October Tobacco Crawl with Greg L. Pease

[brass]

Kick off date is next Friday, October 2, when we'll start smoking Sixpence. So, just about a week to go. Hopefully, Greg can drop by and field some of your questions.
I received my tobacco order yesterday, along with my new Jeppensen. I'll smoke-in the new pipe this week so that I'm not breaking in a new pipe while trying new tobaccos.

 

[misterlowercase]

Can't wait for this!

::

 

[atskywalker]

I had 3 of the blends already in my cellar so I only ordered Sextant. Really looking forward. Huge gan of JKP and SixPence and have never tried Sextant & Quite nights so good opportunity to pop these tins open .

 

[bigjohn]

I saw the same thing with the savings and had Sixpence but ordered the bundle anyway. Glad to show SP that the forum appreciates them.

 

[cobguy]

I've been opening and sniffing all 4 tins everyday! ::

 

[fmgee]

I've been opening and sniffing all 4 tins everyday!

I just opened Six Pence today and can understand why you keep going back for another sniff. I thought I would pop the other tins a little closer to smoking time.

 

[newbroom]

I just ordered mine today as well as some C&D Bulk on sale for 20% off till the end of the month.

OJK, BillyB, and BigNBurly....FREE shipping! 8O

 

[brass]

Friday, October 2, 2015

G. L. Pease - Sixpence (Old London Series)
(From Tobacco Reviews.com)

You enter the dark paneled room, its walls lined with ancient books. An antique table stands beside a leather club chair. Upon it, next to a small silver coin, an open tobacco tin entices you with an aroma deep, rich, authentic. You fill your bowl, strike a match. The first puff stops time as the smoky magic weaves its spell... Sixpence. The mystery continues.
Notes: First batch tinned October 15, 2014 and released November 21, 2014. On that date, Mr. Pease wrote: After a longer than expected wait, I'm happy to announce that Sixpence is now wending its way to tobacconists' shelves. A rich flake comprising a base of beautiful red virginias, a generous portion of perique, and just a bit of dark-fired leaf to add body and dimension. The tobaccos are delicately kissed with a special spirit, then pressed and aged in cakes before being sliced and tinned. The taste and aroma are deep, full and satisfying, reminiscent of traditional tobaccos from long ago. I'm very excited about the release, as I'm sure you can imagine. I've been working on Sixpence for a long time, and am beyond pleased with it. It's one of those rare moments when everything comes together and the final blend actually exceeded the expectations I began the journey with.
It's been a long journey. I had something special in mind when I began this project, something that would hold the smoker's interest throughout the bowl, developing increasing nuances with each puff, while not fatiguing the palate or building too much intensity. The leaf has been carefully selected and composed to perfect harmony from first light to the wonderful crescendo of the last puff. Virginia lovers craving a tobacco that is bold and robust, as well as devotées of latakia mixtures who enjoy virginias as a change of pace will find their reward in every bowl of Sixpence.
Brand G. L. Pease

Blended By Gregory Pease

Manufactured By Cornell & Diehl

Blend Type Virginia/Perique

Contents Kentucky, Perique, Virginia

Flavoring Alcohol / Liquor

Cut Broken Flake

Packaging 2 ounce Tin

Country US

Production Currently available
Strength: Medium

Flavoring: Very Mild

Taste: Medium

Room Note: Pleasant to Tolerable
3.5

26 reviews Reviews

4 star: 17

3 star: 7

2 star: 1

1 star: 1

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[rhoadsie]

Is this the thread we use to "crawl" and discuss the tobaccos?

 

[brass]

You're at the right place, rhoadsie.

 

[brass]

I've been asked a couple of times if it would be okay to smoke Sextant a bit early. It's your tobacco, so smoke it when you want - but please hold comments until kickoff Friday. (October 2)
I will sometimes crack the tin on Thursday before the Crawl Kickoff, so that I can post impressions on Friday. Some prefer to smoke on kickoff day. Others will just drop in for one or two blends that interest them.

 

[brass]

A Question for Greg
From SmokingPipes.com

G. L. Pease: Sextant 2oz

Product Number: 003-029-0077
Sextant from G. L. Pease is a classic mixture harmoniously married to a Navy flake. Ripe Virginia tobaccos are first blended with Cypriot Latakia, fine Orientals, and a touch of dark-fired Kentucky leaf, then infused with a hint of dark rum before being gently pressed, matured, and sliced. The flavour is rich, bold and satisfying; the aroma an enchanting interweaving of traditions.

Greg, could you tell us what is a Navy flake? It sometimes seems as if marketing professionals overly generalize technical terms, eventually sucking the meaning out of the word.
Thanks. Pax

 

[brass]

Thanks for participating in the Pax Tobacco Crawls. The cost for this month’s GL Pease sampler of 4 tins is $37.08 plus shipping. To order, call 888 366 0345 and tell them you want the Pax Tobacco Crawl sampler. Give them skew number 012-677-0019.
Pease Train

With apologies to Yusuf Islam formerly Cat Stevens
Now I've been happy lately

Thinking about the good things to come

And I believe it could be

Something good has begun
Oh, I've been smiling lately

Dreaming about the world as one

And I believe it could be

Some day it's going to come
'Cause out on the edge of darkness

There rides a Pease train

Oh, Pease train take this country

Come take me home again
Now I've been smiling lately

Thinking about the good things to come

And I believe it could be

Something good has begun
Oh, Pease train sounding louder

Glide on the Pease train

Come on the Pease train

Yes, Pease train holy roller
Everyone jump upon the Pease train

Come on the Pease train
Get your bags together

Go bring your good friends too

'Cause it's getting nearer

It soon will be with you

 

