My only criticism is that I find the rather broad ribbon cut to be difficult to keep lit.

Complexity: A hard point to review since, in my opinion, although there is definetely complexity the main theme are the Orientals. I'd say the Orientals develop throughout the bowl and, halfway down, the Virginias fully kick in rounding up the flavor of the Oriental and adding an extra sweetness that goes very well with the Latakia.

Aroma: Naturally sweet, mostly Latakia and Orientals with some earthy undertones.

Tin Aroma: I'm sorry for repeating myself so much but, again, pungent orientals.

Room note: To me it is pleasant but I have to admit it is strong. My wife complains that it stings her nosetrills.

Burning characteristics: Easy to light, burns evenly and leaves no gunk at the bottom of the bowl. Very cool burning even when tempted. No tongue bite to speak of.

Cut/Moisture content: The cut is somewhat broad and coarse. That, combined with the relatively low moisture content makes the tobacco a little hard to pack but not so bad. All in all, the cut and moisture content are perfect and, to my taste, ensure that the blend burns at the intended rate so the intended flavors can come out.

Overall: A true Balkan, probably one of the best offerings available today. Hard to say something that hasn't been said. Highly recommended to those who can appreciate the delicate complexity of high quality blends.

One thing that I like about it is that it has that good classic balkan flavor. It is much more to my taste than blackpoint or kensington in that they are overly sweet for balkans.

Again if you like or in my case love abingdon and caravan you will no doubt enjoy this.

It has that great smoky taste but there are so many underlying hints that play in and out in a wonderful way. Some say hints of green pepper and chocolate, I don't know if thats how it tastes to me and I can't really describe it other than to say it's one of the best I've ever smoked.

I am addicted to pease balkans. If I could never smoke anything else but Caravan, Charing Cross, and Abingdon in that order of preference. I would be very satisfied. Althouh I would miss the occasional puff of mc christmas cheer.

For finally I have found tobaccos that smoke dry and cool to the final ash, taste as good, full, and biteless as possible, and leave me feeling quite a bit euphoric. What else could one ask for in a blend? It is what tobacco should and can be. Beyond highly reccomended, among what I consider a necessity to get through my days. If this became unavailable I would be VERY upset!

The leaf is of high quality and this tin arrived with ideal moisture. The cut is broad enough that it can be a little challenging to pack into a small bowl, but it's great in bowls with squat, wide-mouthed shapes.

And the tin description? Most accurate I've yet come across.

Edit: Just a bump up on this one for the sake of honesty. I've come to respect Charing Cross' potent beauty more and more everyday. For my money (what little there is), this is the finest Balkan available today. A masterpiece.

Taste & Aroma: Really smooth, like other GLP blends. Not harsh, bitter, or sharp, having a year age. Inhaling is allowed. Mellow oriental until mid-bowl when a mild cocoa and roasted poblano chiles comes to the fore. Fairly rich and comlex. A dry, clean smoke; no gurgle or dottle.

The above was experienced indoors. Outdoors, it has quite a cigar quality.

Nicotine: Medium to strong, just enough to mellow me out, but not get that sickly buzz. The effect, though, does tend to persist for quite awhile.

Room Note: Mildly cigarish

Overall: Really smooth blend with a strong oriental character, but not as much as Robert McConnell's Oriental. For my preferences, CC is a little too strong like a cigar. 3 stars.

Other GLP Balkans blends include Abingdon, Odyssey, Kensington, Caravan, and Ashbury.

When I want a rich latakia blend this is what I reach for. I've tried Abingdon, Blackpoint and Odyssey; but the latakia in these blends overpower everything else. They are good but Charing Cross surpasses them all, in my humble opinion. It is the epitome of richness and balance. When you wish to tip the scales toward richness try the blends mentioned above (especially Odyssey, if you can keep it lit or Caravan). When you desire more balance: Kensington, Piccadilly or maybe Westminster should satisfy.

I'm in the process of trying all of the Pease blends; after which I shall update this and other reviews accordingly.

