G. L. Pease - Fog City Selection: Fillmore pipe tobacco reviews

Review

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Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
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butman	01/07/2009	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
This is just a wonderful natural blend. The virginias are arranged in just the right harmony and then the melody is added.That strange weed from Louisiana is introduced and the overture is complete. I have smoked it new and old and truly enjoyed it. I now age a can every year. I would age more, but Mr. Pease makes a lot of fine products to share the cellar shelf and Telegraph Hill is a kinder and gentler, but noteworthy blend. Pairing suggestion: This just goes quite well with scotch whisky or irish whiskey or a mid-range ale. Slainte.
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birdseye	01/06/2009	Mild to Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant
I don't think you can go wrong with any G.L. Pease blend, and Fillmore is no exception. I am very fond of SG's St. James Flake, and I found Fillmore to be similar but with a note of Perique that is more dominant - which I liked. I also found Fillmore to be an especially pleasant smoking experience following a pipeful of a Latakia-heavy English and/or Balkan mixture. Furthermore it sets you up for the purer Virginia taste of a blend like SG's Best Brown Flake. Fillmore has found a permanent home in my tobacco rotation.
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bbqncigars	12/26/2008	Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
This was a highly anticipated tin that did not quite live up to expectations. It's a very nice unoffensive VaPer that struck me as a slightly toned down version of Luxury Bullseye Flake or maybe St. James. The taste is similar to either of those, it's just a wee bit less volume on the flavor knob. This blend needs just a little something to kick it up to the top level.
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DoctorThoss	12/04/2008	Medium	None detected	Medium	Tolerable
At the risk of sounding pretentious, this blend is exquisite. Semi-sweet, deep Virginias blended with just the right amount of perique. The latakia is very muted and only makes itself known once or twice a bowl, kind of a faint hint of burning woodchips that fades away as soon as you notice it. The flavor is unique, and somehow manages to balance sweetness with an imposing sense of depth. Like most good VAs, there is complexity here -- a little cinnamon, a little ginger, and a little citrus all seem to come through at times. But the star here is the perique, which adds plenty of the stewed-fruit flavor that it's famous for while curbing the tendency of the Vas to burn your tongue. This is a remarkably SMOOTH smoke with very, very little bite. Unlike other VAs, however, I find it works best in a large, deep bowl that gives it plenty of time to smoulder. The broken flakes rub out easily and burn very slowly -- I can get two hours out of a medium sized bowl. An easy four stars, and easily my favorite VA/PER.
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endubito	11/24/2008	Mild to Medium	Medium	Medium	Tolerable to Strong
I've tried a lot of Vapers. This is hands down the best I've tried so far. It is complex and wonderful to the bottom of the bowl. Heck I have to be careful not to scorch my pipe getting the last of it... I tend to smoke anything Perique in a narrow chamber, maybe a bigger bowl? Who knows. I just finished my fifth tin of this stuff, with four tins cellared and four more on the way. So I guess it is established as a staple on my tobacco table. For you puffers who have graduated to real tobacco, don't pass up Fillmore while searching for your staple blend.
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jopado	11/15/2008	Mild	Mild	Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
Once again, I'm not sure I'm qualified to rate this smoke but I gotta tell ya it's a lot of fun. I particularly like the way it burns down to the bottom of the bowl with the lasr few puffs still providing a smooth hearty mouthful. If you happen to like it's taste it'll work well in your favorite pipe(s), and not damage them irrepably against future tobaccos. As always.....be gentle, take your time and enjoy.
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golfguy62	11/06/2008	Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
One of the finest Vapers out there. A blend you can smoke every day and not grow tired of. Consistent quality and reasonable price. I don't like to go into how it tastes to me since everyones tastes are different but this blend is what pipe smoking is all about IMHO. Try it if you want to see what a true vaper is all about.