[brass]

Pease Train​

With apologies to Yusuf Islam formerly Cat Stevens
Now I've been happy lately

Thinking about the good things to come

And I believe it could be

Something good has begun
Oh, I've been smiling lately

Dreaming about the world as one

And I believe it could be

Some day it's going to come
'Cause out on the edge of darkness

There rides a Pease train

Oh, Pease train take this country

Come take me home again
Now I've been smiling lately

Thinking about the good things to come

And I believe it could be

Something good has begun
Oh, Pease train sounding louder

Glide on the Pease train

Come on the Pease train

Yes, Pease train holy roller
Everyone jump upon the Pease train

Come on the Pease train
Get your bags together

Go bring your good friends too

'Cause it's getting nearer

It soon will be with you

 

[glpease]

Greg, could you tell us what is a Navy flake? It sometimes seems as if marketing professionals overly generalize technical terms, eventually sucking the meaning out of the word.

The term seems to have morphed somewhat over the years, and there's no way of pinning down its original etymology. The tale that seems to best indicate the its genesis is that mariners would make twists of tobacco leaves, storing them in emptied rum casks in order to evade usurious tobacco tariffs when sailing back into port. (Excessive taxation on tobacco is far from a new thing. King Jimmy I first imposed high taxes on tobacco in response to physicians complaining that tobacco was being used without prescription in 1604. Despite his hatred of the noxious weed - remember, he was the author of the comical, but damning "Counterblaste to Tobacco" - he, just like so many of today's policy makers, couldn't resist an opportunity to excise as much profit from the proletariat as possible. Some things never change.) In addition to helping sailors to beat the King at his own game, the rum soaked casks would impart a smoothness and aroma to the tobacco contained within them.
Of course, it's unlikely that those sailors ever referred to their own tobacco as "Navy." When manufacturers began to use the term is hard to pin down, but it does go back over a century. It's probable that the first "Navy Flakes" were made from burley tobaccos sweetened with rum in order to cut the harshness of uncased air-cured leaf. Historically, there are many brands that produced "Navy" tobaccos in various cuts - spun and sliced, caked and sliced, and even ribbon cut - and using various leaf formulations, from burley or virginia based, sometimes spiced with perique or latakia, so it's not clear that any formal definition has ever really existed.
The one thing that does seem fairly historically consistent, though not all manufacturers have stuck to it, is the presence of rum, or, more commonly today, rum flavoring. I consider Sextant, a somewhat latakia forward VA flake with real rum added, and one of the tobaccos I chose for this month's crawl, to be a variation on the theme of a Navy Flake. Navigator is somewhat more traditional, being virginia based with the addition of a little dark-fired Kentucky leaf.
Descriptive terms like this do seem to devolve to some extent over the decades, just as the blends they are used to describe change. It's probably a bit of an overstatement to say that the meaning has been sucked out of the words, but their origins certainly become more obscured and their connotation more murky as the landscape of products they were originally intended to describe becomes wider.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Great exposition!
But feeling frivolous right now, the song below kept running through my head, so I share some lyrics.

"In The Navy"
Where can you find pleasure

Search the world for treasure

Learn science technology

Where can you begin to make your dreams all come true

On the land or on the sea

Where can you learn to fly

Play in sports and skin dive

Study oceanography

Sign up for the big band

Or sit in the grandstand

When your team and others meet
In the navy

Yes, you can sail the seven seas

In the navy

Yes, you can put your mind at ease

In the navy

Come on now, people, make a stand

In the navy, in the navy

Can't you see we need a hand

In the navy

Come on, protect the mother land

In the navy

Come on and join your fellow man

In the navy

Come on people, and make a stand

In the navy, in the navy, in the navy (in the navy)
They want you, they want you

They want you as a new recruit

I don't see The Village People as pipe smokers, however.

 

[jpmcwjr]

"The smoking lamp is lit" by that I mean I started early on Six Pence, and, uh, well, it shouldn't be too early or too bad to say only that I like it a lot. That's not a review, just a statement!
Also opened Jackknife just to sniff it....
This will be a very good crawl! Thanks, brass and Greg!

 

[brass]

No problem, JP. It is your tobacco. But I'm going to guess you were one of those kids who would sneak to the tree at 3am on Christmas, and shake the boxes. I know I was.
I confess that I too smoked a bowl of Sixpence this morning and I was very happy with the choice. I'll smoke another bowl tonight and several over the weekend. I'll post impressions on kickoff Friday.
I'll be traveling, so my initial comments will be brief (congregation exclaims hallelujah!) but I'll make up for it early next week.

 

[gloucesterman]

I smoke all four during the evenings regularly. I'm looking forward to hearing what others think. Mr. Paese's perspective is always interesting and enlightening. This should be a great month's crawl. Thanks brass.

 

[jaydublin]

Honored to kick this off. Happy Friday morning to you all. So - Sixpence. First off, I do love Escudo. I mean LOVE. And what I really love about Escudo is the perique on the retro hale. And my first thought is that Sixpence nails this the same way. The perique is just beautiful in this blend. I don't have the ability to really detect the Virginias discretely, so I can't comment on their quality and contribution in this blend. But I do notice the Kentucky. I've smoked 3 bowls so far and my general impression beyond the lovely perique is that this is a more full-tasting smoke than Escudo. The Kentucky gives it that fullness of flavor, I believe. I don't really sense the liquor topping that I've read about. Just a pure tobacco flavor. Medium nic hit. All in all a really great smoke. Only other comment is that it tends to create a denseness in the bowl as opposed to smoking down to a fine ash. But that might just be up to my lack of general pipe prowess. I really love this stuff.