G. L. Pease Samarra

On the can, this is referred to as a "medium Latakia mixture". This is true; the Latakia is not as strong as in, say, Mephisto or Dunhill 965 or Renaissance. But even knowing this, I found myself enjoying this blend more than my usual favorite full English mixtures. This is damn good stuff! On opening the can, I notice a very complex aroma of Latakia and brighter notes with a hint of sweetness, none of which tend to dominate each other. The tobacco is multicolored and well-mixed, with black, medium brown and light brown in roughly equal amounts. The cut is medium to long, making packing a bit tricky, and the moisture level is on the average to dryish side. It lights easily, puffing up when the flame hits the leaf, and burns very well throughout the bowl, needing a below average number of relights. I selected my brand new 2000 Christmas Tinsky pipe for the first bowl. In the first third, The Latakia is apparent, the smoky, musty flavor very satisfying. The other tobaccos, however, are just as important in the flavor: the Virginias add a bright sweetness, and the others add a depth and complexity that changes with every puff. In fact, if I had to use one word to describe this blend, it would be "complexity". It is amazingly dynamic and multifaceted, even more so than Renaissance; I have never tasted a tobacco with as many different layers as this one. And yet, the various flavors are not strident and competing; the smoke is very smooth and the tastes are complementary. Moving on to the second third of the bowl, and its pretty much the same story. I'm getting flashes of sweetness, strong Latakia, nuttiness, and too many other flavors to list. There is not a hint of bite up to now, and no moisture that I notice. About halfway through, I am noticing a bit of a spicy element that adds nicely to the other flavors, most likely from the Perique. The last third is approaching, and I don't want this bowl to end! The complex mix of flavors is perhaps a bit darker than earlier, but the smoke is just as smooth and bite-free as ever. I find myself puffing too hard, just to get more of the smoke. There is a bit of moisture at the very bottom, but it isn't anything to worry about. The flavor lasts right to the bottom; I was sucking ash before I knew it. Overall, what can I say? This is simply the best tobacco I have ever smoked. I even prefer it to Renaissance and Frog Morton, though I would choose those when I'm in the mood for a darker, richer blend. The level of complexity and the manner in which all of the various flavors combined to support each other was nothing short of amazing. You've done it again, Mr. Pease; *highly* recommended to anyone with functioning taste buds!

Samarra has what I would call 'Old-Timey' flavors - clearly quality leaf and subtle flavors that evoke thoughts of leather chairs in an old library. It also has a pleasant mid-range nicotine level, at least with a large bowl. Although there is pleasant interplay between the components giving some malty, salty leather, wood, and butter sensation and an occasional floral note, to me it is all very light and muted (I suppose a fan would say nuanced). As a result I find that I have to really go hunting for those flavors, which then leads me to draw harder, and the resulting heat and irritation spoil the fun. I let this one age a few years in my cellar to see if it improved and I have come to the same conclusion that I did when it was fresh: to my taste flavors too light and muted for the effort, almost cigarette-like. This one's just not for me.

The English blend with perique is not to everybody's taste. However having quite a lot of experience with Gregory Pease tobaccos and reasoning sensibly that a mixture introduced over 20 years ago, in 2000, and still in production simply can't be bad, I decided to trust my instinct.

The 8 ounce tin was labeled "January 14, 2016." The appearance of the blend was all tones of brown, from yellowish to almost black. The different varieties of tobacco are easily distinguishable. The cut is quite coarse, with small flakes of latakia and perique. There is quite a bit of both in the blend, despite the fact that the description says only "touch of perique", which gave some cause for concern. The moisture content was perfect, the tobacco was not dry or overly moist.

I'm used to most of Pease's blends decomposing into flavors fairly easily due to hand blending and quality raw materials. I only had trouble with Chelsea Morning, which has become one of my favorite tobaccos. Samarra also seems to fall into the list of exceptions - the flavor of an aged blend is very complex, it is disassembled into components with great difficulty. The easiest thing to do would be to write that the tobacco has a "good English blend with some perique"" flavor profile and close the flavor thread at that point. But I did try to break it down into its component parts. It turned out about the following: notes of latakia - tan leather with a subtle sourness (as if this leather was treated with a weak solution of vinegar), tar, peat and resin - prevail, but not dominate, overlapping with a fresh herbal gathering and a light aroma of malted bread with cumin and coriander, lying on an oak chopping board. Inhale it. Now squeeze the peel of a lemon so the juice barely sputters, toss a single grinded pea of black pepper into the air nearby, inhale the resulting bouquet again - and you might get some idea of the scent of this blend.

