G. L. Pease Charing Cross

To my mind, you can basically split English/Balkan blends into two camps: sweet or savory. Sweet blends include Maltese Falcon, Odyssey, Larry's Blend, Plum Pudding, and quite a few others. The savory ones include things like Westminster, Nightcap, Quiet Nights, Squadron Leader….and Charing Cross.

When I light up a bowl of this I think of olives, charcoal, eggplant, red wine, and any number of earthy flavors and aromas. Although latakia is one of the primary flavors, it never really dominates the smoke and the virginias barely even whisper. Instead, the focus seems to be on the orientals. This provides a tremendous amount of complexity, enough in fact to make it one of the most complex blends I've ever sampled. So complex, even, that it tastes somewhat off-balance to me, although I'm sure it turned out exactly as Pease wanted it. This is a very nice blend, but it's not my cup of tea -- I prefer my latakia mixtures to have a lot more sweetness.

Also, for what it's worth, Charing Cross is probably the closest thing on the market today to the original Balkan Sobranie White.

A couple of years ago, an acquaintance of mine on one of the many pipe-related internet sites sent out generous samples of Balkan Sobranie from the early 1970s. In return for this generous gift, he wanted us to also sample Charing Cross and then compare the two. He had concluded, after many years and many experiments, that CC was the closest thing to the original BS available. Although we recognized there would be difficulties making comparisons to a blend that had aged for nearly two generations, we all pretty much agreed that CC was almost eerily similar to the venerable BS. So, if you are wanting to get a sense of what that legendary product was like, then have a go at Charing Cross.

So, in light of that revelation, why don't I award this one four stars? As I said, it might well be a dead ringer for the old BS but that observation only serves to reinforce my belief that BS wasn't really all it's cracked up to be. I suppose that if I had been smoking in 1971 and BS was the only mixture of its type on the market, then I might well have considered it to be some kind of earthly nirvana. As it stands today, however, I greatly prefer Odyssey, Maltese Falcon, Magnum Opus, and several other mixtures to both Charing Cross and Balkan Sobranie (for the record, I've tried several other more recent vintages and have been even less impressed).

So, for me at least, this is a three star blend. The quality of the leaf and the skill that went into it probably warrant four stars if you are fond of this type of latakia blend, but it's not one I plan on ever buying again.

YMMV, of course!

Pease Pilgrimage Reviews (a tasting journey through every GLPease blend) Tin date: 11/10/08

The word that comes to mind is toasty. I don't know if this is a different type of oriental leaf than Abingdon or Odyssey, or if it's just the way it's blended with the other leaf. It seems to have quite a lot of Oriental leaf, giving it a good Oriental zing. Normally I don't like Oriental overload, but this toasty thing is intriguing.

I'm looking forward to tasting this more later this week in a couple different pipes. Right now, I'd say that this blend holds lots of promise. It might even outrank Abingdon...

UPDATE: After exploring three of Pease's big English blends, I am coming to the conclusion that these first four are all quite similar. I have not yet reviewed Westminster, but I've smoked a tin of it last year, and I remember that it, like Charing Cross, Odyssey, and Abingdon are all quite Oriental-forward blends using quality weed. I like them all, but it seems choosing a favorite would be a finesse thing, the only real difference being the strength of the Oriental leaf on the blend. So far, if I had to choose a fave, it would be solely based on how much spice (Oriental leaf) am I in the mood for today? Looking forward to trying Charing Cross in a couple more pipes, especially a meer.

UPDATE: Just had all three - Abingdon, Odyssey and Charing Cross - back to back in a small pipe, about fifteen minutes each. That's the best way for me to remember exactly how each one compares. Same opinion as before: all three have a significant Oriental component and all three have quite a few similarities. The reason for this post is to set apart Odyssey as the richer more enjoyable blend of the three in my personal opinion.

This is Blackpoint with some muscle and backbone. More Balkan in taste thanks to the marvelous Oriental components, and quite heavy on the Latakia.

I should think additional aging will make this one terrific. If you have smoked Balkan Sobranie, then that should give you an idea of what Charring Cross is like. I do find the Pease blend to be more refined, less sweet, and certainly more powerful.

