G. L. Pease Samarra

Samarra took me a little while to get a handle on. My two tins have some age on them and the note is somewhat sweet and a little bit smoky. I often wonder, with the number of English blends in the Pease lineup how well one can distinguish one from another in a way that makes it a worthwhile experience. Samarra does that well. In the pipe, for me, the star of this show is the Oriental component which I find savory, almost buttery. The Virginias add a small amount of sweetness and the ever present Latakia is medium at most. I don’t taste very much Perique so it has either been added lightly or I am simply misjudging it. Samarra reminds me a little bit of Russ Ouelette’s Cherberus (minus the dark fired) and I wonder if the same Oriental is found in each blend? Samarra is cool burning and occupies a unique niche in the crowed world of medium English blends.

Credit to GLP, firstly for the accuracy of the tobacco's description, and secondly for the quality of this smoke.

In the tin it is a mostly mahogany ribbon, with occasional black and blonde pieces. It comes in an optimal dryness for my tastes. There is a natural Va sweetness to the tin note with the predominant scent of Latakia.

Takes a light beautifully and burns without attention for the duration. It produces a rich and creamy smoke that is complex and lush. Occasional pepper notes, I presume from the perique, assert themselves from time to time, and this becomes moreso as the bowl progresses.

This is a beautiful tobacco that deserves its high praise. For me, I'm not entirely comfortable with this sort of perique presence in what might be called an English blend, altho this sort of thing has a long history and probably deserves its own genre name. The red Virginia so often used by GPS does its usual complex spicy thing. Won't be a regular for me, but certainly earns a place as an occasional change of pace pipe.

This is for me a 'sit and think' tobacco that I enjoy with a pot of tea. In fact I found a soothing drink a requisite when smoking this, to ease back the spice and pepper. For some pipesters I am confident this will be a further plus.

In two words: Smooth and smokey. Its got good body but this is not an imposing tobacco. Other commenters are right about it having complexity. While the latakia is noticable this is IMO still driven by the Va's. Very nice and well worth a try.

My first few bowls of this were wildly variable. My first bowl was "wow -- this is great!". But my next few were "meh -- nothing special", or worse.

But I finally found a pipe (a large-bowled brandy) that brought out the potential I knew it had, and it is very nice indeed! Creamy -- even buttery -- smoothness, delectably spicy without dominating the blend, soft and well-rounded latakia tones. A beautifully balanced medium english blend with lots of complexity to maintain interest. It seems to straddle the line between english & balkan perfectly. Would make a good, classy all-day blend. Definitely recommended -- if you find the right pipe to bring it to life.

This is a well-balanced oriental blend. Its predominant flavor definitely comes from its latakia, sort of a charred meat thing. Along the edges are sweetness from the Virginias and just a hint of Perique spice. Stuff and puffs just fine, its bigger pieces don't require rubbing out or anything.

My tin needed some hydration upon opening as it was too dry. The date sticker was missing so I don't know how old it was.

Would I buy this again? Likely not as there are a million other English blends to try, and this one doesn't stick out in any particular way, it's just a solid blend.

Samarra will seem like a sweet Virginia-Perique blend with only a bit of Latakia and oriental spice to those like myself who prefer heavier Balkans, and it will seem like a medium English-Balkan to those who normally smoke VaPers. I prefer Pease's oriental-forward Charing Cross which is heavier on the Latakia and less sweet, so Samarra is a significantly sweeter blend to me with a different oriental character than Charing Cross. There is a bit of sourness in this blend too (the Perique, or the orientals perhaps?) that sometimes seems to divert attention from the sweetness. Samarra is a really fine blend, but only an occasional change-of-pace blend for me at least.

Update: Having gotten around to smoking some of the new Dunhill blends, I must say that Pease's blends, including Samarra, are far superior in every way, better quality and better tasting all around. Samarra is still a sweet change-of-pace blend for me, but it is far better than the new Dunhill blends in my opinion, so four stars on this one too.

I am a former cigar smoker and just started smoking a pipe about 6 months ago. I have tried several tobaccos and different pipes. I lean toward the cavendish tobaccos but I tried this one and liked it very much. I cannot give it a 4 star due to I have not yet smoked a 4 star tobacco but I recommend anyone to give this one a try as a change of pace.

This is a well-crafted, nicely balanced blend that highlights the Latakia rather than beating you over the head with it. The smoke experience is full, mellow, flavorful, and highly enjoyable, with the sweet, nutty orientals coming into their own mid-bowl. Unlike some McClelland blends, there is no overabundance of sweet virginias, which in this case decidedly take a back seat and more minor supporting role in this mixture. Lights and burns easily. Also, unlike many other Pease blends, Samarra is not hot, or biting. Similar in some ways to McClelland's excellent Three Oaks blends, although I do prefer the Syrian latakia found in Three Oaks Syrian. This is good stuff for the lover of delicately balanced, lightly blended Latakia mixtures, and is a nice medium balkan. The small amount of detectable perique and lemon adds real interest. A fine result! Three stars.

Update 8-3-2010: This is becoming one of my go-to blends when I am in the mood for cyprian latakia, although, to be honest, I find myself cheating, undermining the intents and designs of the blender, by deliberately picking through the tin and enhancing the portion of latakia that finds its way into each bowl...and then I must add some straight latakia back into the tin by the bottom 1/4 of it...Still, in all, a very good blend and very high quality tobacco throughout. Just a caution: Don't push on the cadence or the typical Pease orientals can be a bit harsh on the throat.

(field note 9-27-2010): I opened a nicely aged tin of Samarra today, and as if the tobacco gods had observed my update above, I was greeted by an unexpected prize while sifting around in the contents..two big, dense stow-away chunks of latakia, about 1/8" by 1/4" by 2". Of course, I promptly shredded them and mixed them in. Upon lighting the bastardized result, I was rewarded with a super-samarra, a veritable cyprian lat-bomb of epic proportions! This stuff makes Caravan seem like Frog Morton. After a small feat of engineering to get it burning really well, I railed away at this cyprian sledgehammer for nearly two hours in a large Ser Jacopo. The cowardly virginias and other orientals didn't even peek out from their hiding place until the last 1/4 of the bowl. My imprudence, excessive cadence, and disregard for the intended balance of the original mixture, was also answered with an astonishing, dizzying buzz-bomb from Uncle Nic. This super-samarra is a potent piledriver. It eventually fried down impeccably to a fine white dust. I'm putting this frisky vixen away for special occasions when I want to pummel myself into a sublime stupor of Peasean bliss. A five-star accident of random chance.

As with some of my other reviews recently, I do not feel comfortable giving four stars on limited experience, but this is a very enjoyable blend. In some ways, it reminds me of Squadron Leader, one of my favorites, but with a bit more flavor and more going on. Really lovely. I find the orientals are definitely center stage, but the perique and latakia combine together to give a nice bit of spice without the overwhelming "blast" of a latakia heavy blend... which would eradicate the oriental flavors, too. Masterfully blended.

UPDATE Smoking this in close proximity to Ashbury, it's notable that the addition of perique brings a richness and a more complex spice to Samarra.