G. L. Pease Westminster

At the time of my review submission, there are 249 reviews and most are giving high praise and lengthy notes on this blend. Not much else can be said. A quintessential, medium English blend that holds in quality to any contender. The Latakia seems to nose out the Orientals in the race to the end of the smoke while the Virginas offer a slight fruitiness. Little relights and a dry smoke. Pick yourself some up.

4/12/2020 update:

More evaluation time has lowered my feelings of this blend (which usually the opposite happens). I certainly dont dislike the blend but it leaves me wanting on sweetness from the Virignas and spiciness from the Orientals. It's a quality medium Latakia blend but doesnt stand out.

UPDATE 11/8/10

This one has either improved or my tastes have changed. I still wouldn't recommend it as a reference English blend but a 3 year old tin does possess some refinement that was missing in the more youthful versions. But it still seems too "murky" for want of a better word. Having recently smoked a fair amount of Meridian, it just seems to me that Mr Pease's intent with this one went unrealized, just as he absolutely nailed it with Meridian. Of course, I have no idea what he was going for in either case, so those comments are meaningful to me alone. Let's just say that whatever dollars I may have earmarked for this one are going directly towards Meridian... along with dollars earmarked for other blends! Westminster is not bad; it's actually very good. It just doesn't distinguish itself the way Meridian does.

UPDATE 6/13/09

I got a sample of this as part of a large trade and I thought, what the hey, maybe it's not as bad as I remember it. The good news is, it's not. Whatever oddball flavor I got before was apparently in that tin, which must have been bad somehow. This one smoked cool and smooth... and unmemorable. The sender noted that it was two years old. I still can't recommend it but this time it didn't have that terrible funky taste from my previous tin. It just seems to have that annoying GLP virtue of the various tobaccos either doing too much or not enough. But that's a personal observation, not an absolute. It wasn't to my tastes but it might be to yours.

ORIGINAL REVIEW 12/25/08

I came into this blend with extremely high expectations - and that may be the problem. I smoked 4 bowls of this, both in briar and meerschaum pipes, and each time I noticed a very odd taste that I couldn't put my finger on. The recipe seems standard and I should have really liked the blend, but the taste was just too objectionable. It seemed like each of the ingredient tobaccos were fighting with each other for the forefront - it just didn't marry well. It's obviously a high quality tobacco and I've added a star based on that. I suppose I could have gotten a bad batch but I don't care to try again. 4 bowls and I threw the rest in the trash.

This blend shows the different chemical balances in people, as so many appear to really like this stuff. I wish I could have enjoyed it! I did enjoy the room note, however. When I left the room and re-entered, it smelled heavenly!

If I were to give a quick summary I'd say that G.L. Pease Westmisnter is like Dunhill Nightcap but without such a strong "nic-kick." That couild be good or bad depending on what you're after I suppose, but if you're seeking English flavour without a heavy nicotine hit, Westminster is a great option. If you are after the nic "buzz", you'll likely want to stick with Nightcap.

Flavour wise, this is a typical English. It has a very meat and potatoes quality to it, smokiness imparted by the latakia, but also something of a church incense quality to it that comes through in the flavour. (I specify church incense so as not to confuse what I mean with that cheap, sickeningly and fake sort of sweet stick "incense" that appears in dollar stores and other such places). It's a hard thing to describe but it is pleasant. It is the sort of sweetness that isn't sugary, but sweet in a woodsy sort of way.

All said, an enjoyable blend. It's not overly harsh, but neither is it too light. Clearly a classic.

Tin note is what you'd expect of an English: smokey.

Moisture levels are perfect. You can smoke it right out of the tin without any drying and no trouble keeping it lit.

Westminster has a very similar flavor profile to many English mixtures that have the word "Balkan" associated with them. If I were to posit that English mixtures contain four basic flavor elements present in some particular character, strength, and proportion to one another (coffee stout, campfire, cinnamon/spice, and incense), AND that Dunhill's London Mixture has these four in precisely equal proportion, then I would also say that Westminster is balanced heavily to the coffee stout and campfire points of the compass in comparison. It is rich and sweet, with chocolate, coffee, and woodsmoke flavors dominating. There is a bit of spice present as well, more baked goods than incense, though.

I find that the taste of the tobaccos is satisfying, but somewhat muddled overall. I miss some of the sharp edges and detail of my favorite English mixtures (London Mixture and Red Rapparee). And there is a bit too much latakia for my taste. Not that I don't like a lot of latakia, but that I miss what it replaces in the blend. After all, it has to add up to 100%.

And the cut. I'm pretty sure I could make better ribbons with a chef's knife. I guess the wonky blend of shapes and sizes is supposed to be charming, but I have a hard enough time getting a uniform tobacco to burn the way i want. The sense of accomplishment and triumph over adversity I feel when I make it to the bottom of a bowl of Pease tobacco does not bolster my self esteem. It is too much like work. Maybe a broader bowl would help? Maybe a better attitude?

A fairly fresh tin, 5/6/21. Open the tin to find an attractive ribbon cut, fairly typical of English mixtures. It looks like Nightcap, it looks like My Mixture 965. Smell is fairly mild, predominantly sour/vinegar with a sweetish undertone. Not super complex. Rather moist, so I pull some out to dry while I brew some tea. Taylor of Harrodsgate Scottish Breakfast. Prelight draw refers back to the tin note, but adds an undertone of ripened cheese. I remember getting that same note from Nightcap. Looking forward to this.

