G. L. Pease Cumberland
(3.05)
Robust and possessing a subdued sweetness, Cumberland is a delightfully orchestrated suite of American tobaccos, featuring a rare and exquisite mahogany Kentucky, aged in bales for twenty years. Red and matured Virginias establish a theme; the Kentucky and a pianissimo of perique create the variations. Pure, natural tobacco flavors are harmonized by delicate arpeggios and underscored by deep, resonant tones. The coda is lovely and lingering - a perfect finish to a rich performance. Best savored slowly.
Notes: From GL Pease: July, 2012 UPDATE: Just now, I responded to an email from a chap wanting to know when the aged Kentucky would likely run out. I'm a little embarrassed to say we actually ran out of it some time ago. I didn't even know until some months after the fact, and then, I completely forgot about updating the site and the labels, and there you have it. I've since smoked the new KY alongside some of the aged stuff I have in the library, and am hard pressed to tell much difference, straight, and when blended, they're almost totally indistinguishable to my palate, so we can all stop worrying about when Cumberland will go out of production. As long as we can get dark-fired KY leaf of this quality, we can keep producing it.
The new stuff has been in use for long enough that I can safely say that if anyone was going to notice, myself included, it would have happened, so there it is. I'll change the labels for the next print run, and scrape the egg off my face.
Cumberland was introduced in April, 2002
Details
| Brand | G. L. Pease |
| Series | Original Mixtures |
| Blended By | Gregory Pease |
| Manufactured By | Cornell & Diehl |
| Blend Type | Virginia/Perique |
| Contents | Kentucky, Perique, Virginia |
| Flavoring | |
| Cut | Coarse Cut |
| Packaging | 2 ounce tin, 8 ounce tin |
| Country | United States |
| Production | Currently available |
Profile
Strength
Medium to Strong
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
None Detected
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Tolerable
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Medium to Full
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming
Average Rating
|
3.05 / 4
|
Reviews
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Displaying 21 - 22 of 22 Reviews
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 19, 2007 | Medium | None Detected | Medium | Pleasant |
I am totally rewriting my review. Initially I had only glowing things to say about Cumberland; its flavors, its aroma, etc. Upon opening the tin it is one of the best smelling tobaccos I have smoked. And smoking it right after opening is a wonderful experience on the palate.
I had a year and a half old tin that I just openend, and smoked for a few days. About four days after opening it, I resealed it with my foodsaver vacuum sealer. There were no air leaks, and it was not dried out when I sealed it. Now, a few months later, I have reopened it.
The tobacco remains a fairly constant moisture, neither too dry nor too moist. But the aroma was all but gone. I could pick up hints of perique, and only a shadow of the kentucky. The va.s were very week in aroma. Somewhat disappointed, but undaunted nonetheless, I packed the very same pipe I last smoked it in. On first light, the flavors were certainly there. But they faded rapidly. A quarter of the way into the bowl, and it was just ashy and acrid, with the merest dopple of perique playing peek-a-boo.
Summarizing, I would say that this tobacco seems not to have a good shelf life once opened. I don't understand this, as I have left tins of MacBaren Plumcake around for months after opening, and it loses very little flavor. Now, it may be that Greg uses nothing in the way of preservation, and his tobacco is meant to be used up within a few days of opening. But I still find this situation a bit consternating, and have to downgrade my rating from four to only two stars. Sorry Greg.
I had a year and a half old tin that I just openend, and smoked for a few days. About four days after opening it, I resealed it with my foodsaver vacuum sealer. There were no air leaks, and it was not dried out when I sealed it. Now, a few months later, I have reopened it.
The tobacco remains a fairly constant moisture, neither too dry nor too moist. But the aroma was all but gone. I could pick up hints of perique, and only a shadow of the kentucky. The va.s were very week in aroma. Somewhat disappointed, but undaunted nonetheless, I packed the very same pipe I last smoked it in. On first light, the flavors were certainly there. But they faded rapidly. A quarter of the way into the bowl, and it was just ashy and acrid, with the merest dopple of perique playing peek-a-boo.
Summarizing, I would say that this tobacco seems not to have a good shelf life once opened. I don't understand this, as I have left tins of MacBaren Plumcake around for months after opening, and it loses very little flavor. Now, it may be that Greg uses nothing in the way of preservation, and his tobacco is meant to be used up within a few days of opening. But I still find this situation a bit consternating, and have to downgrade my rating from four to only two stars. Sorry Greg.
