhaps too quickly, but it's tonguebite like no other, which makes me think it is the tobacco rather than me smoking it wrong. As a result of this, I came very close to giving this one star. However, given that it did give a pleasant flavour and bowl aroma and I have smoked some genuinely rank tobacco, I think two stars is a fair appraisal.

Update: 14/02/2013

Not long finished a 25g packet of this which I purchased to to see if my tastes have changed any. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised. The flavour does seemed to have dimmed a little but the tonguebite seems to have all but disappeared allowing me to enjoy all the way down to the bottom of the bowl. Also, strangely, I don't need to pack a lot into the pipe to get a good smoke out of it.

On the whole then, pleasant of slightly underwhelming floral flavour that provides a cracking smoke, especially early evening after tea. Not sure if it's worth a four stars yet but definitely worth three. Saying that, the 50 grams I've got on order might change that...

Update 13/03/2013

...And yes it has, it's taken a while but this has definitely won me over. I'm so glad I tried this one again, such a pleasure to rediscover a tobacco I had originally consigned to the "where are they now files".

Surprisingly few current reviews of this.

I have about a dozen G&H samples I'm working through. Bosun cut plug didn't really ring any bells when I dabbled with it earlier on. It was a decent smoke but nothing that made me get stuck on it.

But Ennerdale hooked me. I smoked a lot of it and ordered a Lb to rat hole.

But recently I was digging for something different and smelling some samples. This one smelled like it might scratch an itch and I gave it a shot.

My my. So much better this time around. I don't think it got better. I think I've just learned more and developed more appreciation for these types of tobaccos. Probably from really getting to know the Ennerdale.

Anyway...this is top notch stuff. In the same general ball park as Ennerdale. Not quite as sharp and sweet. More rounded and somehow fuller.

I intially got into G&H blends for the dark strong stuff like twists, Dark Birdseye, etc. But I've ended up really enjoying their "aromatics". Bob's Chocolate Flake, Ennerdale Flake, Rum Flake, and now this one. And I'[m not really an aromatic guy. I mostly smoke English Blends and VaPer flakes. But these G&H scented flakes (whether labeled so or not) broadened my world a bit.

Highly recommend giving these a fair shot and a little time. They really can fill a place in a somewhat regular rotation. Scratch that certain itch.

This is an interesting broken flake that varies in color from dark brown to black and speckled in dark red and yellow. Its aroma is very floral with hints of clove, figs and raisins. It rubs out quite easily, into a thin crimp cut that truly simplifies filling the pipe. It lights easily and burns even, cool, dry and complete into a fluffy grey ash. There is no complexity here, just a consistent smoke throughout the bowl that develops real nicotine strength as the smoke progresses. Its flavor is smooth and rich and never bitter. This is highly recommended as a good candidate for an all day smoke for those who are not nicotine sensitive and like the heavier scented and robust Virginia based Lakeland flakes.

This stuff packed very nicely. Not too wet, not too dry. Has the aroma of the old-old-old world colognes, or aftershave. (Bear in mind, this is something I *LIKE*)

The topping is abundant enough to flavor this tobacco. I can definitely taste the virginias in it, especially as I got midway through the bowl. It has a very charming clove-and-ginger like spiciness to it. It did bite me just a little bit, as I've not mastered the perfect technique yet for pipesmoking. It has a slight sweetness, and the slight virginia tang that one can expect, but it has a subtle smokiness that could be described as SLIGHTLY bitter.

I like these old-world style lakeland tobaccos, but I *WAS* actually expecting a "soapier" smoke. It smells almost as though it were meant to be more soapy, but it's actually not quite as "Lakeland-soapy-esque" as RB Plug in my humble opinion.

The only warning I will give you is that the aftertaste may not be pleasant all the time. I kinda got aggressive with the puffing towards the end, and I harshed the tobacco. If you do this, your smoking experience with that bowl WILL NOT forgive you.

This is a fine tobacco, worthy of it's good recommendation. If you like aromatics, you'll like this one. It's non-goopy, and has all the old-world charms of the 17th and 18th century. I put this neck-and-neck with RB plug.

Fair winds,

Daniel