G. L. Pease Barbary Coast

I really like this blend. A lot going on here. VaBurPer with a pronounced casing (well, pronounced for a non-Aro). Fantastic tin note. I would strongly recommend this for an Aro smoker looking to expand into more robust and interesting tobaccos. I refer to this as a 'crossover' blend. As some previous reviewers have commented, it does burn faster than other Pease blends due primarily to the cube cut. My strategy here has been to pay close attention to packing, using gravity with just a hint of pressure on the top third of the fill. Unlike most aros, the brandy casing translates directly to the flavor and is not at all harsh, overdone, or unpleasant.

Update, May 2014: After setting this blend aside for a year and a half, I find it transformed. The brandy casing has mellowed considerably, resulting in a nutty, dark chocolatey burkey with a pinch of Perique spice and a more subtle flavoring of brandy. Exceptionally smooth. The result is very much as GL's tin description states. There is no bite to this blend, and even avowed burley detractors should take note. This is a blend worth trying, and one worth setting down.

Oh my, another delectable offering from the grand master of all things pipe tobacco. This stuff is Delicious. The brandy influence is very nice, and this blend can really hit that sweet spot.

Barbary Coast is technically a burley blend but boy you can sure fool me. This blend comes off to me as a masterful aromatic. It is so very good. Super dark and deep and lush. There are times when this blend is a little too much for my palate. This is like a really heavy and lush chocolate dessert. Sometimes it is so good, and sometimes it is just a little too much. When I am in the mood however, this just hits the spot just right. The flavors are so dark and sweet. This one is a real treat. Even though this is really like an aromatic, it does not behave like one. This blend is like a born aromatic that was adopted and raised by a burley family. The blend is not at all goopy or bitey. Its really nicely done.

Just a quick word of warning. I am like the incredible hulk when it comes to nic hits. Even the strongest of tobacco's do not seem to have any effect, but this one for some odd reason gave me a slight case of the spins. I could see how some light weights may be overwhelmed by this one. Highly recommended.

I find this blend very tasty and a very nice blend. When I opened the can, I was presented with a mostly cube cut mixed color blend that had a sweet Walnut like aroma. It was a good moisture level, easy packing blend that was a little stubborn about lighting, but after it was lit it burned quite well. It did require a few relights but not to where it was irritating. I did not have to puff constantly to keep it lit.

It has a very tangy flavor, not overly sweet but the perique comes out at the start with it's nice spice and as I smoked it down, it lost some of the tang and the dark chocolate note picked up. It burns dry and all the way down leaving a mixed grey dottle.

I find this to be a nice pleasurable low smoke blend. I cannot give it a fourth star as it does not satisfy my "N" cravings and it again had to be relit often. But it's a very good aromatic and I will have no problem smoking the rest of the tin. Not one that I feel I have to keep around however.

I have to ration this to myself so I try other blends. Today BC came up in the rotation and it is a good day indeed. Love it. Don't know if I'd go to bed with it like a previous reviewer; I have other options even sweeter 😉 This blend does seem quite sweet and that's fine with me. My next purchase will be bulk.

I do have to dry off the brandy before this is smokable. My tin is sticky and ketchupy, but presmoke characteristics don't matter as much as the subsequent hour.

I was surprised to learn about the perique. Although I feel it, the taste I associate with it isn't there. Pass the Pease, please.

Encouraged by the excellent, and at times almost poetic reviews on G.L. Pease?s blends, I order a couple of tins from Cupojoes, New York (thanks Eric!). I don?t think there is much to add to what the previous reviewers have so eloquently expressed. This is an excellent, savoury blend. It is rich, spicy and diverse, using the various elements it is composed of with great skill and care. I have smoked at least five bowls of Barbary Coast and I will leave the rest of the tin to rest for a couple of months (I don?t believe the contents of a vacuum sealed tin will change much unless it is opened and allowed to ?breath? some oxygen, just like a good wine should). I have really enjoyed this tobacco, yet I wouldn?t think of it as an all day smoke. It is very smooth but it can be slightly overwhelming. The Burley used is great. In fact the flavour in the first half of the bowl reminded me very much of Larsen?s Kentucky Gold, but Barbary Coast has perhaps more body and a greater range of flavours. Definitely a new experience, quite different from most American tobaccos I had previously tried. Highly recommended.

Tin Aroma: Sweet and sour, with a slight vinegar undertone. I expected a nuttier, sweeter scent, given the amount of cube burley in this blend, but it seens that the virginias used are very potent, at least in the aroma.



