G. L. Pease Charing Cross

I really liked Samarra by G.L.Pease and am looking forward to trying Renaissance. So when I saw Charing Cross, Piccadilly, and Kensington available at my local meet-and-greet cigar store (habanasmokes.com in Jackson, Miss.) I booted up their free wireless internet and checked tobaccoreviews.com for some research. I figured that among my three choices, TR.com informed me that ChC was the closest to Samarra. But I find it almost intolerably neutral in presence. It's like a "non tobacco." I thought maybe I was smoking it with overpowering foods and drinks, for example, but I've given it a few days and I still get, mostly, all the pungency of dried styrofoam. Perhaps I got a bad tin. It was at least sealed -- *laugh* my first tin of Samarra was so old the metal lid (underneath the plastic top) didn't connect to the can any more! -- but it hasn't really grown on me in any manner. I categorize Charing Cross as, simply, Samarra light. There's a true Balkan air to it, but it doesn't have the zing or zesty tangy almost Darjeeling flavor of true Latakia, to me. Its room-note (haha, what a euphemism! I'd call it "second hand smoke" and admit the truth!) is reminiscent of the Frog Morton series by McClelland, actually, and for that reason I smell some of what I previously identified as Perique in the Balkan. Can says no, so it's just "natural pungency," but otherwise there's no oomph there. I could smoke it all the time, if I wanted something absent but present in my mouth, I guess, except for the fact that it gives me tongue bite, which is surprising. So, for me, it's the worst of both worlds -- nearly intolerable because of its harshness, and also almost entirely flavorless. Odd ...

A typical English mixture. Basically a successful Latakia-forward blending. Sadly, far too faint. After lighting the pipe, all tobaccos in this blend start to deploy. Unfortunately they stop half way, making a good mixture weak and faint.

This is the last of GLP's regular for sale blends that i have try and review. It's been great going through his entire collection and nearly all of them range from good to great. Unfortunately this blend doesnt really work for me. I find the Latakia taste in this a little overbearing which is unusual as it's a balkan style. Could be the combination of the lat and oriental that i dont really dig. Anyway, you may love it but he has numerous better English/Balkan's as far as i'm concerned. It's been a fun ride and i'm glad i bought two tins of all his blends so i can go around a second time and see if i have changed my mind on any. Tooroo

I struggled through a tin of Charring Cross a couple of years ago. I put a second tin aside and now, more than two years later, I find Charring Cross to be slightly smoother, but overall the result for me was the same. It is rough around the edges. CC doesn't bite me, but I can easily see that it could if not careful. I have the same “rough” issues with Westminster as I do with Charring Cross. The flavors are full, but unlike Quiet Nights and Odyssey, both of which I find to burn cool and smooth and are full flavored, I find the effort for me with CC simply isn't worth the struggle. Charring Cross won't be making a return to my cellar as I find other Pease Latakia mixtures more to my liking.

Notes: Smoked in various pipes, I found this best in my old Charatan billiard.

Appearance: Rough cut short ribbon of light and brown ribbon with dark brown and black ribbons as well composing 30% of the blend.

Aroma: Sweet raisin, leather, green peppercorn, date, stewed prunes, smoke, and a hint of bergamot. The sour-sweet aroma of perique is clearly present.

Taste: As with most of Mr. Pease's blends, this one is full of flavor. The taste is dominated by the flavor of smoke and sweet stewed fruit, with charcoal and barbeque smoke -- all this imparted by the Latakia and other Oriental leaves in the mix. As far as "Balkan" blends go, this one is on the lighter side, being somewhat tempered by the Virginia leaf to teetering on the edge between heavy English and light Balkan in its complexion. The leaf used is top grade as always and the composition of the blend is rigorously calculated. I believe it will also mellow with age.

The sticking point for me continues to be (as with all GLP blends) that it is a "big" performer one can compare to a "big" California Cabernet scoring in the high 90's on some reviewer's charts, and not like a more subtle Burgundy or Brodeaux red. GLP blends are akin to a prize-winning show dog, ready to point and posture for the judges, but ultimately not a very good housepet. For my money, give me my old dog Chips sitting at my feet as I smoke my pipe any day. Sometimes you just want a plain old good smoke, and this is not it. If you want a performance in your mouth, well, have at it.

Comparisons: In the same range as Dunhill My Mixture No. 965, Dunhill Nightcap, and Peter Stokkebye's Proper English.

Bottom Line: A superb and finely crafted light Balkan blend, though heavy on the palate. If you find Penzance and other uber-Latakia blends a bit much, but don't want more complexity or subtlety, this may be a good blend for you.

Charing Cross, what kind of name is that for a tobacco? Anyways, I am always open to try a blend with Latakia. Balkan, English, Scottish, even the occasional aromatic, spiked with Latakia. So when I found this tobacco, in a sample tin at my local smoke shop, I gave it a go. It was almost gone, when I opened the can (good sign), and it sure did smell like Latakia was in there. Well, I packed my pipe, being somwhat suspicious, of how light the blend looked. For me, the lighter the blend in color, the more Virgina was being used. Virgina tobacco in large amounts, at least for me, equals tounge bite. But, I liked the aroma, which was very promising, and continued to pack the pipe. Once that was completed, I applied fire, and began to smoke. At first I was pleased with the taste. Smokey, rich, and full, everything you could ask for in a Latakia blend. However, my original suspicions were about to come true. About one quarter down the bowl, the bite began. I liked the flavor, so I backed off a bit, but the bite just got worse. I smoked about three quarters of the bowl, and had to stop. I was bitten. I have found with most of Mr. Pease tobaccos, he is a fan of Virgina. Maybe to much. I was disapointed once again with Mr. Pease, and I just was not able to be converted. Many pipe smokers swear by the blending arts of Mr. Pease. I think I just might nail my Thesis to a tobacco shop's door, as to why one should not worship, only one blender. There just are to many other fine tobaccos out there, to limit yourself. So I'll go fourth and spread the news. Variety is King!

I really hesitated on the recommendation with this one. I want to be fair to it. Maybe I should have given it three stars. It's obviously quality leaf, it's put together well and there's certainly nothing wrong with it, but for some reason it just didn't move me. Nothing popped or seemed too special. I think the problem may be that I smoked a young tin. I'd warrant that a couple of years of aging would do marvels for this stuff. As it was, it just seemed like a regular old Latakia mixture to me. To my buds, the Latakia is the lead actor and the orientals are supporting. Maybe after a few years the Latakia would relax into the background and the orientals would bloom. All I know is that my fresh tin elicited only a resounding 'meh' from me. If you're a balkan connoisseur then maybe this should be on your list of things to try, but give it some time to mature first. Take my review with a grain of salt as it's based on only one young tin, but my experience was that this isn't bad, just not one of the best.

I was a little disappointed with this one. It is really a Balkan, not an English, but still I feel I do not have really understood it.

I wanted to like this blend. Maybe eventually I might. Right now, however, it just isn't for me. Actually, up to this point, I haven't really enjoyed anything I've tried that is considered balkan. I think I'm more of a spicy, tangy, virginia and perique with a few orientals kind of guy.

I have no doubt this is a quality blend, but all I get out of it is a hot, faintly bitter smoke and a big dose of cotton mouth.

One thing that bugs me about these GLP blends is that almost everyone seems to agree that they have to age considerably before being able to really enjoy. If this hangs around long enough to 'get better' I'll update.