G. L. Pease Barbary Coast

(3.01)
The finest cube-cut burley, chosen for its deep, nutty flavors, forms a robust foundation for this sophisticated blend. Rich, red Virginia tobaccos are added for their subtle sweetness and complexity, while the unique spice of perique provides added dimension. A delicate kiss of Brandy polishes the blend to a perfect finish. Barbary Coast is delightfully satisfying, with hints of black walnut, dark chocolate, and dried fruits. The perfect "all-day" smoke!
Notes: From GL Pease: The name, Barbary Coast, came from my good friend Toren Smiith, in one of the most mind-stunning stream of consciousness, free association, brain dump emails I've ever received. As soon as I saw it, I knew it was the perfect name. Thanks, Toren, and everyone else who sent great suggestions! The prize? You're lookin' at it, buddy! Fame, but no fortune. Barbary Coast was introduced in March, 2001.

Details

Brand G. L. Pease
Series Original Mixtures
Blended By Gregory Pease
Manufactured By Cornell & Diehl
Blend Type Burley Based
Contents Burley, Perique, Virginia
Flavoring Brandy
Cut Ribbon
Packaging 2 ounce tin, 8 ounce tin
Country United States
Production Currently available

Profile

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

Average Rating

3.01 / 4
78

70

52

12

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 212 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jul 17, 2016 Medium Very Mild Medium Pleasant
The very nutty, earthy, woody burley also has a light molasses and cocoa character, and forms the base for this blend. The ripe, tangy dark fruit sweet red Virginias also sport a little earth, wood and hint of spice and bread as a second lead. The raisin, fig, plum and spice notes from the perique underscores every puff. The sweet brandy topping is very mild and does not sublimate the tobaccos much at all. The strength and taste levels are medium. The nic-hit is a couple of steps short of the medium mark. No chance of bite, harshness or dullness in this blend. Moderately complex, it burns at a reasonable rate, cool, clean and smooth with a very consistent sweet and savory flavor from start to finish. Requires few relights, and leaves virtually no moisture in the bowl. Has a pleasant, short lived after taste and room note. Can be an all day smoke that won’t wear you out during the day.

-JimInks
49 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 07, 2009 Medium Mild to Medium Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
* January 7, 2009: I popped a tin last night of some 2002 vintage BC. Wow, what a smoke! I do not normally expect Burley to age much, but the seven years of melding has turned this tobacco into something sublime. Mellow, smooth, easy to pack and light and cool burning with none of the bite I experienced with my fresh tin of BC that I reviewed here 7 years ago.... Greg Pease loves to concoct blends that age well and he hit a home run with this Burley/Virginia/Brandy blend.
43 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 02, 2009 Medium Medium Medium to Full Very Pleasant
Just before Thanksgiving, '08, on a visit to renowned Pipe artisan Larry Roush, I was given a gift of 2 oz of Barbary Coast. The next day, I drove from Ohio to New Jersey, and put a big dent in that inventory, and then ordered 5 lbs more, of which half is gone. It is my go-to, everday smoke, and after drying it out a bit, and learning the nuances of loading my pipes with it, all is well at my smoking rooms in Nashville, TN.

I'm not one of those to describe tobaccos with food or herb comparisons....it has a sweetness to it that I find pleasant, my companions all rave about the smell, and I have nothing but good things to say about it. Most importantly, having smoked a fair amount of it, I'm as enthusistic about smoking it as I was on day 1.

An added bonus is that it builds a great cake, rather quickly, in my new pipes.

I've read glowing reviews of this tobacco, and a few rather nasty ones....thank the Lord we all have different tastes!!!!
35 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 30, 2013 Medium Very Mild Medium Pleasant
This is a truly pleasurable smoking experience. Starts like a great VaPer. The Virginias are uncommonly rich and sweet. The Perique, tart with ample spice. The Brandy is present in the aftertaste of each retrohale. A very nice touch. As the bowl progresses the Burley ever so slowly starts sneaking in until, at near half bowl, a balance is reached between the three. In spite of the disappearance of the Brandy aftertaste this my favorite part. For what seems too short of a time the balanced flavors provide a wonderful taste experience. Past halfway the Burley dominates, but only slightly. The flavor and sweetness of the Virginias remain, slightly muted. The flavor of the Perique nearly disappears, but the spice remains. The nuttiness of the Burley really shines through here. The flavors hold steady in this manner to the end of the bowl. This is a Burley blend I can hang my hat on. Very well done.
Pipe Used: MM General
PurchasedFrom: smokingpipes.com
Age When Smoked: fresh
33 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 01, 2010 Medium Very Mild Medium Pleasant
GLP tobaccos always make me work to find their secrets, as they are without a doubt the most complex tobaccos I've found. However, this is the second one in a row that I've found fairly simple to unlock. I'm on a roll! 🙂

