G. L. Pease Barbary Coast

Positives: Topping is done right, great room note. Negatives: Hard to keep lit (even after 2 years in an opened tin), and the tobacco is cut way too small. Hard to keep it from clogging the pipe. I must have gotten the bottom-of-the batch dust. Had I received a lager cut tobacco in this tin, I may have given it 3 stars.

Not my favourite blend.

The first two bowls I had to cut short; could not stand the taste. Too wet, too 'dark', just not pleasant to smoke overall.

Now that the tin's been open for about a month, some of the casing seems to have evaporated. It smokes better, but it still tastes like some cheap liquor, perhaps Baileys, without the sweetness. Burley, lots of Burley.

This blend will not make it into my rotation and the wife hates the room note, btw.

Pease Pilgrimage Reviews (a tasting journey through every GLPease blend) Tin date: May 25, 2010

Appearance: BC is a beautiful tobacco in the tin. The rough cube cut is sprinkled with larger bits of leaf (the VA and PER), and the overall mixture is very dark and rich.

Aroma: A very interesting tin aroma that I find sour and chemically. There is a hint of ripe fruits but actual tobacco aroma is lacking.

Flavor: I hate to be so blunt, but I am hoping and praying that this stuff will improve with age or with drying. After several bowls right out of the tin, I can confidently say this is the worst Pease blend I've tried yet. As I've mentioned many times, I am not a burley fan, but the topping on this stuff spins it way off course for me. I do like Solani's ABF and a couple other Burley blends, but the flavors in BC have no redeeming qualities for me whatsoever.

Obviously you burley and aromatic fans may actually love this stuff. It's neither right nor wrong, it's just that for me, a fan of big English blends and pure Virginias, this stuff offers me absolutely nothing. The taste is sharp and “chemically”, the aftertaste is like cigarettes (Burley is, after all, a primary cigarette tobacco), and the topping is overboard.

Now, putting on my objectivist hat, the cut and presentation are beautiful, the tobacco is obviously some quality stuff, and the fact that I feel the same about this blend as a I do about other aros that get four stars tells me that many of you will really like it. I think it will appeal to those looking for a break from “tradition,” that is, traditionally-constructed categorical blends like “English,” “Virginia,” or “Vaper.”

Even though many of Greg's blends are literally desert-island smokes for me, nevertheless my wife (who recoiled with horror when she stuck her nose in the tin), and I concur that this blend should go swiftly and directly to Davy Jones' locker. (IMHO) (YMMV) (MNTS [map not to scale]).

I absolutely love cube-cut tobacco, and I don't know why it's such a rarity in blends. However, this particular one will not find it's way into my regular rotation.

I do like that real earthy, dirt taste of these Burleys, and that's about what I have to say in the positive side. It has WAY too much casing, and you have to dry this tobacco out real good to make it burn well. But once you've managed to find the right dryness, it burns fantastic! But popping the lid is just not enough. I've tried that, came back to it after 2,3 and 4 weeks and it's still as moist as hell. I'd recommend spilling it all out on the table (or where ever), and let it dry there for a day or two.

Even though it is not an overwhelmingly strong bacco, the nicotine content is pretty high. If there is any Perique in this blend, it must have drowned somewhere in that brandy sauce.

While not in steady rotation, I do buy a tin of it every two years or so. Yes I do like it, but this is not a blend I crave for very often. But every once in a while, perhaps on a warm, dry summer night, I enjoy a pot of Barbary Coast along with a cold glass of greek white wine (Retsina).

Without the casing, this could've been a favourite of mine.

After reading the tin description, how could you resist? I would say, however, that the "kiss" of Brandy is more of a wet, tongue-down-the -throat kind of kiss.

What I believe could be billed as a more classy style of aromatic, Barbary Coast just doesn't cut it for me. It consists of extremely damp, curled cube cut that reminds of gunpowder green tea. Each fleck has a rolled quality to it that insures the only way to load is by gravity fill. I tried drying it on a side board for 3 days and it still smoked so hot that any flavor created from the very fine tobaccos used by GL Pease is rendered moot.

Toasting in the oven was recommended to me by a veteran smoker, but that's kind of where I draw the line. I don't want to involve any additional labor on my behalf after making a purchase other than perhaps a little delayed gratification if necessary. If I have to bring an oven in to it, I'll pass. After finishing a tin I can say that I had exactly one rewarding bowl. That came after deciding to store it with the tin lid cracked for several weeks. I think if you love burley with a generous helping of perique, something like OJK, and can handle a very hot smoking blend with a nice scent of brandy, you may have a winner here. For me, it's just to hot to handle, as they say. Lovely tin aroma by the way, but all things considered, not worth the effort to wrestle a fine experience out of it. Barbary Coast was a brilliant idea that suffers somewhat in execution.

2 of 5 stars. Maybe more if you don't mind a hot smoke or like to wear an apron while smoking.

How can anyone recommend this tobacco as "mild"? It's overwhelmingly strong, and I had to give up smoking it, unless it was mixed with some mild stuff. Bumbum.

This had been on my radar for several months to try. I finally went to the cellar and popped the top on a tin. Wonderful tin aroma and a beautiful presentation of tobacco.

That is where compliments start to fall off. After the initial light, you will be teased with a flavor that would be sublime if it were about twice as powerful. You get the impression that a little more aggressive puffing will get you there. It will not.

The nicotine level here is low...do not look to this for satisfaction on that end of the equation. The smoke volume is low, the taste is low...you get the idea. It's too bad that the market has so many of these near misses IMHO. For this level of satisfaction, I can chw a stick of gum and keep a few bucks in my pocket.

This will be a midlevel aro for the aro loving crowd and will probably please the lighter weight smokers in our society. I for one will give away the remainder of the tins in my cellar to someone who can appreciate it. It breaks my heart to let it go, but as much as I like the flavor and aroma, I just can't justify smoking something that lacks critical strengths in multiple areas.

Lights well, burns well, after quite a bit of drying. The quality is there, as with all Pease blends. I just did not like the brandy flavoring. This is the only G.L. Pease blend, that I've tried, and do not highly recommend.

I prefer English/Latakia blends, so if your a perique smoker, don't read this.

I thought the tobacco was good, just not for me. I don't like fruity flavors in my tobacco. I have had two different perique blends, and so far didn't like either of them. To me this tastes like a air freshener. I am more of a english style of guy anyway.

As for quality of tobacco, I thought it was great. Lights really easy, burns smooth. Great blend if you like Perique.