I must say that age has not made a great difference here. I have not noticed a change over the year that this tin has been opened. It has always packed well and lit easily. The taste has been consistent as well.

After a charring light, I am greeted by a stiff kick in the chops. Wow. You?d better be seated for this one.

Pencil lead dominates the taste, but the burley adds an almost perfect touch of sweetness. The Cavendish adds to the sweetness and the body. That being said, the finish is a little flat and bitter. How disappointing. Smooth out the finish and this would easily be a 4 star blend. Too bad.

UPDATE************

Age makes all the difference. It's like aging fine wine. Here she is. 1 year old and 4 of 4 stars.

I've had better tobacco, but I've also had a lot worse. The 50g tin was worth the price. I was reminded of days gone by - good ones, I might add - while smoking this tobacco. I think Grandpa would have enjoyed it, too.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: Every once in a while, you encounter a blend like Pegasus and why you smoke a pipe becomes very clear. I have to be honest right up front and say that initially, Pegasus was one of those blends that just didn't grab me. I couldn't point to anything wrong with it but it just didn't grab me right up front. But anyone that has smoked a pipe for any length of time knows that there are three kinds of pipe tobacco: Blends that are instant hits and you know from the first puff that you love (i.e. OJK and Prince Albert in my case), blends that you despise from the first puff and vow to never attempt to smoke again (mixture 79, Borkum Riff Cherry) and finally blends that you have no specific complaint against but they just don't grab you right off (i.e. Pegasus and Edgeworth RR). The first two categories are fairly straight forward, I love it and plan to smoke a lot of it or This sucks I'll never smoke this crap ever again. The final category is a bit more complex. These are the creeper blends that you don't get at first but suddenly begin to reach for more and more until all the sudden you discover a certain taste that is fantastic that it just took you a while to warm up to. This is where Pegasus sits with me. This process of exploration is one thing that makes pipe smoking as enjoyable as it is. A cigar tastes like a cigar, a cigarette tastes like a cigarette, but a pipe can taste like a million things and half the fun is figuring out what is good to you personally. Initially, I found nothing wrong with this blend but likewise found nothing very exciting either. But the more I smoked it the more I began to appreciate the interplay of the various component tobaccos and what a unique and exceptional flavor it really is. Very mild, very tasty and very simple to smoke. At the end of a bowl you are left with a pipe full of grayish white ashes and an anxious anticipation of your next bowl full of Pegasus. The black cavendish is largely responsible for the fragrant sweetness but lest you be fooled this is a good, old school natural blend through and through. Burley runs the show here. The trace amounts of virginia merely enhance the subtle sweetness and provide a bit of body and complexity. The black cavendish is an amazing touch of subtle sweetness and aroma but does it very smoothly and quietly without the goopy, soapy taste normally associated with more heavily cased black cavendish. Once again, Bob Runowski, The Guru of All Things Burley has delivered in fine fashion. The desert island blend is a distinction I rarely find appropriate but if I were leaving to be stranded on a desert island today I think Pegasus, OJK and a few four-digit Kaywoodies would be essential gear. If you are a burleyphile, this one is a must try but the lesson learned (at least for me) was that sometimes even great blends take some time and patience to appreciate. Don't expect immediate fireworks with this one but give it time, once you get it, it's well worth the wait.

Original review (09/15/2007): I was looking forward to this for two reasons. First, I'm a big fan of C&D burley blends. Second, based on the reviews on this site, I figured it would be something I'd really enjoy. But I found this just didn't have enough flavor for me -- it struck me as utterly nondescript and dull, and it also bit me. The quality of the tobaccos seems to be excellent, however, and obviously a lot of people like it, so I might just be the odd man out on this one. I would highly recommend this blend if you like Haunted Bookshop (another blend I find to be too bland), as this strikes me as a sweetened version of it.

