G. L. Pease Bankside

The bright and red Virginias provide a wealth of tart and tangy citrus, vegetative grass, bread, sugar, some tangy ripe dark fruit, floralness, earth, wood, light sour lemon, spice, and touches of cream, vinegar and acidity. The bright is a little more noticeable than the red, and their inherent sweetness allows them to be top team players. The dried plumy, peppery, earthy, woody, lightly sweet Saint James perique is nearly the equal of the Virginias mostly because the dried plum aspects of the perique virtually match the fruitiness for recognition. Otherwise, it plays a support role. The dark fired Kentucky produces a little earth, wood, herbs, floralness, spice, vegetation, smoky barbecue, mild dry sourness, and a hint of nuttiness. The Cyprian Latakia offers light smoke, earth, wood, musty sweetness, incense, floralness and vegetation. There is some interplay between the dark fired and Latakia as they occasionally rise past each other for attention. Overall, they are a variable slot or two above the condiment line, and generally form an important bass note to the experience. The strength and nic-hit are a couple of steps past the medium mark. The taste is a notch stronger. There’s no chance of bite or harshness, but there are a few small rough edges which are typical for this sort of blend. The broken flakes are mildly moist, and as per my usual custom, I did not dry them. It has a little inconsistent complexity, and burns cool, clean and slow with a fruity, peppery, floral, smoky, mildly sour flavor that extends to the moderately lingering, pleasant after taste. The room note is tolerable. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires a few more than an average number of relights. Not an all day smoke, but it is repeatable. Three and a half stars.

-JimInks

G. L. Pease - Bankside.

The broken flakes smell musky, tangy, sharp, and aren't too moist for imminent smoking. As they're rather well broken some can just be pinched, stuffed, puffed.

The smoke? Quite complex. There's a prominence of Virginias, sharp and ripe, but there's plenty going on behind these. The peppery Perique comes through clearly, has a spicy flavour. I find the fire-cured Kentucky brings a caustic smokiness; this really adds weight to the flavour. There's a touch of wood from the Latakia, this comes through after half a bowl. It burns perfectly, free from tongue bite.

Nicotine: above medium. Room-note: heavy but not bad.

Bankside? Pretty unique, four stars:

Highly recommended.

Tin note of pungent smoky, dried fruit and wet wood. The brown flakes are moist but not tacky. They rub out easily and no drying needed. Burns slow with more than the normal amount of relights. The strength is medium and nic is mild to medium. No flavoring detected. Taste is medium, starting out strong, but mellows out quite a bit. Mostly consistent notes of sweet grass, lemon, toasted nuts, bread, dry earth, lightly smoked wood, mild tart plums, mild floral herbs, mild vinegar, and a mildly peppery retro. Virginias are leading with perique supporting. Kentucky and Latakia are keeping pace in the background. Room note is pleasant to tolerable, and aftertaste is outstanding.

“…Smarter than the average … [Vaper].” Compliments from Yogi bear.

Broken flake. Easy to load. Slightly moist at get-go but no drying time needed to smoke.

Very cool smoking.

More similar to older English blend than a straight Vaper to me. That is due to the composite of the 3 darker tobaccos added.

Rich tasting with a dark note. Perique has off-on spice note. More dark fruit (not sweet). Latakia not heavy. Dark fired not dominant flavor but it gives blend its fuller body.

Tastes great and fulfilling from start. Finished tin in 10 days.

One of Pease’s best VAs. to date.

Long ago, in a headspace far away, I used to sit down, light up and smoke a pipe like I had all the time in the world to do it. Today, after a semi-lengthy hiatus from smoking, I treated myself to a bowl of rested Bankside that I smoked in this way. I used an old, number 5 Punto Oro billiard that I like mostly for kitchen sink blends, and I stuffed the dried broken flake “ribbons” loosely. Ticket punched. The first ½ went fairly quickly, with gentle tamping, despite I barely drew on the pipe. The second half of the bowl lasted over half an hour, and if I ever enjoyed a bowl more I was not mindful of it as I smoked my Bankside. This is what smoking a pipe is all about. Yes, there is Latakia that, due to artful blending, I suppose, suggests a wisp of Syrian. Tangy bright Va on top, with dark fruit red VA supporting, and sour, aged, musty, figgy Perique present enough to play its part. As for the earthy, smoky KY, it does a great job of tying the Latakia to the blend, which is so well melded that I did not so much as think about the parts of the smoke apart from the whole of it. Strength is a couple notches past medium, and the tastes head from there toward full. The nicotine will give newbies something to think about, and it should satisfy most geezers. There’s plenty of smoke, and the aftertaste is a nice trailing off of the best of the smoke. Room note? Best reserved for the smoker.

