G. L. Pease Spark Plug

(3.78)
A quality English blend from renowned G.L. Pease, Spark Plug's tin art immediately denotes its inspiration: A Union Jack comprises the foreground in recognition of the English blends that dominated British pipesmoking preferences in the early 20th century. These original mixtures offered a distinctly spicy and smoky component though the use of Latakia and Oriental tobaccos overtop a Virginia base. Pressed into a dense plug, Spark Plug can be sliced thick or thin, based on individual preference, and it presents a deep, powerful flavor profile, marked by a campfire's smokiness and aged leather from the Cyprian Latakia, married to rich and spicy Orientals from Greece and Turkey, and sweet bright and red Virginias. Like the classic cars that inspired its invention, Spark Plug is charming and satisfying. Take it for a test drive before setting aside to age or enjoy it at full throttle straight out of the tin.

Details

Brand G. L. Pease
Blended By Gregory Pease
Manufactured By Cornell & Diehl
Blend Type English
Contents Latakia, Oriental/Turkish, Virginia
Flavoring
Cut Plug
Packaging 50 grams tin
Country United States
Production Currently available

Profile

Strength
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
None Detected
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Tolerable
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Full
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming

Average Rating

3.78 / 4
22

4

1

0

Reviews

Please login to post a review.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 27 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 31, 2020 Medium to Strong None Detected Full Tolerable
The smoky, woody, earthy, leathery, musty, sweet Cyprian Latakia is the lead component, thought it doesn’t dominate the experience due to the richness of the other varietals. The tangy, potent incense-like, very spicy Orientals provide a lot of earth, woody, smoke, herbs, floralness, pepper, vegetation, a little buttery sweetness with some sourness as important supporting players. One of the Virginias laying the foundation in this production is the tangy ripe dark fruity, earthy, bready, woody, rather vinegary/barbecue-like essence, light citrus, sugar, floralness and spice aspects from the red Virginia. That tobacco is a tad more obvious than the tart and tangy citrusy, grassy, floral, mildly sugary bright Virginia. There’s a light fermented quality inherent in the mix as well. The strength is in the center of medium to strong, while the taste is full. The nic-hit is a slot short of the strength level. No chance of bite or harshness, but there are a few small rough edges as you would expect from this kind of blend. This plug is really more of a denser crumble cake, and easily breaks apart to suit your packing preference. Burns cool, clean and a tad slow with a well balanced, complex, nuanced, mostly consistent, deeply rich, mildly sweet and sour and very savory, floral, spicy, tangy campfire flavor that translates to the pleasantly long lingering after taste and room note. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires some relights. It’s not an all day smoke, but despite its robust character, it can be a repeatable experience during your smoking day.

-JimInks
56 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 29, 2020 Medium to Strong None Detected Full Strong
Spark Plug: Balanced Intensity

The Latakia seems to make up the majority of the plug and it provides a deep cedar-like smokiness and a pleasant old-leather undertone that pervades the smoke without crowding out the other components. The Turkish leaf offers strong floral and sour notes, while the Greek tobacco adds a nuanced complexity that I find difficult to describe. It is slightly sweet and floral with a dry/nuttiness that dances on the tip of your tongue. The red Virginias add just the right amount of sweetness, earthiness, and body to balance out the blend. Spark Plug smokes well coarsely cut in a large bowl (24mm) or shaved thin in a smaller pipe. With the pressing, the tobaccos meld together seamlessly and there is no harshness to be found.

Spark Plug reminds me of a more nuanced and balanced Capt Earl’s Ten Russians. While full flavored, Spark Plug is definitely repeatable and not overbearing. However, the room note will bring swift condemnation from non-pipe smokers.

