G. L. Pease Key Largo

This one is easy. Key Largo lives up to its tin description in spades for me. I'm sure it will get even better with age.

This is another one of those easy reviews. Read the tin description, it's spot on! This blend tastes great, it's rich and creamy, beautifully balanced with richly textured flavors, dark rich earthy flavors with a long lingering finish.

And that's why I will never buy another tin. That damn long lingering finish is impervious to food, brushing, mouthwash and time, just forget about it, it will be with you at least until the next day.

SOAP BOX TIME, Even though I will never buy another tin, I gave it a strong three+ stars, why, because it tastes good and it delivers! It delivers what the tin says it delivers, including that long finish that I didn't like. I point this out because I see many aromatics get one or two stars because the reviewer will buy a blend that claims to be aromatic, or mild & sweet, states it on the tin, and then, that same reviewer will give it one star and claim " I smoke Latakia blends, I don't like aromatics" or "This blend is mild and sweet, it's for little girls"

Well, we now know it's not for RETARDS !!! Why did you buy it !

I'm Sorry. All I'm trying to say(IMHO)is, judge an aromatic as an aromatic, judge a Balkan blend as a Balkan blend, an English as an English.

It's the Right thing to do!

P.S. Oh ya, I forgot the best one of all, no no really, someone wrote this, "I really liked this blend, it tasted great. But I could never give an aromatic more than two or three stars". What in the hell does that mean? Who are these people? There are all types of quality blends out there, and there are bad blends in every genre from english to aromatic. Judge them for what they are.

OK, I'm done. I'm sorry.

I enjoy VA, VAPer. and English blends as well as cigars from the likes of Rocky Patel, Arturo Fuente, and Don Tomas. I was very excited about smoking this blend as the tobacco combination with cigar leaf sounded like a very rich smoking experience. I smoked this tobacco in a Lorenzo medium bent pipe and the tobacco was at an OK moisture level out of the tin. The tin aroma was very earthy, slightly fermented virginia with just a hint of latakia. This carried on exactly the same throughout the smoke with the occasional hint of cigar leaf if I exhaled the smoke through my nostrils(is that wrong to do?) The latakia comes out as more sweet than spicy and, along with the cigar leaf, is very subdued as the virginias and orientals dominate the blend with a pleasing spicy, earthy sweet interplay. Definitely has the complexity and noticeable nicotine content that is key for my enjoyment of most blends. The only complaint I have that causes me to reserve the fourth star is that no matter what time of day or what pipe I choose, this blend has an annoying licorice-like aftertaste about 2/3rds into the bowl. Wonder if anyone else noticed this or if its just my personal taste. Will try more Pease blends as this has been my first and I was very impressed with the quality of tobaccos used.

First review! G.L. Pease is generally a good English blend supplier. Key Largo (recomended to my by my tobaccanist) was an experiment that I enjoyed. When I had first tried this, I had not switched to English blends completely yet. The strength is pretty controled and the taste is wonderful. I would recomend, however, that you sip on this blend. The taste kicks too much when it is pushed. All in all, this blend would be recomended to any English blend lover to be put in a rotation. I would not recomend this as an all day tobacco, but that really depends on your own taste.

Predominantly dark thinly sliced and broken strips of pressed tobacco. The tin nose is rounded and earthy with the tale-tell aroma of Orientals and an underlying syrupy-nutty sweetness. Tinned rather moist, the thin slices are easily rubbed to taste and take well to a variety of pipes.

In the bowl, Key Largo burns like a dream, producing voluminous clouds of billowy smoke which are fresh and inviting. A friendly blend, it possesses nothing in the way of the rough edges one might expect given its component parts. In fact, everything falls into line so well here that, for this reviewer at least, it takes some effort to identify where the Virginias stop and the Oriental begins, where the cigar leaf sits as opposed to the Latakia, and so forth and so on. While the tin label touts its complexity, to this reviewer Key Largo is not an overly contemplative blend but rather simply a nice no fuss smoking tobacco that does its job dependably in a myriad of different situations.

Possessing a satisfying richness, the mouthfeel is creamy. Flavor notes fall in the middle range: coffee and cocoa, whole wheat toast and dark chocolate. A stout blend, it takes well to a variety of pipes and is absolutely bite free. The long finish is smoky and a bit nutty, with just a touch of sourness and spice, presumably from the Izmir leaf or cigar leaf, or both. Key Largo is a natural for summer weekends: gently packed into a favorite briar while lounging on the porch after mowing the lawn, or stuffed into an oversized cob clenched tight while tending to the barbeque pit in the back yard. As versatile as it is dependable, it gets the job done, plain and simple. I like this blend precisely because I do not have to think about it too much, remaining quite content to let it happily smolder away while concentrating on the task at hand.

