G. L. Pease Meridian

As a huge fan of both Chelsea Morning and Gaslight, and as a fan of Quiet Nights, I figured I'd be a fan of this. I am, but not as much as I thought I would be.

This is loaded with orientals and latakia, with the Virginia staying well in the background for structure. There weren't that many bright notes like the brighter Virginias in Chelsea Morning and Quiet Nights provide, so the complexity was focused on a bit narrower band. It's potent in terms of oriental and latakia flavor, though not in terms of nicotine. Overall, it's woody, smoky, and a little spicy.

It'll be interesting to see how this ages, once the latakia tones down a bit and the orientals start to meld a little more seamlessly. For now, I find myself turning to Blackpoint when I'm looking for something in this range of fullness, Chelsea Morning when I'm looking for something lighter, and Gaslight when I'm looking for something bigger.

Man this is an interesting one. Tin note is sour and "tobacco" forward. Beautiful broken flake. I love Oriental forward blends and I for some reason pegged this one as a Latakia forward blend. I smoked it in all kinds of pipes, shapes and sizes, typically in the evening. I like to start my days with Orientals: think McC Oriental series, Bombay Court and Yenidje Highlander for example from McC and Tashkent and #44 from Peretti. In the evening I found this a bit weaker than I liked and I could not measure the complexity. FWD to the first pipe of the day with some Illy coffee and I had a complex grand stand. This tobacco has made me late for many a meeting at 0800. Now we are talking!!! Woody, spicy Orientals/Turkish. Hints of cloves, white pepper, mace and cinnamon take the lead. The Latakia is present but a supporting element, creaminess, a bit of sweetness and some smoke. The VA's are earthy and add a caramelized sugar like flavor. Flavor develops throughout the bowl, VERY complex on a fresh palate. Relights were a bit sharp but settled into their previous rhythm. This is one of those blends that almost tastes like one tobacco makes up this blend. It is blended so well that there is one leaf driving this blend. Not for everyone, Oriental lovers, this is a must

GLPease already has some fantastic full English blends in the catalogue, including my all-time favorites Caravan, Westminster, Odyssey, Lagonda, Abingdon, Charing Cross.... What could a new one add?

Well, I won't linger on the quality of the leaf or the tin characteristics: this blend follows the same level of its brothers in the GLPease range. What makes it a bit different is that it's VERY dark, and the cut is a little bit less stringy than the blends in the original series, and less chunky than Westminster and Lagonda (which are coarser, and very slow/cool burning).

Tastewise, it's very stout, rather dry. Little Virginia sweetness (Westminster comes to mind as more fragrant, rounder, more refined). Very dark in taste, not only in appearance. It's a very robust Latakia and Orientals-oriented smoke, to me. Not exceedingly strong in nicotine (I find it much more tolerable than Chelsea Morning, while being more tasty), but on the tastebuds it IS intense.

I like this blend a lot, but to me it stands a bit in the middle ground. So far, I keep preferring Caravan's big oriental fragrance, or Westminster's creamy character, or Abingdon's full attack on Latakia. I would say it is on a par with Odyssey, Charing Cross or Lagonda in my preferences. Which, in itself, is quite an achievement!

I had the good fortune of aging this tobacco before I tried it. I can't compare it to a fresh tin, this is the only version I have smoked. Upon opening, the tin note is pleasantly spicy and floral with underlying notes of sweetness, smoke and earth. To me the oriental tobacco seems to dominate the smell. The tobacco was easy to load, it may benefit from some drying time but I decided to fire it up straight away. It took a couple of lights to get it going but once I got it started it smoked well and only required the usual relights. While this blend is very well balanced, the orientals are running the show. The smoky latakia is there and so is the sweetness from the Virginia leaf but the floral spicy flavor is upfront. The tin description of more savory than sweet is accurate. I have seen this at times referred to as an English blend, with the predominance of the oriental tobacco I would say Balkan is more accurate. Because of the balance I could see this working as an all day smoke. This has found it's way into my rotation.

GL Pease Meridian is definitively a Balkan, as its main components are Latakia and Orientals. The cut is very similar to Chelsea Morning's but the leaf is much on the darker side; mostly dark, it contains some medium brown with very few strings of golden. As the moisture level is on the low side, but not quite enough for me, the tobacco was ready to smoke a few days after opening. The tin aroma is typical of a Latakia blend, with a slight sour note, but is not on the strong side. A. Strength: Strength refers to the intensity of the nicotine. It's mild to medium throughout, without any significant differences. B. Flavoring: I detect absolutely no added flavouring. C. Taste: Meridian is full in taste, very rich and stout. There is a lot of earth, spiciness, smokiness and barely any sweetness. I am confident there is not a lot of Virginias in this mixture; most likely, no more than a pinch. It really tastes like a Balkan should; it does not develop that much complexity while never lacking any. "Savory", in accordance with the tin description, is absolutely what Meridian is. Very much so! D. Room Note: Considering the components, it cannot be a crowd pleaser, unless you are in the company of fire camp fans. Still, the room note is surprisingly remote for such a stout mixture. E. Rating: I do agree with most reviewers that Meridian is under the radar and does deserve a better following. It is, truly, a very fine Balkan mixture that superbly pleases your taste buds while not knocking you out with too much nicotine. The lack of sweetness does not constitute a deficiency, quite the contrary. For those chaps who prefer more nicotine (like myself), Meridian offers, as a compensation, a marvelous smoking experience. I will purchase again with great pleasure! 3.25 stars.

