G. L. Pease Cumberland

Okay quick note; more to come. Bit of advice, the last note on the Tin Description "Best savored slowly." Yes, savor slowly in your coolest pipe, preferably a corn cob. This is a bear and will turn you off totally in a large VA or English pipe. Make sure you have time to savor how this blend develops and it pays off. Also, no tongue bite until the end then you end up with a peppery finish. I thought originally this was a Virginia blend, it is not, it's a Burley blend of which I'm not a fan of.

Well, here we go with a Haddo's spinoff with a lot of Kentucky burley added. The can aroma is great. I am going to put the can away for a year and see if it gets better. I like Haddo's and I like burley blends, but there is something lost here in this new can.

There seems to be a recurring theme among the GL Pease family of VA/P blends including Stratford, Telegraph Hill and Lombard. I like all of these better than Cumberland, but time improves all of the others so we shall see. Won't buy another can for a year or so.

I have been smoking Cumberland off and on for the past year. I am now smoking a year old can. I think there is a real difference between a new can and a year old can here. In most cases a well aged can really improves the quality of the blend. In the case of Cumberland I actually get the impression I am smoking a whole new blend. The sweetness of the Virginia is now playing second fiddle to the Kentucky and the Perique. I am one to enjoy the sweetness of the a nice Virginia no matter what the cut or the curing type. I really love the way a Virginia/Perique blend changes in flavor as I smoke down the bowl. In a fresh can of Cumberland I can really notice this. The Kentucky will play off the Virginia at the top of the bowl, and all settles in a wonderful meld toward the bottom. My aged supply seems to lose this. This is one tobacco that I prefer new as opposed to aging. The Perique seems to be the dominant factor here. I love Perique as it is supposed to be: a condiment tobacco. After the first third of the bowl that is all I taste! I am a smoker of English blends most often, but always find refuge in a nice quality Virginia/Perique blend to wile away my leisure time outside in my garden on a pleasant afternoon. IMHO I will stick with in the direction of a blend like Astley's No. 55 Elizabethan. I have yet to write a review about that blend, but I will give it a hands down approval over Cumberland whether it be new or aged, Periqued, or not. I really appreciate Greg Pease's skills as a blender. Give me Haddo's Delight for strength, complexity, and pleasure. Maybe it's the addition of the Black Cavendish that makes it over the Kentucky for that subtle back note.

This is maybe the best tobacco I've tried as far as leaf quality, really exceptional, but I didn't like it a lot. It's that "toasted" flavour that blows off when you open the tin and you find when you smoke it too. It's full enough to be an evening smoke, with a kentucky punch that leads throughout the bowl, supported by the VA and the Perique in the first part, while in the second the Lousiana tobacco surrounds the VA-K interplay. Sure one to try out, but not my cup of tea.

After smoking GLP's Montgomery all summer, I returned to my tin of Cumberland for a second round. Both have Virginia and Kentucky (leaves that I love, and especially the Kentucky leaves used in each) but Cumberland has the inevitable perique. Damn. I gotta see if my genes can be altered so I can taste it like most other smokers apparently taste it.

I agree with previous reviewers: smoke this SLOW, like Greg instructs on the label. The intended character is brought out: a really nice VA/burley taste that isn't at all harsh or biting and is what I sought when I bought it. Cumberland, I think, is the primo mixture for training new pipers: puff it hard and you get punished, like a shocking anti-bark collar for dogs.

When smoked as instructed, the perique becomes tolerable to me like it does in Barbary Coast and Cairo. My only fault with this mix is that I don't want a didactic smoke. I want one that I can puff without special attention. True, most all my favorite smokes are at their best smoked slowly. I just tire of Cumberland's jolts when I forget.

Back to Montgomery for me. If you are the type to put additional perique in everything, you'd probably like this a lot.

This has a delicate, nutty flavor. It burns well and delivers moderate amounts of smoke. Burley, Burley, Burley it is, with a touch of sweetness and ethereal Perique-osity.

Good for resting the palate from heavier Perique blends, but be wise: this can "do you in" with a nicotine punch on an empty stomach.

I have experienced some problem keeping this lit...

Maybe I'll keep a tin around when I have a whim. I cannot imagine it as my all-day companion.

I find this tobacco to bear some resemblance to Cairo and Haddo's Delight, but with some distinctive differences. The golden hues of the leaves, with mahogany bits here and there, are very nice, and the tin aroma is gentle, sweet, nutty and earthy. The taste is a cross between the virginia nuances of Haddo's and the earthiness of Barbary Coast: at first I found it rather sweet, but after a few bowls the earthy tones and the citrus notes seem in good balance. The sweetness seems a bit less evident, too. It is definitely a blend which requires attention and a slow smoking pace: I think it gives its best in a huge-ish pipe, paying attention to all the subtle earthy notes given by the kentucky. Alas, I personally think it gives some tongue bite and that I can't always get all the taste I would like. But probably it is due to my inclination towards english mixtures rather than virginia blends. As I am not a great fan of Haddo's, I am not of this one either, but there's definitely something here that will appeal to a broad category of smokers. Give it a try!

Cumberland is the most recent stop on my journey to taste all of the available Pease blends. This is the first time out for this particular combination of tobaccos.

Having read the reviews here, I was a bit surprised at my experience. On the initial light, there was a sweet Va flavor that I thoroughly enjoyed. Soon thereafter, the Va was overtaken by the Burley. The nutty flavor of the Burley not only shoved the Va to the background, it hogged the stage most of the time, hardly letting me know that the Perique was there at all.

This is not to say tat the blend was one-dimensional ? it wasn?t. But the balance was too much in favor of the Burley to make it a favorite for me.

Overall, the taste was light and pleasant. The room note was Burley all the way. When the ride was over, I found nothing but a fine white ash in the very dry bowl. I was careful, trying to learn from the mistakes of other, and due to this, I felt no bite whatsoever.

In the end, this wasn?t a blend that left me thinking ?wow, I want another bowl right now? ? it was more of a ?well that was nice, I?ll do it again sometime?.

I couldn't wait to get my shipment of this new GLP blend. On opening the tin the smell was a very faint Burly. Course cut with mostly light colored leaf with some dark mix in. After the tin was opened awhile, the aroma became more complex. The first thing that came to mind was Two Friends Redwood. This was also my first impression on lighting up the first bowel, Even though there are different tobaccos in this blend. I think I was a little to eager to try this because I got a good case Of tongue bite. This blend burns very hot for me, even with slow puffing. I find this very unusual for a GLP blend. I have not found one yet that was overly Aggressive in that department. The blend itself is very complex. The fullness of the burly, the slight peppery tastes of the perique, and the very slight sweetness of the Virginias. Overall I would say this is a good blend, maybe it will mellow with some age. I would give it 7 out of 10. I would give it an 8or 9 if it burned a little cooler for me.