A friend of mine recommended Pease and I've yet to try it. I found it online at the Tobacco Barn in California and the blend I'm looking at is a 2 oz. tin of Westminster. It's an English blend with some Latakia ( a must for me ) at $14.76. Good Smoke? Good Price? Neither? Both? Thanks.
G.L. Pease pipe tobacco. Any thoughts?
- Thread starter VonMises1881
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great tobacco from a great blender, lousy price. Try www.smokingpipes.com or www.4noggins.com. GLP makes some awesome blends.
GLP is the best of the best of the best. And I'm not just saying that because he's a member. 
I enjoy Greg's blends; he's a gentleman and is a great contributor to the pipe boards I'm a member of. My two favorites are Union Square (a straight VA) and Key Largo (a cigar leaf blend). I'm hearing great things about Chelsey Morning and it will definitely be on my next order.
GLPease is awesome! While I've heard tale of smokers that don't care for his blends, I've never witnessed it in person, I think its a myth.
Those two website will have better prices.
www.pipesandcigars.com and www.parklanetobacconist.com are also great sites. Those two along with smokingpipes and 4noggins are my go-to sites for tobacco and pipes.
I haven't smoked many English blends lately, but Westminster is good from what I recall. It's also widely regaled on pipe boards as being a great medium-bodied, elegant English blend.
That said, I feel that his non-English blends don't get anywhere near enough credit, I've been sampling those lately and they're all quality blends to varying degrees. I even just managed to set up a trade for six eight year old tins of Cumberland, so I'm feeling pretty good!
I haven't smoked many English blends lately, but Westminster is good from what I recall. It's also widely regaled on pipe boards as being a great medium-bodied, elegant English blend.
That said, I feel that his non-English blends don't get anywhere near enough credit, I've been sampling those lately and they're all quality blends to varying degrees. I even just managed to set up a trade for six eight year old tins of Cumberland, so I'm feeling pretty good!
His blends are highly regarded by guys that regard them highly, less so by those that don't. His fans tend to be very vocal and passionate, which causes his detractors to be quiet and reserved in the interest of pipe-shop harmony. This leads to the mistaken impression that GLP blends are universally adored. They are not.
It may be obvious that I'm not a fan; I have yet to find a single GLP blend that I actually like. But this distaste also extends to Cornell & Diehl blends in general, so it's quite possible that I would better appreciate Pease's genius if his blends were made by McClellands, Germain, or the guys that do Rattrays and McConnell's (K&K I believe).
Good tabacoo not one of my favorites though.
Tattaglia is a pimp, he never could have outfought Santino. But I didn't know until this day that it was Barzini all along.
Mparker doesn't like Pease blends? I'm writing this one down.
Not even Charing cross?
Mparker doesn't like Pease blends? I'm writing this one down.
Not even Charing cross?
Funny you should mention Charing Cross. That is one that caused me to break my vow to ignore the Peaseites at the local pipe shop. After all, it was supposedly based on Balkan Sobranie White, which was my all-time favorite blend back in the day; it took me many years to get over its loss. I've since moved on to other orientals but have never strayed terribly far from the ideal it represented, and boy it sure sounded like Pease did his homework on Charing Cross.
I hate it. Really really hate it. Charing Cross makes my mouth and throat hurt, it feels tannic and tastes acrid and bitter. Drying it out doesn't help. Smoking it in a calabash doesn't help. Smoking it in a meerschaum doesn't help. Even smoking it in my Radice with the foot-long bamboo shank extension doesn't help, and that thing can tame the harshest virginias ever made! (*cough* Christmas Cheer *cough*)
To me it is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike Balkan Sobranie White. What it does remind me of quite strongly is Presbyterian Mixture, which has been around forever and widely praised as an exemplar of the non-balkan oriental style (i.e. no/little latakia). I have the same problem with Presbyterian Mixture as I do with Charing Cross, it feels like someone's alternately swabbing my throat with battery acid and feeding me firecrackers. It's possible that there's a particular tobacco variety that is common between these two blends that I'm allergic to, or maybe they're using the same casing, but whatever the cause it's pretty safe to say that Charing Cross did not alter my opinion of GLP tobaccos for the better.
Lots of guys like them an awful lot though. Whatever floats their boat. For me there are lots of non-Pease non-C&D non-Presbyterian Mixture alternatives that keep me from pining too hard for Balkan Sobranie White. Butera Pelican and Latakia #2; McConnell's Oriental; recent production Balkan Sasieni; Rattray's Red Rapparee, Black Mallory, 7 Reserve, 3 Noggins; Robert Lewis Tree Mixture; and Esoterica Penzance for example. And my remaining tins of Dunhill Durbar, which will hopefully be put back into production and imported again before I've exhausted my stash.
Edit: Didn't mean to hijack the thread. ObShaving - Pease blends are sort of the pipe tobacco equivalent to Mitchell's Wool Fat, in that they're both incredibly popular but also extremely polarizing.
