G. L. Pease Union Square

This is the last of three Pease tobaccos I bought a couple of months back and the one I've had the most problems discerning the flavour. Still, I have had a lot of pleasure from it so here goes the review.

The tin aroma has hints of lemon and the flakes are a nice mix of yellows and light brown and rub out very easily, once again I find myself impressed by the colour and consistency of Pease's offerings. The packing is easy and lighting is never an issue. The flavour is funny, as I can't pin it down to anything familiar, there are occasional hints of lemon but it's nothing consistent. I hate to disagree with most other reviewers here but I did find this incredibly strong, perhaps one of the strongest tobaccos I've smoked, and I have learned to puff it gently as a result. I do agree with Moniker that this one is better smoked when dry rather than damp, as the flavours come out better.

For me, this is a very good tobacco, let down a little by the strength and the issues discerning the flavour. It fully justifies another tin and perhaps a bit of aging as and when my bank balance allows.

Two-thirds of the way through a tin from 2011... one word. Pure. This tin description is spot on.

My thoughts are coming from the position of a relative novice in the ways of Virginias... so please, take this all with a grain of salt... but I have to say that Mr Pease's Union Square has been the most overwhelmingly positive experience I've had with a straight VA tobacco to date. I've enjoyed Tilbury, McClellands Brindle Flake and Gawith's Best Brown, but I've come to realize that these smokes have been, for lack of a better word, misguided and uniformed.

The beauty of US is that it more or less TELLS you how to smoke it. Everything I've read and been told about how to enjoy VA's has come to fruition in this flake. You do as you should and it yields immediate and wonderful results. It demonstrates all the rewards that slow, controlled and thoughtful pipe smoking can offer.

As far as flavor goes, zulujerk nailed it. The sweetness is sharper and clearer than more mature, dark flakes. I'd add turbinado sugar, the bready sweetness of whole wheat bread as opposed to molasses, caramel and stewed fruit. Fresh hay, toast and a pleasant tartness like Meyer lemons. The smoke is full and voluminous without being creamy.

The flavor is clean, concise and thoroughly enjoyable. The purity of expression is this tobacco's strong suit. I'd put this experience on par with that of drinking Elmer T Lee bourbon, or playing a Telecaster guitar. It's not flashy. It's not full of bells and whistles. But to the uninitiated, it is a formal initiation into the truest form. And for the experienced, a joyful foray into the simplest (in a Zen sense) distillation of what they love. This is kind of the sushi of tobaccoes, if you will.

But I'm waxing a little philosophical here. In the end, this is just a fantastic way to enjoy pipe smoking.

I'm curious to see how this ages and will be getting another tin or two for cellaring.

Thank you, Greg Pease, for the excellence.

One of my all-time favorite light straight VAs. 2oz tins didn't last very long so I graduated to 8oz tins. Yep, it's pricier than a lot of other VAs out there but I think it's worth it. Don't compare this to SG's FVF or McC's Blackwoods, or any Danish flake. It's a totally different animal. Broken flake of light and red VAs with apparently no(?)topping/casing (I believe it). A great light tin note of hay, buttered pancakes, a little malt and a bit of citrus. Basically. makes you want to eat it out of the can. Needs a little air and dry time 'cause it's deceptively rather dry-appearing upon opening. Not conducive to fold and stuff. Flakes are packed on their their side and I have yet to retrieve a foldable flake out of a tin. So I rub it out. Initial smoke is very citrusy but then it builds to an earthy sweetness that is incredible to me. And every now and then a bitter-sweet note of citrus rind in the background. Absolutely the closest I've had a tobacco smoke in comparison to its tin note ! Perhaps not the most complex tobacco on the planet, but then not a whole lot of ingredients in here either. Just some really nicely treated straight Virginia tobacco. No perique, no burley, no nothing. I'm not foresaking any of of my other VA favorites. I have several. Just another addition to a nice variety! If you think you like virginias, or think you might like 'em, give it a spin.

