G. L. Pease Westminster

An oriental bomb of an English

The Turkish tobacco is at the center of this blend with strong floral and sour notes. The Virginia varietals are mostly made up of red leaf and are earthy and sweet—rather than grassy or crisp. There is quite a bit of Latakia here, but it lurks just behind the Turkish and Virginia varietals. Westminster smokes exquisitely well and near perfectly balances full flavor with smooth repeatable smokability.

My favorite English to date. Complex and varying with a solid punch of nicotine. Each tobacco adds great complexities and the Latakia is used perfectly. Each time I smoke this I get nuances that I didn't get before. It will remain in my English rotation and has made me a true fan of GL Pease. Thick rich smoke with great flavor.

I totally agree with Tantric, this mixture it’s fantastic! Like it very much since the beginning. It has a full taste but not to strong and the latakia is superb, very nice combination of virginias and oriental.

I'm a big fan of Mr. Pease's English blends as many are. I'm very fond of this blend. To me, this is what I go to when I want something less big compared to Charing Cross or Abington, but still very satisfying. The key word here is balance- - just enough Latakia and Oriental to satisfy, but to me this blend has a very refined taste. It reminds me very much of Dunhill's London Mixture-- the way it used to be years ago. This is more of an afternoon with a good coffee or three kind of pipe-- in a fairly good sized bowl. It reminds me why I love pipe-smoking.

Westminster has good balance of taste through the entire bowl. It smokes down very nicely and stays lit. I would attribute this to the uniformity of the cut and the just about perfect dryness right out of the tin. The so called ribbon cut is not as ribbony if you will, as other ribbon cuts, but it is quite consistent. I think the key is that the Latakia is not as hard and chunky as I have seen in other blends. No big nicotine hit, so I really like it, definitely a go to tin. I will be buying a bigger can in the future.

Update 2014-1-29: I smoked through some different tobaccos, Maltese Falcon, Abington, Odyssey, and Navigator, so I only recently ordered more Westminster. It is exactly like I remember it and I still prefer Westminster to the aforementioned tobaccos. Odyssey is the closest relative in my opinion, but Westminster is still my favorite.

Good stuff.

I came to pipes from the world of cigars, where cigar buffs write flowery, overly serious reviews of subtle aromas and flavors in snobby tones.

For wine snobs or Scotch buffs who can taste subtle hints of this and that by swishing liquid in the mouth, this might be a tobacco for you.

I read somewhere that this was G.L. Pease's effort at re-creating the old pre- Murray's version of Dunhill London Mixture. I don't know if he succeeded, as I never had the pleasure of trying the tobacco that inspired him. Whatever it is, this is really good tobacco.

I suspect that the quality of the Latakia in this blend is of better quality than some other Englishes I've tried. The figgy, rasiny Virginia taste so prominent in some Englishes are balanced nicely against the smoky Latakia, yielding a full, round richness.

Hearty and deeply satisfying, Westminster is soft, briny, savory, smoky, creamy, round and smooth all at once. Perhaps a shade less sweet than Old Dublin or Squadron Leader, less citrusy than Black Mallory. No flavor dominates, but all meld harmoniously. While this has a nice full body, the flavors are subtle and invite attention. The flavors change and evolve as the bowl warms, so that it imparts a taste of bitter licorice by bowl's end. To my uneducated palate, it was a beautiful smoke.

This tobacco, GLP's tribute to Dunhill's London Mixture, is from the first bowl, exquisite. I opened the tin about a month after I bought it, and I don't know how much age it had on it prior to my purchase.

The smoke is one of the most harmonious I have ever enjoyed. Fairly strong yet full of subtle flavours. It epitomises the Balkan style, with Oriental and Latakia taking an equal role up front, with a little Virginia detected in the background to "fill in the gaps" with sweetness and body. A mere Latakia hit it is not. There is much more fragrance, more elegance, more subtlety.

This is an offering of superb quality leaf. It fully satisfied the pallet with a range of flavours, yet nothing is forced or out of balance. There are no bland spots, nothing that gets tiring after a while.

If you are looking for a sweet tobacco, or are not used to smoking stronger English-style mixtures, then this is not for you. And that is ok. We don't start to read with Shakespeare, and we shouldn't start to smoke with Westminster. But for those who miss the premium quality, strength and subtlety of Dunhill's sundry offerings, give this a try.

So a huge well done for Westminster. This could well become the standard by which all Balkan tobaccos are measured.

Forget about EMP, Nightcap or its so called predesessor London mixture. In my oppinon, either way the old and new recipees of Dunhill have always been a deception in the English garden.

This is absoulately a different smoke, which I know since 2001 from a nice fellow, who worked in CH-Bern at www.tabakgourmet.ch, and now rests in peace - It reminded me all of Balcany, they are both in appearance, taste and smoking qualities, absolutely at the same level. The only difference: Balcany is 20 percent cheaper than Westminster and doesn't come in a nice tin.

Wesminster contains like Balcany full of Oriental spice, a heavy quantity of Latakia and smokes perfectly well from the top to the end without relightning. Probaly the only smoke in the world which remains the same, untill the the last leaf of the bowl is smoked off.

The taste is just amazing, earthy and very smokey, a perfectly well harmonized tabacco, which makes you smoke it over and over again. Just your fellow non-smokers might think that the roof is on fire.

Matches perfectly well with a glass of water or a single malt.

Best aromas and smoking qualities in a very large bowl.

I'm just enjoying it in a xl mario grandi pipe and get a nice nicotine load and an incredible aromatic experience.

With this wonderful tabacco, Balcany is not only available in Switzerland - Be surprised you will never really get away from it.....

A trip to the past.

Haven't smoked anything this seemingly full yet refined for many a year. Not that heavy really but not a starter blend IMO. Classic English, balanced Latakia, Virginia, and Orientals. Latakia first up, then Virginias in layers, then spicy Orientals, then all together now. Wonderful aroma in the can.

Some aging and further marrying of leaf should enhance the refinement. A bit of drying right out of the tin is helpful.

I can say no more. Words fail me now. I am speechless.

Well.... If they gave an Oscar for blends, this would win for best direction and special effects.