The charring light brings a blast of that savory, salty cheese note, which quickly gives way to a fairly typical English profile: smoke, incense, campfires. The cheese doesn’t go away completely, which is good, because the other flavors are so typically English that I think Westminster would get lost in the mix. Both sipping and tugging give me the same flavor profile, but sipping and retrohaling offer more complexity than tugging.

A very user-friendly English. No bite, not overly hot. Very well-behaved. I find this slightly more Oriental-forward, not as much as Squadron Leader, but more than Nightcap. There is a moderate drying effect from the oriental tobaccos, which makes having a drink at hand a good idea. I would suggest something malty and sweet, bourbon or port or tea with sugar. Certainly not peated scotches. This Scottish breakfast tea does quite nicely.

There isn’t much development down the bowl. But there needn’t be. Cram this one in your pipe and go about your business— this is what I call a lawnmower blend. Straightforward, consistent flavor that doesn’t demand too much of your attention, nicotine levels that don’t require you to sit down and smoking mechanics that are pretty much set it and forget it. I didn’t get much of a nicotine hit at all.

My tastes run more these days to virginias and burley, and I missed a bit of nutty sweetness here. A tad more brightleaf wouldn’t be amiss in Westminster. But what do I know? You want English? This is English. Good quality English.

Lat flavor early, sun-cured flavor late. The Virginias never provide that creamy sweet foundation that I would expect from a good medium English blend.

Pease called London Mixture the classic English, so I can assume he was aiming for something like that when he made this. Except that he seems to think there's hardly any Virginia in London Mixture, which is probably why this attempted match goes from Latakia flavor to Oriental flavor without the unifying presence of good Virginia to tie it all together.

I don't know what people were smoking when they described Westminster as ribbon-cut, but it's got small chunks of broken Virginia flake, smaller chunks of Latakia, some stuff that looks loosely tumbled out, and some ribbon in it ... along with plenty of stems and shop floor sweepings. It's cut as a Mixture or coarse cut, not a ribbon. A kindergartener would make a more uniform ribbon cut.

Get some Butera Latakia No. 1 instead, and smoke a well-blended classic English.

CONFUSED! First, this is not a ribbon cut. I have some short ribbon but most of it is chucks. Some of which are 1.5 inches long and over 1/2 inch wide. Some look like cub cuts too.

Second. This blend is heavily topped with something. Nothing in the description indicates that this is an aromatic English blend but that is what it is. When I opened the tin I could see a sugary substance all over the tobacco.

Third, although I find toppings generally forgivable this is too much when looking for a straight English blend. It does complement the tobacco but more like cream in a cup of medium bodied coffee.

Taste is not too bad. The Lat. is there, the VA's and oriental's are muted because of the topping however. The base flavor reminds me of a butter milk like creaminess (think of a good traditional lemon butter milk pie with a proper butter crust). I have never tasted a straight tobacco that could provide this type of creaminess and with such over the top flavor and sweetness that I think this is the topping coming through.

I would suggest Pease add a note about whatever this is topped with. I will not finish the tin.

I will also say that this is my first experience with the Pease blends I hope that others are properly described I hate throwing out tobacco and I would hate to have to stop exploring what many consider a great American blenders tobaccos. I will give another blend of his a try before I discontinue altogether but this really does not set well with me.

2 stars because the flavor is good it would be a great way for the aromatic lover to get a first taste of Lat. for me however, the flavor of the topping is just too much to find it enjoyable enough to continue to smoke.

I'm an unabashed fan of GL Pease concoctions (I'm one of those guys who's actually willing to shell out the big bucks on E-bay for some his stuff), but this one has got some problems that didn't become apparent until I'd gone through a few tins.

Flavor-wise, this stuff is spectacular if you enjoy English mixtures. The taste of latakia is balanced perfectly by rich, deep VAs while the orientals add a nice complexity. The whole is even greater than the sum of its parts, and I can easily understand why so many smokers consider this to be the best example of a medium English available today.

Now, for the negatives ....First off, Westminster seems terribly difficult to keep lit. This didn't seem to be a problem with the first batch I tried, but the second and third tins (both with different production dates) shared this characteristic. Second, this stuff ended up scorching my tongue in a scary way, as in "blood- welling-up-from-a-red-spot-on-my-tongue-before-I-realized-what-was-happening" scary. The only other blends to have done this to me were Cairo, MacBaren's Va. No.1, and Bed and Breakfast. I believe that tongue bite is to some degree a matter of personal chemistry as well as technique, and I imagine that I'm reacting poorly to some of the orientals or VAs used in this blend. Perhaps I just haven't figured out the right technique to use with this one, but I've tried everything I know (and many different pipes) with no success.

I'm giving this two stars because I simply can't smoke it (and others, albeit a minority, have echoed my experience). On the other hand, if you find no problems with combustion and your body chemistry allows you to to smoke this, I imagine it would be a three- or four-star blend. I've still got a few tins left, so I should be able to crack one open every year or two to see how it's coming along. If time smooths out the rough edges, Westminster's going to be one for the ages.

Not one of my favourite Pease blends. When I tried it fresh, it was harsh and rather too bitter for me. I put it away for over a year and in that time it did smooth out, but I still much prefer other Pease offerings in this category.