G. L. Pease Abingdon

(3.40)
Abingdon is the fullest Balkan style blend in the range. It is rich and robust, powerful and forthright, yet still possessing subtlety and finesse. Dark flavors of wood and leather mingle with delicate undercurrents of sweetness, and deep earthy notes, while the Oriental tobaccos provide hints of their verdant, sometimes herbaceous character. A big Balkan blend, reminding us once more of what these blends used to be. Because of the high percentage of dark and oriental tobaccos, it's recommended to pack Abingdon a little less firmly than you might a lighter blend.
Notes: Abingdon was released in July, 2003.

Details

Brand G. L. Pease
Series Classic Collection
Blended By Gregory Pease
Manufactured By Cornell & Diehl
Blend Type Balkan
Contents Latakia, Oriental/Turkish, Virginia
Flavoring
Cut Ribbon
Packaging 2 ounce tin, 8 ounce tin
Country United States
Production Currently available

Profile

Strength
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
None Detected
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Tolerable
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Medium to Full
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming

Average Rating

3.40 / 4
80

45

11

6

Reviews

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Displaying 61 - 70 of 142 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 17, 2009 Medium to Strong Medium Medium to Full Tolerable
I rate this 1 star because I cannot recommend it. It seems too spicy and not remarkable in any other way, except to say that it's quite strong and almost made me sick. It may just be that my taste buds are still alive and well and are easily overpowered.
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 04, 2008 Medium to Strong None Detected Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
Just in from the deck on a cool, fall morning - my Saturday ritual - relax with hot coffee and a favorite pipe, and watch the sun come up through the poplars. On cool autumn mornings such as this (~50 degrees) - I tend to drink a dark roast and smoke one of my "heavier" latakia blends. So I packed my pipe loosely with Abingdon this morning, and enjoyed it to the bottom of an old Peterson bent Dublin. I enjoy many of G.L. Pease's creations - but this is the one of his that I smoke most often. It is strong, yet subtle, and never overpowering in it's presentation - I feeeeeeel the nicotine, but it is not like some heavier blends that give you a punch or sneak up on you suddenly. Tastes and smells linger in the thick smoke: leather, earth, heavily toasted nuts and raisins - this is one that I like to exhale though my nose to enjoy that extra sensation and aroma of the toasted raisins. Excellent blending of the various types of leaf - none in command, yet all working together in the mixture. I favor the room note, heavy and lingering - Mrs. Irishpiper - she prefers my lighter/sweeter choices (but she is sleeping in, and I am smoking ABINGDON!) If you like Samarra, Charing Cross, Westminster, or Maltese Falcon, and have not yet tried Abingdon - I think you would be pleasantly surprised with it. Highly Recommended.
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Sep 28, 2007 Medium Medium Medium to Full Pleasant
Years ago there was an advert on UK television that ran like this:

"Tasty, tasty, very very tasty - they're very tasty!"

Time has passed, and I can no longer remember which product was being advertised - whatever it was, it could easily have been an advert for Abingdon. I love the mix of smokiness and relaxing qualities that this blend provides. Jet blacks, deep browns, light browns - all combining to produce a flavourful hour of pleasure.

I am coming to the end of yet another 2oz container, but thankfully another is ready at my side.

Go Pease!
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 07, 2005 Strong Medium Medium Tolerable
I just finished a tin and the sad verdict is in: this blend is big alright, a big disappointment! The tin aroma is fine, but the smoke is suprisingly bland. This is all the more startling considering I was ready to adore the stuff, as I do Mephisto and many other Pease blends. Is it the Lemon Virginias? I'd never heard of Lemon Virginias used for Balkan blends before --to be sure their heat felt out of place, as though someone had added chocolate frosting to my steak, urgh! Apparently, the blends in the classic collection were inspired by other pst blends. I wonder which Balkan mixture of yesteryear featured lemon virginias? Perhaps there are, and notwithstanding this, the tobacco in the blend felt impossibly young. No wonder the consumer is constantly urged to "cellar" tobacco! Besides that the flavor range is uncharacteristically monotone and just tires the palate without satisfying. There are way better Pease offerings out there, even in the much maligned (in P&T's reviews) classic collection. This must just be the exception that confirm the rules, as they say.
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 02, 2005 Medium to Strong None Detected Very Full Pleasant to Tolerable
This is certainly a big dark blend that requires many bowls to get to know. Opening the tin reveals a diverse mix of light brown and black leaf with some hard twig-like pieces. The cut is fine, moisture content is drier than I am used to but certainly not dust yet. The blend feels and appears light and fluffy. It packs easily and burns slow and even throughout the bowl.

The initial taste is a heavy Latakia introduction starting the bowl off with a big boom. As the bowl continues, flavors of dark leather, wood and some subtle tang of Virginia take turns at the front. Towards the very bottom of the bowl I detect something that I cannot really figure out. I am almost tempted to say "Butternut Squash" but that might sound like I am smoking something other than tobacco. My wife says that the room note is that of "Hickory wood and cedar chips burning in an old fireplace" (a very positive opinion!)
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 14, 2004 Medium to Strong None Detected Full Tolerable
Greg keeps upping the ante. Rennaissance, Raven's Wing, Caravan, Odyssey, Blackpoint, and Charing Cross are all impeccably made, well received, and highly sought-after blends that have garnered untold fans, myself included. Abingdon is the best of the lot.

