G. L. Pease - Classic Collection: Charing Cross pipe tobacco reviews

Review

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Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
< PREVIOUS Showing reviews 61 through 69 of 69 reviews of this tobacco
preppypipe	09/01/2004	Medium	Medium to Strong	Medium to Full	Tolerable
This would'nt have been something I would have purchased for myself.I won a tin of it at a raffle at the Sherlock Holmes Pipe Club of which I'm a member.However I must say it was a welcome change of pace.It's lively, spicy and delicious,with just the right amount of perique.For the balkan lover I would say this is nirvana... Recommended! prep ****Update Sept. 1st "04"*** The second tin I purchased of Blackpoint was much less enjoyable than the 1st.I found that the high perique content made it smoke quite hot and it was unforgiving to my mouth and throat.I do'nt plan on purchasing more of this...
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
LoisKelly	08/17/2004	Overwhelming	Extra Strong	Extremely Mild (Flat)	Overwhelming
I would not recommend that anyone buy this blend. It will make you impotent, and your hair will fall out. A GLP delivery van ran over my mother. Greg Pease funnels money to the Taliban, and experiments on small animals. Charing Cross is high in carbohydrates. Let this blend languish on store shelves. I will collect them and see to their proper disposal. 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.
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
CaptnDan	04/23/2004	Medium to Strong	None detected	Very Full	Very Strong
An earlier reviewer raised the question as to where Mr. Pease had come up with the name ?Charing Cross?. Well, he didn?t invent it out of thin air, or even Latakia-laden air for that matter. Here?s the explanation: 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.
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
Final Identity	03/06/2004	Mild to Medium	Very Mild	Medium	Tolerable
I really liked Samarra by G.L.Pease and am looking forward to trying Renaissance. So when I saw Charing Cross, Piccadilly, and Kensington available at my local meet-and-greet cigar store (habanasmokes.com in Jackson, Miss.) I booted up their free wireless internet and checked tobaccoreviews.com for some research. I figured that among my three choices, TR.com informed me that ChC was the closest to Samarra. But I find it almost intolerably neutral in presence. It's like a "non tobacco." I thought maybe I was smoking it with overpowering foods and drinks, for example, but I've given it a few days and I still get, mostly, all the pungency of dried styrofoam. Perhaps I got a bad tin. It was at least sealed -- laugh my first tin of Samarra was so old the metal lid (underneath the plastic top) didn't connect to the can any more! -- but it hasn't really grown on me in any manner. I categorize Charing Cross as, simply, Samarra light. There's a true Balkan air to it, but it doesn't have the zing or zesty tangy almost Darjeeling flavor of true Latakia, to me. Its room-note (haha, what a euphemism! I'd call it "second hand smoke" and admit the truth!) is reminiscent of the Frog Morton series by McClelland, actually, and for that reason I smell some of what I previously identified as Perique in the Balkan. Can says no, so it's just "natural pungency," but otherwise there's no oomph there. I could smoke it all the time, if I wanted something absent but present in my mouth, I guess, except for the fact that it gives me tongue bite, which is surprising. So, for me, it's the worst of both worlds -- nearly intolerable because of its harshness, and also almost entirely flavorless. Odd ...
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
Chessnut	11/03/2003	Strong	Strong	Full	Strong
I tried this blend because I enjoy Raven's wing so much. This is a nice latakia blend, and if I had not tried Raven's wing I would be rating this higher. It is a quality smoke, but in my humble opinion it does not hold up in comparison. However, compared to many other blends that call themselves latakia blends, this one tops that list.
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
mesacactus	08/11/2003	Medium to Strong	None detected	Medium to Full	Very Strong
Charing Cross, what kind of name is that for a tobacco? Anyways, I am always open to try a blend with Latakia. Balkan, English, Scottish, even the occasional aromatic, spiked with Latakia. So when I found this tobacco, in a sample tin at my local smoke shop, I gave it a go. It was almost gone, when I opened the can (good sign), and it sure did smell like Latakia was in there. Well, I packed my pipe, being somwhat suspicious, of how light the blend looked. For me, the lighter the blend in color, the more Virgina was being used. Virgina tobacco in large amounts, at least for me, equals tounge bite. But, I liked the aroma, which was very promising, and continued to pack the pipe. Once that was completed, I applied fire, and began to smoke. At first I was pleased with the taste. Smokey, rich, and full, everything you could ask for in a Latakia blend. However, my original suspicions were about to come true. About one quarter down the bowl, the bite began. I liked the flavor, so I backed off a bit, but the bite just got worse. I smoked about three quarters of the bowl, and had to stop. I was bitten. I have found with most of Mr. Pease tobaccos, he is a fan of Virgina. Maybe to much. I was disapointed once again with Mr. Pease, and I just was not able to be converted. Many pipe smokers swear by the blending arts of Mr. Pease. I think I just might nail my Thesis to a tobacco shop's door, as to why one should not worship, only one blender. There just are to many other fine tobaccos out there, to limit yourself. So I'll go fourth and spread the news. Variety is King!
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
Pipestud	05/25/2003	Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
This is Blackpoint with some muscle and backbone. More Balkan in taste thanks to the marvelous Oriental components, and quite heavy on the Latakia. 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.
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
pmonroeb	04/24/2003	Medium to Strong	None detected	Full	Tolerable to Strong
Oh Boy! I get to be first. 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.
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
Ken Lamb	04/21/2003	Medium	Medium	Medium	Pleasant
I am posting this review after smoking one tin of Charing Cross. I have smoked it in most of my pipes I dedicate to Latakia mixtures. My experience with this blend is as follows. For this review I chose a Poul Ilsted Danish bulldog with a faux amber stem. This is my maiden smoke in this pipe. The tin aroma is definitely Latakia and a tangy citrus undertone that is very pleasing to the sense. Unlike Cumberland this has something extra that brings more to this tobacco in a Balkan style. I am not sure what it is maybe different VA?s or a different Oriental. The cut of this blend as with the other Classic Collection is a smaller ribbon cut which is ideal for packing. When I first opened this tin a couple of weeks ago I thought it was a little moist like most of GLP blends are for me. I always set out enough for a smoke and let it air out for about 20 minutes. The tobacco color is a very bright yellow to medium to dark browns in a pretty even ratio. Upon lighting this tobacco I would expect a heavier Latakia taste then I receive. The Virginia announces itself right away with a very semi sweet taste like a raisin not quite room temperature. You can taste it but not a full raisin taste like it has been in your pocket for a while. The Latakia smokiness is in the background at the beginning of every bowl until you get about a third of the way in. The smoky campfire smell and rich full taste is perfect in this blend not so over powering that it takes the other tobaccos out of the picture. The Orientals are well balanced and mix well with the VA?s in this blend. I would say you could smoke this all day. IMHO it needs a little age. In the cellar for about six months and this will be one of Greg?s finest. Another winner from Mr. Pease, thank you.
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