G. L. Pease Ashbury

I had the opportunity to acquire a small sample of Ashbury at a meeting of the Sacramento Pipe Collectors' Assembly in Sacramento, CA. The mixture has black, brown, and yellow ribbon strands and a wonderfully round pouch aroma. It is apparent from the aroma that this is not a mixture dominated by Latakia, nor is Latakia (Cyprian) a subtle condimental component. Moisture level was perfect and the strands packed easily in my pipe as is did in other pipes i have smoked it in.

It lights easily and does not require an inordinate amount of fussing to keep it going down to a dry grey ash. One of the hallmarks of a GLP mixture is that sudden end of the smoke without warning. It burns cleanly to the bottom and never gurgles or becomes bitter or nasty toward the end.

If there ever was an all-day Balkan, this is it. It has a delicious taste that changes throughout the bowl. Th eprimary flavour component is the Oreintals with the Virginias sharing the stage with the Latakia as backup. Imagine a jazz band with the piano and horn plyer in front sharing the limelight backed up with an upright bass player. My olde favourite was Odyssey, but it think Ashbury will take its place. I ordered a ton of the stuff in 2-ounce tins so i could enjoy the development of the mixture over time as it ages and marries in the tins.

I highly recommend this new mixtre to all pipe smokers. This is a very easy mixture ot enjoy and rewards the smoker with a very delicious experience.

I've sampled a half dozen GL Pease blends, and Ashbury is easily my favorite and a esteemed member of my four-to-five blend rotation. The bright and red Virginias predominate, the hint of sweetness upon lighting endures throughout, complimented by the slightly sour orientals and a whiff of Latakia. Overall impression is of a flavorful, woody, pleasantly heavy mouth feel with an unobtrusive nicotine hit. In truth, I cannot speak to room note (which is required of me by this site....I've sometimes called in my wife as the referee on outdoor room notes), as I cannot recall the last time I lit a pipe in a room rather than on an outdoor porch...perhaps 25 years or so ago. Love this blend and will never let myself run out of it.

Great first pipe of the day. Agrees with me more than Pease’s other breakfast blends, Picadilly and Chelsea Morning. With Picadilly I miss the orientals and I find Chelsea Morning a fine daytime smoke but too complex for me first thing in the morning. (I’m also not big on perique until later in the day). Smoother to me than Early Morning Pipe which I find at times a bit harsh late in the bowl. Low nic hit. Just enough smoky lat to know your smoking an English. Oriental forward on the creamy buttery end of the spectrum rather than earthy spicy sour. The VA holds it all together with a touch of sweetness so the smoking experience isn’t too dry like Kensington can be. Pairs well with either coffee or tea. Just a nice smooth mellow morning mixture.

Ribbon cut with almost equal amounts of bright, darker brown and black pieces. Tin aroma is quite intense and very beautiful: fragrant floral and woodsy orientals on a background of a measured sweet smokiness. I feel like it has been sprinkled lightly with some kind of gentleman's perfume, but it may be that it's just the natural tobacco smell. In any case it smells like a Dunhill tobacco to me...

Easy to light as it has the right moisture to go straight ahead without any preparation. From the start Ashbury is very Oriental forward, with fragrant but rather dry-tasting woodsy, floral and spicy taste. Virginias provide a juicy and sweet counterpoint. Small amounts of Latakia give the blend a smokiness and maybe a reminder of dark chocolate. The overall taste is earthy, spicy and floral with just a trace of smokiness and the Orientals really shine.

Strength is a nice medium with a good amount of nicotine and it smokes all the way to ash and needs just a few relights.

Had I tasted Ashbury blind, I would have guessed an Oriental forward blend made by Dunhill, something in between Early Morning and Durbar as far as Latakia content is concerned. And though I did not sense any topping, it did have the Dunhill feel for me. Yet from the current Dunhill incarnations, for me Ashbury is far superior.

Ashbury is a quintessential Balkan blend, a blend which will appeal to those like me who prefer Va/Or blends and enjoy Latakia but not on a regular basis. Actually Ashbury is one of the few blends with Latakia that I feel I could smoke on a daily basis. Top quality!

This is an oriental forward Balkan blend. I have found my tin to be a little moist, but not overwhelmingly so. It has required several relights for me. It seems to be unbalanced to my taste buds, with the oriental tobaccos being too forward from the beginning to the end of the bowl. The Virginia's, initially in the background become more prominent as the bowl warms up. The Latakia is just there, bur more prominent near the end of the bowl. For some oriental mavens, this might be a nice introduction to Balkan blends. While there is enough complexity for some, I find this blend to be one of the few instances where I am not enthusiastic about a Pease blend. I rate this 2 stars, although some other palates might deliver a higher score

The initial portion of the bowl is very rich and spicy, but not from the latakia. It's really quite lovely. The latakia comes around mid bowl and adds a lot of body as well as a different spice. I found this blend intriguing, and I will definitely smoke more. Three stars could have been four except I found that the start was just a bit too in your face and I detected just a hint of bite... I reserve the right to revise, and found myself immediately wondering if I have more than this tin in the cellar...

UPDATE This blend can be a bit fatiguing on the palate, and I suspect that I'm having a reaction to the amount of bright VA in the blend. Still a very interesting blend, but probably not going to make it to four stars.

I am surely in a minority here,so its worth mentioning perhaps how amazed I am that very few mention the spiciness of this blend; in the first 1/3rd of the bowl it well covers over anything else you might derive from this smoke, and it provokes that unpleasant scratchy throat feel. The second half of the smoke might be more balanced , some say flatter, but that is a blessing in this case. I was looking for an all day mild Balkan smoke. The tin I received was almost two years old, so nicely moderately aged as well.The tobacco ribbon looks exquisite and it probably is made of best ingredients, as this blender's commitment surely always is. However to me it is a case of over-compensating a light dish with too much spice, the Chef went overboard in this case IMO. To a lesser degree this verdict is true of the Kensington as well, even if the latter is more satisfying strengthwise. If Pease offers that mild all day Balkan smoke I do not knwo what it is. As it is I would prefer the heavier classic Abington, or more english Westminster over this one any day. For complexity, even though it has some perique I believe, the Samara will do a better job for me too. I would be obliged if any of the professional connoisseurs in this site will have mentioned if not analyzed what I perceive to be the over spiciness problem with this new line of tobaccos which has nothing to do with the mostly moderate strength

An excellent VA with some latakia. Burns evenly, slight natural sweetness,slightly acid (citrus?vinegar?) no bite, satisfactory. Its my first tin but looks very very promising. I am smoking it instead of C&D 2 friends Bed & Breakfast and Ashbury seems more round and complete, still going in the same direction. An all day tobacco for both VA and Mixt lovers. Maybe I will update after few tins.

When this blend was first introduced I bought a tin and smoked it within a week. The tobacco reminded me of Rattray's 7 Reserve. I bought three more tins and aged them a year. Recently, I spent about two weeks trying to smoke this blend again and found it a bit boring after the first 10 minutes or so. Also, like many virginia heavy blends it smoked hot and became unpleasant at times, unless I was very careful. Like the previous reviewer this stung my toungue. After struggling with the tin for two weeks and comparing to some other blends, I gave up on this.

Very nice natural tobacco that reminds me of the real English blends I smoked 20 years ago. Really, it's well made but I'm not interested in trying it again.