Being a relatively new creation the tin on which the review is based is, obviously, something of a youngster (tinned in Nov. 2008, and opened in May 2009), and one wonders what might happen to it with age? We will see, for a small cache will certainly be making its way into this reviewer's cellar.

Very nicely accomplished mixture. Similar blends are usually dominated by the cigar leaf strong presence, but this ones achieves a rarely found balance with Virginias and Orientals, with Latakia staying in the background, although being always noticeable.

I give it 3.5 stars, only because most of the times I end up with a rather bland 1/3 of the bowl.

This is one of two Pease blends in particular that will age extremely well - the other being Union Square. There is no doubt that cellaring this for at about 5 years will bring it very close to being sublime.

To me, the cigar leaf is very noticable - and that is a good thing. Its presence adds a completely new dimension to Pease tobaccos. Apparently this is Mr. Pease's only foray into cigar leaf blends, and I must say, the result is quite interesting.

Key Largo smokes easily, stays fairly dry in the bowl, and requires only slight attention. There is simply nothing to offend. I do feel however that this blend is rather light and "whispy" which is not a negative at all. In fact, its light mouth feel and subtlety would make this a great after breakfast smoke. The smell in the tin is like heaven, and the broken flake is just fabulous. My goodness, you almost want to eat it with your grits and dunk it in your coffee ( yeah, I'm Southern ).

The latakia content is much too light, and I only wish Mr. Pease had added more of it. On the other hand, if the latakia were "ramped up" it would probably overpower the cocoa notes of the cigar leaf; which in retrospect is the star attraction as far as condiments go.

You may want to consider dedicating a pipe to this blend in order to realize the nuances of Key Largo. I would also suggest trying it first in a tester pipe or a corn cob, as I feel it may leave a slight ghost in your everday pipes.

If you are searching for a light blend, or a morning smoke that would replace Dunhill's Early Morning Pipe, then I would recommend this blend without reservation. A solid 3 stars.

* Note *

Early Morning Pipe and Key Largo have little in common and DO NOT have the same flavor profile. I only compare the two as a means of finding an "after breakfast" style smoke.

I hope that you have enjoyed my review.

Ok... I'm sure you've all been wondering whether the heartburn issue was resolved by aging. I'm pleased to announce that it has; yesterday (23 January 2011) I opened a tin that was sealed 18 July 2008. I am currently smoking my second bowl of Key Largo from this tin; I am enjoying it thoroughly and have experienced absolutely no heartburn whatsoever... I have no doubt that most of you are happy, if not downright ecstatic, to learn this. If you're not, I at least I'm ecstatic that I had enough foresight to cellar a second tin of Key Largo, also dated 18 July 2008. And so the tin I am currently smoking had two years, six months and five days "age" on it when I opened it yesterday. If it is this good with two and a half years aging, I wonder how good it will be with five to seven years... probably phenomenal. Mr. Pease remains my favorite blender; every blend of his that I've smoked has been just about exactly as he describes.

//Original Review 05/13/2009// Well, I loved this tobacco... unfortunately it did not reciprocate. I thoroughly enjoyed the rich Red Virginia, the hint of latakia and the occasional subtle taste of cigar wrapper leaf. However, each time I smoked it I developed horrendous heartburn. Some blends do this to me and I've never been able to pin down that specific element that brings the heartburn on. I can and occasionally do enjoy cigars on their own; my favorite pipe blends are the heavier English / Balkan mixtures (I can smoke C & D's Pirate Kake all day) and I very much enjoy the various manifestations of Virginia/Perique as well as straight Virginias such as Sam Gawith's FVF or BBF. None of my favorite blends give me heartburn and I was very much looking forward to establishing a deep and abiding relationship with Key Largo. Indeed, my first bowl started out fantastic - I thought "Oh man, this is gonna be great!" After about five minutes the heartburn started... however I stubbornly finished the bowl (after chewing down several Tums). Next day the same story and the day after that, etc. and each time it seemed as if the heartburn began quicker and became more painful. So I gave the rest of the tin to a friend who is not experiencing any problems at all... he loves it, as well he should, for it is an excellent blend. I have three tins of Key Largo that I've cellared; Lord willing I'll open a tin once it's got a year on it and see if a bit of age has destroyed or at least diminished the heartburn element.

This blend is only for those that like cigars. It has the base foundation in a typical English Blend but with the addition of cigar leaf. I really didn't care for this blend as it had a very nasty aftertaste and mouth feel. Give me wicked tongue bite something terrible. The only reason I am keeping it, is that it was a gift, also...there are those times when I crave a cigar. I bet it would improve with some cellaring.