It's big enough to supplant Nightcap or Red Raparee, yet soft and approachable enough to enjoy at any time- the elusive "iron fist in a velvet glove". A truly marvelous concoction of the highest order.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 23, 2022 Medium None Detected Medium Tolerable
Tin note of smoke and spiced wine. The very thin ribbon cut is brown, black and tan. Tobacco is moist but not dry, no prep or drying needed. Burns moderate with few relights. The strength is medium and nic is mild. No flavoring detected. Taste is medium and mostly consistent, with notes of very spicy, moderately smoky, musty woody, earth, floral, mild ripe fruit, herbal spices, bread, mild lemon grass, and a moderately peppery retro. Latakia is leading with Oriental/Turkish supporting the best they can. Virginias are lollygagging around in the background. Room note is tolerable, and aftertaste is great.
Pipe Used: 2013 J.M. Boswell Poker
Age When Smoked: 6 years
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 08, 2022 Medium to Strong None Detected Full Strong
This blend is sour, spicy, cedary, herbaceous, flowery, and very savory with a picante yet unctuous mouth feel. You can tell this is a quality product blended by someone who knows what they are doing. While I find this a well balanced blend where each component carries its own weight, the focus is quite weighted toward the orientals and Latakia. The other components are far in the background, but add what’s needed for the focus. This is not a symphony, it’s a teeter totter that is perfectly balanced.

Pipe Used: Cob, bent apple
Age When Smoked: 3 years
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 18, 2022 Medium None Detected Full Tolerable
The tin I opened had a production date of "February 23, 2015. This isn't the first time I've opened tins of Pisa Latakia that are 5-7 years old, and I like this trend. The latakia gets softer and doesn't give out as harshly, and the Virginia gets some maturity over that period of time.

Appearance: a mixture of tobaccos from medium brown to almost black, coarse ribbon cut with occasional flakes. Latakia is plentiful. The moisture content of the tobacco is perfect. It is light and a little fluffy, and packs well into any pipe. The author himself recommends a loose filler, and I took his advice.

Flavor: the dense, smoky aroma certainly dominates, but does not envelop you completely, leaving room for the smell of leather, oaky woody notes, earthiness, and complementing the feeling of a campfire in the forest. A very light spicy Oriental note nicely complements the base, adding mostly a mixture of saffron and turmeric. Virginia in support gives the scent of dark dried fruit and a subtle sourness, while the usual notes of bread and hay, being absorbed by the resulting bouquet, play in the background.

Taste: the characteristic creamy, peaty, smoky note that cannot be confused with anything and can be loved or hated, does not fall on the tongue as a heavy "latakia bomb", but it envelops the tongue, letting you know that there is a lot of latakia here. In addition to this, there is a woody flavor, a slight hint of Kenyan black tea with some spices added - sourish badjan, herbaceous thyme and a little ginger. The tobacco has a very slight fruity sweetness mixed with an equally imperceptible sourness. As you smoke, the sweetness, already imperceptible, disappears almost completely, the latakia flattens out, the spicy note increases slightly, and the woody note comes almost on par with the latakia. The strength of the tobacco is medium, in very large pipes a slight nicotine hit is possible. The tobacco smokes evenly and cool, but too frequent puffs can still heat up the pipe with a wide bowl. The blend burns completely into a dusty light gray ash, leaving no moisture in the pipe. The aftertaste is slightly astringent, smoky and woody.

The smoke, as befits a good Balkan blend, is dense, with a characteristic smell of latakia. It stays in the room for a long time.

Bottom line: a beautiful, very deep-flavored blend, rich in latakia, but lavishly flavored with other tobaccos. Fans of "latakaya bombs" may not be happy with this fact. But what is certain is that it is worthy of the highest praise for its taste and quality of execution.
Pipe Used: Peterson POTY 2007, 2017, XL23
PurchasedFrom: Online
Age When Smoked: 2015
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 17, 2020 Medium None Detected Full Strong
Well, what can I tell you that you don't already know. There are a hell lot of GLP blends that fit into the English/Balkan category and more than a handful of them are superb. The reason why I prefer Abingdon and Westminster to the others most likely can be traced back to the fact that those are the first two Pease blends I bought a few years ago when I started trying blends from American manufacturers. What should you expect when you buy this blend? A robust Balkan that is perfectly cut and conditioned. A tobacco that when you open the tin will entice you with its lovely smell. As to the taste, it is full and the Latakia is quite noticeable. The Oriental is a key player here as well and the Virginia provides just the exact amount of sweetness that is necessary to make this a rounded composition. There sure is some complexity to this smoke and it is just the right amount for me. I can observe the interplay between the tobaccos as the bowl progresses, which is something I enjoy quite a bit but it's not the kind of complexity that is sort of tiresome and exhausting (if you guys know what I mean).

One last comment to the novice smokers out there. This is really one of the tobaccos that came to me naturally - I cannot put it into words very well - but I just immediately grasped its flavor profile and what the tobacco wants to achieve.

4/4 stars
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