G. L. Pease Cumberland

Life is too short to have to baby your smoke. I want a tobacco that is forgiving when puffed on with regularity. Cumberland, fortunately, is one of those forgiving tobaccos that won't fire up your mouth if puffed on with aggression. A subtle bite of pecan flavor hits the tongue from the Burley and stewed prunes flavor from the pinch of Perique will tickle the cockles of many smokers.

I've given myself about 6-7 bowls in various pipes before doing a review here. Individually, all these tobaccos in the blend are favorites, and these are obviously quality tobaccos in and of themselves. I am smoking out of a really fresh tin, and this seems like it would need age. About the blend. I get the flavor of the burleys not playing together as the tin description states, but back and forth. Dark fired Kentucky, then a white burley/VA like flavor and then back again. A bit flat and sour. I regularly smoke quite a bit of C&D Haunted Bookshop and Cumberland when smoked in a cob will taste to me like a light version with Kentucky twang. It seems like a lighter and unbalanced Haunted Bookshop flavor profile. The Perique is very faint and can be noticed a bit half way or more into a pipeful. Overall, it just falls too flat for me. I will smoke a couple more and then let it age a year or so and come back to it. The end of the bowl gets a real ashtray and acrid taste.

EDIT: 5/5/17: Just recently cracked the jar to see if a bowl or two would show any profile changes. Really still leaves me personally wanting to just smoke some Haunted Bookshop. Something about it is just not balanced to my taste preferences.

EDIT 11/2021: As was suggested to me, this mix really did need 5 years of age minimum. With the fermentation that's taken place, my 2016 tin is now married perfectly and well balanced. The dark fired has mellowed a tad bit and married perfectly to the VA and Perique here. This is a great long term blend for aging that was a little rough around the edges fresh. Recommended to give this blend at least 4-5 years minimum age. This is now very excellent with the age and has proven to me I need to cellar several tins for just this length of minimum time.

A second EDIT 7/11/17: I've just received a 2003 sample of some well aged Cumberland. This sample has led me to believe I got a one-off slightly off balanced tin, or it just really needs years of age. I will be buying a few tins and forgetting them in the cellar for a decade or better. The 2003 was great. The Virginias had aged well and that might have been the ticket, as well as aged and subdued Kentucky I imagine. Raised my rating one star for the aged to average it out a bit. This sample also would have contained the original well aged Kentucky leaf that the tin description notes as well for such a difference to the fresh tin.

After revisiting this mixture at five years of age it has shown well worth the wait. It really requires the patience and age. Delicious starting at this age and very well married.

Some tobaccos are not meant to be gourmet complex evening smokes ( I consider some of the gawith Hogarth flakes that way, and I guess St James Flake by sam gawith, or even some of those great mcclelland virginia flakes and Reiner's Long Golden Flake) but are also not exactly all day smokes. They are something in between -- but there is another niche (IMHO) that I think of as partly all day smokes, particularly suited to long drives (which my work imposes on me). Cumberland is the perfect car on a long highway drive smoke. Old joe Krantz is another. You want some nicotine and you want a no fuss easy to handle smoke. Now I prefer flakes and plugs, but they can be demanding. Cumberland is a burley blend, really, with a fair amount of Virginia (a lot of red it tastes like) and a bit of Perique. There might be a subtle casing in there, too, though not very strong (not as strong as Haddo's). Its more complex than one might think, but still a pretty straight forward working mans blend. Easy to light and burns pretty cool (there can be a bit of flavor loss toward the end of the bowl, but not a lot). It has punch, and a great burley nut flavor enhanced with virginias. The Perique isnt very prominent, but its there. It gives what complexity t here is. I give it a 3 and a half star rating. Close to four, but then I dont think its meant to be that kind of masterpiece. All i know is I keep a couple tins on hand.

Cumberland, for me, demonstrates the endless possibilities of combining Virginia with Kentucky and perique.. it is nothing like penny farthing or the rattray's trio for example.. it has a passing resemblance to cornell and diehl 5 oclock shadow.. but it has a subtle complexity that the c and d blend doesn't possess.. it stands alone offering rich cigar like tones contrasted with subtle spice and sweet notes.. it is really a deep flavor.. almost in the same way Jackknife plug is.. but the fine ribbon and gentle dose of perique still make it unique.. it satisfies in the strength department and has a rather harsh edge to it.. this edge is mostly bearable since it is such a delicious combination of leaf.. but it does smoke a little raw.. overall I really like it and will probably buy a few tins to age.. it is kind of the thing I want when I want the heft of 5 brothers but more nuance of flavor... I'm not sure if I'm alone here but the Kentucky that c and d uses is so much different than others I have tasted.. I do not seem to get that barbecue flavor from any of their blends.. more of a rich, floral, woody, spice element..

