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After smoking a handful of straight Virginia blends almost exclusively since November of last year, my taste buds were finally ready for a change around the end of March. I was hoping this would happen, as the notion of getting locked into a certain style of pipe tobacco for the rest of my smoking days, or even a specific blend, terrifies me. Exploring new tobaccos is a passion of mine, but it’s a balancing act. Often one has to buckle down on a fixed blender or a particular tin for some indeterminate period of time to really understand it, which means that diverse exploration of other tobaccos will come to halt in the face of the profound, seemingly fathomless contemplation of one or two blends.
But I digress. Lately I’ve been smoking G. L. Pease’s Charing Cross. Inspired by a thread on a forum likening it to the old Balkan Sobranie above anything else currently on market (whether this is true or not I’ll leave to you) I picked up my first tin of this a couple of weeks ago and have been enjoying it singularly and greatly. I’m a big fan of a handful of Pease’s blends, particularly Maltese Falcon, and recently his new Sextant, and those mixtures featuring a healthy dose of potent Latakia. Charing Cross is smoky, sweet, savory, and certainly rich in flavor, although exceptionally balanced and not at all cloying, even in a larger pipe, like my S. Wilford Ardor bent Rhodesian (it’s a huge pipe for me with what I think is an enormous tobacco chamber). For the most part I’ve been smoking this stuff in a couple Sebastien Beo pipes (a bent Rhodesian and a squat, paneled Rhodesian) and a couple older Dunhill billiards.
If you’ve just begun exploring the world of G. L. Pease pipe tobacco, I’ll mention that it’s pretty easy to get caught up in the excitement of his new releases in favor of getting familiar with some of his tried and true recipes like Haddo’s Delight, Caravan, Blackpoint, or Charing Cross (to name just a few). But there’s some really awesome stuff in his line that just doesn’t get talked about the way it once did and that’s too bad. Seriously, do yourself a favor and pick up a tin from something in his Original Mixtures or Classic Collection series. You’ll be glad you did.
Comments
I am in total agreement with you my friend. I'm currently smoking through my first tin of Charing Criss after seeing the same article you referred to haha. I enjoy it but it is taking it a little while to open up. What u mean is that most G.L. Pease Balkan blends need to spent a few days in a mason jar after you open the tin for some reason. I assume it's like a fine wine that needs to breath a bit after opening. If you haven't tried Abingdon in that series btw you should. It's my favorite Pease English blend to date
@Matthew, thanks for the feedback! It's been a long time since I smoked Abingdon; I really should go back and hit it up. Good tip!
I was a big fan of McClellan tobaccos. Just wondering why they haven't made their great tobacco available to another company. Certainly there is a large contingent of fans who would love to see those blends still available.