Between Charing Cross, Blackpoint and most of all Abingdon, I don't miss my old long lost favorite 759 quite so much. As for the specifics of the smoking experience, the tin description pretty much sums it up. Compliments from other reviews pretty much fill in the blanks.

Any reports of this blend as a "tongue biter" are in my opinion entirely unwarranted. Steam and tongue bite are more a result of new tin moisture and smoking technique than anything else.

1. If the tobacco is too damp, you'll have a hot smoke.

2. If you pack it too tight, the last half of the bowl will likely smoke damp, rank and hot.

3. Balkan blends should be packed _slightly_ more loosely.

4. Many GLP blends are tinned a bit on the moist side. Let the tobacco air out for a bit before smoking.

A classic balkan. Possibly the best balkan available on the market today. What else is there to say? Highest rating.

Since my Balkan Sobrannie days my tastes have changed. However when I need to reconnect with that experience I will grab a tin of Charing Cross.

Tin Appearance: 2005 looks shorter and narrower in the cut. The 2008 is broader cut, and I was greeted with a huge chunk of Latakia to play with. Pretty cool. The older model has darkened somewhat and the colors are blending together.

Tin Aroma: 2005 has more cohesive aromas, the new tin is disjointed. No surprise there. The older blend is beginning to throw off some deep stewed dry fruit aromas, while the youngster is more vegetal and shallow.

Pack: I prefer the older tin overall. It is easier to gravity feed the layers. The young one needs to be pinched off and "shred fed".

Light: Both came dry enough out of the package for immediate firing, and took to the match without a hitch.

Smoke/Flavor: Both are cool burning. The old man is earthier and sweeter. The lad continues to carry forward the disjointed qualities reflected in the tin aroma. He's a gangly young chap, and a wee bit uncoordinated.

Room Note: Who cares?

Overall Impression: This is going to be fun. I have about 3 medium sized bowl's worth of the senior citizen and half a pound of junior to conduct side by side tastings. The boy will grow to a fine young man given time and proper environment. He will then mature into middle and old age with grace and charm...or was that gravy and chard? Dunno. Anyway, this mixture, in both stages of maturity, displays excellent breeding, good manners, and a positive outlook. Diplomacy, given the Latakia level, is a mute point. Or is that a Moo Point? The old man, alas, is not likely to survive this experiment. May he rest in pieces. Or is that Picses? Another moot point.

Good stuff.

Don't expect a nicotine kick here: CC is full flavored, but not strong at all.

I have several tins cellared and I'll be buying a lot more, considering that this is my only everyday Balkan.

I have no doubt this is a quality blend, but all I get out of it is a hot, faintly bitter smoke and a big dose of cotton mouth.

One thing that bugs me about these GLP blends is that almost everyone seems to agree that they have to age considerably before being able to really enjoy. If this hangs around long enough to 'get better' I'll update.

I think there is some toasted Cavendish in here. If so, it unites the Turkish and the Latakia rather than adding a third stream of flavour.

This is enjoyable all the way down. It burns evenly to a fine ash. But some rubbing of larger pieces of tobacco is advisable before loading the pipe, to prevent the top surface not lighting evenly, or slow embers from occurring at the end of the bowl.

Ceylon tea. Gin and tonic. A good solid Burgundy.

Update: It has been about one year since that review, and though I still believe Charing Cross to be amongst the "greats" of recent tobacco history, I have begun an affair with another great, that is; Penzance and/or Margate, by Esoterica. I still think highly of Charing Cross, but it is just not as interesting as these two tobaccos.

Update: I grow increasingly bored with Greg's offering as they all seem to include lemon yellow bright ribbon and many of them with stoved red virginias in a loose ribbon form that seems as if it is not as pressed together or integrated with itself as other blenders offerings. This may be in order to achieve more diversity in the bowl, but I feel that a tobacco need not be like a three ring circus in the bowl in order to avoid being monochrome in it's pallet. it seems as if G.L. almost blends by the number, every blend being a variant of the previous one.

