Sweating cobs and neatas

'Sweating cobs and neatas'. What is the origin of this phrase? I believe it is something to do with the Navy and rum?

Is it a "phrase" at all? Google finds no hits for it, although just "sweating cobs" gives about 200. Where did you hear/read it? I've never heard "sweating cobs" in the UK - is it a US phrase? (Just guessing, but among the meanings of "cob" are "an Irish name for the Spanish silver dollar" or "cobblestone"; either of which could be a metaphor for really big drops of sweat.) (VSD)

I've come across 'sweating cobs' in the UK, but only in the distant past. My father used to say that he was 'sweating cobs through a tin hat'. By cobs, I think he meant 'lumps of coal'.