4-6-11 A year along in the jar. I seem to detect an improvement. Nice, natural Virginia smoke.

Problem is this: This just makes me nic sick. I don't know if I just have a problem with virginias or what. But I really never could smoke a whole bowl of the stuff without getting the spins and sweats. I can smoke a giant bowl of some popular latakia blends, but both this and EMP kick my butt. I kept wanting more, but couldn't handle it. So I chucked what I head left in the can. Kind of a bummer really. Maybe someone will tell me what is up with this effect.

Not a one or two vesta affair lighting and regular relights were necessary (which can raise the possibility of tongue-bite). Flavor initially is mild and hay-like. Five minutes into the bowl and the flavor deepens to subtle sweetness, complexity and familiar Virginia flavors. Union Square reminds me immediately of Rattray’s Virginias (this is not always good, in my opinion) and maybe something like SG BBF and Old Gowrie, but heavier than BBF. There is some richness, too. The room note will not win admirers unless they like the aroma of better cigarettes.

USq requires great care to keep the burn temperature low as possible. Otherwise, this flake will bite me as badly as Mac Baren Virginia No. 1, Marlin Flake and Fillmore. Contra-intuitively, this required a full rubbing up of the flakes. I believe this allows more smoke volume, thus flavor, when gently drawing the smoke in and out of the pipe (some call this “sipping”). If I smoked this in a gentle breeze, I’d opt to keep the flakes chunky. Harder puffing for flavor proved painful.

On the nicotine continuum, USq is somewhere between Old Gowrie and Hal O’ the Wynd. USq burns cleanly to a mottled ash.

Somewhat recommended now. Perhaps time in a sealed tin will prove beneficial, but I am on the fence if I will invest time and cellar space to the experiment, as it does not replace or add anything missing to my regular rotation.

This blend is reminiscent of a typical straight burley tobacco. For me this has the same rich but bland smoke that is typical of a cube cut burly blend. There is a slight hint of cocoa, which is nice, and the smoke has very dense body while staying fairly cool. Those are positive things. However I see no reason to smoke this because it's too bland and neutral. I suppose if I smoked all day this would be a nice blend because it would be easy on the palate. However, I smoke only in the evening after dinner and I want to smoke a blend which has some complexity. I love Cairo and Telegraph Hill from GL Pease and will smoke those instead of this.

It's high quality and worth a try for those curious to try everything. And, why not try everything? For a classic "straight" virginia I would skip this and smoke S. Gawith Full Viginia or Rattray's Old Gowrie, Orlick Golden Slices, Reiner Golden Flake, etc.

At first blush, the claim of "no added sugars or flavors" reads as a rash of codswallop and Nth-degree marketing hype, but I'm certainly in no position to dispute that claim. However, if true, this blend seems to indicate (when its at a young age, as my tin was) that straight virginias need such added sugars and flavors to taste and smoke to their potential. Not everything we ingest performs best in its pure, natural state. With all due respect to other reviewers and Mr Pease himself, I have to take the minority stance with this one. I find no depth or complexity in this blend, and no real mature virginia tobacco flavor. Instead this comes off as an extremely bland, "cigarette-ish" concoction that fails to excite. Comparing this to straight VA's from McClellands, Samuel Gawith and other blenders (that add sugars and flavors???), further and painfully illustrates Union Square's lack of character. It looks and smells in the tin like a winner but doesn't deliver where it counts - the taste.

As I have with the other GLP blends I've tried, I'm going to cellar my 2nd tin of this (dated 9/09) for a year or so in the hope that further aging will drive it up a notch or two. I'm happy that many others find Union Square so excellent and I certainly have questioned my own senses with this one since my experiences differ so. But I smoke and enjoy many classic straight virginias, and IMHO, this ain't one... at least not yet.

UPDATE 12/6/10

Still no love for this blend. If anything, it's become flatter and more anemic tasting. Two stars is more than enough. Back to the cellar and let's try this again next Christmas!

