G. L. Pease Telegraph Hill

As a fan of Virginia flakes I was eager to try Telegraph Hill. Compared to Stratford this blend is a darker, richer flavor and the Perique just adds to that rich flavor without shouting "Perique!" This will be even better with a bit of age on it. Highly recommended to "VaPer" fans.

As an unabashed OGS fangirl I knew that this blend was high on my wish list, so when I stumbled on a four year old tin from a friend’s cellar I knew I had to pony up. TH is sweet and savoury all at once, with major candied orange peel and turbinado notes from the aging virginias and an almost molasses spice in the background from the perique. Smokes right down to the bottom of the bowl with a couple relights, and it’ll take you on a ride the whole way down. The dark lord hits a home run again.

When I first picked up the pipe in 2013, I had absolutely no idea and/or inkling about anything having to do with pipes, let alone the many different types and blends of pipe tobacco. So, there was a very steep learning curve in regard to both pipe and tobacco. With regard to tobacco however, I can only describe my early days of exploration as the "Big Bang" of discovery, sampling anything and everything I could lay my hands on, Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall.

Seven years hence, with the chaos of the "Big Bang" having subsided, I am no longer smoking heavy English blends during the hot summer months, nor am I smoking (as a rule) the Virginias during the dead of winter (with Cringle Flake, various Christmas Cheers and McClelland's 40th Anniversary Flake being the odd exceptions).

But here in California, when hints of spring occasionally waft through the air in January and February, VaPers become the natural bridge between Winter and Summer.

I recently ordered/sampled two VaPers I had never tried before: One was Rimpoché AP, and the other was Telegraph Hill. Both blends were phenomenal -- both blends were sampled back-to-back -- and both blends totally rocked my world with regard to how I viewed/interpreted/understood VaPers. The long-held views I had about the benchmark VaPers -- Escudo, DNR, Old Gowrie, St. James Flake -- were all completely blown-away by these two newcomers to my rotation.

I tried the Rimpoché first (and wrote a glowing review), while Telegraph Hill was hot on the heels of the Rimpoché, smoked the very next day.

The two (to me) were so remarkably the same in quality, in taste, in flavor profile, I was pretty well dumbfounded. Not only were they both so very close in terms of being kindred VaPers, but they had totally upended my strongly held beliefs as to what a real and genuine, good tasting, good smoking VaPer should be.

In a nutshell: Telegraph Hill is but a more moist, better hydrated version of Rimboché (which arrives quite dry in the bag). When you lay these two tobaccos out, side-by-side, they look very nearly (virtually) identical.

Telegraph Hill: Phenomenal Virginia Perique blend.

G.L. Pease, Telegraph Hill: A refined yet flavorful ribbon-cut VaPer and my everyday smoke.

The Virginia varietals are made up of a mixture of red, dark, and some brighter leafs—in that order. They are mostly tangy, earthy, and sweet without any grassy-bright notes. The perique is extravagantly yet perfectly applied in this blend. It is spicy with undertones of fermented fruit. It is well balanced, yet still keeps my attention throughout the smoke. With six months of age (or more), the Virginias seem to become smoother and richer in profile.

This stuff is so good. For me, this is perfection at the highest levels.

The tobaccos are a good mix of bright Virginias and darker tobaccos. I find the C&D ribbon cut blends to be a joy to work with. This one burns well, but maybe too fast.

The blend is slightly moist but still smokable out of the tin. My tin had some months of age on it. The tin note is kind of sweet, ketchup and vinegar-like, and sour but with some grassy, oat-like hint in there. To me, it doesn't smell or taste like any other Virginia Perique blend I've had.

This is a sweet blend, like pastry sweet notes from the moment you light it up. I get the fermented notes, and the sensation in the nose on the retrohales is great. It's got that Belgian beer hint I mention with Escudo, and , to me, Virginia Perique mixtures, in general. There are sugary notes, grassy notes, some sweet pastry notes that are kind of bread-like, and some oat-like notes. There are peppery notes from the Perique. There is also a general briny taste to this blend that is unlike any other Virginia Perique blend. It's kind of salty and vinegar-like and fermented. It makes it unique. I think I remember getting a similar flavor in Laurel Heights as well.

In taste and body this is a pretty bold and flavorful blend, but the nicotine strength is somewhat low. It never gave me a nicotine hit, which I find great.

This blend is widely available and fairly priced.

I recommend this to Virginia Perique lovers who want something slightly different.

