G. L. Pease Piccadilly

Appearance: Mostly light golden, with some percentage of orange/red (30%), and a small amount of darker leaf. The cut was a mix of ribbon and shorter medium width pieces. Moisture content was on the dry side, typical for Pease and just the way I like it

Aroma: A marvelous bouquet of aromas from the Virginias, Latakia (not heavy) and the Perique. Definitely a ?breakfast blend?.

Packing:. Packing was quite easy in all sizes from group 3 through group 6.

Lighting:. Almost too easy. Often got a good burn with a single match.

Initial flavor: Initial flavor is like a medium English blend, with all of the parts right there. More taste than I expected from the description. On the down side, the smoke seemed to dry my mouth a bit.

Mid-bowl:. By mid bowl, the blend settles down into a milder flavor. All the parts still sing in harmony, but there isn?t much volume. Nice interplay of nuances as ribbons of each component catch fire. Overall, a nice taste but not enough of it. Must be smokes slowly, as there isn?t much in the way of slower burning darker tobaccos to slow it down.

Finish:. Ends pretty much like the middle, maybe a bit more kick from the Perique. Dry and clean, very little guck for the pipe cleaner.

Summary:. As always with Greg, the best ingredients, and a masterful blending. I generally don?t care for this genre of blends, but this is quite nice for a change of pace. I will get some to cellar for the summer months.

Presentation: I love the labels on the Classic Series. All the labels have the same coloring and artstyle, being a drawing of a pipe but they each have a different pipe. That's so cool to me.

Cut: C&D style ribbon cut, perfect moisture.

Tin note: Smells of sweet, tangy smokiness.

Tasting notes: Very bready, slightly smoky, woody, and the slightest bit of spice on light up. Smokiness comes in more as the bowl gets going and the spice will become a bit more obvious. Some tanginess and earth here and there.

Mechanics: N/A -- A well behaved blend.

Extra Remarks: I'd say this blend has a flavor intensity similar to Early Morning Pipe, mild to medium for sure. The flavors are good and there is enough going on to stay interested although this is no puzzle of a blend. As with so many other Pease blends it is very well balanced. A very pleasant blend, 3 stars.

Also: Merry Christmas to anyone reading the day this was posted.

This is based on a 10 year old tin from a "local" tobacconist in Sendai.

The tin was bluging and when popped gave off a substantial "tssss" followed by a zephyr of delicate sweet hay like VAs with hints of citrus and very faint Latakia. The perique wasn't too apparent to my beak.

My tobacco was darker than the descriptions of most but the considerable amount of age made it mostly dark browns with some orange and overripe yellow VAs mixed in with some black strips as well. The cut is ribbon but a wide cut and a bit chunky. Very similar to Haddo's delight. Easy to pack and the moisture was spot on (a little on the dry side but that's my preference).

There is a slight zing the first 1/8-1/4 of the bowl. The VAs lean towards citrus and lemony instead of haylike and earthy. The perique gives a bit of spice to this while the Latakia offers a nice base but is in no way instrusive. DK's review is spot on where it has a very soft yet sharp sensation on the palette. It is unlike most English blends that I've smoked. It reminds of a sweeter and softer Rajah's court with a bit more spice.

Progressing down the bowl the Latakia is turned up (or the VAs are turned down?) Smooth smokey Cyprian leaf comes to the front of the stage but the citrus and spice are just as nice as before. There's something floral about this blend (not lakeland) but it reminds me of a spiced fruit tea with some earthiness. It's delicious.

I will say that I think this blend is very complex without being bold. I almost feel as if it's a blend that I still don't understand after 2 oz. It is delicious nonetheless. Probably deserving of a 4 but for my preferences it stays at a 3. Wonderful smoke during the fall as the mornings get cooler or even in spring when you want a little spice with your warmer weather VAs. Well done Greg!

Greetings Fellow Pipers from the Banks of the Ouachita,

Why Mr. Greg Pease's Piccadilly blend? Well, the packaging and eloquent tin description sold me. And its the first blend I stumbled upon as a novice that had Perique in it. You see, I'm from Louisiana. Support your states growers!

My older & only sibling noticed my interest in all things pipe, and told me about driving thru the fields of Grand Point during his summer down south and having his breathe taking away and his eyes brung to tears by the pungency of the drying barns. He says that the locals smoke this stuff full strength! Thats his story any way.