I happily stuffed the pipe and smoked it. A couple of hours later, I stuffed a different shaped pipe to solidify the taste. The blend tasted different in the bent, differing slightly but noticeably. I began to wonder. The next pipe was already intentionally taken in a different format. So I tried half a dozen different pipes - a narrow "chimney" with a long straight channel and a "jap" with a straight but short one. Wide billiards and bulldogs. Bent, half-bent... I smoked it daily, and imperceptibly the contents of the can diminished by a quarter. The tobacco revealed a new side to me each time. The base remained the same - a note of smokiness, some meat juice, a good dose of spice and pepper, some dried fruit, some malted bread, a subtle sweetness of bitter chocolate. Depending on what kind of pipe, the sweetness, bread and pepper notes became more or less evident: in narrow straight pipes, the sweetness was hardly noticeable, in bentas and pipes with "Peterson's lip" ("P-Lip") the spice of perique became less noticeable, and in combination "bent with P-Lip" it almost disappeared. Nevertheless, the tobacco taste remained complex and whole, dense, but very smooth. As you smoke, the perique in all cases flattens out, the woody note comes in, and the spice is slightly stronger. The strength of the tobacco is medium or slightly higher - in a very large pipe I felt a slight nicotine hit, sweating slightly. The tobacco doesn't bite, burns smoothly, slowly and coolly, leaving almost no moisture in the pipe. It is reminiscent of a good pepper steak over charcoal with a slice of malt bread, but with nuances of complex sauce, leaving a nice meaty aftertaste. The tobacco burns into a fine, light gray ash with no large fractions.

The smoke from the tobacco has the typical smell of an English blend - peat, smoldering wood. Despite this, it does not hang in a carpet, and disperses quite easily, although the smell from it remains in the room for a long time.

What's the bottom line? In my opinion, excellent. If Chelsea Morning claims to be my favorite morning tobacco from Gregory Pease, only slightly inferior to C&D Rajah's Court, then Samarra is now firmly in place as a daytime cold season blend. It keeps you warm and makes you feel nourished. I sincerely hope that the two large tins I still have on my shelf will be enough for next winter. And then we'll see...

Simply put is a mild English that is tailor made, I think, for all day smoking. Seems a bit oriental forward and that’s not a bad thing. Great change of pace. Would I buy it again? Absolutely though it wouldn’t be my first choice but a fine tobacco nonetheless.

Slightly smokey, lightly sweet stewed fruit, and spicy are the best terms I can come up with to describe this tobacco, but I'm not doing it justice. Samarra is complex and wants you to pay attention to each puff. That said, it's an easy light and stays lit. It also burns cool even with harder draws. I'm going to smoke half of my 8 oz can now and jar the rest for a few years to see how it matures. I may also have to purchase more as it needs to have a solid place in my rotation.

Samarra is a great Balkan. Similar to Balkan Sasieni but, more complex and nuanced. The tin note is balanced with no one tobacco taking the lead. Basically smells like a medium english with a twist. The moisture is fine and it easily takes the flame. The smoke is smooth and creamy with no bite at all.

The Virginias, Latakia, orientals and perique all complement each other to provide a savory thought provoking smoke. Sometimes I get cedarwood, other times I get figs, sugar and lemons, then BBQ. There is lot going on here and keeps me interested and coming back for more.

Samarra is a winner!

Samarra is a very interesting blend. The bright Virginias play nicely with the orientals. The perique and latakia while condimental, provide the perfect foil for the whole blend. The oriental presence is mildly stronger than I like, but this blend grows on one as time goes by. All in all, Samarra is a very delightful smoke.

Difficult review as no specific flavour stood out; but that's just why its so beautiful for me. Well balanced. Not the Latakia, or the VA, or the Perique or the Oriental/Turkish took any dominant position. Therefore....

Tin: Smoky, mouldy and just a hint of spice. Some orange-zest there.

Taste: Here is where no element stood out to the front - just a well-balanced, typical English blend where all 4 elements comes together to give you a buttery, silky smooth English blend. In that sense, probably complex, but in a good way.

I would easily smoke this all day round; being someone who loves anything English / Balkan.

YT review https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pY_-lttQa0

Extremely sweet and smooth although the initial room-note by the non-puffers is reported as strong. Wonderful flavour the entire bowl in large or small. Perique often irritates me, but not in this tobacco. Excellent and highly recommended.