It is with deep regret that I now find myself fully converted to the church of Pease.. now I am forced to stock up on all his Virginia based blends and spend way too much on my cellar.. Telegraph Hill blew me away.. comparisons to Elizabethan scared me, as I have not gotten along too well with that mixture lately.. but even at a young age Telegraph hill, in my opinion, is way more interesting.. It's a soft sweet blend with the most exquisite gentle dose of pepper.. it's an easy going va/per that somehow is equally satisfying.. It's really a delightful medium smoke... nothing that will shock you.. but it is like a finely tuned composition.. The Virginias are soft, sweet, bready and creamy.. not much of the grass/citrus element.. this is just a wonderful quiet tobacco that slowly unravels.. never loud but demands your attention.

If someone were to ask me to describe this blend in two words I'd say it's "pitch perfect." The sweet, the savory, the bitterness, the spice and all the subtleties (and there are a number of them), all of it, pitch perfect.

Charring light only gives a glimpse of what a bowl of this wonderful mixture has to offer. The Virginia's are toasty with a delicate grassy high note and the perique lays low, gently amplifying the overall flavor.

Mid-bowl flavors are deeper, spicier and intensified. The flavors darken, morphing into what what I can only describe as rich & rustic. The overall flavor is semi-sweet, earthy and spicy with hints of molasses and fragrant woodsy oak like notes. The smoke is smooth and well balanced with a perfect amount of spice. The perique adds a bit of kick without overstepping its role or overly influencing the flavor.

This mixture is easy to work with and practically smokes itself once properly lit. Flavor and nicotine strength are an even medium yet there's enough of both to make this a suitable nightcap. So far this is my favorite GLP VaPer and next to Embarcadero one of the best and most articulate blends in the Fog City Selection.

Quality tobacco, with a surprisingly potent contribution of Perique. Develops through the bowl to achieve its peak. No question, this is a fine presentation of perique amongst some high quality ribbon cut virgia. It truly develops different nuances through even a small bowl, right to the end. Satisfying and whole, this is top notch. Worth keeping a few tins in the cellar if you like this sort of blend. My tin was only a few months old and smoked just perfectly.

After about 20 pipefuls, I can conclude this is a world class blend that is going to age very well. There is a certain verdant sharpness compared to other VaPer caked blends, but this is more than acceptable and satisfying for my incresingly robust taste preferences. Interestingly I smoked this a medium German Radford 1/4 bent with a filter and was pleasantly surprised by the mellowness imparted without losing the spirit and progressive flavour of the blend. I know that American smokers don't use the 9mm filters much, but if you have a filtered briar around, give it a shot. I'd be interested in the thoughts of others...

--- update 2010-11-26 Having opened a 5 year old tin out of necessity (puffed up- evidence of internal fermentation), I have now tasted the effect of aging. This batch from '05 was obviously packed a little too moist, so the microbes were gracefully aging this tobacco. Very nice, rich, spicy, peppery and uniform taste with the VA having aged and mellowed. Nicotine is there to satisfy. Nice stewed fruit flavour in the zone and happy to be smoking this tin.

After Stan's terrible plight over Montgomery with the terrible genie of the mirror, let's see what's going on:

Stan: Where am I?

St. Peter (at the Pearly Gate): Welcome my son. What's that? A pipe!

Stan: That's my new Telegraph Hill smoke, sir.

St. Peter: Sorry my son, but there is no smoking here.

Stan: Where am I?

But this stuff is heavenly, sir. Full long strips of perique comprising maybe 10% of the blend and laying on a soft bed of golden and red virginias. Deep but not too strong. Heavier than my beloved Montgomery that a mean genie stole. What a way to enjoy perique. Natrual and straight. Cool, Leathery, dry, easy packing and puffing, biteless ....

St.Peter: Stop! Don't be glutonous. Who make this wicked weed?

Stan: Not wicked; delightful. Pease, the Dark Lord....

St.Peter: Dark Lord!? Who? What? You are cast out!

Stan: ZAP!!!!

Later after Stan's decent:

Stan: Where am I now?

Devil 1: Guess. I see you like smoke.

Stan: Hark. This smoke is heaven sent. I enjoy the taste of perique in a milder way than I though possible. Even without aging, Pease's special process jumps starts the blend and the flavor flows.

Devil 2: Let me try some. After all, we can smoke here.... Hey, this is great!

Devil 1: ... Me too. Ahhhhh. Joy.

Devils 1 and 2: Praise the Lord, this stuff is the greatest.

Enters St. Peter:

St. Peter: Devils praising the Lord. Stan, you must have found something there. From now on, pipe smoking is allowed in Heaven. Gabriel. Gabriel, who took my Ashton?

Stan: Heaven? I'm dead! That dam genie!

St. Peter: No, we're sending you back, Stan, to convert the masses to Telegraph Hill and be saved. Now where's my Ashton?

Stan: Hey gang. I'm back. Telegraph Hill. I smoke it. (Pointing up.) HE smokes it. Try telegraph Hill and I know all will be forgiven. A tobacco that is now allowed in Heaven.