Sometimes, if a conversation is interesting enough, Gregory Pease's eyes momentarily drift and lose focus, and he becomes motionless. Even his breathing pauses. It would be spooky except it's merely a microsecond and mostly unnoticeable, but a lot can happen in that microsecond.

If he's intrigued by the subject, it might happen more often and can resemble an amusing strobe effect for those who pay close attention. Because he generally utters something brilliant after these interludes, it's most likely that the cogs in his head are spinning so fast that their energy requirements starve the rest of his functions and he freezes. He's making weird connections and seeing parallels and themes and examining avenues of possibility. It happens when he's interested, and he's interested in everything.

Greg's curiosity has taken him down many unusual paths. Curious, for some reason, about medieval siege engines, he built his own in various sizes, from trebuchets to catapults to ballistas. In his youth, he became curious about photography, developing his first print at age eight and later becoming a professional-level photographer, and his pipe calendars have been especially enjoyable for pipe enthusiasts. In 10th grade, he built a working 4-bit computer from scavenged parts. That interest continued for a while, and he spent 18 years of his professional life as a computer scientist working on diverse projects like operating systems, high-performance mass-storage systems, and voice recognition and synthesis.

He was for a few years a rock musician in glam metal and punk bands, and his interest in music also drove him during his 20s to design and build guitar amplifiers, starting his own company, High Energy Engineering. Oddly, he knows his way around a sword, fencing with epée and foil, and he's recently taken up traditional archery. And if he should drop his weapon, he's prepared, having practiced kung fu and tai chi chuan for most of his life. He's a guy we probably don't want to engage in either physical or intellectual disagreements because even if in his pajamas and half asleep, he's well-armed.

His interests are eclectic and tend to group around traditional, vintage-inspired activities. Like pipe smoking.

There's almost no enigmatic subject that hasn't at one time or another engaged Greg's interest enough for him to become proficient, if not professional. However, one of the most consistent passions since he was a young university student has been pipes and tobaccos. He spent much of his free time at his local tobacconist until, ultimately, he was given a part-time job and began to learn the trade. For years afterward, he'd work there on and off when taking a much-needed break from technology, just because he enjoyed it.

While some of Greg's interests faded after he became proficient enough to be bored, pipe tobaccos have for more than four decades held his attention, and he is always excited by new concepts for his blends and his brand. Tobacco is a playground for Greg Pease and he exults in forever exploring its possibilities.

He's been particularly engrossed lately by the versatility and smoking characteristics of plug-cut tobaccos. Plug tobaccos may be prepared for smoking in a variety of ways for a choice of experiences, and they possess spectacular aging potential. In fact, because of the extended high pressure in making plug tobaccos, they immediately provide many of the qualities that we enjoy in aged tobacco. Plugs became popular during the age of sailing vessels, when sailors preferred plug-style tobacco because of its compact form, ease of transport, and conservation of moisture content.

The G.L. Pease portfolio has until now contained four plug-cut tobaccos: Spark Plug, Temple Bar, Triple Play, and JackKnife Plug. However, it's an irresistible format with more to contribute. Greg decided to develop a new plug, and that's how the second tobacco in his Zeitgeist Collection came about. It's called géométrie, and its story is fascinating for those of us attracted to a better understanding of the blends we smoke.

The Zeitgeist Collection

The Zeitgeist Collection explores avant-garde and rebellious themes, challenging preconceptions with innovative, unexpected mixtures, exceptional components, engaging tobacco formats, and it is inspired by the motifs and styles of modern art.

The first tobacco in the G.L. Pease Zeitgeist Collection was Bankside, released last year. Bankside is a unique reinterpretation of the archetypal Virginia/Perique flake, and the artwork of the tin depicts London's famed Bankside art district, juxtaposing the district's bold, industrial architecture with its museums and the tantalizing and often provocative modern art that they display. As a pipe tobacco, Bankside offers a similar complementary contrast with a paradoxical harmony of sweet and smoky notes exhibiting an utterly singular flavor profile.

Bankside is impressive, and Greg worried that he might be unable to develop another for the Zeitgeist Collection of equal character and innovation. But after combining his creativity, his respect for the plug-tobacco format, and long, arduous experimentation, the Collection found its second submission: géométrie.

The Themes of géométrie

"The look of the tobacco plug really brought to mind Proto-Cubism," says Greg. Proto-Cubism is characterized by the radical geometrization of shapes in a limited color palette, and was the exploratory stage of the Cubism art movement, first recognized in 1911.

"I chose the French spelling because France was the birthplace of Cubism, and as a bit of a sly wink in the direction of Descartes." René Descartes, 17th-century philosopher, scientist, and mathematician — and also French — combined the fields of geometry, algebra, and analytic geometry for a philosophy of science and mathematics.