Certainly, Greg Pease is no stranger to success in the world of pipe tobacco. While I happen to like most of his blends when they’re young, I understand that some find his “fresh” offerings somewhat raw. IMO, Bankside is aces after some rest, and no doubt it will age very well in a sealed tin. Four stars.

Tangy-Woody citrus right off the bat. Creamy sweetness in small sips with a salty spice retro. A mustiness comes in mid bowl(reminds me of Penzance) that turns powdery floral. Complexity was very surprising. Great right out of the can. -Spiral Out

Best new tobacco I've smoked in 2023! Actually the only new tobacco I've smoked in 2023 so far.. This is a decent smoke.. it starts out nearly perfect for me.. that delicious virginia perique vibe with some smoke and wood in the background.. Strength and complexity.. amazing retrohale.. this one, in my opinion, loses something as the bowl progresses.. it has a sort of harshness (nothing major) I think mainly coming from the interaction with whatever percentage of Kentucky is used.. it is a minor complaint as the flavors still pull through and has a pleasant light sweetness.. Not something that I would categorize.. and evidently intended to be something modern.. I like it.. I suspect some of that roughness that seems to develop with each bowl I've had will probably smooth out with more melding.. a little age.. or just time in the jar.. it needs to settle a little.. Delivers a nice evening/night smoke.. maybe it's the Strength combined with the latakia dynamic.. seems like a late in the day or cloudy day smoke.. thumbs up

Synopsis: A tasty funk-filled, full-favored blend for a late-night smoke.

There are so many tobacco varietals in Bankside. Somehow Pease was able to bring them together so that nothing overwhelms the other components. The VA varietals add some sweetness and the perique is quite noticeable with its endowed funkiness. There is enough Latakia present to make it stand out as an English blend, but the addition of dark-fired burley adds a striking amount of depth and smoked oakiness that takes this blend into a direction all its own.

I have been enjoying Bankside after meals, but it would not be a blend that I smoke regularly. For what it's worth, the room note is very strong in a harsh manner. I don't really care, but my family has mentioned it to me.

Overall, Bankside fits quite nicely into the Pease lineup. Many thanks to the Dark Lord for this contribution. "Bring on the funk, gotta have that funk......."

20240412: really can't consider this a Latakia blend. It's there, but barely, and dissipates fairly quickly. Smoking very slowly using the breath method, I'm getting a lot of toast flavor, in addition to the fruit and grass. A very nice change of pace from the straight DFK I've mostly been smoking.

From a meer: Rubbed pieces out completely, loaded the pipe. Getting sweet fruit, both DFK and Latakia smokiness, maybe a little grass. There's such a small amount of Latakia here that it doesn't actually overwhelm everything else for me, which is a rarity. Even tough to spot at times. Very tough on my mouth, which is a shame, because otherwise I'm loving this one. Nicotine is strong enough to feel, not sure if you could smoke bowl after bowl all day long, but a couple in a row isn't putting me down. I think the unpleasantness of the bite would stop me before the nicotine.

From a cob: Similar flavor, but less biting (still more than I'd prefer). This may mostly be due to the narrower chamber, not sure. Overall I'd probably say more pleasant than the meer; probably getting more tartness and fruit.

From a briar: Even more moderated, and I'm barely getting any smokiness at all. Still a little bit of unpleasant biting character, but barely worth speaking about.

First off, this is excellent tobacco. The base of red and bright leaf Va. take the lead with some mixture of grassy and a little vinegar. The Perique and the Ky are the most obvious secondary players adding stewed fruit and hardwood smoke. The Latakia is there but not in a great dose, It does provide a faint tinge of evergreen smoke. My chosen method wit this has been to pinch and stuff and the results have been pleasurable. May rub some out and try it or even snip it into cubes. No burn, not overly moist, burns clean with few relights, and is consistent in flavor throughout the process. Nicotine is not over the top but noticeable. I believe that some age will give further merit to this blend. Solid 4 here!