G. L. Pease Embarcadero

Here in April, 2018, grieving the loss of McClelland I decided to revisit the Fog City Selection of G. L. Pease which I initially experimented with about 18 months ago in the Fall of 2016. My first reintroduction was with Union Square, a straight Virginia blend from the Fog City Selection that I had not tried before. Tonight I finally smoked a big bowl full of Embarcadero. I will of course return to Union Square as I have 2 tins of it. But I have to say, on my initial re-visit, Embarcadero is stellar. DrumsAndBeer's review is very accurate. It's everything and more that's described on the tin label. Clean & slow burning, sweet yet with a depth and thick richness of flavor that expands to even greater enjoyment as one progresses through the bowl. Goodbye, McClelland, hello G.L. Pease!

This is a very well done blend, but one I have to be in the mood for. I have a bias to Latakia based blends. I love straight Virginia's and VaPer's. When it comes to VA/Oriental blends I am a bit finicky, the good ones are really good and are fantastic smokes, ones you remember. Others are bland and leave me wishing I packed another blend in my pipe. Even with the ones I really like, if I am not in the mood (and often I don't know what mood I am in..hence my problem) I do not appreciate them. This is a good one, well I guess that is redundant since it is a GLP blend. The tin note is sweet Virginia, malty and old hay loft like. There is a sour note from the Oriental and a slight spice. I detect a topping, smells like chocolate that seems to mask the Orientals, maybe it is just me but I taste it in the smoke too, albeit very subtly. This is a brooding, interesting smoke. I get sour notes from the Izmir and spice right up front that give way to malty, sweet Red Virginia's. Some grassiness to the Virginia's but malty sweetness and spice are there throughout the smoke. I get a light chocolate taste, kind of like coco puffs or some other powdered chocolate note in the aftertaste and a hint in the smoke. Dry time is key, 5-10 minutes. I have had this bite me a few times. Interesting (to me) observation: this smokes exceptionally well in Savenelli pipes with the balsa filter in. I do not know what it is but this tobacco is cooler and drier and the flavor seems more subued and complex when smoked with a balsa filter. I am NOT usually a filter smoker but with tobacco's I find erratic (or my palate being erratic) I try it with the filter in and of all the tobacco's I have done this with this one went from a 2 to a 3 on my scale (maybe even higher). I mention it only for those that feel the need to experiment. Good smoke.

Nowt special.

I really don't get why anyone would get excited about this blend. Or should I say 'this bland'.

It's very one-dimensional.

Rubbed out, it packs well. And it stays lit like a trooper. So if that's your thing. A tobacco that isn't too much hard work, then go for it.

After having tried too many GLP blends too young, I left my tin of Embarcadero to get a year of age on it before I opened it. I was very pleased with the result. This was a very pleasant tin to smoke through. Although just a simple blend of red Virginia and Izmir, there is subtle complexity in the tin and room notes. The tin note is of good red Virginia tobacco with a note of dates and a hint of spicy raisins. The room note is of good red Virginia tobacco with notes of Oriental incense. Interestingly, for as noticeable as the Izmir contribution to the tin and room notes is, it does not stand out as much in the taste. With just a year of aging, the red Virginia and Izmir flavors have blended very nicely. The taste is a rich, yet mild, red Va with just a hint of background spice. For fans of VaOri blends, Embarcadero is a must try which is going to just keep getting better with age.

G. L. Pease - Embarcadero.

This one's from a trade with my tobacco compadre Gentleman Zombie and it's one fine blend!

First thing first, it's not just a flake, mine's actually fairly well broken; it's not ribbons, but neither is it a solid flake, it's similar to C+D Burley Flake in build. The moistness is good, and as it doesn't need much breaking up I can just stuff a bowl straight from the tin and get on with a smoke.

I can't taste nuts or coffee (as per description), but the flavour I do get is sublime! The Oriental/Turkish have a rustic feel, they're not as buttery as I often find; as it says on the tin: spicy. I'd expected to get nothing from the Virginia, I thought it would be pushed out by the Oriental/Turkish but I get quite a clear note of hay which brightens the picture up a bit. The nicotine's on the mild side (to me), I wouldn't say it's emphatically mild, but I would say mild to medium. The temperature's good so long as it's not puffed too hard; that causes it to climb a bit too high, but I guess that's quite normal! The room note's alright, but in all fairness I don't get much character from it. I find the first half of the bowl seems a little more alive, after that point the flavour becomes more subdued; calmer.

This is a brilliant blend, thanks Franck!

Highly recommended.

I found this tobacco was unlike anything I have smoked previously and very enjoyable. Subdued sweetness and a bread-like note from the Red Virginia and a subtle spicy taste from the Izmir makes this blend very easy to smoke but not lacking in complexity.

I am sad to have just one bowls worth left of this stuff. Particularly sad because I am unlikely to smoke it again due to the rising costs involved in having tobacco sent to the UK from overseas. Otherwise it would have easily earned a place in my regular rotation.

The following piece on packing this tobacco is written by the Greg himself and taken from his website. I found it helped me to get the best out of this tobacco:

'In finding the best way to smoke this one, I’ve tried rubbing it right out to a fine ribbon, folding the bits of flake, rolling it into a loose ball, and every other method I could think of for packing it. For me, it seems to work best to keep the tobacco chunky, gathering enough to loosely fill the bowl with vertically aligned pieces, then giving it just enough of a press with the thumb to settle it, and go. Once under way, it smolders effortlessly, and slowly, delivering a long, lingering, leisurely smoke.'

Enjoy.

I don't have much to add to the review DrumsAndBeer wrote except that I liked this from the first bowl. It is sweet and full with a savory edge. This one is a 3 tending to 4 on my scale. I am finding I like this more and more as I smoke through a sample.

This blend benefits from a dedicated pipe, and I got consistently better results in a pipe with a tapered bowl.

A fellow smoker with more experience than me said Izmir can have some burning issues: it likes either the slow sip (smoulder) or a nuclear meltdown. Moderate smoking rates can cause it to burn unevenly. This was hard to believe at first, but I have found it to be true of this blend, and it also explains some things about my experiences with C&D Sunday Picnic, which just might contain the same Izmir! Given the choice between a slow sip and a nuclear meltdown, I choose the slow sip, and after a few bowls from a small sample I was sent, I think I have achieved this. I like it, and can't give it less than three stars, and would not argue with four, since it is quality weed. The care needed in smoking it and a certain "heady mouthfeel" (which is just a personal observation) mean I will not buy a lot of it. Still, nice, winey Virginias, exotic Izmir, the usual GLP quality, so: recommended!

My 2 oz. tin had about six months on it before breaking the seal, and I smoked all but 5 grams over several months. This never really burned well for me an array of chamber width, depths and shapes.

When it did smolder, there were some sweet notes from the Virginia, and no tang associated sometimes with similar Virginia leaf. The Izmir provided a sour wine finish that was not pleasant. The description on the tin and my scorecard tally to a different number.

Embarcadero is neither here nor there in my estimation. It is not a captivating Virginia flake, nor satisfying when I crave the subtleties and intrigue of Oriental tobaccos.

So far, I'm groping in the Fog City Selection. Only Ashbury and Lombard remain, having thus tried Union Square, Fillmore, Telegraph Hill and Montgomery. Lombard is in the cellar still. Might have to seek a sample of Ashbury before committing my lovely hours to smoking a tin.