Nice cube-cut dark walnut colored blend with a wonderful nose of brandy. At first it smelled like too much brandy, but the taste was subdued, particularly once dried out a touch. Interestingly, I enjoyed the flavor both at tin moisture and dried out for an hour. It's a sweet and savory blend - almost an aromatic, except for the fact that the tobacco taste is very much more prominent that the flavoring. This is a true mixture, as all components add to the whole. The burley nuttiness was at the forefront along with a subtle brandy flavoring, but the VA's and the perique added their color and nuance. This would definitely be a good all day smoke for someone who had a lot of people around. The room aroma was nice and unimposing.

Already almost 150 reviews for this one! My tin was dated 3/09, so perhaps some aging time simmered down the brandy. Really a nice taste treat for the proper occasions. I'll buy more of this. Might make for a nice holiday smoke.
18 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 21, 2015 Medium Medium Medium Pleasant
G.L. Pease Barbary Coast offers an interesting niche pipe tobacco. A part of the Original Mixtures series, Barbary Coast has now been on the market for about 15 years.

Crack the tin and you find a varied cut of dark brown and black tobaccos. The tin note suggests a full aromatic (although in smoking it is not), with a walnutty aroma (presumably from the burleys), and a sweetness from the Virginias and a touch of fruitiness from the light brandy flavoring. Perique is also a part of the melange, but it is not very apparent in the tin note.

I find Barbary Coast to be the most moist upon opening of all the Pease mixtures I have tried. Let the tin sit for several days after cracking the seal. Then fill your pipe rather loosely. This tobacco does not smoke well in a tightly packed load. The burley is chunky. This blend offers a cool smoke, but the chunkiness also means that you should expect some relights.

The Virginias seem to be on the sweet side (red?), and when smoked the brandy flavoring is there, but not nearly so strongly as the tin note might suggest. The perique does not dominate, although you can clearly taste it during the smoke. This restrained perique presence (which provides a subtle touch to both taste and room aroma) makes Barbary Coast a mixture that might be likened to Haddo's Delight LIte.

The nicotine kick from Barbary Coast is well above medium, as might be expected from a tobacco for which burley is the base. This mixture is not bite prone unless puffed with extraordinary vigor. The room note is pleasant. The brandy does not make itself strongly present in the room note, and the perique is just barely perceptible. Yet the aroma is different from the typical burely based blend.

I smoke Barbary Coast both with my Virginia and Virginia/perique pipes, as well as with my (generally) cheaper aromatic pipes. Both work well. When not smoked often in a particular pipe I do not find a ghosting problem with the Virginia preferred briars. The aromatic ghosting of the pipes normally used for aromatics does not significantly affect the taste of the Barbary Coast.

Cornell & Diehl's Pennington Gap provides a very similar tobacco to Barbary Coast, the only significant difference being that Pennington Gap uses bourbon as the flavoring rather than brandy. C&D produces the G.L. Pease offerings at their facility, now located in South Carolina rather than North Carolina.

Not a large percentage of pipe smokers will discover Barbary Coast to be a candidate for regular rotation. But I firmly believe that the great majority of pipesters will find it to be a pleasant and intriguing change of pace smoke.
17 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 12, 2019 Medium Mild to Medium Medium Pleasant
G. L. Pease - Barbary Coast.

Having finished my tin of Alexander Bridge I wanted to have another alcohol flavoured tobacco on the go. So, after reading a few reviews here, this seemed to fit the bill!

The description here's a little wrong. It isn't ribbon cut, the blend's prominently cubes with just a few bigger pieces. The coloration of it's mostly dark brown, with only a few pieces differing. It has a slightly deceiving aroma, it smells stronger flavoured with brandy than it smokes. My tin's moistness was faultless.

