G. L. Pease Abingdon

I have long anticipated this blend and after my first tin, am ready for this review. Upon opening the tin you are greeted by mostly dark leaf with the occasional yellow, orange, and brown leaf. The tin aroma is rich with the cyprian latakia most prominent. Packing is easy, but a few long strands of what appears to be lemon virginia give a little fuss. Lighting is easy with perfect moisture as always with Greg's blends. Initial flavor: LATAKIA, LATAKIA, LATAKIA!!! This leaf is definitely in the forefront with the other leaves making their prescence about mid-bowl. This latakia is not harsh, though. The room note is definitely not a crowd pleaser, although my son said it reminded him of a good BBQ. The interesting thing about this blend is I like it mid-bowl to the bottom-bowl better than the first third. It becomes buttery smooth towards the end and leaves a pleasant after-taste. It is in the fullness range of "Nightcap" but without the spiciness of the Perique, so this is not an all-day blend for me. All in all, another great entry in the "Classic" series. I will definitely store some away to see what age will do to it. Rating 5 points out of 5. Addendum: oops, I forgot to compare this blend. This blend has more of the low notes of Latakia than any of Pease's other blends. It is smokier than Raven's Wing, but lacks the complexity of that blend. It does not have the strong mid-range that Charing Cross and Oddessy have. Nor does is have the highs that Blackpoint has, but it is not meant to. This blend fills in nicely the full strong Latakia hole in the classic series in a very "classy" way. The leaf used is smooth and flavorful and I have yet to smoke a blend this full that is so smooth with only "Old Ironsides" coming any where near this kind of smoothness. This will compliment my rotation of fine tobacs. Thank you Greg! Further Update: 12-10-03 After going through another tin, I have to say that some blends are so subtle and complex and delicious that I may start waiting until I have smoked two tins before reviewing unless, of course, the blend is ghastly. This blend is the former and as the previous reviewer stated: "you may never smoke anything else after smoking this blend". Enjoy

If you are up late at night and you feel like one last smoke... This would be a great option.. A nice full smoke.. and about as good a balkan as I've ever tried.. There is a great balance and interplay between sweet and savory.. with a lot of twists and turns to keep you interested.. Pease blends often shift a lot throughout a bowl and on different sessions.. This one has a certain robust character that kind of fills the same spot as quiet nights.. though they are quite different.. I am an occasional latakia guy.. and I tend to spread out my latakia smokes so I don't get sick of it.. This is definitely one I will continue to reach for when I get the itch. It's a much bigger and darker painting than charing cross.. I will have to revisit odyssey to see how it stacks up.. but I remember odyssey being much more fussy.. Abingdon smokes rather effortlessly and is well behaved.. Highly recommended

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 with moisture just right.

Tin note: Not smelling too much on this one, slightly smoky and a tad sweet.

Tasting notes: Slightly smoky and woody with a tangy, sweet bread zing. There is a light to moderate amount of spice depending on the puffs. Spice and smokiness pick up once the bowl gets going, but in a balanced, well blended way—not in a spicebomb or latbomb kind of way. The tangy bread undertones are most pleasing.

Mechanics: N/A—A well behaved blend

Extra Remarks: This blend is a sleeper like most in the Classic Collection. I've been smoking the Classic Collection for a month or two trying to figure them all out. I have decided against comparing them for the sake of appreciating each blend on its own. I really enjoy this blend although if you are not a fan of spice tread carefully. This blend is not too complex, but is booming with flavor and perfectly balanced, 4 stars.

Presentation: Mostly chunky ribbon with some large pieces still intact. Dark and rich black and brown tobacco along with some brights and a few reds. Comes a bit in the dry side so no need to let this one sit out.

Palette: The tin note is purely Balkan. A slight sour note tickles the nostrils. There is a underlying sweetness that rests in between the orientals and the portion or Latakia. Some campfire notes but not a Latakia bomb. Lighting up it arrived with a smoothness over my tongue. The orientals and VA are the dominate lead in my opinion. The orientals are supremely herbal and carry a salty note, along with some creaminess— like a blue cheese stuffed olive. Somewhat woody as well. The VA offer a sweet undertone. Reminds me of the finish in a good Shiraz wine. It lingers a bit but doesn’t overstay its welcome. Balances out the zingy orientals. The Latakia, while a generous portion is added, doesn’t over compensate and offers a touch of leather and musk, campfire and char. A semi complex blend. You can dig for more flavors but it’s pretty well tamed and doesn’t change too much. Rich and deep in flavor, but it’s not super bold. Medium to medium full.

Performance: Smokes very cool. Great pace and mild nicotine. I don’t find this to be an all day blend but it’s great for the late evening particularly in colder weather. I recommend a wide bowl to give you the richness of flavor this blend provides. Leaves some moisture. Takes more than the average lights to get going due to the inconsistent cut ribbon. Needs a few after the initial light. No chance of bite.