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 24, 2022 | Medium to Strong | None Detected | Medium to Full | Tolerable to Strong |
"Well-aged Kentucky." The two questions that immediately popped into my head were "what for?" and “where from?”. I hardly can imagine a person who would age burley-made tobacco, because changes are very little for burley over the years. I just see in real some farmer somewhere in North Carolina invites Pease to the shed with the unmarketable stuff and saying, "Here I have the rarest Kentucky in the whole state - these bales are two decades old! Yet my old dad tried to sell them!" - And Gregory says, "I'll sell." That's crazy... And he sold them, by the way! He's been selling them for ten years. All right, twenty years old, you say. As long as the price and quality were not affected for the worse. At least, my tin already had a new composition.
Appearance: I got a 2 oz. tin with a production date of "December 12, 2013" which was half-empty. Cumberland is a blend of tobaccos with a coarse cut. Over the years, the color of the blend has become an almost monochromatic shade of light roasted coffee beans with occasional flecks of darker perique. The tobacco is a little drier than I would have liked, plus get some veins from the leaf.
Flavor: Salty and slightly smoky almonds, well-dried hay, almost without floral and bread notes, some wood chaff, a bit of earth, barely perceptible boiled fruit, with a slight "aroma" of burnt rubber mixed in. Nevertheless, everything is very smooth and mellow, although absolutely nothing like the flavors of those blends I consume.
Taste: minimally sweet herbal notes, drowning in a semi-dry woody, earthy bog after a long ago fire. Perique adds just a barely perceptible harshness and the slightest hint of plum to this landscape. Faint nutty notes gradually gain strength toward the middle of the pipe, taking the place of Virginia, which was already scarce. Strangely enough, a hint of sweetness remains in the blend, but, but the blend acquires a rather dense "cigarette" taste (I'm talking about good cigarettes - if such still exist), which is enhanced by a woody-rubber aftertaste. Tobacco is very tolerant to the speed of smoking, although if you feel the bitter notes - then you've obviously overheated it. Another argument for slow smoking is the strength of the tobacco. I'd say it's above average, although my sensitivity to burley and Kentucky may have heightened my perception of strength somewhat. The tobacco burns evenly into ash of an even gray color with small black flecks, leaving almost no moisture in the pipe.
The smoke, as is typical of a blend with a lot of Kentucky or Burley, is very abundant, with a characteristic smell of smoldering wood with an admixture of walnut and dust. Of course, it is quite persistent.
What's the result? As for the sample I smoked, don't look for the sweetness and sophistication of Three Nuns or Sovereign. This blend is of a completely different order. I don't know how it smokes fresh, but I'm guessing it doesn't taste much different when aged.
Appearance: I got a 2 oz. tin with a production date of "December 12, 2013" which was half-empty. Cumberland is a blend of tobaccos with a coarse cut. Over the years, the color of the blend has become an almost monochromatic shade of light roasted coffee beans with occasional flecks of darker perique. The tobacco is a little drier than I would have liked, plus get some veins from the leaf.
Flavor: Salty and slightly smoky almonds, well-dried hay, almost without floral and bread notes, some wood chaff, a bit of earth, barely perceptible boiled fruit, with a slight "aroma" of burnt rubber mixed in. Nevertheless, everything is very smooth and mellow, although absolutely nothing like the flavors of those blends I consume.
Taste: minimally sweet herbal notes, drowning in a semi-dry woody, earthy bog after a long ago fire. Perique adds just a barely perceptible harshness and the slightest hint of plum to this landscape. Faint nutty notes gradually gain strength toward the middle of the pipe, taking the place of Virginia, which was already scarce. Strangely enough, a hint of sweetness remains in the blend, but, but the blend acquires a rather dense "cigarette" taste (I'm talking about good cigarettes - if such still exist), which is enhanced by a woody-rubber aftertaste. Tobacco is very tolerant to the speed of smoking, although if you feel the bitter notes - then you've obviously overheated it. Another argument for slow smoking is the strength of the tobacco. I'd say it's above average, although my sensitivity to burley and Kentucky may have heightened my perception of strength somewhat. The tobacco burns evenly into ash of an even gray color with small black flecks, leaving almost no moisture in the pipe.
The smoke, as is typical of a blend with a lot of Kentucky or Burley, is very abundant, with a characteristic smell of smoldering wood with an admixture of walnut and dust. Of course, it is quite persistent.
What's the result? As for the sample I smoked, don't look for the sweetness and sophistication of Three Nuns or Sovereign. This blend is of a completely different order. I don't know how it smokes fresh, but I'm guessing it doesn't taste much different when aged.
Pipe Used:
Peterson 80s, 106, 999
PurchasedFrom:
Borrowed some friend
Age When Smoked:
2013
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