Aug. 3, 2020 Update: I am surprised by how much this plug has grown on me. The depth of flavor—its earthy wine-like sweetness and deep smokiness—entrances me. I am now of the opinion that Spark Plug is the best pipe tobacco that C&D blends.
27 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 14, 2020 Medium to Strong None Detected Full Tolerable to Strong
Wow, what a delicious and well behaved English plug by GL Pease. I've struggled with some of his plugs that others rave about (I'm looking at you Gaslight), so I was a bit leery of this descriptively similar blend. I find Spark Plug a bit easier to work with. As another reviewer described it, it is almost in between a plug and a crumble cake, and thus a bit more cooperative when cutting or pulling apart. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. This is one of the first blends in quite a while that has blown me away with a wonderful aroma when opening the tin. It smells of good old fashioned English, and it does so right in your face. No need for one of those long, drawn out sniffs with your nose practically in the tin. This stuff greets you immediately with smokey latakia and wonderfully sweet and sour Orientals. And if the smell alone doesn't have you ready to pack up a bowlful, the looks of this blend is sure to please. Large blonde leaves peaking out from between various shades of dark brown. A beautifully layered plug, stunning I might say. I went ahead and used a knife to cut off some slices, as that's what you must do with Gaslight. However, I found this plug slices with ease. It is dense but not overly so. It also has a really good moisture content, but as these tins are hot off the press that was expected. It is just a touch moist, which is perfect by the time you go through the cutting and rubbing ritual that makes plugs so enjoyable. After packing up a bowl in a larger pipe of mine, I gave it it's charring light. At this point I could tell I was going to be in for a treat, this stuff takes to the flame wonderfully. After that I sat back and enjoyed one of the most pleasant smoking experiences I've had in quite some time. This blend is flavor times 10! It is smokey, but not in a campfire sort of way to me. It is (and this may just be the tin art subliminally talking to me) smokey in a way more reminiscent of a 60 year old Auto repair shop. I'm not kidding, I close my eyes and I can picture myself sitting on an old vinyl couch in the waiting room of a 60's hot rod chop shop while smoking this stuff. Anyway... It is smooth as can be, while being a step past medium in strength. Bits of sweet come thru from the Virginias, and the smokiness is always there, but its the Orientals that really make this blend memorable. A solid 4 stars for this Pease masterpiece!
PurchasedFrom: Smokingpipes.com
Age When Smoked: 1 month
24 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jul 26, 2020 Strong None Detected Full Tolerable to Strong
G. L. Pease - Spark Plug.

Currently using this to bed in my new Ismail Baglan!

Now, Spark Plug? My initial thought was Spark Kake would be more suited as a name! Don't expect something like 3 P's, St James Plug, Revor, etc., this is more like a kake. To look at I can see some brighter, quite large, leaf-like pieces pressed into the block. These are the reason why, although not a firm plug, I still blast it through a coffee grinder; this ensures a bowl with evenly distributed flavour.

On to the smoke. It's full, quite heavy, and very tasty. Latakia takes responsibility for the 'driving' taste; woody, smoky, etc.! But there's a very firm support from the Oriental leaf. At the risk of sounding multiloquous it gives a sort of perfume, floral, scented character; The Orientals really increase the fervour of the smoke. Any Virginias are down the pecking order. From these the main flavour is of red Virginias; fruity-sweet and a little rich. It burns well, but can become a touch warm if forced. After half a tin I'm yet to be bitten.

Nicotine: strong. Room-note: heavy.

Spark Plug? A tasty blend and even though it can creep above medium in temperature I'll happily award it four stars:

Highly recommended.
Pipe Used: Ismail Baglan meerschaum
PurchasedFrom: Smokingpipes.com
Age When Smoked: 01/19/20
16 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
ATW
Jul 04, 2020 Medium None Detected Very Full Tolerable
Hell yeah! I'm a mechanic by trade so obviously I'm gonna get me some of this when it's titled Spark Plug. I work on diesels but always have a heart for gas burners too.

This is heavy! Full flavor, thick and rich mouth feel, no tongue bite or harshness and burns very well.

The flavors you ask?...Its like freshly cracked main bearing cap bolts on a Chrysler slant 6 with 500,000 miles. It's like the smell of a overly rich running Ford 302 because you can't get the damn float in the carburetor to stop sticking. It's like used engine oil, blow head gaskets, burnt up differentials from running them out of oil, cleaning carbon out of egr passages, and fried brakes. Add a dash of coolant before they started putting the bittering agent in it, then you have GL Pease Spark Plug.

