G. L. Pease Piccadilly

I've been a fan of Dunhill's Early Morning for years. Now after alternating several half-pounds of Early Morning and Picadilly in my morning rotation, I've settled on Picadilly as my favorite. It's mild in strength, but delivers a rich, complex medley of flavors--never predictable, always offering some interesting new nuances.

What a wonderfully balanced English blend. Medium in strength, it could be a morning smoke, but i prefer it on the evening, and fresh over aged. It doesn't sway too far in any direction, swimming the English seas without going too deep. Though I would not call this blend shallow. The fresh tin note is akin to sitting around a late-night dying down pine and cedarwood campfire within a fall orchard, where much of the fruit is a memory, but a faint fruit and pepper jam redolence breaks through now and then. The smoke is flavorful, earthy and rich but dry, with a consistent virginia subnote of sweetness. The bulk of the bowl brings a tasty and consistent smoke; rather than picking the flavors of each component out of the smoke and retro, the parts add up to something more then the sum of their individual notes. A cedarwood aroma melds with a smokey, earthly fullness that lasts through the whole bowl and is the most forward and discernable flavor. There is a whisper of smoked clove, mellow white pepper, and ceylon cinnamon. This is no lofty byzantian blend aimed at pleasing the palates of debutants light-mindedly lounging in a study with rumps upon puffy leather chairs; $900 pipes in palms. No. This is a working man's English. Hardy without pretense, subdued but not tame. Simple though not pedestrian or plain.
All in all, I recommend this for just about any pipe smoker, but especially for folks who want to dive into the English channel, without a laboriously labyrinthine swim in the darker waters of the English soul - which this may well lead to, but even so, you'll find yourself visiting Piccadilly quite often in any case.

Tin notes of mildly smoky, sweet wine, and resin like spice. The tobacco is a ribbon cut and has a small amount of tan, a moderate amount brown-red and small amount of black. Tobacco is moist, so no drying needed. Burns is normal with few relights. The strength is mild to medium and nic is mild. No flavoring detected. Taste is medium and consistent with notes of lemon grass, tart fruit, raisin bread, earth, slight smoky wood, slightly floral, and a peppery retro. The Virginias are leading with Perique and Latakia supporting harmoniously. Room note is pleasant to tolerable, and aftertaste is great.