G. L. Pease Odyssey

This is a Balkan blend with a nice amount of Latakia in it. The tobacco is ribbon cut. Little more than a half of it is black, the remaining leaves are dark brown and a very little amount of bright leaves. The tin note is rich & oily. I freshly opened a new tin and was happy to find it to be the right humidity. Later I was proven to be wrong and this tobacco would had needed some time to breathe and dry prior to smoking 🙂 This little excess humidity made me smoke it a bit faster, required some re-lights and gave me a little tongue bite.

On the palate and in the nose I felt pine tree, forest honey, burnt brown sugar, some woodsy-ness. The Latakia is dominant but not overpowering - accompanied by Oriental and little Virginia. The latter one had been solved into the blend and hard to find at times. The taste is also creamy and nutty. It is full but not overwhelming.

By mid-bowl it gets more spicy: hints of mint, pepper, little lemon balm, sandalwood. In the last part of the bowl I was surprised to taste chocolate and ginger and some forest honey again.

Nicotine-wise this blend is medium. I felt just a little N-kick to know that it was tobacco I was smoking.

This blend reminds me of Balkan Sasieni but is evidently richer and much more interesting. If I were a sailor and having a shipload of this good stuff I would gladly sail around the Mediterranean Sea for years 🙂

I am not one to normally go for a full English blend, but I really like this one. It is heavy on the lat, but there is a great balance to it that makes this a fantastic change up for me from time to time.

It is as smoky as one would expect with the lat content, but it does not overwhelm the tastebuds leaving one with campfire tongue. It rather has an exotic type of sweetness that is likely coming from great balance of all the elements. The sweetness is not like a Presbyterian or Squadron Leader or other Virginia dominant English blends. It is more of an incense type of taste that only comes from orientals used wisely.

I will definitely reorder this in the future and highly recommend it.

I`ve been cellaring a tin of Odissey from march 2013. Opened it two days ago and can`t stop smoking it!!.

Tin notes are clearly defined by Latakia content, which is powerful but not overwhelming. Smells of leather and campfire comes to my mind. The first puffs are simply sublime, with the latakia singing loud and clear. Some sweetness coming from Virginias (?) gives the mixture a great balance, while orientals are playing always in a second role, but coming to front occasionally. I agree with some reviewers this is not a lat bomb, but has considerable quantities of a great quality latakia. No so easy to keep it lit; had to relight several times.

The second half of the bowl becomes more powerfull and enjoyable. This is a blend to be by your own, just in company of your thoughts. A serious tobacco to have a while aside the family. Just you, your pipe, and this GREAT BLEND!!!.

I must say i`m in love with this blend. I tried before MALTESE FALCON and loved too. But this is by far my number one Pease`s blend.

I highly recommend to try this great tobacco!!!.

This tobacco is one I have been smoking now for a few years. I ordered it based on the excellent reviews on this sight and found at first it was very difficult for me to get a handle on. The flavor was excellent, the aroma was excellent. There were still some problems. It wouldn't stay lit without a great amount of effort and I wasn't getting much complexity from it either. After putting some time in the cellar on it and taking my time with it (this smoke must be sipped not chugged)I found this tobacco to have much more to it than the Latakia bomb it has been labled. If you like Latakia alot but still want something besides Latakia flavor try it you won't be disappointed. Your wife may not appreciate the room note but that won't be an issue. I highly recommend this BIG Pease blend. It's worth taking the time to get to know.

Anyone that follows my reviews of Pease blends will find a common theme in that Greg's blend's IMHO need to be aged more than other brands.(Although there are exceptions). My first meeting with Odyssey fell into that group for me. This review is based on a four year old tin. The first surprise for me was how moist this tobacco was and how long it took to dry out. This is not typical of Pease blends which normally dry quickly after rubbing out. The appearence of the tobacco in the tin is that of a Latakia bomb, and it is somewhat, but the Orientals balence things off nicely. There is an underlying sweetness and I find this to be a cool burning smoke. The flavor is full, but for me, the strength sits firmly at medium. The nic content is not overpowering. My tastes lean toward English blends with a bit less Latakia so this blend is a nice change of pace, but won't be part of the regular rotation. I think that those that like Penzance with enjoy this blend, however I would opt for Penzance given the choice. Recommended.

Before I tried Odyssey, I was smoking a blend from my local pipe shop containing 50% 1-Q. But one day the owner popped open a tin of Odyssey for us to try, and being a relatively new pipe smoker (smoking for about a year and a half at that point in time) I decided to go for it as it can't hurt to try a new blend. And since then, I've not looked back.

The cut is ribbon - which I prefer - and the tobacco is dark, mixing rich browns with hints of red and black into a color quite unique to itself. And when I smell the tobacco I am greeted with a slightly sweet scent reminiscent of an old leather jacket, broken in by years of wear yet promising even more years still.

When I load Odyssey into a pipe, I fill it loosely to the top, tamp it down lightly and without force, then fill it to top, tamp it down again, and finally overfill and tamp it down evenly with the rim of the bowl. It does take a few lights to get it going, but it isn't anything astronomically terrible. I just make sure that I have three matches instead of two or a lighter present. The reason for Odyssey taking longer to light is because it is an extremely slow-burning tobacco. I can literally fill up my Ser Jacopo and smoke it without break for almost two full hours; Squadron Leader in the same pipe will smoke about 30-40 minutes less time.

