G. L. Pease Key Largo

A well balanced English blend with the addition of cigar leaf. The Latakia, Oriental, and Virginia are blended well enough for a fine English blend and the addition of Cigar leaf may technically disqualify this as a traditional English blend, however, the Cigar leaf adds a new dimension of flavor that any English lover should surely enjoy.

Opening the tin, the creamy earthy smell is very clear and satisfying, with a hint of lemon flavours. After awhile, the cigar notes also comes to the fore.

On first light, roasted coffee is evident with faint notes of leather. Definitely less Latakia / Oriental like the previous I've reviewed (Gas light, Westminster, Charing Cross), but enough to satisfy my Latakia / Oriental crave. Unlike many other Balkan / English blends, the sweetness in this blend is so subtle, you will be forgiven to think there is none. Just enough to balance the cigar leaf's bitterness.

As you go along minding your business while smoking Key Largo, the roasted cocoa beans comes through just to remind you of the subtle yet excellent balance of this blend. Midway through the blend, the roasted cocoa becomes a bit clearer but the earthy creamy textures as described stays with you - very nice! Another winner for my from Greg Pease!

http://youtu.be/ImlsSFWdlHE

This is the best cigar leaf blend I have smoked to date. While other cigar blends out there aren't bad, they fail to capture the true essence of a cigar, not so with Key Largo. Key Largo offers a mouth full of flavor, the cigar notes are easily detected and intermingles beautifully with the oriental leaf. Latakia is used as a condiment and makes its presence well known on and off; you taste it at various points throughout the bowl but not always.

The pleasantness of the room note moght be a subject of much debate. I like strong tobacco notes and I love the smell of cigar smoke, I say that because the room note is that of a very fragrant cigar, and while pleasant to me it may likely draw criticism from those around you.

My favorite thing about this blend is the bitter taste others have mentioned, it's like drinking a strong cup of black coffee. I don't mean to say this blend tastes like coffee, it does not, it's just a poor analogy because I don't have another one.

One thing I noticed is that the blend needs some dry time. I hardly ever leave tobacco to dry before smoking it, I normally find most tinned tobacco to be at the perfect smoking stage. While this blend is not extremely moist, leaving out to dry for about an hour or so helps the flavors come through a little better and aids the lighning process.

I would recommend this blend to those who like strong tobacco, but you might find it too strong if you are used to the lighter balkans or stoved virginias.

Really enjoyed this tobacco - I'm not a big cigar fan, but this has just enough cigar leaf to give the blend a little bit of "bite" (that's good bite, not bad bite...). There is also a bitter taste, which (as a black coffee drinker) I enjoy. Smoked most of a tin during a vacation at the beach in Florida while it was **hot**, and it was very pleasant. Purchased two more tins as soon as I returned - one to smoke, and one for the shelf.

Back when I began smoking a pipe I ordered Robusto, for the curiosity factor. I didn't have much experience with pipe tobacco, or cigars, for that matter. To me, it tasted like a straight English, and I admit to having a hard time understanding why blenders would add Latakia to a cigar mix. It seems that the Latakia would overpower the cigar leaf, which should be the showcase. But most cigar blends have Latakia, and I supposed the blenders had their reasons.

Revisiting the genre, I decided to sample Key Largo largely because it was a flake and thought I might have somehow missed the subtlety in those early years. Popping the tin of Key Largo yields a beautiful line of thick, dark slices, a scent deep with smokey notes, yet strangely sweet. The tobacco has a kind of silky-textured composition--soft, fragile flakes that fall apart as you pull them from the tin.

Since my earlier trial, I've smoked a few bundles of cigars in the mean while, and felt confident that I could place the leaf this time around. And yes, it comes through, loud and harmonious, but in no way competes with the Latakia, instead building on one another to create a different kind of English...perhaps this is the reason blenders have paired the two so frequently.

The addition of cigar leaf in Key Largo is much smoother than my own experimentation, which has always turned out very harsh smokes. Thinking I'd know better, my attempts would always begin by carefully lifting the wrapper from cuttings, and mix it in, sometimes with an English, but often with VaPers or Virginia/Oriental blends in such a way that the cigar leaf would stick out. I could never get the combinations to work, and began to suspect that the Latakia had a way of masking the leaf's harsher qualities, a conviction of which I'm now almost certain (this is why blenders dedicate their entire time to ridding the rest of us of our more ignorant inclinations).