G. L. Pease - Cumberland (Original Mixtures).

Hmmm, not a blend for the faint-hearted!

I'll start with the word Medium. The ribbons are medium in size, and medium brown in colour. The unlit aroma isn't so 'medium'; it's suggestive of a hearty, natural, blend of tobaccos. The moisture's good.

As expected, the smoke's a heady one. The Burley takes the frontline position, taking 'rugged' to a precipitous level! Don't expect a sweet tasting Burley, this one's rough and coarse! That said, the Virginia and Perique don't get forgotten; at first they missed me, but after a couple of bowls I became more acquainted with them. The Virginia gives a sweet-tanginess, yet the Perique gives a counteracting sourness; they definitely fill out the flavour. It burns without a quibble, needing little maintenance.

Nicotine: lots. Room-note: quite strong.

Cumberland? A very well put together smoke, I can't deny that, but it's too darn heady for me! That said, I'll recommend it based on quality:

Three stars.

Very strong for my taste. I like the smaller amount of perique. Well balanced. Tastes a bit like H&H Delta Days only more refined. Not a all day smoke but great for after dinner. Recommended as such.

This is a good tobacco that has just enough perique to make it interesting. Nic hit is right up my alley. In my opinion it's somewhat reminiscent of C&D Bayou Morning.

Pease Pilgrimage Reviews (a tasting journey through every GLPease blend) Tin date: June, 2010

From Pease's website: “Ripe, red Virginia tobaccos create the frame in which some truly special Kentucky dark-fired leaf is exhibited. This leaf has a depth and richness that is rarely seen in tobaccos of its type. A measure of stoved and matured flue-cured is added to provide a gentle sweetness and solidify the foundation. A little Louisiana perique provides a piquant spice, and a subtle fruitiness.”

Appearance: Mostly lighter-colored leaf, expected from the lack of Latakia. The extremely occasional dark bit betrays a whisper of Perique.

Tin Aroma: The aroma is quite mild, a very woodsy and earthy affair with little of the grassy Virginia character. I don't know the percentage of Kentucky leaf here but it dominates the aroma. I like it.

Flavor: Wow, this one is tough! I have had four star puffs in a two-star bowl, it seems very pipe-dependent, and in the wrong pipe it's absolutely nothing to write home about. But in the right pipe, paying close attention and using careful technique this blend could be categorized as a sleeper.

In general it's an up-front burley blend, but this really does seem like some special weed. On his website Pease talks about discovering a stack of these 20- year-old bales somewhere and buying the whole lot, enough, he says, to make 60,000 tins of Cumberland. Having no idea how many tins per year he sells, I can still imagine that some day when it runs out, this blend will go the way of the other Pease blends that now command high prices and fond memories. This Kentucky has a woodsy character that at times actually borders on “meaty'” for lack of a better term. Yes, it was a special find.

When it's in the zone it's great, and when it's not, it's far from great. Perhaps I should have saved my “La Donna Mobile” analogy for this blend since it seems quite likely to change its mind at any given time. It seemed to work best in one of my star Virginia pipes, a GBD pot whose diameter is roughly equal to its depth. It lit and burned beautifully, requiring few if any relights, and the last third of the bowl seemed consistently the best as the flavors richly melded and the Perique spice became a little more evident.

I am not a Burley fan but this has surprised me a bit. It's reticent to give up its secrets and therefore will require many more bowls to unleash its true potential. More Virginias would probably make it more personally appealing to me, making it a two and a half to three star blend. If I could keep it in the zone it would easily rate three stars. But for Burley fans I can't see how this could disappoint and would probably rate four stars.

Opened a tin from '02 with the original Kentucky in it, damn rust holes... Anyway, compared to the new stuff without it, I can't really tell the difference, other than the age of course. The blend overall is a very earthy blend. Hint of nut and floral tastes accompanied with a pleasant tin note. Burns a little hot for my liking, but I think the age has brought a nice balance overall to it.