I don't think that any tobacco blend is perfect, but when it comes to Latakia-heavy blends Odyssey is about as close to perfect as is humanly possible. The smoke dances around on my tongue, giving me hints of old leather and spices from afar. The Latakia - as said on the tin - is a huge part of Odyssey. It gives this blend a deepness that in itself could be explored endlessly, but there is so much more to it than just Latakia. The Orientals are also huge, adding extra spice and life to this blend. But the most important part of Odyssey is what ties the Latakia and Oriental tobaccos together. Mr. Pease chose to use red and black Virginias to give a smoothness to Odyssey that a yellow Virginia just could not provide. It's the velvety touch that softens the edges of what might otherwise be an overpowering blend. And in the end, this is by far my favorite fall and winter smoke.

UPDATE 05/10/2009: Ok, I'm back reviewing this. I have consulted with many on this including GL. I stored this in a mason jar to "age", let it air out in the New Mexico desert dry air, tried all sorts of packing techniques and STILL....THIS STUFF DOES NOT STAY LIT. It is the most frusterating tobac. I have EVER smoked. Next step is to pour lighter fluid on the crap to keep it lit! I'm throwing it out! JUNK!

***BE SURE YOUR BUTANE LIGHTER IS FULL BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO TRY TO LIGHT THIS STUFF!!**

I tried this blend based on GL Pease? website and all the ?hoopla? about this blend/brand and thought I would give it a try. I was very disappointed when I opened the tin as it smelled like an old musty gym sock. Putting that thought aside, I packed my pipe and lit up, and lit up, and lit up again! DOES THIS STUFF NEED LIGHTER FLUID OR WHAT!? It didn?t feel overly moist but, THIS STUFF JUST WON?T BURN! I live in New Mexico where the humidity is 2% so I put a pack of this on a paper towel to air out?all day! Repacked my pipe several times, tried a meerschaum, several other pipes, and STILL no luck keeping this stuff lit.

I held off putting in my review for this thinking that maybe it will age and get better but?NOPE. Perhaps the tobacco is too green? I don?t know but when I was able to get a drag in, it was nothing too spectacular. I know you may be thinking that I am not a Latakia smoker but actually enjoy a good Latakia/Oriental/English blend.....that stays lit. I searched the best price for this blend on the internet and thought it was quite pricy compared to other latakia/oriental blends (hence one of the reasons I am not rating this higher). I think this blend got high reviews based on the name ?GL Pease?. But I think I got ripped off. If this is what Odyssey is all about?..I?ll pass. I know I'm beating the ?hard to burn? issue but if you can't burn it, how can you enjoy smoking it?

I had to read the other reviews on here to see if maybe I just got a bad batch but sure enough, there are more than one reviews indicating the same experience. Upon reading Country Gentleman?s comment, he described it exactly like I would.

Odyssey is a big, bold Balkan. In appearance, it?s dark with light brown highlights and the occasional yellow fleck. Beautifully cut, as is the Pease tradition. The tin aroma is Latakia, first and foremost. Take a bit of time though, and you will notice a full Oriental scent. Due to the cut, I found that Odyssey loaded easily into anything I chose to smoke it in.

Initially, I found that I could char the top, relight, and smoke to the bottom with maybe one or two relights. But Odyssey is best enjoyed when savored slowly, and smoked right on the edge of going out. The already complex flavor palette increases dramatically at this point. So if you really want to get everything this blend has to offer, keep a good supply of matches on hand. If relights are timely, there is no hint of harshness.

As to room note, well, this is a big Balkan? Don?t expect cheers from people who aren?t fans of big Balkans.

As generous as the portion of Latakia is, it doesn?t overpower the Oriental, and the Va can even be found peeking out once in a while. This isn?t to say that the Latakia is weak, just that the Oriental is quite stout. Odyssey has all the complexity of taste we have come to expect from a GLP blend, but in this case, the nuances aren?t like Daffodils interspersed with Daises ? they?re more on the order of Peterbilts interspersed with Kenworths, with the occasional locomotive passing through. There is nothing delicate or dainty about this blend. If Balkans are your thing, you must try this one.

For the occasional ?odyssey?, I?ll go with this blend for the epic voyage. But for more frequent travels, I?ll stick with flights of fancy on the wing of a raven.

A friend stopped by the other day and gave me half of a tin on this stuff. He said it was his new favorite, and since I trust his tastes I fired it up. What a nice smoke! The last few months have seen me smoking very few English blends. The heat has me smoking mostly burleys with the occassional VA or VA/P thrown in. This blend however has definitely got me chugging along on the Latakia train once again. The Latakia that Greg gets his hands on is always of the best kind, and the virginias that are in this blend seem to be better matured than in his other blends. My friend did say that he let the tin age for about 6 months. The Virginias give a wonderful sweetness to the smoky latakias. Don't forget that they are definitely virginias, however and should be treated accordingly (you can get bit!). I like this even better than Caravan, my favorite Pease English prior to this. The Orientals give a nice showing but remain very subdued throught the smoke- Just the way I like them. Although I still prefer blends heavier with Latakia (Penzance, Pirate Kake, Nightcap, etc.), I find this to be a nice medium English that I have no problem smoking even in the Oklahoma summer heat.