Perhaps owing to the strength of the cigar leaf, Key Largo is rather strong, and smoking a No. 5 bowl will tend to muddle one's senses. Your experience may also play differently depending on one's mood and choices of previous blends smoked. A balanced English immediately before Key Largo may make the blend appear rough, accentuating the cigar leaf. This plays out with other blends as well, as Key Largo can be finicky with some combinations of smokes (try sipping the blend with an espresso--the two compliment one another beautifully).

In short, there is a rare skill in rendering a workable pipe tobacco blend with cigar leaf. It's a matter of finesse and subtlety that are difficult to quantify, as evidenced by the mass of failed attempts. As many have said, pipers shouldn't approach these mixes with the expectation of a cigar replacement, but rather, a reminder or glimpse of their allure. In my estimation, no other blend provides that experience better than Key Largo.

This for me is a very interesting smoke, I am still working through a couple ounces of it, and I really enjoy it. I first tried this blend after having smoked through a tin of McClelland's Honeydew from the 221b series, and I found it to be an excellent follow up as for me I detected some similar flavors but with a bit more boldness. As a somewhat frequent cigar smoker, I found that the cigar leaf while definitely represented in this blend did not comprise the main entity nor did the latakia. For me this blend is very evenly balanced and delivers a wonderful interplay of flavors, I get a very peaty, mossy sort of taste out of it, and mostly pick up on the VA and burley that is present, while the Perique, Latakia and Cigar leaves for me take turns making appearances but only in hints and do not dominate the blend. This continues to be an intriguing blend to me and I recommend it over a book especially during the spring or early summer.

One reason I don't post a review until I have smoked at least 2 oz. of a tobacco is that first impressions can be misleading. My first impression of KL was that it was wonderful. And so was the next impression and so on through every bowl of the initial tin. Loving every bowl is a rarity for me.

The tin appearance is of dark tobaccos in a broken flake. The tin aroma is of a mild English without the Cyprian Latakia standing out. KL benefits from a little drying out of the tin as do most tinned blends.

It is easy to rub out into a bowl that will burn with amazing consistency and coolness. As it progresses down the bowl, you get a dry, white ash.

The initial impression upon lighting is of an English that is not too dependent upon Latakia, that leans toward the Orientals but...with a difference. The cigar leaf, which I do think is noticable, adds a spicy element that ties the whole together harmoniously. The spice increases down the bowl to a satisfying conclusion for the English lover.

My only criticism is that the room note may not be for all. My wife, who likes the smell of Latakia, turns a mild thumbs down on KL. That being said, I like KL so much, I smoke it in the house anyway.

I don't generally do cartwheels for every Greg Please blend, but this one "got me" from the beginning. I'm loading up on it as it can only get better with aging as the cigar leaf continues to develop.

A strong coffee is a terrific companion for KL--it seems to bring out the spice. (I even got suckered into buying two Key Largo coffee mugs to enhance the experience! That's how much I like it.) In all, highly recommended and congratulations to the Dark Lord on hitting a home run with Key Largo.

I love this blend. The tin description is in complete agreement with my taste buds. Key Largo is an excellent blend that never bites and delivers a consistent taste. Since stumbling on is blend several months ago it has become my morning blend, goes great with coffee.

Do not let the Cigar leaf keep you from trying this blend. As others have commented, the cigar leaf does not dominate the tobacco but adds a rich creamy base.

Update 2012-12-25: I still smoke this blend daily. Every morning I pack up my old beat up Brebbia, grab my coffee mug and off to work I go. Great blend that is consistent from tin to tin and never fails to satisfy.

A friend of mine from the east coast sent me an ounce of Key Largo and said "have you tried this?" When I first loaded my pipe I had no idea what to expect because I am a true English lover and nothing else is in my tobacco rotation but English. I have always hated cigars and avoid them like the plague/

THIS STUFF IS FANTASTIC

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I can taste a hint of cigar leaf but only so far as to add a totally different feel. This was the alternative to the steady diet of english I was looking for. This will be an addition to the late evening smoke outside in the wild life viewing area this summer/ Creamy is the perfect word for describing this tobacco. PLEASE NOTE - THERE IS NO HINT OF TONGUE BITE IN THIS TOBACCO. I CAN ONLY ASSUME THE GENTLEMAN WHO SAID IT WAS SO BAD EITHER LOADED IT POORLY OR SMOKED IT TOO FAST.

THANKS MR PEASE FOR ANOTHER FANTASTIC SMOKE/