I like this blend so much that I've dedicated a pipe to it (a Bertram Canadian - Bertrams may not be pretty, but they sure are great smokers!). I spent a while trying to find the perfect full Balkan, with a good balance between the Orientals and the Latakia. So many blends are just too Latakia heavy, which I find to be much less interesting than a good interplay between Orientals and Latakia. To my taste, this blend has enough of both to be at the same time complex and somewhat powerful.

Like most Pease blends, this one was a bit wet when I bought it, but drying out has made lighting easy enough. It smokes down to a fine grey ash, and I imagine it'd be a great tobacco to break in pipes.

This is highly recommended for anyone who wants more to their Balkan than raw power.

Aroma: Real Balkan aroma, mostly Latakia with Oriental support Packing: Packs easily into medium and large bowls. Probably will pack into a small bowl, but I prefer this type of blend in a larger pipe.

Lighting: Lights readily and without problem. Initial flavor: Mostly Oriental and Latakia flavor, very little (sometimes none) from the Virginias. Big, smoky, spicy and just a touch sharp.

Mid-bowl: Smooths out a bit as the Virginias step up, but they are always in the background. A bigger Balkan feeling than Caravan, but not as Latakia heavy as Odyssey or Abingdon. Nice dry smoke, cool when puffed at slow to normal rate.

Finish: Burns down to a nice clean ash, with little increase in strength

Summary: Definitely an evening smoke for me, way too full for any other time. An excellent choice for the Oriental lover.

I do not smoke all them regularly, but I understand them. There is a theme to each and all Pease blends are marvelously crafted, visually enticing, and will make one salivate upon opening the tin--the older, the better.

As a man of integrity, Greg uses the finest tobaccos available and does not release a blend until the tuning fork of taste rings true for him. As a man of experience and confidence, he does not kid himself and think (or demand) four stars for each of his blends from all reviewers.

Charing Cross is one of the "Classic Collection" tobaccos, each created as an homage to the best of days long gone. Blackpoint and Kensington are my personal favorites in this group. Charing Cross, though displaying the same craftsmanship and quality as all Pease blends, is not.

Not that there is anything wrong with Charing Cross, it is a simple matter of individual taste. And, for reasons I shall continue to explore, Charing Cross just misses the mark for me. I bought my first can of CC concurrent with a can of Blackpoint, which for the third time in my life kindled to flame "love at first sight...or tin aroma." Charing Cross did not, and, sorry to say, it still doesn't.

Charing Cross is a fine tobacco; it is, after all, a GL Pease product and as such is first-rate and impecably constructed. It simply, for me, does not resonate with somethig in my body chemistry. As you will note from other reviews, some find Nirvana in a bowl here. And, indeed the character deveolps as one makes way down the bowl.

Make no mistake, Charing Cross is a full Balkan, though, to my taste not an outstanding one IMHO. For Balkan blends, I would recommend Odyssey or Caravan from Greg's Original Mixtures, or Kensington, from the Classic Collection. Each is smoother and more complex than Charing Cross. For a full-bore Latakia dollop, Abingdon is the best choice among the Classic Collection.

Three out of four stars.

**After further evaluation I can say that the qualities I found less-than-satisfying in Charing Cross are mitigated in part, if not in whole, by pipe selection. My initial review was based upon smoking this weed in Sasieni 4-Dot pipes (the REAL DEAL from the "family-era"). Sasieni's are funny; they augment some blends while detracting from others.

Since the earlier review, I have tried this tobacco in a 1930s-era GBD and a meerschaum. The GBD, for whatever reason, eliminated the bitternes I found objectionable in earlier smokes. Both Sasieni and GBD are undervalued specimens of British pipemaking at its best; nevertheless, they smoke quite differently. GBDs are sweeter, while Sasienis are drier. Go figure!

A meerschaum likewise removes the bitterness, but, alas, much of the good things as well. Meerschaums are funny that way. In "the good old days" (hence, the "oldmanpipe") I could enjoy Rattray's Red Raparee and Dunhill's Nightcap ONLY in a meerschaum or calabash. Greg's blends are best-appreciated in a companionable briar.

