By Bob Tate
The tin aroma of this blend is a nice sweet and tangy straight forward tobacco smell. It smells pretty good. The moisture content is perfect for smoking right away. I loaded up my pipe and proceeded to the charring light. Upon the charring light, I am greeted by a straight forward tobacco taste and aroma accompanied by a slight sweetness. There is also a sort of a sharpness to it has well. I detect the sharpness on my palate, but it is not a bite. That may be the Kentucky tobacco. I finished lighting the pipe to see where this blend would go.
At the start, I taste a nice naturally sweet tobacco taste. There is a bit of fullness to the smoke that I would attribute to the Kentucky. The sharpness is still there, but it moved more to the background. There is some smokiness to it as well, but not a Latakia smokiness. It’s more of a natural straight type of smokiness. The sweetness is very light and subtle and seems to be detected more on the finish than the actual smoke.
Around the 3/4 point, I started to detect a strong presence of plum and spice. The strength also seemed to pick up a little bit at this point. Around the half bowl point, the plum and spice retreated to the background a bit, but the strength remained. Around the last 1/4 of the bowl, the plum and spice started coming back into the forefront and the taste remained that way until the end.
This is a full bodied, straight forward tobacco tasting smoke. The Kentucky is definitely the focal point of this blend and dominates it. There seems to be just enough Perique to add some plum and spice to it and the Virginias are there to add just a slight amount of sweetness to break it up a bit and bring some harmony to the blend. This is definitely a blend to smoke later in the day and make sure that you have a bite to eat before smoking it. I would almost put it in the same category as Peterson Irish Flake as far as the strength goes.
This is a strange blend for me. I do like it and it has all of the attributes that I normally love in a blend, but I don’t know how often that I would smoke it. It is made of high quality tobaccos and smokes slow, cool, dry, and doesn’t bite. It is a very good blend, but it isn’t setting off any bells and whistles for me. I don’t know if it is the pipe that I chose to smoke it in, if I smoked it too early in the day, or because I didn’t eat before I smoked it. It is a blend that I will keep on hand, even though it wouldn’t be an everyday smoke for me. I will continue to re-visit it in different pipes and at different times and circumstances.
I image that this would be a great smoke after a hearty meal. If you like straight forward tobacco blends that pack a punch, I definitely suggest that you give Cumberland a try.
I Recommend it.
Brand: G.L. Pease
Blend: Cumberland
Description:Robust and possessing a subdued sweetness, Cumberland is a delightfully orchestrated suite of American tobaccos. Featuring a rare and exquisite mahogany Kentucky aged in bales for 20 years. Red and matured Virginias establish a theme; the Kentucky and a pianissimo of Perique create the variations. Pure natural tobacco flavors are harmonized by delicate arpeggios and underscored by deep resonant tones. The coda is lovely and lingering — a perfect finish to a rich performance. Best savored slowly.
Country: US
Cut: Coarse Cut
Tobaccos: Kentucky, Virginia, Perique
Strength: Full
Taste: Tobacco, Plum, Spice, Slightly Sweet
Room Note: Pleasant to Tolerable
G.L. Pease Cumberland – Click Here to Order Now!
G.L. Pease Cumberland – Click Here to Order Now!
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