Greg also chose not to capitalize the name géométrie. "It just looks cool," he says, "and I've always kind of liked e e cummings," a modernist freeform poet who primarily used lowercase letters. It's unfortunate that Cummings was American. He would have more admirably contributed to the themes of géométrie had he possessed the foresight to be born in France, but his style is beautifully appropriate nonetheless.

The Making of géométrie

"Géométrie," says Greg, "is actually a fairly simple blend of Red Virginias, Izmir and Basma. The three components come together in a beautiful way. Because of the intense pressing of the mixture, a variety of unexpectedly complex flavors manifest."

Preparation of the leaf requires that the midrib first be removed. "What you're left with is called strips, part of the lamina of the leaf minus the midrib. So they're fairly large pieces, and they're layered together and put under immense pressure for a couple of weeks, making a large block about 16 inches square and a little over an inch thick. Those blocks can then be sliced into flakes, or cut into small blocks called plugs."

Plug tobaccos may be prepared for smoking in a variety of ways for a choice of experiences

The pressing process initiates its own specific fermentation, which contributes to the unique characteristics that can emerge. "Most of the block is exposed to very little oxygen, so it undergoes a whole different fermentation process, and that continues until the smoker slices it. When I introduced JackKnife Plug, for example, I thought it would be fun to bring out a ready-rub version of it too. So JackKnife Plug and JackKnife Ready Rubbed were identical in components and their ratios, but in flavor they diverged dramatically within two weeks. They're like two completely different mixtures."

Among the many chemical processes occurring during tobacco fermentation, oxidative degradation converts polyphenols into aroma compounds, improving the room note and smoking experience. Fermentation is more than a chemical process, however. The enzymatic action of microbes, for example, is vital in breaking down cellulose and providing a smoother smoking experience.

"As soon as you cut the plug," says Greg, "it starts to oxidize and it just changes the whole nature of the fermentation. The depth of the aroma and the depth of the flavor is amplified in the plug."

Preparing Plug Tobacco

Greg is especially enthused about the different preparation options available to smokers of plug tobaccos. "That's the beauty of a plug. Sometimes I'll slice it very thin and make a shag out of it. Sometimes I'll slice it thicker and treat it like a normal flake. Sometimes I'll cut it fairly thick and cube-cut it, and then gravity fill a bowl with it for a slower-smoking, smoldering effect. The thing that I love about plugs is that you can employ these different preparations, and each one provides different results. You can experience different smoking experiences from the same tobacco. For me, the bottom line is that it's just fun to play with the different preparations. I think we're living in a time when people need to pursue fun as its own motivation."

A medium-bodied smoke, géométrie leverages the natural sweetness of Ismir and Basma Oriental tobaccos as a counterpoint to the sweetness of the Virginias. "They work together really nicely to build the blend's complex flavor profile. The Izmir projects a little bit of a sweet, tart character, a little bit of a citric tang that balances the smoother earthier sweetness of the Basma. And they combine beautifully with the Virginias. Red Virginia doesn't have the same tang as Bright Virginia, and it creates a very full flavor profile that engages the palate in a much broader sense than either the Orientals or the Virginias could individually."

The Mixture's Characteristics

Many flavors arise during the smoking of this blend. "There's a lot here to explore. There's a bready quality, and a really lovely, subtle sweetness that will deepen with age. It's not something that hits you over the head, but it's there. At times, it delivers baking spice flavors, hints of cinnamon, clove, allspice, maybe even a bit of cardamom. It's nutmeg-ish from the Orientals, because they do that sometimes, but it isn't overt. It isn't always there, but provides a subtle little surprise now and then. It's creamy, and it's delicious."

Greg thinks that géométrie will appeal primarily to straight Virginia lovers because it doesn't incorporate Perique. "But I think a lot of Va/Per enthusiasts also like straight Virginias and that it will appeal to anybody who likes Virginias. It will likely attract a fairly broad cross-section of Virginia/Perique people, and those who like a lighter style of what are broadly referred to as English blends because of its broad flavor profile that engages the entire palate. It's a very comfortable smoke, but it's also a very engaging smoke." Géométrie is a tobacco that you can smoke on autopilot when you're thinking thoughts of world peace or domination or the puzzle of existence, but given full attention, there's a complexity of flavors to keep one occupied.

"You can experience different smoking experiences from the same tobacco"

It isn't the same geometry that interrupted our daydreams in seventh-grade math class; it's way better than that. Though certainly geometric, géométrie appeals to the senses rather than the brain's analytic centers. The G.L. Pease Zeitgeist Collection has doubled in breadth, and with the first two blends now complete, Greg is working on the next. He has ideas. He has more ideas than most of us have molecules, but he saves and develops and works toward bringing only the best to fruition, and géométrie is the latest. For a unique smoking experience and plenty of fun, consider adding a tin to your next order. You may find that the artistic spirit of modern art translates well to the pipe.