G. L. Pease Navigator

Beautiful brownish broken flakes, easily rubbed out and almost as easily folded. Deep, earthy aroma in the tin, with the faintest hair of rum.

This blend reminded me that I was one of the people that wanted less rum in Sextant. So GLP gives it to me and I'm still not satisfied! But the problem with Sextant for me wasn't the amount of rum, it was the clashing of rum with latakia. Since there is no latakia here, I found myself screaming for more rum flavor. This blend is totally taken over with the taste of the Kentucky. The virginias are far from sweet, and kind of musty and dry tasting. I could not make it through the entire tin but I'm saving it to see how this does with some age on it (my tin was less than 2 months old), as the tobacco seems green. I'm the last person to fall into the hype of "GLP blends need to age before they can be enjoyed", but this one is trying hard to push me into that. The VA's need to step up, the kentucky needs to calm down, and the rum needs to have more of a presence. In other words, at this point, this blend fails for me on every level, other than its overall quality (for which I'm really not qualified to judge). Let's see what more percolating time will accomplish. I like the concept of a more "punchy" Exhausted Rooster, but this one punched too cruelly. Then again, I still haven't grasped Cumberland, so it's probably just me. Try it if the idea appeals to you as it does me, but be prepared to age it for a year or so before you enjoy it.

I picked this blend up along with the Dunhill Royal Yacht, and I've been going back and forth between the two. There are some similarities between the two, but I get less flavor in this blend. There's supposed to be a hint of rum, but I'm not picking up on that hint.

Of course, the flake cut adds a bit of complexity and ritual to the process of lighting up. Rubbing the flake into a process does feel like you're doing more to initiate the smoke, which is soothing in its own right, but once lit up, I found this to be a less fulfilling experience. I'm on my third bowl now, and find my thoughts wandering to other blends and not enjoying what I'm smoking.

I won't be throwing it away, but with it's strength, I'm thinking it might pair well with something sweet.

ROOM NOTE: Wife says it's not unpleasant. Reminds her of a campfire.

I love a good Navy Flake, St Bruno was the first one I tried and then quickly after I picked up other lightly rum topped blends like C&D's Blockade Runner, Redburn, and Black Frigate, and PS Luxury Navy Flake to name a few. Seeing this as a sort of Navy offering by GLP was very interesting and so I bought a tin. I love the water and I'd love to think I'm a seaman at heart. If I could do life over I probably should have joined the Navy when I was younger, but those are stories for another day.

When you open the tin of GLP Navigator you find a rather long flake that has started to separate finely packed into the tin. I immediately pulled it out and put it in a jar to let it rest. I tried this when it was new and to be honest, it didn't do much for me. There seemed to be no hint of rum, and the taste of the tobacco was exceedingly light. But I intend to give this a fair shake. Opening the jar now it smells of hay and grass, there is some earthiness from the burley, and I barely detect the sweetness from the rum. This flake packs easily, and it is not hard to get lit. I find that it may need a few more than average relights when lit. The room note for this is probably tolerable, it doesn't smell like cigarette, but it definitely smells like tobacco and for a rum topped blend, the rum doesn't work in your favor

This blend is definitely more burley forward than it smells, I taste earthy nuttiness right away. This does have a grassy character to it from the virginia, but it's a fine interplay between the two. When I puff really slowly I do get some brown sugar notes and I believe that is the rum topping. This blend is very mild, and I would consider it a decent burley blend but it falls short of a Navy blend. The nicotine in this is a medium.

All of this being said, it's an okay blend. I'll have no problem finishing off the tin, but I don't think I'll buy any more anytime soon. I recommend trying it if you like burleys, but not if you have any expectations as I did.

Can't detect any rum, rather I taste kentucky and virginia - in that order. Really tasty but a biter if rushed, the name Navigator feels a bit odd as one could hardly smoke this at sea. Or in any enviroment with wind, that will turn it too hot to smoke. But if you take your time it is a rewarding smoke.

Taste: Though aged for a year and a half, this tobacco is sharp. The first notes to hit me are those of wood, black and white pepper and salt, and beneath those there is a slight sweetness that quickly fades. Mid bowl the sweetness grows a bit more pronounced, revealing a faint taste of plum. There are however no traces of the rum topping that I detect. It reminds me of Triple play, yet with a bit more power and not as plain and dull. A really dry smoke it tends to dry out my mouth as well, best served with something drinkable.

Mechanics: Comes as a broken flake, moisture is smokable straight out of the tin. Nicotine is on the high side of medium. Burns clean but careful because it will bite you if pushed too hot.

This is a delightful smoke, but rather perdestrian. While enjoyable, it is not really unique. In short, this is a good, but common smoke. I enjoy this blend , but, I will not repurchase.

I don't know. I am a fan of most of the GP blends ... this ain't one of them. If you like a dose of vitamin N you may warm up to it, ( if not for any other reason). I can't seem to find the flavor but the texture of the smoke is like a cigar ( at least to me any way). It may be that I need to age it for a while so I put up 6oz. and will come back to it in a year or so. There is no bite. It will burn better if dried a bit. Other than that there isn't much to say. I have read other reviews talking about how complex this stuff is ... I didn't get that at all. Basically I was looking for something to replace Stonehaven. This isn't it. Don't let me steer you off of it though ... it could just be a body chemistry thing.

Navigator: yet another C&D-produced Va/Bur mix with Kentucky and some liquor shoehorned in to try to give it flavor. It's a tastebud assault, but less of a failure than Sixpence. Smoke it as a stout Navy Flake with lots of Kentucky for strength.

The VAs aren't going to contribute much here, other than filler.

Hopefully we're past the worst excesses of Kentucky as a fad leaf, and folks can stop putting it in blends where it doesn't belong.