I've been wanting to try this for a long while now and started off with a 2 oz tin. The tin aroma had a very pleasant sweetness to it - no discernible top note, just a pleasant Virginia sweetness. The tobacco was in flake form and neatly stacked about in the small tin.

My sample was just the right moisture level for packing and smoking. It took to the match readily and required one or two relights along the way (more due to the fact that I had to put it down from time to time as I was doing some work at home). The overall Virginia character, for me, was reminiscent of Mac Baren's Virginia No. 1 which I enjoy very much. This offering, however, did not smoke hot like Mac's at all, nor was there even a tingling to the tongue. It was one of the most pleasant tasting Virginia smokes I have ever had. So much so that I won't be as concerned at the moment over the lack of availability of FVF or BBF from Samuel Gawith as it blows those two out of the water. Union Square has a nice nicotine presence for those who are interested in such things, and not over the top. I rated the flavoring as mild. There may not have been anything added as such, but this Virginia was pleasantly sweet and not bland by any means. There was some moisture present even after sufficient drying. The room note was exquisite, subtly sweet and not in any way cigarette-like or ashy. Returning to the room for DGT can be addicting! Smoked like a charm in a Weber sandblast (looks and smokes like a Dunhill) medium poker.

If you favor straight Virginias, this is, in my opinion, much more enjoyable than FVF or BBF, different than Dunhill Flake, but good in its own way.

UPDATE 1-17-12: As tasty as it was originally, the flavor and sweetness really comes to the fore after several months aging. There was some minimal harshness when smoked fresh, but now greatly subdued. Not a 4 star yet for me nor a regular in rotation, but when the muse strikes, it makes for a good smoke.

UPDATE 2-28-13: Going on 2yrs 1mo of aging what's left of my 8oz tin - about 3 ounces - this is the ticket for pure VA flavor and enjoyment. Simply stellar and up to the vaulted realm of 4 stars!

My first tin was just over a year old. Second tin was just under a year old. Older is better.

The tin aroma is intoxicating, in a good way.

It did not seem too wet straight out of the tin. But even after drying for days, it smoked somewhat wet and hot, and required frequent relights.

The nicotine hit me halfway through my first bowl in a large poker. By the end of my first pipe of Union Square, I was woozy and sweaty and needed to lie down. I smoke a lot of strong tobaccos, and Peterson Irish Flake is a favorite, but this one is significantly stronger. Choose a smaller pipe and go slow. Should have named it Union Buzz.

The flavors are also somewhat overwhelming. Full Virginia Flake is bland compared to Union Square. It is prone to bite, so slow smoking is a must.

This blend has one of the most pleasant room notes that you will come across. It smells the way a pipe should smell.

After leaving the tin open for a couple of days, and still drying the rubbed out leaf for another hour, it smokes much better: less bite, less astringency, more sweetness. When first opened, this tobacco is too young, too wet, and too strong to be an all day or every day smoke. After three months of occasional exposure to the air and storage in a glass jar, Union Square is finally mellow enough to make it into my regular rotation.

Best enjoyed with strong coffee on a sunny morning on the back porch, with the rhododendrons in bloom and the hummingbirds buzzing and a view of the sea, and nowhere to go and nothing to do...

A nicely prepared flake that although moist from the tin, packed easily. The intial light was a bit more difficult than others but no relights were needed. Smoked cool and without bite or condensation. I found the taste rather flat although I typically smoke Va/Pers. It also left my mouth extremely dry after each bowl and that spoiled any enjoyment for me.

This is a three star, not a four star for me right now, but my tin is young, I love the idea of an almost purely natural Virginia, and I can tell that with age it will earn that fourth star. The elements are all there: Virginia sweetness that is understated at first yet grows as the bowl progresses, balance, purity; perhaps too much purity at this age, but I'm sure a few years will corrupt it nicely. There really are no overtones or adjuncts to the young Virginia flavor at this point. Even so, it is a fine smoke. I will return to this review when it has sat in the jar for a while. I think this is a great one to cellar, so as regards the review below mine, anyone wishing to chuck their can, contact me first!

4-6-11 A year along in the jar. I seem to detect an improvement. Nice, natural Virginia smoke.

