G. L. Pease Barbary Coast

Opening the tin, the Burley and Brandy are evident. The tobacco is dark, moist, and cube cut. Drop-filled the pipe to the rim, pressed slightly and the tobacco didn't tamp down as much as a typical ribbon cut blend. I tamped slightly, filled again, tamped a little more and lit. The initial flavors evident on the first puff are the Burley and Perique. Very pleasant and full-bodied smoke. After the relight, a hint a brandy and a toasty sweetness. The room begins to fill with an almost caramel-like aroma, and volumes of creamy smoke. Once the tobacco hits the zone, a myriad of other flavors; nutty, chocolaty, and rich. Like so many other GLP blends, the flavor is complex and changes as the tobacco burns. The bottom third of the bowl was a little difficult to tamp down, but it did burn out to a mottled grey and white, grainy ash. This tobacco lends a superb smoking experience with no bite and provides a generous helping of flavor without bitterness or "goop".

Never has a Burley blend been so wonderfully silky and smooth. However, Barbary Coast is more than that; it has remarkable depth and gentle nuance. The depth of Greg Pease?s latest blend gives the smoker the impression that the flavor lies just beneath the silky surface that restrains it. The strength and complexity seems ever so slightly veiled by the smoothness of the veneer, always preparing to break beyond it, but continually self-restraining. It is subtly sweet with the considerable nutty overtone so characteristic of good Burleys. Rich hazelnut flavors intertwine with a silky, almost chocolate like nuance. A citrus or apricot flavor is distinct during the first few puffs and slowly tapers off as the bowl progresses and yields to the more mellow chocolate and nut flavors.



The ingredients on the back of the can read as follows: Burley, red Virginias and Perique with a hint of Brandy. Usually I will talk about the various components and their impact upon the final flavor and thereby dissect the blend in a relatively scientific way. I cannot do this with Barbary Coast, for it is far more than the sum of its parts. The blend effuses a sense of mystery, offering both delicacy and a hidden, reserved strength and, therefore, I choose not to pry too far or dissect too closely. Some blends, just like some books, are better left unfettered by senseless criticism. Barbary Coast is one such blend.

A pretty tobacco with Virginia and plenty of cubed Burley and an appearance so familiar and comfortable that I wanted to dip my savinelli in it and load it with a thumb - pack the way my Grandpa used to. Muted fruit bouquet with a hint of Brandy, told me that this would be a considerably different than previous G.L. Pease offerings.

The touch of a match freed a pleasant scent that was mildly "aromatic" without the usual cloy of it's less sophisticated brethren. My wife walked in to the room, did a dainty sniff  and remarked "it looks like you've finally found your party tobacco". As an aside, one of the holy grails that I have been in search of for many years was a tobacco that I could smoke in public situations and satisfy the people around me with a pleasant scent, and have a smoke that tasted like....well, tobacco. She was right, I had found it.

The taste was light, smooth and sweetly nuanced with just enough body to have a mouth filling quality that any "serious" tobacco should have. The burn was clean all the way down to the dottle, and, in subsequent smokings, even when I deliberately overpuffed, I couldn't provoke a tongue bite, something that I have rarely experienced in any smoke, much, less one with substantial Burley In short, this stuff is attractive in appearance, has a scent that reminds you of why you took up a pipe in the first place, and could easily be in your top "rotation" as an excellent all day smoke.

Score another hit for Greg Pease.

7 out of 10 Bear Claws

In one word "Wonderful." A fantastic offering by Mr. Pease.

This is now my everyday tobacco of choice.

This is a must in burley tobaccos, the taste is a mix of dry fruits, chocolate, virginia.All these are mixed together throught a bowl. Not very easy to light (because of the cube cut) but a high quality tobacco, I don't think any pipe smoker could not appreciate this blend. Excellent!

I haven't smoked much burly so I can't compare this to other burly blends. The burly and Va's are perfectly balanced with just about the right amount of perique to make it interesting. It smokes slowly and is silky smooth if not puffed vigorously. It is not really an aromatic and has a wonderful tobacco flavor. There is a little harshness near the bottom of the bowl but I recommend it highly.

Update: Having smoked this for some time now I no longer detect any harshness throughout the entire bowl! Perhaps the initial offering was a little young. THE BEST!!

This is an exceptionally well cured and clean burning blend. The Virginia and Burley mixture is outstanding; delicious with strength and body. Hints of fruity and nutty flavors jump out at your palate as if they were trying to surprise you. This is a well thought out and executed blend. I keep pounds of this around and it still dissappears too fast; it does burn pretty fast.