UPDATE 2/3/12

Age has been a wee bit kind to this one. I'd say it's elevated itself to mediocre. Still mostly characterless but there is a hint of cereal showing through that is rather nice. It's just too fleeting. Most of the time this fizzles into oblivion... smoke with no real flavor. Still a weak 2 stars. But it's a tiny bit better than it was. Perhaps this one will develop further. Worth a shot!

This is a sort of faux-flake tobacco, like all flakes produced by C&D. Purists might quibble at the loose, low pressure squeeze put on this tobacco, but it’s also kind of charming. The tobacco is a beautiful orangey-reddish-yellow, a sunset in a tin. And it possesses one of the more interesting noses I’ve encountered lately—a mélange of hay, bread, orange marmalade, and green tea. I’ve only ever rubbed this flake out and that has been working well for me. It burns beautifully and long and the bowl flavors progress from sweet and grassy at the top to richer, honeyed Virginia scents in the lower reaches. I simply could not stop smoking this stuff after I opened a 2 oz tin and have since stocked up for the future. I don’t think I’ve ever tried a tobacco that so clearly demonstrated potential for longevity and flavor development.

This is a subtle, beguiling, sublime smoke and highly recommended.

29 April 10

I am downgrading my recommendation two stars on this, and making it 'extremely mild' in strength, and 'flat' in taste. I don't think it's just me, but this tobacco is too flat, as least for what I enjoy in a VA flake. My tin has set for 6 months now, not a lot of age for a VA, but the sweetness/compexity that this flake had when new is gone and it has become a rathering boring smoke. I don't think aging will improve it, as aging tends to round out any sharpness, and this flake needs some "edges" to make it interesting. Perhaps a good flake for the beginner or those liking a very mild smoke.

The broken flakes are quite moist and needs to be aired. They dry fast and the flavorss I think settles nicely. It has a nice true tobacco flavor which can bite the smokers with a fast puffing cadence.

The rich Virginia flavor and the nicotine dosage are just well for my needs. I will surely will keep some tins of Union Square always in the cellar.

The tin was a little moist, so I let it air 2 hours. Packed lightly into a small Peterson. Rubs out nice & easy into ribbons of long leaf - so far so good and as expected from a GLP product.

The intital few puffs were very light, like breathing air, but this improved into a good, dense, rich, voluminous smoke. I enjoyed the taste, which is like hay, vanilla top notes, richening out into almonds & nougat, toast, oats (oatmeal is present throughout), sometimes cocoa, othertimes tannin- like a merlot wine- all good and complex. not boring, as it changes as you smoke the bowl, almost with each puff. It burns reasonably cleanly and demands go go slow, threatening to bite a bit, but maybe I'm being too greedy and puffing too fast ;-)

I am going to be really picky now. The tobacco was a slight disappointment insofar as I expected a smoother, more rounded, more mature taste and this is at times a bit tangy and atworst slightly sour, like it's a bit green or immature. I'm comparing it to my gold standard VA, Full Virginia Flake. I think maybe my GLP tin could do with cellaring for a year as the FVF has been left to mature 2 years, so perhaps this isn't a fair comparison. My point is that FVF is half the price, so I excpected more from Union Square right from the start. But don't let that put you off. The tobacco is very good, and would be excellent given a little maturing.

Union Square, straight from a fresh can, might be set aside as bland and grassy. But rubbed out and dried it delivers good but, for me, not yet great virginia enjoyment. The full character of what is obviously high quality virginia tobacco is not expressing itself. There is subtlety and pleasant variation through the bowl down to the dottle

I am convinced this tobacco will mature with grace and bring increasing complexity and depth. It is probably a great candidate for a little jar stoving or home pressing to see where it can be pushed while still fresh ... for the impatient.

Smoked the whole young tin with plenty of pleasure and immediately sent for a half dozen to cellar and age.

Another solid Pease blend with promise it will become something more delicious for the virginia lover with a few months or years in the sealed tin.

