Peterson's 3P's- 5 years later

[SLR]

This tobacco comes in 50 gram plugs (tins). I got this tin back in 2010.





The plug has to be sliced into flakes, then either folded and stuffed into the pipe, cube cut, or rubbed out into a shag. For me, the shag seems to bring out bigger flavors out of this pipe tobacco, and easier to stay lit. This tobacco is dense and packed so you need a really sharp and strong knife to slice it. I use a big Buck folding knife to slice it. I also find my Beretta folding knife works well with slicing plugs.





The smoke is rich with tons of sweet tobacco and fruity flavors, kind of has this raisin like flavor. This tobacco is fantastic. Highly recommend.

[Smokestack Jack]

Looks like fun to play with! I was reading a review of 3P's and this guy said he added more Virginia and some Latakia tobacco to the mix to mellow it out. I better sharpen up my pocket knife!

[gumby]

Interesting. I've never heard of that.

[mike s]

Pretty cool...ive always wanted to try pipe smoking, just never picked it up.

[Jester]

Originally Posted by mike s

Pretty cool...ive always wanted to try pipe smoking, just never picked it up.

Hasn't been easy for me to get the hang of but I'm still working on it.

Posts like this keep me motivated.

Best,
J.

[SLR]

I find thinner blades work best. The wedge on thicker blades tend to make it difficult to cut through dense plugs. Plugs like 3P's and Samuel Gawith plugs are dense and packed hard so you need a strong enough knife to slice through them easily.

If you use a thick spined knife, it ends up being hard work. Most of your hunting fixed blades and kitchen cutlery tend to be too thick and not good for slicing through plugs.

Some folding knives like the ones I use work great. I use a Buck style and Beretta folding knives, both with thin spined blades, yet pretty strong to cut through dense plugs with some ease.

You can see some tobacco staining on this Beretta blade...



Schrade (Buck style) folding knife...



Spines are pretty thin...

[SLR]

Originally Posted by Jester

Hasn't been easy for me to get the hang of but I'm still working on it.

Posts like this keep me motivated.

Best,
J.

It takes some practice to cut the plug into flakes to your liking. It is work to slice plugs. This particular tobacco blend only comes in plug form, not flake form. 3P's is so great to smoke, it is worth the work. But if this tobacco was available in flake format, I would go for the flake. Definitely easier to work with.

I recently noticed Samual Gawith Kendal Plug was available. It is the same blend as their Best Brown Flake. I chose to acquire the Best Brown Flake since it is easier to work with. Both great tobaccos if you ever get a chance to try. Just plain pressed Virginia tobaccos with no topping added.

[SLR]

Originally Posted by mike s

Pretty cool...ive always wanted to try pipe smoking, just never picked it up.

It is like when you discovered cigar smoking. Once you found that cigar that ignited the passion for cigars, it is the same for pipe smoking. Once I found that pipe tobacco that ignited the passion, I was hooked. For me, that tobacco was Samuel Gawith Best Brown Flake.

Since then, I have discovered a wide range of pipe tobaccos that are fantastic to smoke and are as enjoyable as smoking great cigars.

[SLR]

Here's a good vid clip I found on YouTube on cutting and preparing 3P's plug tobacco...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1sTmSPbO50

[gumby]

Dumb question probably, but why not just buy pipe tobacco?