The rating does not change, as I believe GL Pease has better to offer in this genre; the appreciation of Charing Cross, however, has been enhanced by exploration.

It ages well and it complements a good Scandanavian Vodka.

Images evoked while smoking include a demon horde successfully conquesting a medium-sized demoncracy in the middle of the week.

Appearance: Rough cut short ribbon of light and brown ribbon with dark brown and black ribbons as well composing 30% of the blend.

Aroma: Sweet raisin, leather, green peppercorn, date, stewed prunes, smoke, and a hint of bergamot. The sour-sweet aroma of perique is clearly present.

Taste: As with most of Mr. Pease's blends, this one is full of flavor. The taste is dominated by the flavor of smoke and sweet stewed fruit, with charcoal and barbeque smoke -- all this imparted by the Latakia and other Oriental leaves in the mix. As far as "Balkan" blends go, this one is on the lighter side, being somewhat tempered by the Virginia leaf to teetering on the edge between heavy English and light Balkan in its complexion. The leaf used is top grade as always and the composition of the blend is rigorously calculated. I believe it will also mellow with age.

The sticking point for me continues to be (as with all GLP blends) that it is a "big" performer one can compare to a "big" California Cabernet scoring in the high 90's on some reviewer's charts, and not like a more subtle Burgundy or Brodeaux red. GLP blends are akin to a prize-winning show dog, ready to point and posture for the judges, but ultimately not a very good housepet. For my money, give me my old dog Chips sitting at my feet as I smoke my pipe any day. Sometimes you just want a plain old good smoke, and this is not it. If you want a performance in your mouth, well, have at it.

Comparisons: In the same range as Dunhill My Mixture No. 965, Dunhill Nightcap, and Peter Stokkebye's Proper English.

Bottom Line: A superb and finely crafted light Balkan blend, though heavy on the palate. If you find Penzance and other uber-Latakia blends a bit much, but don't want more complexity or subtlety, this may be a good blend for you.

This is a traditional "Balkan" blend in every respect of the genre. Greg has done a spectacular job of paying tribute to the classics with this one. It has all the proper leaf ingredientss common to this genre and the "cocoa" notes from the orientals are sublime. I prefer to put this blend in big pipes to get the most wonderful journey I can. It is a full blend and is not sweet flavored, but not as bitter as Caravan or Oddysey. This blend does not let you smoke it if it is too dry, it will bite. But with proper moisture, is sublime. I always have a tin open of this blend and smoke at least a bowl or two a week, along with other Balkans. Lastly, it ages marvellously.

Could it really be *that* good? I've read raves about Charing Cross for well over a year now. I am a big fan of Raven's Wing, Samarra, and most recently Odyssey. Also of Margate and Nightcap when I am feeling a little more traditionally "English".

I've only smoked a few bowls of Charing Cross to date - some from an aged and very dry sample, and fresh from a tin about a year old. The dried sample was good but...

The fresher store is exquisite.

Perhaps the love affair will go sour and I shall return to more comfortable, familiar partners. But for now, I'm enamoured. Atop the musky cigar like turkish there are hints of autumn fireplaces, cocoa, and sharp spices. Warm and deep yet refreshing. This tobacco carries a level of complexity and richness I have not tasted in *almost* any other blend. Margate still being the sole exception. And this leaf is actually a bit earthier, sweeter and piquant than that noble old English weed. While Odyssey may be the "King" of latakia based balkans, there is a balance and complexity in Charing Cross that is incomparable. While full flavored, it has not yet tired my palate (unlike Night Cap and Odyssey, which MUST be the last things I smoke in a day). I can only compare it to Balkan Sasieni (the newest version) with some additional depth and richness.

This *could* become my favorite blend. It is just that good.

I tend to prefer it to Odyssey because of the moderate sweetness and body increase that it develops during the bowl.

Highly recommended, only a notch inferior to Blackpoint.