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WmZiggy	10/05/2008	Medium	None detected	Medium	Very Pleasant
I purchased Fillmore over a year ago, as the date stamp on the bottom indicates. So this is a lightly aged tin of the tobacco. Prompted by the review in the Fall 2008 issue of Pipes and Tobacco, I opened it and smoked a bowl. Their review is "dead on". However,unlike the P&T review, my bowl never heated-up staying cool the entire smoke. I believe this is because I rubbed the broken flakes out. Smoked in a group 4 well seasoned Charatan bulldog Canadian, I rubbed the tobacco out before packing. On the charing light it was earthy and spicy. As the smoked progressed it was a fine balance of sweet, spicy, and earthy flavors. The tobacco burned well, stayed lit and was a great smoking experience. I enjoy Perique/Virginia mixtures, and this one is top shelf. September 19, 2010: My tin of Fillmore is now 3 years aged, and the bowl I smoked today better than ever. I rotate among many different tobaccos and I am only getting back to another bowl from this tin. It was a GREAT smoke. Aging has improved this broken flake.
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Wetheel	10/02/2008	Strong	None detected	Very Full	Tolerable to Strong
A heavy, earthy aroma in the tin. Broken flakes offer a range of options for rubbing out and packing; in a medium-sized bent bulldog I rubbed out lightly in the bottom of the pack and more aggressively at the top. Plenty of smoke. A solid Virginia experience with more Perique than just a touch. The effect comes just short of perfumey, in the best sense. I found myself trapping smoke in my hand so I could enjoy the sensation a second time. There is little of the high end in Fillmore, but the low and middle ranges are spectacular. Of the GLP tobaccos I've tried, I like this one best.
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Xeneize	08/18/2008	Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable
Fillmore is a very well made, classic VaPer that will surely please most VaPer fans most of the times. The only drawback is its lack of character. This is not a Haddo's style love-it-or-leave-it blend made for specific moments: this is a regular like-it, all day good smoke. Very good in fact, but not exceptional. Will buy a tin from time to time, but it won't make it into my regular rotation.
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PfeifenRaucher	07/17/2008	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
A nice sweet VAPER - nothing mindblowing but still very good. The perique amount is just right. The smell in the tin reminds me of...I know this will sound weird, but...peanut butter - it has this certain sweet, nutty and somewhat salty smell. It is worth repeating: Like pretty much all of GLP's stuff, it's is a pleasant smoke but only if you dry it out A LOT. Otherwise I found I will scorch my mouth no matter how slowly I smoke it.
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BriarChef	07/15/2008	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant
A most refreshing Virginia Perique flake, perfect for a Summer afternoon sweating your huevos off while cruising the bayou for gators. Goes perfectly with Lynchburg Lemonade...hold the lemonade. Pack it straight from the tin with a light hand, fire it up and hold on to the gunwhales...you're in for a great ride. Try it in a corncob.
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Jaybee	04/27/2008	Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
I like this GLP offering quite a bit. Drying time is required and slow puffing is the order of the day in order to enjoy this one. It reminds me of a cleaner tasting version of 2015.
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Thedarklord	04/19/2008	Medium to Strong	Mild to Medium	Medium	Tolerable to Strong
I chose this rock candy flake to break in a remarkable GBD colonial from that I recently obtained from that Chicago pipe stalwart Iwan Reis. I must admit that the first time that I smoked this blend, I shuddered and swore to toss the whole lot. It was young and sour. Alas, a little age and the proper pipe found it to be the one of the best blends that I have found. Please give this tobacco a chance to age and the VaPer will not disappoint. It will entice even the most jaded pipe smoker. There is true heaven in the finish.
