Once again, many thanks to NorcalMark and his customer for requesting this stuff and to Wurm for arranging the roundabout shipment from the U.K. to Germany to California to Minnesota. I really do love this board and community! Also, I apologize for the lack of photos. I left my digital camera at my father in law’s house last weekend and my cell phone just wasn’t taking any shots worth posting.
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Mick McQuaid Plug is easily the densest block of pressed tobacco I’ve ever seen. It comes in a typical pouch but the actual brick is a square of perhaps 2" x 1.5" x .75". It's so small that it makes the pouch seem somewhat empty even though it weighs 50 grams. The aroma is a rich mash of stewed fruits – figs, plums, and prunes - with a hint of some sort of liqueur; amaretto or brandy perhaps. It is delightful and potent without being overwhelming.
With my pocket knife I shaved a 1/8” to 1/4” sliver off the shorter side, pulled it apart along the grain into strips, and then ground it by hand in my small tobacco grinder. This stuff is so dense I had a hard time twisting the grinder and the result was fairly chunky – sort of a cubed/broken flake texture. It also seemed a bit moist so I let it sit for 30 minutes or so. That wasn’t much time drying time and the tobacco was so solid that I wondered if it would burn well at all so I decided to use the gravity fill method with my Peterson Shamrock which has a tall, narrow bowl. After sprinkling the McQuaid’s in, tapping the bowl to settle it, and topping it with just a bit of pressure, I was ready to go. I should mention that the small slice I rubbed out yielded about 3 bowls worth. Don't let the small size of the brick fool you - this stuff is DENSE!
The charring light went pretty well and I think I was right in my choice of pipe. It took me a few tries to get the bowl really going but once I did it burned well. Due to its density I made a concerted effort to smoke very slowly (which I often don’t do) and that seemed to be the right way to go.
The taste at the true light is primarily Virginia, rich and sweet, with no bite and virtually no trace of the casing. I’m guessing this is a stoved blend as there is a certain mellowness and depth to the smoke that reminds me quite a bit of Anniversary Kake from pipesandcigars.com but without the Perique.
As the bowl got going through the first and second thirds, the flavor held steady with rich, stoved Virginia and gentle echoes of the original stewed fruit from the pouch aroma. Although it seemed to smolder quite slowly, a few puffs would bring up a cloud of wonderful thick smoke – good for smoke rings
I would say the nicotine content is above average but not staggeringly so. I had to relight a few times after the halfway point but that probably had as much to do with my absentmindedness as the tobacco’s burning qualities. The tease of casing flavors faded towards the end and became more of a straightforward Virginia. I guess I didn’t smoke as slowly as I thought as I did have a bit of gurgle (pretty common for me :blush: ) and some dottle in the bottom of the bowl.
After 3 bowls, here's my overall impression:
- Preparation is difficult but I think that is part of the fun.
- Lighting is much easier after some drying time. The tobacco for my 2nd bowl sat out for 90 minutes before I packed it and it was much easier to keep lit.
- The flavor didn’t develop much but I wouldn’t call it one-dimensional. There was complexity but little subtlety if that makes any sense. For example I often find Oriental blends (particularly those without Latakia) to be both complex and subtle. This was more of a straightforward flavor that had several elements but was quite up front about them from start to finish.
- Mick McQuaid Plug is a great tobacco and a terrific change of pace from the VAPERs I’ve been smoking a lot of lately. I would certainly buy it again.
- Tim
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Mick McQuaid Plug is easily the densest block of pressed tobacco I’ve ever seen. It comes in a typical pouch but the actual brick is a square of perhaps 2" x 1.5" x .75". It's so small that it makes the pouch seem somewhat empty even though it weighs 50 grams. The aroma is a rich mash of stewed fruits – figs, plums, and prunes - with a hint of some sort of liqueur; amaretto or brandy perhaps. It is delightful and potent without being overwhelming.
With my pocket knife I shaved a 1/8” to 1/4” sliver off the shorter side, pulled it apart along the grain into strips, and then ground it by hand in my small tobacco grinder. This stuff is so dense I had a hard time twisting the grinder and the result was fairly chunky – sort of a cubed/broken flake texture. It also seemed a bit moist so I let it sit for 30 minutes or so. That wasn’t much time drying time and the tobacco was so solid that I wondered if it would burn well at all so I decided to use the gravity fill method with my Peterson Shamrock which has a tall, narrow bowl. After sprinkling the McQuaid’s in, tapping the bowl to settle it, and topping it with just a bit of pressure, I was ready to go. I should mention that the small slice I rubbed out yielded about 3 bowls worth. Don't let the small size of the brick fool you - this stuff is DENSE!
The charring light went pretty well and I think I was right in my choice of pipe. It took me a few tries to get the bowl really going but once I did it burned well. Due to its density I made a concerted effort to smoke very slowly (which I often don’t do) and that seemed to be the right way to go.
The taste at the true light is primarily Virginia, rich and sweet, with no bite and virtually no trace of the casing. I’m guessing this is a stoved blend as there is a certain mellowness and depth to the smoke that reminds me quite a bit of Anniversary Kake from pipesandcigars.com but without the Perique.
As the bowl got going through the first and second thirds, the flavor held steady with rich, stoved Virginia and gentle echoes of the original stewed fruit from the pouch aroma. Although it seemed to smolder quite slowly, a few puffs would bring up a cloud of wonderful thick smoke – good for smoke rings
I would say the nicotine content is above average but not staggeringly so. I had to relight a few times after the halfway point but that probably had as much to do with my absentmindedness as the tobacco’s burning qualities. The tease of casing flavors faded towards the end and became more of a straightforward Virginia. I guess I didn’t smoke as slowly as I thought as I did have a bit of gurgle (pretty common for me :blush: ) and some dottle in the bottom of the bowl. After 3 bowls, here's my overall impression:
- Preparation is difficult but I think that is part of the fun.
- Lighting is much easier after some drying time. The tobacco for my 2nd bowl sat out for 90 minutes before I packed it and it was much easier to keep lit.
- The flavor didn’t develop much but I wouldn’t call it one-dimensional. There was complexity but little subtlety if that makes any sense. For example I often find Oriental blends (particularly those without Latakia) to be both complex and subtle. This was more of a straightforward flavor that had several elements but was quite up front about them from start to finish.
- Mick McQuaid Plug is a great tobacco and a terrific change of pace from the VAPERs I’ve been smoking a lot of lately. I would certainly buy it again.
- Tim