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Pretty much. Some virginias, as long as they're not made by McClellands. Escudo is good, though I've finished off my old Copes stuff and my old Three Nuns. Don't know if they still make the Nuns, but Peter Heinrich's Special Curley is very similar to old Three Nuns. I also like some burleys, as long as they're not made by C&D. Peterson's University Flake is good once you air it out a bit which makes it lose that odd blueberry smell (I don't think it's from the casing but from the fermentation because it disappears so quickly with a little air). I smoke it in a cob. Butera Kingfisher is a very good burley, I've got a Radice dedicated to Kingfisher. And MacBarens Navy Flake is also a favorite, I've got a bamboo-shanked Barbi dedicated to that one.
But orientals have been my main love ever since I discovered Balkan Sobranie Original Smoking Mixture (aka "White") and McClellands Bombay Court. Sobranie 759 ("Black") didn't do it for me the same way, too much latakia, I couldn't taste anything else for days after smoking it, I'd smoke a bowl and that would be it for a couple of days, no point trying to smoke another bowl of anything because I wouldn't taste a thing. But the oriental balkans with the lighter touch of latakia didn't leave an aftertaste for very long, so I could smoke several bowls and still enjoy it. All the ones I listed in my previous post have that characteristic to some degree or another except for maybe Penzance which is definitely on the heavy side.
But orientals have been my main love ever since I discovered Balkan Sobranie Original Smoking Mixture (aka "White") and McClellands Bombay Court. Sobranie 759 ("Black") didn't do it for me the same way, too much latakia, I couldn't taste anything else for days after smoking it, I'd smoke a bowl and that would be it for a couple of days, no point trying to smoke another bowl of anything because I wouldn't taste a thing. But the oriental balkans with the lighter touch of latakia didn't leave an aftertaste for very long, so I could smoke several bowls and still enjoy it. All the ones I listed in my previous post have that characteristic to some degree or another except for maybe Penzance which is definitely on the heavy side.
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Ah, I see. I asked because I was curious if you had any familiarity with his va/per or va or va/burley blends. Based on your distaste for most things C&D, though, I'm guessing you would not be fond of those either.
As for not liking VA's by McClelland....not fond of smoking a bowl of ketchup, eh?
I'm growing into a massive fan of burleys, and va/per/bur type blends, and I love Cornell & Diehl, but to each their own. I'm certainly not going to criticize you for not being a Cornell & Diel and/or GLP fan. Though it does cause a lack of comprehension on my part. Seriously, though, I'm just happy that there's enough variety in the tobacco world to make things like this a non-issue.
By the way, have you tried Stonehaven?
As for not liking VA's by McClelland....not fond of smoking a bowl of ketchup, eh?
I'm growing into a massive fan of burleys, and va/per/bur type blends, and I love Cornell & Diehl, but to each their own. I'm certainly not going to criticize you for not being a Cornell & Diel and/or GLP fan. Though it does cause a lack of comprehension on my part. Seriously, though, I'm just happy that there's enough variety in the tobacco world to make things like this a non-issue.
By the way, have you tried Stonehaven?
I've always associated C&D with burley, the way McClellands always seems to be associated with Virginias (and ketchup ), so I would certainly expect burley fans to have a fondness for C&D and conversely would expect C&D fans to have a fondness for burley. Based on my own preferences I guess my natural blenders would probably be Rattray and Butera, though like Pease they don't manufacture their own stuff, and indeed I've found very few of their blends that don't appeal to me at some level.
I do like vaper and vaperbur blends, just not the C&D and McClellands stuff. MacBarens, Orlik, Stokkeby, Germain, K&K, etc all make great virginias and burleys that I like quite a bit. And I could smoke McClellands virginias decades ago before I developed a sensitivity to it. I've got a depressing amount of McClellands tins in the closet that are getting close to 20 yrs old that I'll never smoke, though they are handy for trading - I recently swapped a few tins of '93 PCCA 1776 for some Dunhill Durbar, for example.
I quite like Stonehaven - I gave it a 4-star review on TR and still feel that way. I've got an 8-oz pack of it in a box somewhere waiting for it to collect another decade of age before I violate it. Virginias and burleys are something I smoke every now and then, but I'll occasionally get on a kick and smoke little else for a month, then I'll go back to mostly orientals for a year. My most recent Va binge was Rattray Marlin Flake, but it was ~25 yrs old (the tin was bulged nearly to the point of rupture) and nobody can resist that sort of siren call
I have no idea why C&D and Pease don't work for me. It's not the same thing every blend the way it is with McClellands Virginias (vicious tongue bite), but every blend of theirs I've tried has had something about it that I dislike. But after 20+ yrs with the pipe its no longer something I worry about, not when there's so many other blends and blenders out there. But it does gripe me the way so many Pease fans treat a dislike of his blends as some sort of character flaw rather than a simple matter of taste, and insist on trying to convert me to the Church of Pease. So when some wild-eyed pipester grabs me by the elbow and asks me how much I love Pease's blends I generally murmur that they're pretty good and politely send him off to go bother somebody else, and the other anti-Peaseites and I will roll our eyes at each other knowingly while the missionary toddles off satisfied that he's found another follower and that all is right with his world.
