G. L. Pease Gaslight

this is probably the most balanced latakia blend i have ever tried! after cutting some of the plug and crumbling it in my hand (it crumbles easerly with very little handling), i lit up my pipe and got a very hearty earthy flavour from the latakia and orientals, and the deeper into the bowl i went the more i could taste the sweetness on the VA, though like some before me has said this blend has some hints of burley in its flavours. I really like this rich and flavourfull blend and would strongly reccomend it for everyone who likes a good englishstyle blend!

Have heard a lot of this leaf before having finally getting a few tins. I was very much inspired by having had a 15 year old tin of Winter's Tale by Friedman and Pease. Up to this point the very finest tobacco I've ever had. The tin note of Gaslight is to me very intoxicating in a subtle way. The theme of promises to come is what this tobacco is all about. It is indeed like a fine wine. There are a symphony of notes that are soft upon first light and build upon each other as the bowl progresses. I'll vouch for all that other reviewers have said about the flavors and also that there is a nice buttery caramel in there as well. The kicker for me is a certain floral tickle to my taste buds that darts in and out unexpectedly. What wonderful fun. I seem to enjoy this smoke most in my oil cured pipes as they present the flavors more strongly. The last third of the bowl is excellent and puts me in a very nice place. Old Nic is a bit on the strong side for me with this one but only a bit. About 20-30 minutes of drying time makes this a great smoke in my opinion. I can't wait to savor this with some age on it. I would say that as a new blend it's very satisfactory and time will simply make it outstanding. We shall see.

Gaslight is an excellent English blend. I love plugs in general and I really like this one. One draw back to the plug is this one fall apart pretty easily in the mason jar and then it can be a challenge to get the mix right if you plan to cut a flake and pack. HINT: I had a chunk fall apart on me an I threw the pieces in a coffee grinder and ground it for 2 2 second blasts. Absolute perfections! The tin note is really quite surprising to me based on the tin description and many of the reviews I have read. I get sour, woody orientals straight away with plenty of smoky Latakia competing for the lead. Really nice. The smoke itself is Latakia forward but with plenty of the Oriental spice and woody and even buttery qualities poking in and out. This is a slow burning smoke and really has many profiles and nuances as you smoke through the bowl. I get a peppery taste hear and there either from the Orientals or maybe some of the Virginia's are stoved, it is really hard to say. When looking at the tobacco once rubbed out it is very dark with some red Virginias being the only thing I can see on visual inspection (that are different from the other leaves). I am sure this may be due to the pressing that creates the plug. Along with the smoky and spicy notes you get a nice sweetness from the Virginia's almost honey like. I do not sense a topping I can pick out but there is a unique sweetness throughout the smoke that is really nice and compliments the blend. There is more nicotine in this than what I find in most English blends, on the medium side, no Jackknife Plug, but more than I find in most English blends nonetheless. This is a first class tobacco and is probably a top 5 for me. I almost feel like it is in a class by itself.

I enjoy this blend but can't smoke it very often. For one thing, it will ruin your palate for virginias for a good while. That's not to it's detriment, you can't deny that a wild thing is beautiful because it fails to mind its manners. Gaslight is a wild thing, a Raven, a denizen of the Night. It is alluring in its excess. And like the very most beautiful of all starkly wild things, it has some amount of austere beauty that marks it above mere unbridled, primordial chaos, as a thing both wild and yet still regal.

Enough of the flowery language though, let's get to its merits. Gaslight is presented as a cut plug. Oily and dense, a very sharp knife will help slicing it. Mostly black, with some red virginia showing if you look along the profile of the resulting flakes. Scent is latakia heavy with some heady Va present and, strangely, some apricot or nondescript stewed fruit, with very subtle floral notes in evidence (bergamot? Rose?). Flakes crumble easily to a nice texture for gravity loading. The initial light is dank, cool latakia, along with a floral essence reminiscent of a Lakeland ghost in a pipe loaded with a full English. The dominant flavor here is good Cyprian latakia. Va is evident, but nearly overwhelmed. I dont detect any oriental component. The beauty of this blend is the interplay between full Cyprian and whatever floral essence is present. They are supported throughout by subtle deep fruit notes from the red Va, though this is distant, only around the edges. I typically don't take much away from a smoke this heavily laden with latakia, but i hesitate to call this a bomb. It is, or should be, by all accounts, but the refinement imparted by the essence just keeps it soft enough to be more accurately called a very rich latakia mixture. Something keeps me coming back from time to time, and i am always satieted after finishing a bowl. Nicotine isn't much, perhaps mild to medium. Gaslight is an uber cool, slow burning blend that can't bite, still extra care is required to keep temperature down, or what is sublime here will quickly turn sooty and muddled. It is excessively sensitive to temperature in my experience. When i do everything right though, this is a deep well of satisfaction.

