Friedman & Pease Winter's Tale

Tin Aroma: dark and mysterious, with subtly sugary undertones, this is some high grade stuff! Usually a blend with a high latakia content has a musty, overly earthy smell, but the virginias in Winter's Tale are so sugary and well-stoved as to make the overall sensation much more akin to warm plum pudding, hearth logs, and pecan cookies.

Physical Characteristics: A good bit of the darkness in this blend comes from the virginias having been stoved. Three dark tobaccos in here, perique, latakia, and stoved virginia, with just a hint of red virginia for variation. Burns slowly and evenly to a fluffy white ash.

Notes: Right from the get go, this is a very full and sensous blend. The smoke has a thick and warm quality to it that is what every smoker of 'english' style blends is really looking for. This is, most definately, a feet-up, by the fire sort of blend. A very evocative set of aromas waft out of my pipe during a bowlful of Winter's Tale, bringing to mind cabins in the woods, campfires in the snow, fresh baked cookies, beef stew, and a host of other warm and fuzzy feelings thta probably say more about me than they do about the blend.

I was not sure, upon initially tasting this blend, if I was going to like the addition of perique to the standard 'english' formula, but the mid and top notes provided by it's spiciness help to keep the latakia and stoved virginias from making this a bottom heavy, one dimensional blend. The cut sizes are perfectly matched, at the bottom of a tin, there isn't a hidden cache of latakia flakes waiting for me.

This is, for me, the tobacco equivilent of soul food, warm, comforting, and like an old friend, the minute I tried it. I lament the fact that it is not in production anymore, and I will jealously horde every tin of it that I can find.

Pease put this one together with a noticiable dose of Virginia, Latakia and Perique all rolled into one dilly whopper of a smoke! The flavor has a lot of depth and hangs on the palate with meat hooks!

Latakia/Perique is always a dangerous combination for blenders as it'll foul the taste buds if not done properly. The combination here (with a touch of sweet Virginia), is delightful. One can taste all of the components with wave after wave of smokey Latakia, Perique and Virginia leaf washing over your wagler. Get you some!

I managed to get hold of several tins of this when it came out, and went through them all within just a couple of months. I really enjoyed this smoke, and I often get very, VERY angry with Greg Pease for not continuing some of his "limited edition" smokes, this one in particular. I loved the pungent taste and aroma of this one, especially, and have searched for something similar since I smoked my last bowl, unsuccessfully. One of the few blends with just a touch of latakia that I enjoyed. I'm usually one of those "all or nothing" guys who loves something that's loaded with the stuff (my favorite english mixture of all time is, of course, Charatan's English Mixture, which can no longer be had), but despise anything with just a touch.

This was also one of the few tobaccos that I've smoked that held it's flavor well throughout even the largest bowls.

[EDIT] Only 5 reviewed this tobacco, I guess that's a good indication of how little he produced. Makes me want to jerk the 4 star and reduce it to one. I don't know why Gregory didn't bother producing this on a larger scale, there would've certainly been a market for it.

Based on a two-bowl sample from a friend. Two bowls much smaller than I usually smoke! Only two bowls, but I was very grateful to get a chance to try this one. Deep, dark black in the bag with a musty oriental nose. It was also very crispy, causing me to wonder as I loaded it if it was even worth trying. My concerns were unfounded.

Dark and luxurious, with a good dose of latakia and orientals, this was a dark tasting affair along the lines of dark chocolate and black coffee with just a small sprinkling of sugar. The sweetness was very subdued but present in just enough measure to keep this one from being all spice and smoke. GLP's Blackpoint came to mind while smoking this but I've never had that one with any age on it. This one seemed deeper, which is no small feat! The latakia was present in every puff but wasn't overly heavy, while the orientals were front and center at all times. Even though crispy dry, it didn't smoke too hot or too quickly. I'd be interested in this one coming back for a reprise because, as Pipestud put it, this is one "dilly whopper" of a smoke! Hard to argue with that.

More similar to Mephisto (without the rhum flavoring) than to other latakia-strong GLPease offerings. Not bad, but a bit too delicate for my taste. If puffed very slowly, a very subdued and pleasant sweetness emerges. Similar but much better to the Butera Latakias and McClelland Anniversary. My tin was aged for 5 years, because I tried it in December 2003: BTW, I came to know that I smoked one of the only 250 tins made in 1998 by Greg!!!!! Good room aroma.

All I can say about this one is , I'm glad I bought a pile of it when it came out ! This is my seasonal holiday smoke . Fabulous !