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Slow Triathlete	04/08/2008	Medium	None detected	Medium	Tolerable
After I got it dried out and aired out a bit I lit up the first of five bowls before I wrote this review. If there is anything to be said about GL Pease I will say that his tobacco is consistent. Every bowl was exactly like the other and there were never any hidden surprises or let downs. This blend comes in what I would call a broken flake. There were still some pretty big pieces in there that I rubbed out so that the whole tin was pretty consistent size-wise. The appearance is mostly dark brown with some lighter or darker spots here and there. This is listed as being a Red Virginia with a ?generous? amount of Louisiana Perique mixed in. This blend packs really well. So well that I had to dump it a few times because I felt that I had packed it too tight. Upon lighting this blend up I was greeted with great billowing white clouds of some of the creamiest tobacco I have ever tasted. It lasted through the first five or six puffs and then the perique joined in it created a mix of both creamy and spicy, peppery and chocolaty that I haven?t encountered in any other blends so far. About halfway through the bowl I also started to detect some hints of caramel but very faint and somewhat muted in the background. Something that I also found is that this is a very slooooooowwwwww burning blend. It will keep you around for awhile but it is worth the extra time. The end of the bowl was more of the same but I was finally realizing just how much nicotine is in this blend. It?s not bad but it is definitely noticeable. Now this blend is definitely not a sweet Virginia blend as are most of the others so far. This one I can only classify by saying that it is mellow. Mellow in a good way. Mellow like waking up after an afternoon nap or going to a jazz bar to drink and hang out. That?s what this blend is like. No bite, no hassle, pure enjoyment.
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Pipe-arazzo	03/09/2008	Medium to Strong	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
I tried this at the Chicago pipe show last year and liked it, so I bought a tin. Less than a year later I opened the tin and started smoking it. At first (the first two or three weeks) it seemed a bit overpowering, flavor wise, and wet, so I thought that it needed some mellowing like other GLPease blends (such as Odyssey). But after 4 1/2 weeks (when I finally recovered enough from a cold to smoke), it seemed to be dry enough but still the flavor was just like hot, bitter air. The sidestream/room note was intriguing and pleasant, however. There are three possibilities for the disparity. First, perhaps this tobacco has a very short "sweet spot," where it tastes just right, somewhere between 3 and 4 1/2 weeks after popping the tin. Second, maybe you don't need to mellow it, but just dry it out extensively right when you open the tin. Or third, maybe my bad experience with this means I bought a bad tin. Only the second possibility means this was just my fault and the tobacco is better than my experience of it. Otherwise, even though I know this can be better at times, it's too tempermental or the quality-control is bad, and so 2 stars is all it deserves. Maybe I'll revisit it later, but for now I can't see buying more. Too bad; I was excited about Pease's first flake.
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SirLoirn	02/12/2008	Mild	None detected	Medium	Tolerable
Tin: Red VA, auburn, with black pressed into the flake. The odor is like cheddar and extremely sharp ripe, fermented fruit; the smell stayed in my nose for several minutes after closing the tin; with an almost imperceptible underlying hay note. A couple of days after opening the tin, the smell has mellowed way out. It is now sweet fruit with a faint underlying hay scent. Between moist and dry, the flakes are still quite pliable. Date stamped on the bottom of the tin: 061306 (13JUN06). Packing & Lighting: Fillmore packs as easily as any ribbon. It was smoked without being rubbed out, not breaking the flakes into smaller pieces. All other things being equal, some flakes tend to be more of a challenge to get them lit, as compared to ribbon-cut blends, but flakes tend to burn slower. A bowl of Fillmore, loosely packed and puffed vigorously, lasts 1 1/2 hours. The bowl stays cool, with very little condensation when smoked indoors. Taste & Aroma: The top is bland but gets richer and deeper as the bowl is smoked. It is creamy and a tad sweet, but in a piquant cigar fashion. The bottom third should be thought of as approaching a cigar-like quality. A couple of days after opening the tin, Fillmore has become much more mellow and consistent from the top of the bowl to the bottom. Nicotine: The batch I'm smoking is lacking the large dose of nicotine expected from perique. Room Note: Pleasant leather, spicy, tangy scent that is still present in the room or car the next day. Overall: I wouldn't call it a great VAPER or a typical one, but, in the FCS series, it is better than TH or Lombard; not nearly as enjoyable as Mont. or LH. Ashbury is quite stronger in nicotine effect. Mont. is the one FCS blend that I will definitely try again, although there may be a revisit to some of the other FCS tobaccos. 3.4 stars.
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wosbald	12/20/2007	Medium to Strong	None detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable to Strong
The tin aroma of these rather thickly cut flakes is sweet and rich, with a significant note of perique. The dominant flavor is of quality, nuanced red virginias. There is a goodly amount of perique, behind which the latakia is barely noticeable, and if I wasn't told it was in this blend, it would have probably taken me a while to detect it. Fillmore is superb and is yet another elegant offering in the Fog City series. Aging is recommended. This seemed best in narrow to medium gauge chambers.