Physical Characteristics: Almost uniformly brown, this is evenly divided between short chopped ribbons of virginias and cube cut burley, wich, if you have not seen it, look like tiny pellets of tobacco. Pleasantly moist, without being goopy, I believe even a heathen like me that dries out almost every blend before smoking, can smoke this straight out of the can, which is good, seeing as how much I like this. Given the size of the cut, and all the cube cut in it, this fills any size/shape pipe easily. A bit of care is necessary in packing not to get the airhole obstructed with a cube of burley, or filled with tiny virginias bits, waiting to be sucked into your mouth. This is probably the only blend I have seen where it would be possible to fill your pipe simply by dipping the bowl down into the can 🙂 Burns to a very fine white ash.



First Light: Ahh, sweet nutty burley. Burley is probably my favorite tobacco by itself, and I have been known to smoke straight burley day in and day out, especially during the hot South Carolina summer, so it is wonderful to find an expertly developed blend that provides so much wonderful burley taste. There is evidence in the first few puffs that the virginias are not quite as heavyy as the aroma would have indicated, but I know better than to discount virginias in a blend until I get to the last puff. Perhaps they will appear later in the smoke. The nicotine content is about average for a burley blend, slightly higher than other types of tobacco, which is not really something I mind. I was correct, the virginias do come out a bit more towards the end of the smoke, but not enough to overpower the burley at all. The transition is nice and easy, and never really leaves the real of the nuttiness of the burley, it is simply added to by the virginias.



Notes: Need to build cake in a new pipe? Look no further. For reasons I cannot intelligently explain, this blend builds cake like no other I have encountered. Smoked in a virgin pipe, a decent amount of cake will begin to form even after the first smoke, which is quite a blessing for folks like me that cannot seem to build cake in pipes easily. The second half of the bowl gets a bit drying to the mouth, but is easily fixed with a good cup of tea. I actually prefer to drink cold water with this blend, so as not to dilute any of the flavors. The perique is, in my opinion, barely noticeable in this blend. It lends a bit of spiciness to the blend, but is not 'out front' at any time during the smoke.

This is my 4th incursion into G.L. Pease Territory. The thin description of this blend is the most accurate you can find as usually is the case with G.L. Pease blends.

The very rich, nutty, deep Burley is the front player. Virginias provide a bit of sweetness and complexity and Perique ads a spicy touch. The smoke is full of nutty, dark chocolate and dried fruits notes. The kiss of brandy just ads a very light note and does not interfere the smoke. Will not bite or get harsh and it's a very satisfying smoke with plenty of flavor. In a certain sense reminds me the smoke of a cigar.

The thins I smoked were dated 7 14-15. Thin note is very strong but pleasant. The kiss of brandy is very evident, but as said before, once smoked, it does not interfere with the tobacco flavor.
What surprises me is that after 8 years the tobacco has a lot of moist, in fact is the moistest G.L. Pease I have tried. It took an hour to get the moist level I like.

I purchased this blend because I wanted to know how does this Master Blender with blends without latakia. Long time ago, in my childhood as a pipe smoker, I tried two Burley based blends that I didn't like at all and caused me a certain degree of Burleyphobia. This blend has reconciled me with Burley, and maybe with Perique.
All in All a solid 3 stars.

I have plenty of good things to say about this blend. I stand by my one star review, and the reader will soon learn why. This comes as a cube cut with chunky wide ribbon interspersed. On opening the tin, there is the smell of Brandy, but this is not at all overpowering. The leaf is dry and perfect to smoke immediately. I would stress that the Brandy is applied judiciously and does indeed enhance the natural tobacco flavors. It tends to bring out the sweet nature of the Virginia in a pronounced way that I am just not used to. There are some nice notes of aromatic wood, espresso bean, roasted cocoa nibs. So what’s not to like? Mold. About halfway through the tin, I noted one peculiarly colored chunk that I erroneously identified as an odd shaped chunk of stem. It was, rather, a piece of cube cut Burley wherein the white mold could be seen growing between layers of leaf. As I poked around(you just gotta poke around), it didn’t take long to identify more. If the mold issue didn’t exist, this would easily be a three star blend. Laudisi needs to get their $h!t together. I can only presume Mr pease would not approve.

I was lucky to find a tin of 2018 BC at my local pipe shop. This is one of the blends that had been on my list to try.

The tin note was slightly sweet from the Brandy topping still. The tobacco was perfect moisture to load and smoke. It takes a charring and main light to get going but once it does, it's a nice combination of burleys in the background, sweet VA with the brandy mostly coming through the retrohale. It's obvious why this one has been around for 20 years now.