Taste and Aroma: I have heard Bond Street praised in reviews of other blends and it must have been a tad bland because Pegasus is no effusion of taste or aroma. The subtle sweetness of the black cavendish is contrasted with a typical stale burley taste and aroma. Again, to its credit, Pegasus is not a cloying, mediciny burley, but feels natural. Smoked outdoors, there is some goopy moisture which drains out of the stem.(An anamoly? This didn't happen indoors.)

Room Note: Decent, for a burley, but still the typical light stale burley aroma.

Nicotine: Medium to strong, closer to strong. It is no more heady than the last blend I tried, an oriental-based tobacco.

Overall: One of the few burley blends I can appreciate, it doesn't have an overly heavy burley smell. As burleys go, good, 3.2 stars. Compare Pegasus to two extremes of flavored burley blends, Half and Half, a drugstore aromatic completely flavored, and Prince Albert, not nearly as cased as H&H, but having decidedly less natural taste then Pegasus. To a degree, I recant what was said about burleys being bland, having sampled a VA afterwards. Perhaps burleys are sometimes described as bland because of the way they naturally taste, and that there is less sweetness.

Now I have a pound of Pegasus, his rendition of the old Bond St. tobacco, of which I never partook. The thing that sets this one apart from its' siblings is the sweetness, which I believe comes from the VAs (although the Cavendish undoubtably has a small part in this, too). It's a delightful contrast to the bitterness of some burley blends. Behind that, though, it's still the toasted nuttiness of burley that runs the show.

Pegasus seems not to be picky about pipe size and lights and burns exceptionally well. For me this is an especially good early morning smoke, when I may not be ready to deal with the heavier notes of something like Morley's.

After significant increases in the price of tobacco, C&D have finally broken the $30/lb. mark on their bulk blends. This was probably inevitable and is not nearly as bad as the rise in (for example) gasoline prices over the last six years.

Scores on Pegasus; flavor- 17 of 20; lighting and burn- 9 of 10; value- 8 of 10. a 34 overall earns Pegasus a **** rating.

Add a star or two if you're a big fan of burley, as notwithstanding what I have said, as this is surely a quality blend.

For a perfect hint of sweetness, so slight but so skillfully executed, we have the black Cavendish. Easily the finest example of black Cavendish that can be found, almost what I imagine the old Rattray's Virginia based black Cavendish to have been like, not that I am old enough to have tasted that particular leaf. Is this all that is required to achieve true tobacco perfection? So it would seem.

This is the blend, along with Prince Albert, of course, that turned me into a devoted smoker of classic American-style mixtures. I have gone through more than five pounds of the stuff so far and the gods only know when I will let up. Be warned, once Pegasus casts her spell, it is not easily broken.

Regards,

A. Morley Jaques

I don't know how similar it is to the original Bond Street, but on its own terms, this is great stuff. It will make you happy as you create those delicious clouds of smoke, smolder without needing many relights, and please those around you. And it's mild enough to smoke bowl after bowl. What's not to like?

This blend definitely gets better with age, the jar I just finished was 16 months old, and was significantly better than the "fresh" sample I tried, though it was still good... this one truly becomes GREAT with age!!

The base of the blend are three burleys: cube cut, white and dark. They are the majority tobaccos. The two virginias and the unsweetened black cavendish provide the flavor. I have grown very fond of ribbon cut virginia with its matured sweetness and clean burn. Black cavendish has drawn criticism because of the travesty which some blenders have inflected upon it with the "bag o' smokes" available in some venues. But, C&D black cavendish is uncased and very smooth, w/o excess sugars.

Smoking Pegasus is best in a larger bowled pipe, to allow the tobaccos to meld. I chose a Ben Wade large Dublin which I got from Bill Unger of NASPC. In the first lightings, the initial bitterness of burleys are expressed, but then their fullness is tasted followed fairly quickly by tasting both virginias and the BC. The smoke never seems to fall into any harshness and levels out into clean and pleasant experience. I believe that both the new and more experienced smoker will find Pegasus acceptable.