I remember trying to force myself through a bowl of this stuff thinking that I had to train myself to appreciate such acquired tastes like I did with beer & wine (go Landry Vinyards!). Well, after four children, I have settled into my early 30's and lost all such pretensions, feeling now that life is too short to do things that make you miserable with the promise of deferred benefits.

After some poking around on the web this summer, my old love of pipe smoking started calling to me, and after a little digging I found a drawer at the office with my old volcano-shaped, briar sitter next to the remainders of my old tin of Piccadilly stamped 2003. I was as a giddy as a one of my girls watching Barbie commercials on a Saturday morning as I immediately went to my walking spot at Black Bayou Refuge to burn a bowl.

It was too dry. Failing the Charmin Test (squeezable with no breakage). I followed the rehydrating advice of Eric over at smokingpipetobacco.com by using a moist paper towel in the tin. This worked very well and I am pleased enough to not try other methods of hydration in the future (eg fruit slices, humidifier tablets...check Greg Pease' site for his own method of rehydration).

This is like a fiery, cajun woman. She'll please your interests, but watch you mouth or this bitch'll cut 'ya. After getting the moisture situation worked out, it burned much better to a white ash and stayed lit to the dottle, but took some maintenance mid-smoke with a pipe cleaner (I am able use q-tips on this pipe as a result of redrilling the shank - try at your own discretion).

I found the effort by Pease, along with his reputation and the sheer number of reviews he gets, intriguing enough to tempt me further into his collection in the future and regard him with the admiration due. I enjoyed this tin to the last, but I don't expect to reinvest in Piccadilly for years to come as there's just too much out there from him & his peers. Get you some if you have never experienced a VaPer. Cheers

Without Me Its Just Some.

AWE

Tobacco Tracker:

Previous Reviews:

Captain Black Gold Label **

Prince Albert (Standard label) ***

Next Review:

To be determined (I think I'm ready to move on to a flake)

It's an honor to be the first to review this blend. I bought it the first day it arrived on the shelf of my local B&M. I chose it over the other classics because the tin description claimed it was delicately spiced with latakia. I am not a latakia lover, so keep that in mind when you read this review. It is also suggested on the tin that this would be a great morning smoke, but when I smoke a latakia blend, I prefer the afternoon or evening. It's very late now; this will probably be my last bowl of the day. Neil Young is on the box and the dog is curled up at my feet.

The tobacco is yellow, brown, and black ribbon; there is at least four different tobaccos present. The tin aroma is lovely; it's mild with a slight latakia aroma. The moisture level seemed to be just right.

I loaded Piccadilly into my only latakia dedicated pipe: a big, old Dunhill straight billiard. The initial flavor is rich and mild at the same time; I can taste the latakia, but it's not overwhelming. I taste the Virginias towards the front of my tongue and the Oriental near the middle; the perique is there too. As I slowly smoke, I can't help but think how well Piccadilly will improve with age, due to the high proportion of Virginia tobacco present.

Towards the middle of the bowl, the Virginias start to come forward. The latakia takes a back seat, but has not gone away. When I "French inhale" I can pick up the latakia a little better. Piccadilly has much less latakia the Samarra, but still has a rich flavor one would expect from an English blend.

Piccadilly may not have enough latakia for the hardcore "lataphile", but for a Virginia flake smoker like myself, it's a very nice change of pace. It will surely find a place in my tobacco rotation. I don't think it will replace Samarra though.

The last third of the bowl the flavors meld into one interesting taste. This is where I usually tire of most English blends, due to the latakia; here it's not too much.

Buy a couple of tins. Put one away for aging and try one now.

The prototype was Benson & Hedges Finest Smoking Mixture, by Greg's own admission

Appearance: the half-pound tin has a production date of "December 29, 2015." After almost seven years in a tin, the blend has darkened quite a bit. Most of the Virginia has turned a shade of milk chocolate, but some of the lighter varieties still have a dark straw color. Perique and latakia are also distinguishable, and both are relatively few.