Well, what to say about Union Square?

I received a sample pouch of this tobacco. I found the cut to be interesting. It was the perfect moisture. Packed surprisingly well in my Savinelli Roma. Took a few times of lighting to get it going&probably because of the cut. Once lit, it didnt go out. Certainly fine quality, no doubt. These are the good things.

I didnt like the aroma much, but didnt dislike it before lighting. After lighting, I didnt like it at all. Burns much too hot to enjoy. This is a tobacco you MUST pay attention to or it will bite you in a horrible way. I actually found it to be fairly boring. Those who are will surely enjoy Union Square. Unfortunately, I couldnt even make it half way into the bowl before dumping it out. Not for me. I suppose, I am just not a straight Virginia man.

This is a wonderful tobacco. Perhaps the everyday smoke that I have been searching for since I deemed Briar fox to be a bit too much for me on a daily basis. First reactions upon opening the tin were very thin flakes, light and almost "tissuey". Lovely pure tobacco scent. Two flakes stuffed into my Castello bulldog and off to the races I went. A dry wheat taste to begin with that lingered well into the bowl. I concur with the "toastiness" expressed by other reviewers. Never became harsh as FVF can. I don't have the tongue for the subtleties but when you can smoke a Virginia tobacco and not get bit, you know that Pease outdid himself.

This is quite the interesting blend. A Virginia without toppings? Admittedly, I don't have a huge amount of experience under my belt regarding pipe smoking, but I have surely never heard of such a thing. I was rather excited to discover that my local B&M was carrying this new blend, so I grabbed a tin that had a little over a month age to it (4/6/09). Upon cracking open the sucker, I was met with an intriguing scent. I could definitely smell Virginias in there, but they were unlike any I had put under my nose before. The classic tangy Virginia smell was there with a vague hint of spice, but there was also a strong "earthy" scent in the mix. I found it to be very reminiscent of a burley blend, though it lacked the strong nuttiness. This definitely got me interested.

The cut of this tobacco is a coarse rub, with some larger flake pieces intermingled. The moisture is surprisingly low for what I would expect of a flake tobacco, but this cuts down on waiting for it to dry--I suspect some would even consider it to be just right for packing. The stuff is incredibly soft and flexible, even after a little drying, once again something I haven't seen in most other flakes I have sampled. Incidentally, packing is a breeze. My experience showed it to best benefit from a light packing if using a deep bowl, especially if left a little moist.

Light-up was like any other tobacco. The stuff catches pretty easily, so lighting was a pain-free operation for me. The initial aromas definitely reminded me of other straight Virginias, such as Full Virginia Flake. The flavor, however, is quite a bit different. The more typical flavors of Virginias come through along with the slightest whisper of spice, but there is only a subtle sweetness and a more earthy flavor. The earthiness is very similar to burley, as wildebeest mentioned. Overall, the flavor of the tobacco gave me the impression of a medium Virginia. Compared to FVF, the flavor is a bit less powerful and forthright. Definitely a blend to concentrate on.

In general, this is yet another well-put-together blend by Mr. Pease. I must agree with wildebeest in saying that straight Virginia fans should definitely consider trying this blend, as it offers an experience quite unlike most others. However, I only give it three stars as the lack of sweetness may turn off new-comers to Virginias, and lovers of English/Balkan blends may find it lacking in strength of flavor. Of course, if you think you may enjoy a pure and unique tobacco experience, you should definitely give this blend a try.

This concoction doesn't have the bass of Cornell & Diehl-Opening Night, but mind you guys, don't let the lightness of its body fool you, the nicotine gets into your bloodstream before you know it, and after a bowl I waddled out of the room, good stuff!