My advice, purchase a tin to smoke now and an additional 5 or 10 to age a few years.

I bought Charing Cross from Iwan Ries a few months back on a whim, and am just finishing the tin now (my rotation is big). It is a very good full Balkan.

I spent a while trying to find the perfect full Balkan, with a good balance between the Orientals and the Latakia. So many blends are just too Latakia heavy, which I find to be much less interesting than a good interplay between Orientals and Latakia. To my taste, this blend has enough of both to be at the same time complex and somewhat powerful.

Like most Pease blends, this one was a bit wet when I bought it, but drying out has made lighting easy enough. It smokes down to a fine grey ash, and I imagine it'd be a great tobacco to break in pipes.

This is highly recommended for anyone who wants more to their Balkan than raw power.

EDIT I've now found that I prefer Blackpoint if I want something fuller from this collection, or Kensington if I want something a little lighter. Both are a little more complex than Charing Cross. But if you like really dry English mixtures, Charing Cross is a great option. Still very much recommended, but knocked down a star.

EDIT 2 Just checked in on a ten year old pinch of this. The latakia is fading a little, and the already-formidable oriental component has become a little more present as a result. A nice smoke. Still, I'm sticking with Blackpoint and Kensington as my go-tos from this range.

Mr. Pease has single handedly renewed my interest in latakia blends.. After an almost 10 year hiatus I've gradually come back for the time being.. It all started with Key Largo.. Funny how that works.. bit by bit you grow back your tolerance to the beast.. I'm still a virginia/burley/perique guy.. but the mood has been striking more and more for the smoky, peaty, tar leaf.. The proportions in charing cross remind me of an old favorite.. not sobranie (although it isn't far off) but balkan sasieni.. This is a savory smoke.. at a certain level of oriental/latakia the whole character changes.. the sweet virginia character is given up a little, in exchange for a full on toasty, woody, floral, peaty more delicate smoke.. Each puff is a variation on this theme.. and you want to keep digging to discover more. The cut is also a similar ribbon.. it burns fast enough for a quick smoke, but I find it benefits from a slow cadence especially as you get past the halfway mark.. it can get warm.. but I like these thinner ribbons for a satisfying smoke that won't last all night. It comes much drier than quiet nights.. but maybe 10 min of dry time will still help.. From my perspective it is easily a 3 star blend for the moment.. as I continue to get more accustomed once again to latakia it could easily jump to 4.. as it stands, I gravitate a little more to the more Virginia forward quiet nights..

All trades admit of many jacks, but few masters. Greg Pease is unquestionably a master of tobacco blending (AND photography) and therefore deserves of our respect and gratitude. All one need do is smoke a few of his blends (I've been smoking them since his F&P days) to know that one word can never be aplied to any of his creations: "Generic."

I do not smoke all them regularly, but I understand them. There is a theme to each and all Pease blends are marvelously crafted, visually enticing, and will make one salivate upon opening the tin--the older, the better.

As a man of integrity, Greg uses the finest tobaccos available and does not release a blend until the tuning fork of taste rings true for him. As a man of experience and confidence, he does not kid himself and think (or demand) four stars for each of his blends from all reviewers.

Charing Cross is one of the "Classic Collection" tobaccos, each created as an homage to the best of days long gone. Blackpoint and Kensington are my personal favorites in this group. Charing Cross, though displaying the same craftsmanship and quality as all Pease blends, is not.

Not that there is anything wrong with Charing Cross, it is a simple matter of individual taste. And, for reasons I shall continue to explore, Charing Cross just misses the mark for me. I bought my first can of CC concurrent with a can of Blackpoint, which for the third time in my life kindled to flame "love at first sight...or tin aroma." Charing Cross did not, and, sorry to say, it still doesn't.

Charing Cross is a fine tobacco; it is, after all, a GL Pease product and as such is first-rate and impecably constructed. It simply, for me, does not resonate with somethig in my body chemistry. As you will note from other reviews, some find Nirvana in a bowl here. And, indeed the character deveolps as one makes way down the bowl.