), so I would certainly expect burley fans to have a fondness for C&D and conversely would expect C&D fans to have a fondness for burley. Based on my own preferences I guess my natural blenders would probably be Rattray and Butera, though like Pease they don't manufacture their own stuff, and indeed I've found very few of their blends that don't appeal to me at some level.I do like vaper and vaperbur blends, just not the C&D and McClellands stuff. MacBarens, Orlik, Stokkeby, Germain, K&K, etc all make great virginias and burleys that I like quite a bit. And I could smoke McClellands virginias decades ago before I developed a sensitivity to it. I've got a depressing amount of McClellands tins in the closet that are getting close to 20 yrs old that I'll never smoke, though they are handy for trading - I recently swapped a few tins of '93 PCCA 1776 for some Dunhill Durbar, for example.
I quite like Stonehaven - I gave it a 4-star review on TR and still feel that way. I've got an 8-oz pack of it in a box somewhere waiting for it to collect another decade of age before I violate it. Virginias and burleys are something I smoke every now and then, but I'll occasionally get on a kick and smoke little else for a month, then I'll go back to mostly orientals for a year. My most recent Va binge was Rattray Marlin Flake, but it was ~25 yrs old (the tin was bulged nearly to the point of rupture) and nobody can resist that sort of siren call
I have no idea why C&D and Pease don't work for me. It's not the same thing every blend the way it is with McClellands Virginias (vicious tongue bite), but every blend of theirs I've tried has had something about it that I dislike. But after 20+ yrs with the pipe its no longer something I worry about, not when there's so many other blends and blenders out there. But it does gripe me the way so many Pease fans treat a dislike of his blends as some sort of character flaw rather than a simple matter of taste, and insist on trying to convert me to the Church of Pease. So when some wild-eyed pipester grabs me by the elbow and asks me how much I love Pease's blends I generally murmur that they're pretty good and politely send him off to go bother somebody else, and the other anti-Peaseites and I will roll our eyes at each other knowingly while the missionary toddles off satisfied that he's found another follower and that all is right with his world.
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First of all, thank you for the detailed and informative posts.
Second, that was funny as hell!
I don't generally see this behavior occurring at smokersforums (at least, in a serious fashion, often happens in jest) but then again that and alt.smokers.pipes are the only two pipe boards I visit. Now, if you mean that this kind of thing happens at the local B&M...quite frankly, I would love it if I could get into arguments over GLP blends, etc. at the local B&M. The vast majority of people there don't know about anything other than the house blends, which I find a damn shame. Granted, they do have a few good ones, but there's a whole world out there that goes unexplored. There are tins around for sale, too, but they don't get much attention due to the prices running around $18 a tin.
Second, that was funny as hell!
I don't generally see this behavior occurring at smokersforums (at least, in a serious fashion, often happens in jest) but then again that and alt.smokers.pipes are the only two pipe boards I visit. Now, if you mean that this kind of thing happens at the local B&M...quite frankly, I would love it if I could get into arguments over GLP blends, etc. at the local B&M. The vast majority of people there don't know about anything other than the house blends, which I find a damn shame. Granted, they do have a few good ones, but there's a whole world out there that goes unexplored. There are tins around for sale, too, but they don't get much attention due to the prices running around $18 a tin.
Pease has numerous blends some of which I like and some I don't. I do like Cumberland which I don't think has been mentioned yet.
Your reviews were always in my top five.
Xmas Cheer can be particularly brutal.
I have to check my stash. I may have some Durbar, and if I do, it's yours. It was always my favorite Dunhill.
Too funny.
Okay, now you're just killing me.
And a big +1 on the Stonehaven, one of the most remarkable blends of all.
Cumberland is one of the under-rated blends I referenced. I'm just discovering it, but I think it will be a good, long-term friend. I did mention it earlier, but in passing.
On a different note, given the trashing I've given to McClelland's VA's in this thread I think it's only fair for me to note that I'm smoking a bowl of McC's 5100 (red cake) right now and that I'm really enjoying it. It's pretty popular over at smokersforums so I decided to give it a try. After all, what the hell, if I don't like it, I can trade it, right? I'm happy to say that it's a nice, sweet VA with a very light vinegar hint that comes through more in the aroma than the flavor. This one, fortunately, has not been treated with McC's patented KIS (Ketchup Integration System).
Yes. It's a good price and smoke. I bought at $15 for 2 oz. I like a smoke of G.L.Pease. Montgomery, Fillmore, Telegraph hill, Embarcadero...