After having read many compliments about this tobacco, I was finally able to get it. Strictly speaking, it is pure Va and seems quite settled when opening the can. In dry, the aroma reminds me of certain young rosé wines, without attracting me too much. On the first charge I noticed that it was somewhat dry (perhaps too used to SG flakes) and I smoked it enthusiastically, but didn't notice anything special in it. I tried to moisten the broken flakes for a few days and tried to smoke again. I was still disappointed: not very complex, rather smooth and somewhat bitter. I was looking for those sweet notes during the smoke but I couldn't find them. Maybe I am too used to FVF. The smoke is light and light-bodied, but it's Va, and there is no doubt about that, for which I do not regret having bought it. But, in my country the 57 g of Union Square costs more than double that of the sealed aluminum envelope with 50 g of FVF, so I do not think I will buy again when I finish the can.

The tin note backs up the claim about Union Square being a blend of unadulterated virginias. In the tin, it offers a very pure, understated, fermented hay, grass and honeysuckle aroma. The sweetness is embedded deep into the smell. First light and the first 1/4 of the bowl tells an entirely different story, though, as it is pretty flavorful from the get-go. Probably the most surprising element of the flavor profile is the oh-so-welcome virginia sweet spice. It's a taste that I am absolutely in love with, and one that I regularly look for in every bowl of virginia flake, from any blender, I smoke. In Union Square, it maybe the only constant that accompanies tens of other variable nuances that come in and fade out during the smoke. And the best part is, it stays with you throughout the entire bowl. My Savinelli Tundra 673 Smooth loves almost all virginia flakes (it is the very pipe I first fell in love with the Dunhill Flake) but that pipe + this blend is almost guaranteed virginia nirvana! Another surprising aspect of the experience is the coolness of the smoke. My 673 Tundra is a smooth finish, and smooth finish pipes usually get hotter than rusticated ones, regardless of your technique. Not with this blend. It never gets any hotter than that pleasant warmness that is a part of pipe smoking enjoyment. Tongue bite is so absent that you might even forget being bit in the past! Preparing this tobacco is also very straightforward. It comes pretty moist, mind you, but I've found out that drying it out is completely unnecessary, as is rubbing it out; simply take 3-4 stripes of flakes (this is a broken flake, so the strips are pretty thin and crumbly) and fold and stuff, snug but not tight. Even despite the moisture level that might intimidate even the experienced virginia flake smoker, it lights up and stays lit very very easily. Cadence is not critical but retrohaling is: the more you retrohale, the more flavorful Union Square becomes, and it starts rewarding you with mild but obvious flavors of vanilla-iy chewing gums of the past (not the sugar-free, overly sweet stuff we have nowadays.) It burns very slowly, and even in a pipe as small-bowled as the Savinelli 673, it takes about 1.5 hours to turn into pure ash. The finish does not get bitter as it usually does with even the best virginia flakes. My tin was pretty fresh, and I can't imagine what some aging can do for this stuff (although I am seriously intending to hoard some and find out!) No, it is not for the newbies, and nor it is a way to ease into virginias for the smokers of aromatic cavendish blends; but it is pure virginia nirvana for the experienced smoker.

Comes in broken flakes of fairly bright colour. Tin note is intense and quite familiar from other tobaccos (C&D’s Opening Night for example). I find it very citrucy, it reminds me of the bitterness of blood oranges with notes of hay and a little honey. Quite sweet. I guess some kind of topping is applied which however is very congruent with the natural tobacco smell. I could be mistaken though and this could possibly be the natural fermented tobacco taste.

Moisture is perfect. With just a few minutes of drying the tobacco is ready for use. From the first draw it’s obvious this is a top Virginia. Cannot be very complex nor full on taste, yet this is the real thing. Actually, this is for me one of the best bright/red Virginias on the market. The taste is natural, with the sweetness and hay-like aromas of Virginia. Moreover, it’s not bitey, at least for me, and does not get hot. This is a tobacco I would always like to have available. Room note is of natural tobacco, not pleasing to non-smokers but heavenly for smokers. The tin note is the same though more intense than C&D’s Opening Night. Otherwise these two tobaccos if not exactly the same are for me interchangeable.

This review is from a first edition 2009 tin that has been aging for the last 10 years. The tin was swollen up like a balloon. At this point, this is probably the best straight up Virginia flake I’ve ever smoked. The tin note is very sweet and tangy with raisin bready overtone and with slightly earthy and musty undertone.