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Beer	12/19/2007	Medium to Strong	None detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable
Much has already been said, from the cut to the composition of this blend, so I won't spend further words on this. I am a fan of GLPease latakia-based tobaccos, but his Virginia offerings rarely have clicked for me: I am fond of Barbary Coast and Montgomery, I like Stratford very much, and I find the rest either good, OK or too strong for my taste. Fillmore is no exception. While I like the flake cut, as it packs well and burns exquisitely, and I love the tin smell (fruity, deep, nutty)... I haven't been stunned by the actual smoking experience. Mind you, this is a tobacco with a lot of personality, and quite different from most other Va/Perique flakes around. It doesn't fall in the category of "vary tasteful but plain sweet and sour, and bitey" (McClelland), or in the category of florally scented flakes (some Lakeland district stuff), or in the category of "very delicate, honeyed but wimpy". It is a strong experience in terms of flavour, and different from all the categories above although it has something in common, of course, with some of them. Personally I find the taste of Fillmore nicely alternating between a dark nutty and caramelly sweetness, a citric sourness, and a hint of smokiness. So far, so good. What I don't particularly like is that in the second half of the bowl it becomes earthy and grassier, with some bitterish notes that I am not very fond of. Towards the end, it gets a slightly ashy and dirty character that covers some of the nice flavours I had experienced before. Overall, it's not a bad tobacco, and if you are looking for a "different" Va/Perique flake (with a stout flavour and a strongish dose of nicotine, perhaps a bit too much for me) definitely give it a try. I have a couple of tins stored away, and I will check if aging helps in solving the minor issues I have had with my first fresh one. So far, I would say that it's an OK smoke but that I'd not be eager to reach out for another tin for a while. 2011 Update: Smoking a four year old tin now, and I can confirm my review. It has become smoother, less grassy, but all the rest still applies. Not a bad tobacco at all, quite tasty. However, I must point out a thing that I had not said in my previous review: I find this tobacco a bit too strong in the nicotine department, a thing which all other GLPease Va+Perique blends have in common. Unless I sip this one very carefully, and in a small bowl, it always hits me a bit in the stomach. Not as strongly as Haddo's or some Lakeland blends, sure... but still a bit too much. Give it a try if you want a nicotine heavy tobacco, because the flavour is actually quite good and it's very different from other Fog City offerings.
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Indian	12/13/2007	Very Strong	None detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable
The tin - Upon opening the tin a strong delicious smell resonated from the tobacco. Spicy and tangy scent with a little smokey background. NUMMY STUFF that made me run to my pipe! The prep - I love to rub this stuff out. It leaves my hands smelling great and really built the anticpation. I used the Frank method to load this and drew on the pipe to get the taste before the light. Again NUMMY STUFF! The char light - WOW! what a combination of flavor and spice and everything nice. I didn't want to continue because I knew that it would come to an end. The top 1/3rd - It is hard to pin point all of the flavors going on here. Spicy and sweet but mostly spicy. Smokey like jerky, and creamy like......well......cream. There are some other things going on that I cant even describe except to say its NUMMY STUFF. The middle of the bowl - It is balancing out now with the dominating flavors being peppery, buttery and creamy, but the others are close behind with so many operating in the background, kinda of leathery or eathy, still that it is just delightful and complex. The bottom 1/3rd - It is really creamy and smooth and mild with the Perique hanging out just enough to please the Per. lover. Damn is this giving me a head rush from the nicotine. Wow. The bowl is done and I WANT MORE, if I wasn't so dizzy.:-) Summary - This is an excellent tobacco, I love it. It is everything it says it is AND MORE. Very clean burning but a little dottle left. (of course I got out the torch to get that burning too) Wow. talk about depth. If you have ever wondered what people are talking about when they talk about the complexity of blends then try this and you'll wonder no more. definetely a 4+ star for me. One of the only 4 stars I have given. Did I say it's NUMMY STUFF???
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