G. L. Pease Raven's Wing

Raven?s Wing is synonymous with Latakia. It is also synonymous with smooth, cool, delicious, and a host of other adjectives. Smoking Raven?s Wing is like smoking velvet that has been seasoned with silk. Black silk and velvet, that is. Need I state that I like it? This is the best heavy Latakia blend I have found to date. Nightcap and Penzance, step aside. Syrian Trawler ? you?ve got your sailing orders.

At first light, the Latakia boldly takes center stage. The Orientals and Dark Stoved Virginias quietly join in, in a supporting role. And they certainly do their jobs to full effect, lending sometimes a sweet, sometimes a spicy backdrop to the star of the show ? the Latakia. The Syrian and Cyprian duet is enhanced by the harmonizing added by the Va and Oriental in ways that never become boring, and by the end of the bowl, you?re wishing you had loaded a larger pipe.

This is indeed one for the Latakia lover. If you feel that Latakia, traditionally thought of as a ?condiment? tobacco, should only be used to enhance and balance the flavors of other tobaccos, you aren?t going to like RW one little bit. But if you like your Latakia big and bold with the other tobaccos dancing lightly around it ? by all means, grab some Raven?s Wing, sit back, and experience nirvana.

Will I ever again think of Nightcap as my ?Latakia Grail?? Quoth the Raven, ?Nevermore?

For Latakia lovers this is a must try tobacco. It has a great balance between the Cyprian & Syrian Latakias. It packs a wallup but is never harsh or bitter. I find the burn to be very nice and slow and it is also a nice dry smoke. It has a very powerful but In my opinion wonderful room note. If you enjoy My Mixture or Nightcap you will definitely love this tobacco. Highly recomended.

Though I've smoked it for several weeks now, Raven's Wing has escaped my review process for one reason: I wanted to make sure it is really as good as I first thought.

Latakia infatuated? I guess I am. And this stuff (the newest batch of Raven's Wing with the fresh quantity of Syrian) is a Latakia flavor powerhouse. It smells and looks wonderful in the bag: hinting at the richness to come as the bowl progresses.

The VA supports the taste with a bit of sharp sweetness. The tangy orientals come through mostly towards the end of the bowl but are very subtle below the deep, dark earthiness of the latakia. Each smoke has been a bit different, and none of it overpowering despite the high nicotine content.

The luxuriant, gray naturally sweet and spicey smoke fills the room and the palate. I don't find the odor at all offensive, even as it lingers. To date my S.O. hasn't taken any real notice of it.

It generally burns well but often needs a bit of patience to get going initially even with a light pack. In my opinion consistently worth the effort. Very little bite.

I've got a lovely hand made briar more or less dedicated to this and other milder Latakia blends. It is one of the only blends I keep a small stash of. That says it all. To date my favorite Pease offering, Raven's Wing likely will remain in my top 3 tobacco blends of choice.

Raven's Wing is what Penzance aspires to be, but isn't. RW has layers of flavor, while Penzance is one taste all the way to the bottom of the bowl.

When the Syrian latakia dried up in early 2003, I was glad that I had some RW in reserve. The age only improved a great blend to start with.

I consider this a classic full-bodied English blend.

I was initially put off and feared that this would be too strong of a smoke, but decided to give another Pease blend a try. I am glad I did.

The Latakia does stand out in this mixture, but it is intended to! The Virginia gives it a nice platform to stand up and shout.

All in all, it was milder than I expected. The Syrian Latakia does come through nicely, along with the Cyprian which somewhat softens the impact and allows for the interplay with the Virginia.

This has quickly become a favorite.

Raven's Wing is a short-cut black ribbon with a few pieces of brown here and there. Although it definitely smells of Latakia in the tin, the tin contents don't have an overpowering smell. This blend is easy to load, takes the match well, and burns wonderfully. At first, the blend is a little tingly, maybe even a touch bitey, with a muddy Latakia midrange. As the bowl progresses, though, the smoke becomes softer and just a bit sweeter (although still not at all "sweet" in the usual sense). At this point, the smoke is a heavy, nice, smoky Latakia with the upper ranges alternating between a slight sweetness and a slight bitterness. Very tasty. All the way through, it smokes very cooly and produces a good smoke volume. For me, the single most striking characteristic of this blend is not its taste, which is very full and rich and wonderful, but its incredibly RELAXING effect. I don't know what's happening, but this blend invariably turns me into calm, relaxed blissed-out dishrag. I am simply imperturbable for a few hours after I smoke this stuff. It is true Buddha-weed. It smokes to a fine white ash, but you won't be paying any attention to that. You'll just be sitting in your chair saying "oooh," "aaah" and stretching your butt around like a Persian cat.

This is my single most smoked tobacco . I call it my default tobacco . If I find myself indescisive about what to smoke , I reach for this . More times than not I find myself wanting a classic English latakia blend , and when faced with the array of english latakia blends in my cellar this blend gets smoked 50% of the time . There are times when I have to force myself to smoke something different . It's not the Holy Grail , but to date it's my most often smoked .

Very colorful tobacco here from ... blond to black. The aroma is smoky / sweet and very rich. The flavors start out somewhat tart. Toward the middle of the bowl I noticed that this changed to a somewhat floral taste while the smoke was still in my mouth. This was folowed by a very nice sweet tobacco aftertaste that lingered on, and on ... The end of the bowl was strong. This is a dry tobacco and did not burp or bite.

I definately concur that loose packing is in order. My first bowl of this, packed in the normal way, required a few relights.

As incredible as some of Greg Pease's blends have been, first with F&P, and now in his own G.L. Pease line of tobaccos, Raven's Wing may be his masterpiece. Raven's Wing comes in those crummy little pop top cans, but the contents are easily dumped into a tobacco jar. Upon opening the tin I wonder if there is anything but Latakia in the can - a second whiff reveals a sweet background and the some spice - do I detect Syrian Latakia too? Yum.

The blend is 75% dark and 25% light tobacco. zit packs easily into a pipe and has a nice consistency. The match reveals a different tobacco than one would expect from the tin. Raven's Wing is well-balanced and full of flavours other than Latakia - do not get me wrong you have to like latakia to fully appreciate this blend. The Virginia tobaccos (reds?) in here support the Latakia well and don't leave with only the taste of Latakia that some smokes do. This tobacco burn cleanly and doesn't get yucky toward the bottom of the bowl. The pipe stays clean and mostly dry.

You English tobacco smokers have to try this one!