Even after 10 years I needed to dry out for about 30 minutes. I packed up my Peterson 69 and lit her up…..Yummmmy. From the charring light to the bottom of the of the bowl, pure smooth and consistent sweet Virginia flavor with no one component taking the center stage. A true work of art. A very well blended blend with all the flavors coming together one truly harmonious and delicious smoke. No bite to be found no matter how hard you try. Pleasant room note and after taste too. A WINNER!!!!!

Comprised of top notch natural Virginia tobaccos, Union Square is presented in coarse leathery flakes. While bright Virginias exude vegital layers and tart quince notes, red Virginias add depth, sweetness, a light woodsy aroma and dried red apple nuance. Union Square is very robust for a Virginia flake, and as the bowl progresses light creamy spiced custard flavors emerge. Burns clean and smooth to a grey ash right out of the tin without moisture issues and leaves a pleasantly dry and lightly sweet finish on the palate, room note is enjoyable. A bit strong to be an all day smoke but delicious enough to repeat.

This is the quintessential Virginia flake. The Virginian composition in my humble opinion is near perfect. Even at 6 months, the Aging of the virginias is quite Sublime. It will do nothing but get better as time goes by with a good Charing lied the burn is even and complete. The blend has a fine degree of sugary notes coupled with an outstanding red Virginia flavor coupled with the other well-aged components. This blend is an obvious must smoke for anyone. It will be an absolute Delight to those who love Virginia's. Although I am primarily an English style smoker, I have found this blend to be absolutely delightful. I definitely will be adding more tins to my seller in a very short order. I strongly recommend this blend to everyone who simply wants a completely enjoyable smoke with a marvelous room note, and a flavor that is absolutely delightful from the beginning to the middle, to the end of the bowl. As time goes by I am absolutely convinced this will be one of the legendary blends this gets rated 4 stars although I wish in my heart I could rate it six stars

1/22/22 I finally found my 8oz tin that I put away in 2018 and decided to give it a go.

The age (or maybe smoking for longer now) has brought out the flavors in this one and I'm really enjoying it. The broken flakes are darker now than before and there is a sweetness to the smoke which I don't remember from before. There is good body in the smoke and the nic hit seems to be lower than I remember.

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2018

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I received a sample of Union Square in my TinSociety.com box.

I've been wanting to try it as it has come highly recommended by the manager at my local B&M and I'd purchased an 8oz tin which is aging.

I found it to be ready to smoke from the package. The broken flakes are easy to either pack as is, or to break up even further depending on the pipe. I wonder if the packaging has changed over the years as older reviews describe it more as larger flakes it seems?

It was not the wow that I was hoping for, but it is a solid Virginia and my favorite of the "Fog City" series by far. If you do not smoke it fast, there is no bite and it has a good sweet taste to me from the Virginias in it.

I look forward to opening my tin down the road and seeing the difference that some age can make.

I just got a knock on my front door from the package lady and my memory had lapsed when it came to ordering this tobacco over a month ago. It's been on backorder. I got the large tin and I also have a large tin of embarcaderro that came to me already aged 3 years! Cornell and deihl manufacturers all of pease's tobaccos and a lot of times I get the impression he is better at creating awesome recipes than they are. This one being no exception. It's the purest of Virginia and I really enjoy that. I wanted to cellar it because it was only tinned up 3 months ago, but I couldn't resist having this new addition to my vast collection be my 1st smoke of the day. I won't go into great detail about the taste because it's been done here well, but I will definitely say that if you are a fan of Virginia then you are sure to really like this one. Update: I've been smoking this for a while now and I will say this is probably my favorite all Virginia blend. It is so simply done, but the layers of flavor here are just remarkable. I'm smoking it now at the crack of dawn with my morning coffee and man is it a fine smoke. Got 2 more big tins on the way now!

Edit: this is truly one of the finest Virginia tobaccos out there today. I love this tobacco! Since my beloved mcclleland(there apparently will never be another Virginia that will compare) went away, this is the best replacement I can find.