I enjoy the smoke, but I don't love it. It takes to the flame simply, and burns well: cool, bite free, without much maintenance. The brandy, although lighter than in the tin, is a definite addition; but, it brings more sweetness to the smoke rather than alcoholic severity; that's it, the tin has more of an alcoholic note, whereas the smoke has more sweetness from the brandy. Regarding the tobaccos, I get more of the slightly abrasive, coarse, Burley, than the others. The Virginia and Perique are far from unnoticeable; I note sweet Virginias and fruity Perique, but they lack as much volume.

Nicotine: medium. Room-note: nice.

Barbary Coast? To my palate this would quantify better as an aromatic. Although I'm not fangirling over it, I think it's worth more than two stars. Recommended:

Three stars.
Pipe Used: Wallenstein Freehand
PurchasedFrom: Smokingpipes.com
Age When Smoked: Three months
13 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 12, 2009 Mild Mild Medium Very Pleasant
Un-freakin believable tobacco. The perique starts off strong and gives way to a lovely complex smoke. There is a wonderful sweetness and flavor that develops from about the beginning of the 2nd half of the bowl. At any time you can bring the perique back full force by some heavy puffs. Towards the end it reminded me of some whiff of pipe tobacco from a distant time, you know that hauntingly beautiful smell as a child that made you want to smoke a pipe? Here it is. Oh! mistress nicotine how I adore thee!
11 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 19, 2014 Medium to Strong Very Strong Medium Overwhelming
I don't like giving this blend a bad review because the tobacco itself is really really beautiful. Small burley nuggets wavering between crisp dark brown and gold. This cut is why I decided to try this tobacco (and all the great reviews).

I ordered an 8oz tin. Opened it when it arrived and was hit with a strong unpleasant odor of cheap wine. There is supposed to be a brandy casing, but this odor is distinctly MadDog 20/20 or Night Train. I powered through and lit up a bowl in my Cobwarden. Smoked quite nicely with a very medium body and flavor, but that smell would not go away. I couldn't finish the bowl.

I thought, maybe I got a super-fresh batch so decided to let it sit for 6 months. I then opened it again and bam, there was that smell again, still hadn't relented. Smoked another bowl, again fine, except the odor from the bowl and the room note were killing me.

I have tried airing this thing out by leaving the container open overnight outdoors, indoors, for a few days on end when I went on holiday. Nothing, NOTHING, will get rid of that cheap wine smell.

I'm going to put this away for a year or so and see what happens. Thing is, the smoke itself wasn't good enough to put up with this. But, maybe I'll be back here in a year upping the review. Who knows.

Clearly, I'm in the minority with this tobacco based on all the other reviews, but It's good to have different opinions when you're researching. Also, just for comparison sake, I'm not particularly sensitive to smells generally, especially after smoking for 25 years. My regular smoke is 1792 Flake.

Pipe Used: MM Mark Twain Cobwarden
PurchasedFrom: 4Noggins
Age When Smoked: 6mo
9 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Sep 08, 2014 Strong Medium Full Pleasant to Tolerable
Whoa!

This, I don't know what to say, this is instantly going to near the top of my list, and in spectacular fashion too.

The cube cut burley is central to this. Its deep, rich, luxurious, nutty, all of the superlatives you know that describe top class burley. Damp and brooding too, tastes very aged and complex, and it just dripping with flavor.

Then on top of that, it reeks of top shelf cognac. Stinking of the stuff, looks like someone poured it over the mixture right before it was sealed.

It dries into a classic smoke. It tastes like you are sampling something from the 1970's before people cared about healthrisks of anything, its that OTT.

The smoke is big, fragrant and complex. The warms of the briar then brings out an earthiness and aroma then just draws you in. The VA's become more apparent as the heat of the bowl draws them out. I didn't get the Perique much, I haven't got a sophisticated palate though.

Careful! I've never heard anyone talk about Vit N with this, but I was almost flattened. Such richness and such high caliber burley packs a wallop. I was caught unawares and felt a cold sweat coming on near the end, and when I stood (after a glorious hour of smoking) I was firmly on Weird Street and needed two doses of sugar, a Coke and a walk in a stiff breeze to bring me back. Even during my wimpery, I was stiff savoring the taste.

I cannot even imagine how good this is aged!

Load up, smoke half and store half, and be merry.
Pipe Used: Dunhill Reject Billiard
9 people found this review helpful.
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