Well now after smoking this for awhile, and removing the cardboard separators, I think the tobacco has dried enough that by crumbling it some more it increases in sweetness and has a nice comfortable taste. I ordered a big can of Odyssey as well and it is huge as they say, so I tried adding a pinch of Union Square and a pinch of Odyssey about 50/50 and that in a pipe that has been used with other Latakia blends is real nice. I guess if one wants a VA and Latakia, you could use the two separate or as a combo.

Arriving a bit moist in the tin I chose to let some fully rubbed out leaf sit in the open air for an hour before loading up. The grassy smell dissapated quickly and the tobacco, likewise, dried quickly. It was easy to load, light and keep lit. I was smothered by unrelenting waves of deep and rich Virginia flavor variances that never overwhelmed. I got the blast of nicotine punch (slapped with kid gloves really), with every puff.

Although not a "sweet" Virginia per se, this one has enough sugar content to make for a natural sweetness. I suspect it'll cellar like nobody's business (an accomplishment Pease strives for in his blends... with great past success I might add).

Union Square will soon rise to Superstar status (IMO, of course).

The only thing I can say about GLP's Union Square is that it is simply a sublime tobacco. The slices are nicely cut so as to facilitate rubbing out (if desired) and packing.

Despite its moisture level, the tobacco lights easily and burns steadily. The experience is one of pure sweet, yet tangy Virginia flavour that only gains complexity as the bowl progresses. The tobacco burns down to a salt-and-pepper ash, and a clean Virginia aroma is left in the room.

The flavor is of purely cane-sugar-sweet VAs without silage or funky ferment. The gold VA's are dominant at first light while the reds ascend as the bowl burns down. The flavor profile is generous, yet narrowly targeted and elegantly crisp.

A fantastic straight VA, Union Square is laser-clean and flavorsome. A nobly aesthetic creation, it is highly complex within a tightly focused range. Though it will undoubtedly age well, it is remarkably smooth with only a month or two in the can. This went best in narrow to medium gauge chambers.

Anyway, I was curious to try whay Greg would pull out of the magician's hat with this one. Pure Virginia, and absolutely no casing? A recipe for failure? A tobacco which would be devoid of flavor and difficult to keep lit? Since Greg is not crazy, there was no worry about these things.

Actually, to me, the tin aroma doesn't smell particularly different from other Virginia (broken) flakes: an intriguing perfume of dark cocoa, of dried fruits, of sweet/sour sauce, of hay. Same things I have experienced before. So, it turns out, the best flavors that come out of a good blend are actually due to the leaf. Good to know!

Packing and lighting is easy due to the broken flake/ready rubbed appearance: just stuff the bowl, press it a bit and fire away.

It is a very tasty blend from the first minutes: smooth but full bodied, alternating between a moderate natural fruity sweetness, a pleasant grassy astringency, and a very "organic" feel. It doesn't taste over-processed or too restrained: you can clearly always feel you are burning some vegetal stuff, but in a good way (=it never tastes like an overprocessed blend where the tobacco is just a distant hint). It does NOT taste green, edgy or sour, at all. Very consistent from start to finish, and rather complex too. And of course no bite at all.

Again, it is impressive to think that the big flavor this blend has to offer (it probably is the one with the most distinct character in the Fog City line, although Montgomery's creamy balance is still better to my taste) is completely due to the great choice of leaf, some careful processing and nothing else.

My only drawback is that, being used to lighter stuff, I find Union Square a slight bit heavier (in body, taste and nicotine) than I usually prefer. Not a problem, though: it's not a monster like Haddo's or some British Virginias, and I can easily smoke this in a small bowl (no larger than group 3 or 4 Dunhill equivalent). Actually, I feel that a medium-small bowl is also very good for the flavor development, because this tobacco tastes good from the start and doesn't actually need an hour of slow burning in a large bowl (like other Virginias do) to reach its optimum.