Conclusion: I really didn’t like this blend when I first tried it. At the time I was going through a Balkan addiction and was trying every kind I could and perhaps that tainted my perception of this one. It’s been over a year since I last tried it and it has become a tasty rediscovery. Now that it’s almost winter time this seems like a very fitting blend. Pease has a lot of Balkan and English blends, and while Abingdon has shown its face again and become a welcome surprise, I find that there are other blends in my arsenal that I prefer much more. I won’t be buying this one again, but I know someone out there is hoarding this.

After attempting Jackknife Plug a while back, I swore of smoking any GL Pease products. Well... that just didn't seem fair, since I may just not be a plug kinda guy, so I took a chance on Abingdon and was a much happier camper.

With a full, deep smokey presence wafting up, be careful not to tread lightly. The heavy nicotine caught me off guard and I felt my heart thumping inside my chest. Undeterred, I soldiered on until my body got used to this chest hair growing product. The thin cut and just right moisture made for a great burning product. The Latakia sets the framework, but I was certainly getting some Virgina creeping in, especially by the end of the tin, when the intensity began to soften and Abingdon's nuances could be appreciated.

I was told the room (garage in this case) smelled of chestnuts and campfire ash.

This tin is dated 021918. Upon opening the tin, it has a nice strong Latakia/Oriental smell arising from it. I had smoked a few bowls of this and revisited this blend some more last night and throughout the day since I am on a mini-vacation. The first two bowls of this had a really tart, acrid taste to it. It mellowed out somewhat toward the end. This is one of the few blends where I started out not really liking it but the more I smoke it the better it tastes. Maybe it took my pipe some time to adapt to this one as well as my taste buds but it is a nice strong-tasting tobacco with little sweetness that I could detect. Maybe that is what threw me off in the beginning, the lack of sweetness. So, with a little patience this has grown from a 2 to a 3 star for me.

Delightfully deep tin note, with an intriguing sweetness, a little fruitiness and floweriness. I was smitten from the moment I opened the tin. The tobacco seemed a bit too dry to me at first, but after the first few bowls, and some humidification experiments over the course of a few weeks on a few bowlfuls worth of the tin made me realize that maybe, just maybe, Greg and the people at C&D knows more about tobacco than I do.

Either way, it has a bit of acridity on the first char, but quickly settles after the true light and becomes sweet, and yes, I even pick up on some faint caramel notes in the sweetness (a quick search revealed I might not be crazy, as 'The Happy Piper' also remarked upon that same thing on 2013-07-03) and very pronounced herbal tones and some high, dry spicy notes with sandalwood notes from around 2/3 of the bowl. This is an incredibly tasty blend - complex, but not flailing wildly in all directions, if that makes any sense. Clearly steered by the orientals and backed up by the virginias (of which the reds are the ones I can make out the clearest). Latakia seems very much in the background to me, I'm not getting much of anything in the way of latakia-smokiness or leather until approaching the last third of the bowl. The finish is extraordinaily mild and sweet and leaves a pleasant enough room note in its wake.

It is a full blend, but still manages to come across as refined and even mellow most of the time. Not particularly strong in nicotine, but very flavourful and satisfying none the less.

While it's not an absolutely perfect blend, it's good enough to warrant a Highly Recommended rating. It may not be my next every-day blend, but I'm fairly certain I'll come back to it in the future.

This one had me fooled by both description and tin aroma. The former suggests a heavy hitter while the latter indicates a lighter latakia mixture. To me it's neither and both... let me try to explain.

The strength of Abingdon lies in it's contrasts... Latakia is forward but smokiness is not over the top, same goes for the zesty lemon virginia, very present! Background orientals and the red virginias do smooth out this dark-to-zesty-contrast somewhat, but it is still drawn into two different directions, which creates an interesting smoke bigger and somewhat fuller than the sum of its parts. Not overly complex by my standards, but most likely schizofrenically straightforward enough to hold my interest for the upcoming weeks. As a bonus, the aftertaste is dark, fresh and amazing!

Recommended!

This meets my definition of a Balkan blend. The latakia and oriental percentages are perfect. The orientals have mellowed and married with the Virginias, leaving a touch of sweetness mixed with a smoky tangy touch, but not overly so as some might get with blends possessing young Cyprian Latakia. The woodsy campfire notes are there as well. My tin was aged 12 years before use and the flavors were sublime. One might anticipate with a young tin (less than 3 years old) the flavor might be different. This full flavored blend gives my well aged Crown Achievement a run for its money, and the edge goes to Abingdon as well aged as it is. 4 stars and higly recommended.