Flavor: I transferred the tobacco into a glass jar over a month ago, but when I opened it, I was quite surprised. If, say, during this time Charing Cross lost a lot of acidity and the main note was an excellent dry stout, shaded by a tart smoky note, here led sour notes of yeast dough and dressed leather, pleasing to few. However, a little rested in the air tobacco loses a lot in acidity, moreover - raisin and herbal tones appear, drowning out the notes of dressed leather. The woody component is also much lighter due to the large amount of light Virginia in the blend. I did not manage to catch the citrus note, and the subtle cinnamon flavor I felt only after a couple of minutes. It also takes a while for the perique to emerge, and it is not too voluminous. As for latakia, which is relatively little in the blend, its notes of tar and leather rejects any chance to classify the blend as "Virginia Perique". Unlike in the case of Fillmore, latakia is quite a full-fledged player. After all, I can give you one piece of advice: if you want to smell Piccadilly, do not sniff it right out of the tin, but scoop out the necessary amount beforehand and air it out.

Taste: Moderately sweet Virginia is definitely the main player in this blend. But the latakia, with its smokiness and dense woody component, being, albeit in the background, holds up quite tightly. As a result, the hay-grassy notes of light Virginia are hardly felt in the overall flavor, leaving only a fruity sweetness from it - and there's no citrus to speak of. Nevertheless, the plum-fig component of the perique is present in the flavor, although initially it was impossible to catch it. On the contrary, the woody note supported by the latakia is a bit stronger. Initially somewhat dissonant, notes of latakia and Virginia as you smoke weave into a single flavor - smokiness is smoothed out, woody note and sweetness increase a little more, affecting the aftertaste. Around the middle of the pipe, a slight spice of perique begins to show more clearly, and a slight cinnamon note appears in the taste. Interestingly, the latakia in bents is slightly less bright than in straight pipes. The strength of the tobacco is below average. The tobacco smokes smoothly and coolly, only at the beginning you can feel some roughness in the flavor. During the smoking process the pipe is almost not warm. The blend burns completely into a dusty light gray ash. There is no moisture left in the pipe. The aftertaste is sweetish-woody, with a slight smokiness, not persistent.

The tobacco smoke has a light, woody smell, with almost no smokiness of the latakia. Additional, it wears off quite easily.

The bottom line is that this is a rather odd tobacco, but still a fine morning blend that totally lives up to its intended purpose. It's a light morning blend for English flavors lovers who don't want to be bothered with complex flavor nuances at this time of day. Is perique suitable for replacing orientals in a classic English blend? It's hard to say.

I just finished up the sole tin of Piccadilly in my cellar and I did enjoy my time with it. It is a good light English blend that adds light touches of smoke and spice from the latakia and perique against a mostly bright Virginia base.

For the most part this is a Virginia blend with the other components weaving in and out in varying degrees giving several flavor profiles that are light on the palate. In short, Greg Pease is right it is a fantastic breakfast blend. As with just about every blend made by C&D, the moisture level on this is great from the moment you pop the tin. It takes a light easily, and assuming you properly tamp, should easily go to ash with few, if any, relights.

If I wasn't sitting so deep in EMP and Squadron Leader, I would be sad that I only bought one tin of this, but as I prefer those others to this, I am content. Still, all in all, I recommend it.

I hate to criticize a GL Pease pipe tobacco blend, but here goes anyway. I rate this one a 3. It's good, but not great. Probably, a little too mild for me. I prefer Dunhill's 965, Perfection, and Frog Morton Across the Pond. Those are 4's in my English blend book.

In the interest of full disclosure, I can't deny that I'm an unabashed fan of G.L. Pease. There are few, if any, of Greg's blends which I've tried and not immediately added to my rotation and cellar.

With that out of the way, I will say that this is really a pleasant blend. Nice and easy, mild, and as it says on the tin, it is an ideal "English Breakfast Mixture." Admittedly it does not have the depth that typify most English blends, but it makes up for it in being bright and easy on the palette - a great way to "wake up" the taste buds in the morning.

The latakia is certainly present, but it definitely sits well in the background, popping up as a reminder from time to time. The usual dark fruitiness of perique is virtually absent, and the only real sense of perique arrives in the back of the nose with its usual spiciness (understated, but in a good way). There is a hint of citrus as the tin suggests, but I failed to pick up any cinnamon.

As the reviewer before points out, this pairs better with tea than with coffee. I think this is also a good analogy for the blend, itself. It isn't as bold or brash as a good, strong cup of coffee, but lighter and more reserved like a good cup of tea. It is no less satisfying than stronger English blends, provided you don't expect Piccadilly to be something that it's not.

As a side note, this blend responds VERY well to aging (not surprising considering the presence of VA)...even one year is enough to make a noticeable difference.