G. L. Pease Union Square

When I started looking into straight Virginia blends, I quickly settled on this one as the first to really try and take apart. I'm a devotee of the GLP blends and know that aging really takes some of them to a sublime level. So when I saw a few 2009 tins on pipestud's website at basically retail, I jumped.

The broken flake is kind of weird. I've found that lots of the GLP broken flakes are really variable, in that you'll sometimes get a tin that's really broken, and sometimes they're mostly intact. I'm guessing that shipping is what breaks a lot of these.

The tin note is really deep and earthy, and if the blend had any bright leaf in it to begin with, five years has allowed them to darken. In the pipe there are lots of different notes coming and going: a subdued sweetness, deeper, earthy flavors that I tend to associate with orientals, a little bit of cigar-like spice. I'm bad at describing component flavors of a blend, but let me say that this is well-integrated and, as I think someone else said, highly complex across a narrow frequency band. There aren't bass notes that latakia or dark-fired Kentucky can provide, and none of the highs that perique or bright Virginias bring, but in the middle there is a ton going on. How much of this is inherent in the blend, and how much comes from aging, I can't be sure. But it's sublime, whatever it is.

I'm happy to have another tin of this aging away, and I'm going to get some more. This isn't necessarily a blend I would smoke all day, as the nicotine can build up a bit, and I do like some condimental leaf with complex Virginias. But for someone like me who doesn't like overbearing sweetness in his pipe, this is a fine, fine blend.

EDIT On the strength of that 5 year old tin, I ordered an 8 oz tin. I did my usual thing and split it up into 4 mason jars, and opened one of them right away. I'm a little disappointed. The flakes are a little chunkier, which is fine, but the cigar-note that I liked in the old tin is really amplified here, kind of taking over the subtler notes that I really liked. So for me, this is 3 stars fresh, and 4 with age.

I'm careful to make sure that I have enough time to smoke a full bowl of this stuff. Besides Navy Escudo Duluxe, I don't have a more consistent burning tobacco in the cellar. It's my first GLP and it has really caught my attention.

I would agree with some reviews below; age this a bit and it smokes like gold in your pipe. Though, I did enjoy the first pipe right out of a fresh tin. Man, those are beautiful flakes.

Lights easy, packs well, burns so nicely and so cool that I sometimes think that its not burning at all. To me, when I light this one up I'm left thinking that this is the way tobacco was meant to smoke (and smell).

And I think, contrary to popular opinion, this might be one that somebody relatively new to pipe smoking could try without getting blown away by the strength and swell Vitamin N content.

Nuff sed.

Disclaimer: I find reviewing straight Virginias difficult because they require a very refined palate to discern the subtle nuances...but I'm learning as best I can. US burns well, has an acceptable room note, doesn't bite, and has a rich Virginia sweetness. I'd recommend it for those wnating a pleasant straight Virginia experience.

Edit, 2015, feb.: after revisiting this, and the other tins that had aged over the years... they didn't last long, turned into a stellar tobacco, complex, yet well married, high nic, give it a chance if you're one of the naysayers, hold onto it for a while.

This being my first online review take it for what it's worth. That being said I figured on reviewing this tobacco for a couple reasons; I am almost exclusively a virgina and virginia perique blend smoker, Union Square being a virginia i figured I had some, if any, credibilty, take it fwiw. And two, this blend just doesnt do it for me.

Upon opening you are overwhealmed with that lovely BBQ/ketchupy aroma that some love and some love to hate. I love it, but have learned to grow cautious of it, why? Because sometimes it just needs more maturity, durring this maturity i find that the ketchup mellows out over time, not completely, but subtle hints of other virginia earthy flavors win-out over time. Such is the case wth this blend in my opinion. And I didnt just come to this conclusion from the tin aroma alone, i've got less than 1/4 of the tin left after a trial an error period. While very smooth, and married, lacks depth of taste due to the robust middle-ground flavor. Not many high notes, or low notes usually attributed to the airy Hay-like sweetness of some bright virginias, or the dark muddy notes of a pressure firmented beast, this Union Square lies somewhere in the middle with the potential for subtle whisps of both high and low va tastes. But my tin, without a doubt, needs more age. She's too green for me folks, a little boring. I will let my tins age some more and update accordingly. Would I recommend this? Well yes to a fellow virgina smoker, and no, to anyone else, fore it's not what I would want anyone basing their virgina experiences on. Tempermental, and boring. But has potential to be great. Thanks for reading, hope it helps.

Perfect, and to think I almost didn't try this because I never thought of G L Pease as a Virginia blender. Now how to describe ? Take 1/4 Briar Fox as a base, add 1/4 Mac Barens Virginia #1 for sweetness, add 1/4 Wessex Brigade Campaign Dark Flake for fruity nuances, finally add 1/4 Solani 660 Silver Flake for the Kentucky spice . 4 Stars

Agree with Zulujerk below

Updated 10/30/12 I'm a little disapointed with my second tin, it just doesn't have the sweet high notes I found in my first. It falls closer to Briar Fox than the others I called out. Maybe it's the age of the second tin but I need to take this down one star . Still a fine tobacco but more of a "Brown Flake"

Smoking a 2 yr old tin. It is a fine VA, and is clearly from a crop selected for pipe smoking. Highly evident crystallized sugars on the leaf. That said, my tin was not evidently sweet in flavour as some suggest it is. Nice format and good tobacco. There are many in its class but it is worthy of recognition since it is available and characteristic. With such simple tobaccos, I sometimes wonder how much is the art of blending versus just harvesting and processing a crop of a particular field in a particular year. Is the Union Square of 2011 the same as my tin of 2009 or am I simply tasting the leaf from a unique crop bought by the blender at an auction, that eventually runs out? Perhaps we must start to treat such tobaccos as vintages, and demand the craftsmen to label their products with the year as vintners do rather than just date the bottom of the tins..

Tin: Comes packed in a flap-eared cardboard container inside the tin. Smells of a light wheat, bread or hay. Mottled light to dark tan. The slices are delicate and easily fall apart.

Packing & Burning: It is frustrating the way the slices are packed. They are on edge, instead of lying flat. The slices were easy to rub between the fingers into small pieces. Although I smoked US without any drying, left out to dry, it was fairly dry in a few minutes.

Taste & Aroma: Something like a mild wheat, hints of leather, mixed with a grassy astringency(maybe due to lack of age), tangy and a little sour, with an occasional hint of cigarette.

Room Note: Pleasant and pleasing

Overall: I like the fact that it is pure VA. For this alone, it deserves 4 stars. Some elements of the taste and aroma are too off-putting. 3.4 Stars.

I've been waiting for almost two years to review this tobacco. During my initial tin, Novemeber 2009, I knew there was something special going on but it smoked so bitter I simply couldn't have recommended it at that time. So in taking my time with Union Square; aging it, drying it, rubbing it out, smoking it in whole flake etc I have come to the conclusion that it is a very fine virginia. Lots of flavour going on here throughout the smoke. It goes from deep delightful sweetness to sort of earthy bittery grit back to sweet and tasty in nearly an instant. For those of you folks who smoke or have smoked Lustleigh Velvet, a house blend from Martin MacGahey's shop at Exeter UK reputed to be similar to Gallaher's Rich Dark Honeydew, you may find Union Square to have a resemblance to the Lustleigh as that was most definately my experience.

This is a pretty subtle Virginia flake. Mostly broken flake in the tin. Very light tasting to me. Good flavor, no topping or casing noticed. You really should smoke this in a Virginia-only pipe as it is a very delicate taste that could be swamped by the ghosts of stronger tobacco from your pipe.