This is the first Pease blend that I have not been abe to rate at four stars. I have no doubt that lovers of Oriental-heavy Balkan blends will really like this stuff, but the Latakia and Virginias were simply not pronounced enough for me. I really like the sweetness of the other Pease blends that I've tried, but when Charing Cross' sweet note finally comes through--about half-way through the bowl in my Bjarne freehands--it is not full enough to satisfy. All in all, the blend is too dry for my tastes; this may well be a function of the use of Cyprian as opposed to Syrian Latakia. I will say, though, that like other Pease blends, Charing Cross seems (to my relatively inexperienced palate) to be superbly crafted.

It's a dog eat dog world, and every bad review for CC is another tin available for me. I may just buy them all.

An absolute home run.

The name Charing Cross comes from the original hamlet of Charing, where King Edward I of England placed a memorial to his wife, Eleanor of Castile. It was one of twelve places where Eleanor's coffin rested overnight during the funeral procession from Harby, Lincolnshire to her final resting-place at Westminster Abbey in London in 1290 A.D. At each of these, Edward erected an "Eleanor cross?, of which only three now remain. The Eleanor crosses were stone monuments in the shape of a cross. The one which stands at Charing Cross, in front of the railway station, is a re-located Victorian "copy" of the original - the latter having stood where a statue of King Charles I of England is now to be found. "Charing Cross" is a corruption of "cher reine cross", that being French for "dear queen" and referring to the Eleanor Cross that was erected there.

Now, on to the tobacco.

Charing Cross is a stout Balkan blend. Very full flavor with very little in the way of sweetness. Very interesting flavor, covering the range from bittersweet to smoky. The Latakia and the Oriental are center stage, with the Virginia in a supporting role. You can catch a hint of the Virginia sweetness now and again, but the others are definitely the stars of this show.

In typical Pease fashion, this is a great smoking blend. Mr. Pease seems to follow the same school of thought as a chef. Not only does it have to taste good, it has to look good as well. Like the other Pease blends, Charing Cross is a visually appealing blend. The cut and coloring strike a balance that is just as pleasing to the eye as the smoke is to the palate. Highly recommended for the experienced smoker of English blends.

I should think additional aging will make this one terrific. If you have smoked Balkan Sobranie, then that should give you an idea of what Charring Cross is like. I do find the Pease blend to be more refined, less sweet, and certainly more powerful.

My advice, purchase a tin to smoke now and an additional 5 or 10 to age a few years.

Charing Cross is billed as a "Traditional Balkan Mixture" and that is certainly true. It is a much more traditional Balkan than Pease's other offerings of Caravan and Odyssey. I never warmed up to Caravan, but I do smoke Odyssey occasionally.

Like all Pease blends, Charing Cross is perfect right out of the can. No need to dry it or break it out. It comes as a rather short ribbon cut that packs easily, lights well and burns cool.

My current reference Balkan is Balkan Sasieni, but Charing Cross is likely to take that role. My initial impression is that Charing Cross is an outstanding Balkan with no real drawbacks. It does not have the initial bitterness that I sometimes get from Balkan Sasieni and does not have the mineral overtones I found objectionable in Caravan.

As I have written before, Balkan Sobranie 759 was my standard for many years. Is Charing Cross as good as 759? Maybe. It is certainly closer to 759 in taste, tin aroma and room note than anything else I have tried. The one difference I note between Charing Cross and my memories of 759 is the lack of what was often referred to as a "plum pudding" flavor in 759.

In summary, GLPease has another winner that will satisfy those searching for a traditional Balkan blend.

ADDENDUM- Having settled in a little more with Charing Cross I will update my review. Charing Cross is more overtly "Balkan" than any other blend I have tried. I am now noticing a little harshness in the smoke that makes it difficult to smoke this more than once a day. This may be because the tin was only two weeks old and that some age would take the edge off it. I have mixed up several outstanding bowls of tobacco by various ratios of Charing Cross and either VegasSmokes Babylonia or Schurch's Torina. Maybe around a 1/3 mixture of either of those smooths out Charing Cross nicely. I tried a 50/50 mixture of Charing Cross and Butera's Latakia #1 and it was unsmokeable.