The 4 year old tin of GLP Meridian I am rating smelled wonderful when I popped it open, with savory, loamy Orientals melded with partly fermented, wheat-y VAs over the soft, smoky Latakia. Tin moisture is fine for smoking, and the darkish, variegated broken flakes/ribbons handle, light and smoke like a dream, straightaway, with a combusted version of the tin note pretty much continuing through the smoke, as well. The VAs are fairly smooth, especially for GLP, and the Orientals are just mildly spicy, and they sour against the VA sugar as the lot concentrates, down the bowl. Overall, the effect is refined and quite civilized, perhaps even somewhat muted, but it is never blunt. Strength is more mild than medium. Tastes run more medium than mild. Room note is rather pleasant. Aftertaste is noteworthy, with the Lat finally rising, then trailing off very slowly, with just a hint of anise; very nice, indeed.

Although I like Meridian OK, and it handles, lights and smokes well straight from the tin, it does not rise to the top of the English genre, IMO. I agree with GLP, who state that Meridian is a milder version of Westminster. FWIW, even my aged tin of Merdian benefitted from rest in a jar, and I get the most from it when I “smoke it like a VA”, slowly, in a narrow-ish, group 3 – 4 pipe, pretty much the opposite of how I approach most Balkans.

Another good medium English by GLP. Not different enough from his many other English mix's to really stand out. First class tobac though. Easy to smoke.

Works for me as a morning pipe, in fact it's not a million miles away from EMP, but with more latakia. The roughish cut makes Meridian smoke very cool and long, and after nearly finishing this tin, my first GL pease blend, I'll certainly be buying again. Not too sweet, light and tasty, it's a very good oriental in my book. If anything, it lacks a little 'N', but as a morning smoke that's not an issue for me.

Presentation: Greg never ceases to amaze me in the similarity, yet subtle differences in the cut of this blends. Meridian comes in at a ribbon, somewhat chunky and short pieces. I didn't find too many large chunks but I don't have to rub this one out any further to reach the desired effect. The color range is between brights, reds, browns and dark almost black pieces. Comes in on the drier side of moisture.

Palette: I wanted to say Shiraz, but it doesn't contain quite the sweetness that the wine would have. I'm thinking Cab/Sav blend. Parched and earthy with a medium finish. Up front is the orientals and with that comes the zingy and tart sharpness. They are not sweet, but offer a really great incense punch. Think Indian spices. The Va's and latakia sort of dance with eachother, both leafs not trying to push the other out. They are noticeable, but when Greg says that this blend is balanced, he means it. Dry cider and a very tiny licorice hint on the retrohale. If I could describe this as a meal, this would be my late step-mothers pot roast. No added seasonings. Just the meat left to soak in its own juice along with the carrots and potatoes. It's stout without being a latakia bomb. It's got the flavor of Guinness with the calories of Budweiser 55. It doesn't excel in any area but it doesn't come up short either. It's a very dry tasting blend and you really have to concentrate for the sweetness. Once in a while you'll get a hint of red VA and bread, but this is all about the orientals. Complexity is there, but it's very well mannered and doesn't leave you guessing too much about what flavors are present.

Performance: Mild nicotine. Burns well, very cool and leaves a touch of moisture in the heel. I wouldn't recommend this as an all day blend, as to me, it just doesn't have the sweetness I prefer. I recommend a wide, shallow bowl.

Conclusion: This is the driest tasting blend I have ever tried apart from C&D Haunted bookshop. It's taken me the better part of the last 2 or 3 months to decipher Greg's English/Balkan blends and for my amateur palette, I'm really starting to pick up the nuances.. It's a real pleasure because I don't really care for Latakia too much. However, this blend has proved to show me that there can be great variances in blends we don't reach for all the time. I'm slowly working my way through the latakia blends of GLPease and I've smoked about 3/4 of them now. Meridian offers a really different view of what a latakia blend can be without being a latakia dominate blend. Although this blend has opened my eyes, or should I say, taste buds, I don't think I will purchase another tin, as I prefer a more sweet Balkan, and one with perique. Still, a welcome experience.