This one just did not do it for me. At least this is my impression after finishing off the 1/2 oz sample given to me from SP with an order about a year ago. I was happy to receive the sample as I had a tin of this I had bought shortly after it was introduced and I hadn't opened it yet. Thanks to SP for their generosity, I can let that tin continue to age and maybe try it 7 or 8 years from now.

This one started off very smoky to me and then quickly settled down to complete boredom to my tastes. I found it unremarkable in almost every way; however, I can't say that it was bad either. There was nothing offensive or noxious in either taste or aroma. In fact, its most favorable trait, to me, would have to be the side stream aroma, which was very pleasant. I may have spent as much time sniffing the smoking bowl as I did puffing on it.

This blend has all the elements that a standard Latakia (English) blend should have, but very little in the edginess that would make such a blend standout. Usually with a blend such as this that lacks edginess, one is treated to a creamy smoky experience. Well, this really did not have that either. YMMV

Was there sweetness from the Virginia? Yes, just not enough. Was there smokiness from the Latakia? Yes, but not enough. Was there Tanginess from the Orientals? Yes, but not enough. You seeing a pattern here?

This pretty much sums up my thoughts on this one. It is pretty good, just not good enough. I will not be ordering more of this, but will check back in when I do open my tin, which, I hope greatly improves with age.

Edit 5/25/2022

I finally got to smoking that tin in the cellar after 8 years of aging. I am adding a star to this as I found it more enjoyable than my previous experience. Maybe it is just a matter of time or changing tastes over the same. In any case, it still does not knock my socks off, but I did find it more recommendable than I previously did.

After the whole tin I must reject all the stars.This blend has deployed all the raw leaf inside an acrid biting monster.It´s very easy to say excellent for cellaring when you are offering raw,crude stuff.From now on with this bad experience added to some worst ones I say God bye Mr.Pease and CD.

A stomach turning, mind numbing blast of Nicotine . . . If that's your thing then go for it.

The hyperbole on the label should include "Ignite the Gaslight, you'll be up all night".

This shall be the last tin of anything that I'll ever buy from Greg; heavy handed blending and too much cheap not properly cured leaves. This blend was rushed and it sure shows.

This was an excellent English blend. I feel like the name "Gaslight" comes from the complete disconnect between the jar note and the flavor of this blend--like most English blends, only more so. It smells like you should prepare for a knock-down, drag-out round with your pipe where every tobacco fights for center stage. Instead, I was rewarded with a supremely well-blended, perfectly balanced, enjoyable smoke. This blend was complex and interesting. There are so many flavors and nuances to explore in this blend that it keeps you interested from the first light to the ash at the very end. It's sweet, it's smoky, it's somewhat fruity, and it's finished with earth and leather.

This is a strong tobacco. I was smoking the first 1/3 of the bowl with abandon, trying to uncover all of the complexities that this blend had to offer, and I found myself overwhelmed. I put it down for about 20 minutes and came back to it and slowly finished the rest of the bowl. I was rewarded to the very end.

I highly recommend it. I do not yet know if I like this blend better than Westminster, but I do like it better than Nightcap.

2022-11-28 Update: I just love this blend. Many blends need to be smoked slowly and cooly to taste all of the nuances. Not this one. Too slow and it's hot air. However, pushing this blend a tad rewards with huge clouds of smoke just filled with flavor.

The big pieces of tobacco that break off of this plug result in constant changes through the bowl. It remains a balanced blend, but different tobaccos are able to take center stage. It stays smoky throughout, but this blend rotates between peppercorns, lemon pepper, sweet vinegar, campfire, and umami earth.

Heed the advice on the tin: slice this stuff up thin and smoke it in a *small* bowl. Seriously.

You know that pipe you have on the rack that never gets used because the bowl is so small it almost seems better off being used for smoking some *other* plant? That one. Use that one for this stuff. That pipe has now found its “special purpose.” It’s for Gaslight.

It’s great full English blend best enjoyed like a cask strength whiskey: sipped and enjoyed in small drams. Smokey and creamy. Not recommend for the first pipe of the day IMHO. Have this in any situation where you have full stomach and where you’d also be happy smoking a dark wrapper cigar.

Oh and it *will* require a lot of relights even if you do everything right but it’s worth the hassle.