Make no mistake, Charing Cross is a full Balkan, though, to my taste not an outstanding one IMHO. For Balkan blends, I would recommend Odyssey or Caravan from Greg's Original Mixtures, or Kensington, from the Classic Collection. Each is smoother and more complex than Charing Cross. For a full-bore Latakia dollop, Abingdon is the best choice among the Classic Collection.

Three out of four stars.

**After further evaluation I can say that the qualities I found less-than-satisfying in Charing Cross are mitigated in part, if not in whole, by pipe selection. My initial review was based upon smoking this weed in Sasieni 4-Dot pipes (the REAL DEAL from the "family-era"). Sasieni's are funny; they augment some blends while detracting from others.

Since the earlier review, I have tried this tobacco in a 1930s-era GBD and a meerschaum. The GBD, for whatever reason, eliminated the bitternes I found objectionable in earlier smokes. Both Sasieni and GBD are undervalued specimens of British pipemaking at its best; nevertheless, they smoke quite differently. GBDs are sweeter, while Sasienis are drier. Go figure!

A meerschaum likewise removes the bitterness, but, alas, much of the good things as well. Meerschaums are funny that way. In "the good old days" (hence, the "oldmanpipe") I could enjoy Rattray's Red Raparee and Dunhill's Nightcap ONLY in a meerschaum or calabash. Greg's blends are best-appreciated in a companionable briar.

The rating does not change, as I believe GL Pease has better to offer in this genre; the appreciation of Charing Cross, however, has been enhanced by exploration.

I recently smoked a tin of Abingdon and, although quite potent as a Balkan blend, really enjoyed it. I mistakenly thought that Charing Cross was the next step down in the Pease Classic series. Wrong about that, I had forgotten about Blackpointe; the blend Greg lists next in the series. I will correct this and smoke Blackpointe next. I refer to the review of Doctor Thoss 2014-09-10 and agree with him when he classifies Balkan English blends into two categories: sweet and savory. The only variation in my world is that I classify all English blends into categories of sweet and sour, rather that savory. I also agree that CC is a savory (sour) blend and I am with you, Doctor Thoss, in that it is also not my cup of tea - though enjoyable. I like my English blends a little sweeter and to possess a little more depth. I found CC to have a flattish nasal smoking aroma and found myself wishing for some component to be in there to pull the rather high register of the smoke back to a more comfortable level. Next I put together a spot blend that was 1/2 CC, 1/4 Cellar Reserve and 1/4 Wessex Tradition from a 15-20 year old tin. That did it. The Cellar Reserve's black cavendishes and the Tradition's soft Virginias really made for a fine smoke. I like blending with this tobacco and prefer that to smoking CC straight, which equals three stars.

Thick cut ribbon with dark and mahogany strands. The ''soda'' smell is stronger than the Latakia. Moisture level is perfect and does not change much in weeks.

Flavor wise, red Virginias dominate for the most part, a red wine like sweetness with some tangy tones. The Orientals are not very strong, especially the sour soda note and increase in flavor by mid bowl. The Cyprian Latakia has a lighter presence than advertised but contributes with a sweet, smoky and woodsy flavor.

As for old school, it reminds me of the pre K&K Black Mallory, I could swear that I taste this full Scottish with each puff.

Virginia lover

Very interesting tobacco. It is very intense and even heavy. The latakia is very noticeable, specially at the first half of the bowl. Sweet-smoky, earthy, and somehow citrusy -i.e. citrusy as in earl grey tea-. The rest of the bowl is more oriental forward, but the latakia is there as well. The taste nuances are complex, but the overall feeling is very intense. This tobacco burns easily, and so it can get hot easily. In fact, this weed is very sensitive to humidity content. Usually, I prefer my tobacco on the dry side (i.e., slightly crispy), but this one is better when it feels fresh and slightly smoochy. It is better to smoke this one carefully. The nicotine content is noticeable, perhaps in the ballpark of Pease’s Westminster. Room note is strong. The feedback I gets is burnt brushwood and manure. I prefer “lighter” English blends, but I am happy to have bought this blend.