G. L. Pease Mephisto

Mephisto is an excellent introduction to English blends for smokers of either quality aromatics or Virginia tobaccos. It offers the classic flavor of a mild Latakia blend while providing a hint of aromatic flavoring and a excellent balance with the sweetness of its Virginia base.

On opening, one sees a mixture of mostly darker tobaccos with light flecks of golden VA and greenish-gold Turkish tobacco. The dark brown stoved Virginia and blackish Latakia form the base of this wonderful blend.

The tin aroma is pleasant, with the sweet tang of mature, stoved Virginias mingling nicely with the delicate herbal smokiness of Syrian Latakia. The rum is detectable only as a hint of fruity molasses sweetness lingering in the background.

The tobacco can be a bit moist from a fresh tin, so you may desire to dry it out a bit. Once at the proper moisture, packing is a breeze and it smokes cool and dry. Greg's blends are admirable in their lack of tongue-bite even though they frequently use rather sugary Virginia leaf. The smoke is very flavorable and "aromatic" in the sense that it is pleasing to the nose in a classic pipe-tobacco way. The rum topping is barely noticable to me as anything other than a mellowing of the latakia aroma or a hint of molasses on the tongue.

An excellent mild-medium English, Mephisto is one of my favorite Pease blends along with Barbary Coast. Alas, as of this writing (late February, 2003) production has been halted due to the non-availability of Syrian Latakia in the US. Thus, this blend will be increasingly difficult to come by until Greg resumes making it.

This will be quick, since it’s no longer made..... Mephisto was one of the first two English tobaccos that were gifted to me to wean me off aromatics; it was pure genius! (The other being Frog Morton) Of the two I hung on to the Frog simply because I really did not care at the time for the rum. This was one great blend, a mild English aromatic. ?? Talk about starting off on the right foot eh? Sadly, this and the Frog are gone due to the Syrian Latakia fire in the early days of this century. Much missed. Also: My first experience with a Pease blend, and I was not disappointed.

I was lucky enough to win a tin of this at a pipe rally some years back, and to this day it is the only rum cased tobacco I think worthy of putting a match to. Wonderful balance of tobacco taste and casing enhancement. Would like to see this one again on a pipe swap table!

Should i sing oh danny boy or the minstrelboy. I still pine for this long lost blend and am aging(weeping over) my last tin and wishing that i had not greedilly puffed so many of its ancesters. Really if they needed a fire exstinguish at the warehouse why didn't someone say so? alas the world goes on, and i like cyprian latakia very much. so i'll sit on this tin until i can smoke it with a clear consciance, and just enjoy the memories and smoke.

Mephisto combines the qualities of a fine english blend (on the smoky side) with the pleasure associated with a nice aromatic.

The tin aroma is splendid: sweet tangy, barbecue, orange marmelade, clementines.

At the match, the first puff is the best. If by chance, you have just popped the tin open, then you will feel the sweetness and the rum and the latakia litteraly mixing in your pipe and coating your mouth. Few other blends can produce such sensations.

The only dissapointment is that -- as usual in virtually all the Pease blends -- the virginias burn hot. This is unpleasant. It is too bad that a blender of the reputation of Pease has to work with such raw virginias --or doesn't care enough to remedy the situation.

It is true that the older tins from a few years back don't burn as hot, I wonder: have we really reached the satge were we consumers have to "cellar" tobaccos for 4 to 5 years before smoking them. I would say that this is a little much to ask the consumer, to put it mildly!

Despite this nagging issue, and considering the quality level of available blends, I would have to say that this is of the best light aromatic english tobaccos today. Strangely, this blend is currently suffering its second shortage in four years due to a lack of Syrian Latakia, and according to the manufacturers (the good and unheralded folks at Cornell and Diehl), it will never be available again. Time will tell.

Update(s) from 2016 some 11 years later: (1) Mephisto no longer burns, the virginias have calmed, down: it is a smoother and more flavorful blend -- upgrade! (2) Still no Syrian....

On smoking this I feel like I am in a log cabin, no electricity, relaxing by the fire, taking my ease. Can certainly taste the rum, it makes me wish for some. I regret not being able to get this any more. I do indeed think of this as the devil's weed, I could easily think of him smoking such a blend. 8/10.

One of the first Pease tobaccos I ever tried and one of my favorites (does he ever produce a sub-par blend?). A robust blend of Virginias, Latakia and Turkish with that dash of rum that made for a delicious combination. A perfect cold weather smoke. I was saddened indeed when I read a fire had consumed the fine Latakia for this blend. Alas, as I have none stashed in the cellar, I only have memories. If you were wise enough to cellar a few ounces of this, I bid you a fine future smoking experience.

I hesitated at writing this review for fear of sounding like another well-known contributor: præternaturally pompous and pretentious. (I really do like his reviews, though.) Greg characterized this eerily all too well on the can: this blend is evocative of temptation herself: sweet, velvety, rich and seductive. The kind of combination that leads to trouble and you damn well know it, yet you allow yourself. This blend has the appeal of another man?s flirtatious wife. You discreetly take big puffs hoping you don?t get bit, savor them and slowly release them. When you think you can sneak another, you do, but it?s different somehow, urging you on deeper to more fully explore the range of possibility. I just cannot do anything else when I smoke this. It?s not the rum; it has to be an opiate casing. Indulge, fools, and rationalize!

?I know someday I?ll walk out of here again, but now I?m trapped ? ooh yeah!? (J. Cliff)

This is my fourth experience with GL Pease`s blends, Mephisto is great and different in many ways to the others. The Latakia, the turkish and the virginias are enhanced by the note of rum, this is not a classic english mixture or a classic aromatic blend... may be is a semi-english or semi-aromatic? Any way, this kind of blend really works. I'm cursed by the flavor and taste of this blend.

Lucho Barra