This stuff is great and I'm not much of an English smoker anymore. By far the heaviest and most flavorful English I've had in a long time. Definitely worth having on hand.
14 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 01, 2020 Mild to Medium None Detected Medium to Full Tolerable to Strong
What can I say, GL Pease is a Master. This blend showcases his taking something to a new level. Start with a very strong cedar Latakia from Cyprus, add some floral and sour Turkish tobacco, backed by a sweetness of Virginia. It both strong, spicy and smokey but mild nicotine. A wonderful plug that should age nicely.
Pipe Used: Peterson Aran Pot
PurchasedFrom: Smokingpipes
Age When Smoked: New
14 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 16, 2020 Mild to Medium None Detected Mild to Medium Unnoticeable
I bought this one a few weeks ago and is a really fresh tin of 01/22/20. The name intrigued me. I thought that this might be a hard plug similar to 3Ps but as one reviewer described it, it is like a cross between plug and crumble cake. On the top of my plug was a huge black leaf portion imprinted in the plug somewhat like a fossil. This has an excellent top-notch smell of leather. This cut also has somewhat larger chunks of tobacco leaves. I tore a corner off and began to tear this into pieces. Though I did not, this one really due to the size and thickness of the cut should probably use some drying time as I had to light this one quite a few times. This smokes cool, clean, smooth and I also like the fact that the flavor profile tends to change as the smoke progresses. There is plenty of dark almost black tobacco and also some very blonde leaves in this plug/cake. This is another one where all of the tobacco melds together to became a superb smoke. The more I smoke this the better I like it. I had some more this morning with my coffee and a good way to start the day. I would rate this as a mild-medium Latakia blend but one does not always need to smoke a Lat Bomb.
Age When Smoked: New
12 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 01, 2020 Medium Medium Full Pleasant to Tolerable
This is a medium English blend. It has larger leaves in it so I get strong sweet taste from the Virginias and then Smokey flavor from the Latakia. The spicy back note of the orientals is also present but not as often. Sometimes it’s a mix of all three and other times is shines singularly. There is no harshness to the retrohale. I like this tobacco and will cellar some tins for some aging and deeming laws if they should materialize.
Pipe Used: Castello Trademark
PurchasedFrom: Cup O Joes
Age When Smoked: New
11 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 21, 2020 Medium None Detected Mild to Medium Tolerable
The Union Jack on the label is more than somewhat appropriate: One would be hard pressed to find another blend as quintessentially English as Spark Plug (in a tobacco ecosphere chockablock full of high quality English blends). Even the kake (I would hardly call this a plug) looks like it came from the bloody bog (in fact, I peeled the different layers of tobacco apart as if it was from an immature peat bog) . . .

No need to smoke three tins of this for a proper evaluation; no need to cellar this for three years before it is deemed smokeable -- simply charring a bowl of Spark Plug is all one needs to do in order to understand they've made a great purchase (in fact, merely opening the tin is all one needs to do in order to understand they've made a great purchase). Spark Plug is an English blend I could smoke all-year-round -- even in the middle of an August heat wage -- which is not something I can say of most English blends I have cellared.

I gave this a two-hour dry time fresh from the tin (but it probably could have used another hour of drying).

Pleasingly earthy undertones, lovely leather overtones, pleasantly sweet and smoky and so endearingly English, Spark Plug hits on all cylinders.

Update: 2-23-2020

My first impressions of Spark Plug were formed after filling a bowl of it into a Peterson XL90. I just finished another bowl of Spark Plug that was smoked in a clay churchwarden. What an amazing difference the clay makes over the briar. Night and day, really. Most of my pipes are briars -- I had a couple of meers that were sub-standard -- but I discovered the clay pipes, serendipitously, back in June, 8-months ago. Those clay pipes are amazing. I must remember to always sample new blends in my half-dozen or so clays. The difference between the briar experience and the clay is really ineffable.

10 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 12, 2020 Medium to Strong None Detected Full Strong
Classic English mixture, tightly pressed into a tough block of tobacco. As with Gaslight, it is difficult to break down into smokable chunks, but I solved the problem by using an Italian kitchen tool: the mezzaluna.

Its convex fine edge allows to cut the previously broken chunks from the block into smaller units (i.e., almost granulated). Once in the pipe, wow! A fine mixture of Virginias, Latakia and Turkish, very much in the spirit of Westminster (a tad fuller), cool smoking, full of flavour and class.

An outstanding 100% English mixture, the likes of which are hard to find in today's tobacco world. Kudos, Mr. Pease.
Pipe Used: Dunhill root briar
PurchasedFrom: Joshua's Pipe Tobaccos
Age When Smoked: N/A
9 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.

target="_blank"