Tobacco Review: GL Pease Temple Bar
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Kevin Godbee - Sep 6, 2016
- 5 min read
Kyle Weiss
Oh, praise the gods, it’s September. It’s my second favorite month, mostly because the waning heat gives way to promises of future autumn colors and crisp nights. Shadows start getting longer and the sun starts to creep into windows yet again. Fire pits around the neighborhood begin tingeing the air with wafts of hardwood smoke, long-awaited fruits and vegetables are swollen with tasty promises, and the Sierra Nevada aspen groves & blooming sagebrush give mountain canyons streaks of bursting yellow…
…it’s a lovely time of year. As tree leaves lighten, my tobacco leaves of choice start to darken. Last month I was delighted by “Regents Flake,” one of two new offerings from GL Pease, and this month seems about perfect for the slightly more bold of the two, Temple Bar. The tin goes on to say:
“Rich, ripe red and sweet golden Virginia tobaccos are generously spiced with fine, fragrant orientals and enhanced with a delicate touch of perique for a bit of added depth and complexity. The leaf is carefully layered and pressed for a fortnight into large cakes, which are then cut into bars and tinned, ready to be sliced and rubbed out as desired for your ultimate smoking pleasure.”
I was delighted when I opened the tin with a loud, pressurized hiss to discover the nice block of tobacco inside. I adore plug and cake pipe tobaccos. Comparing it to yet another GL Pease product I enjoy, Jackknife Plug, Temple Bar is a hybrid of sorts… not as dense as Jackknife Plug, and not a soft as a “crumble cake.” There are distinct layers of very chunky, sometimes even whole-leaf tobacco. The smell that Temple Bar delivers in the tin is a combination of chocolate and very fruit-like, akin to the scent of windfalls from a September peach or apple tree that have begun to ferment.
As is my way with plugs, I try to peel off horizontally the strata of the tobacco in layers, so that I may then cut it into strips with scissors, finally rubbing the strips into a loose batch to stuff into a pipe. I know this is an odd way of doing things, but it’s my way. Jackknife, for example, does not benefit as much as the outer layers are lighter and the inner layers are darker–this plug parfait of sorts benefits best when cut like a layer cake–a little bit of exactly the right amounts as the creator, Greg, intended. Rebellious me, like a kid (or a geologist), I start at the top and work my way down through the layers. Temple Bar I treated no differently.
The moisture content is pretty high in this tobacco, I had to do a little drying of the final cut strips before I loaded a bowl. I chose a cob in which to begin my journey, and I’m happy to report it’s a sound vessel in which to start. The first lights really highlight the bit of Perique and oriental leaf at first. Being dubious at anything Perique, I found nothing particularly unpleasant about this–though it is spicier than Regents Flake, there’s a keen amount
of body in Temple Bar. It’s a curiously sweet-smelling tobacco, but with a brut-like performance for the palate to enjoy. For how characteristically full it tastes, it’s dry, active and lively on the tongue.
“Champagne” might even be the best way to metaphorically describe Temple Bar. It has a fruity, fermented quality, the slight spice being the effervescence of bubbles, a light and dry character but full of flavor. There’s a hint of lime citrus in the mid-bowl, a little black pepper, vanilla, cocoa, and a slight, distant nose of treacle. Being one who tends to smoke all the way to the end of the bowl, this is where the patient really get their reward: a fruit-cobbler breadiness and creaminess await. Nicotine is moderate, and depending on how it is cut, once you find what is right for you, performance is nearly effortless. Accompanied drinks held well for this tobacco, as I sipped bourbon and soda while I smoked, other times I chose a few saison beers and ciders–all of which were equally pleasant.
I concluded Regents Flake in the last review as a more “pro smoker” kind of blend, but suggested the new, unfamiliar or curious to also consider it. Temple Bar is one I might say really is a veterans-only smoke–and that is only because of the preparation involved. I have found people either are really into plug-type tobacco or they can’t be bothered with yet another step in the ritual of the pipe, and prefer their tobacco pretty much ready to go. As far as the flavor, there’s a lot going on in Temple Bar, and that may change depending on how it is prepared and cut by the smoker. In addition, the nuances are bound to change for the better in Temple Bar if left to sit in its tin unopened for a few years.
So what did I think of Temple Bar? It’s a fantastic tobacco, provided you are the patient sort who is willing wait to see what time will do to a tin, you don’t mind risking life and limb with kitchen cutlery to carve off and prepare what you need, and you’re okay letting it breathe a bit before finally stuffing it into a pipe. Me? I love that kind of thing. The more time I am able to spend with my tobacco in any way I can tickles me in all the right spots. Being able to see all the beautiful leaf components of what makes up Temple Bar is a treat. I cannot, however, see myself diving into this as an every day tobacco, because it really is very unique and unto itself–much like how champagne would be kind of lost along side a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, Temple Bar is something of a special occasion kind of smoke. It’s a true twist in the Old London series line of GL Pease tobaccos!
With summer hinting at its end, why not celebrate the change of seasons with something refreshing and fun while enjoying a little unique complexity? Temple Bar might be just the thing for your final-hurrah of backyard barbecues, to compliment your crisp, early-morning fishing trips before the leaves all drop, or puffing away while pondering where in the depths of your coat closet hides your favorite, ugly turtle-neck sweater.
Written by Kevin Godbee
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Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 634! Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Warren Ertle. Warren is an extremely accomplished musician with a PhD in music. He started early as a percussionist in sixth grade. Later his grandmother got him a cheap Casio keyboard which he taught himself to play. He started playing in blues bands in high school, and has been a pianist with jazz big bands for years. Even though he was already a professional musician, he took his first real piano lesson when he enrolled in college with his studies in classical music. He is of course a pipe smoker. At the top of the show we will have an Ask the Tobacco Blender segment with Jeremy Reeves. Jeremy is the Head Blender at Cornell & Diehl, which is one of the most popular boutique pipe tobacco companies in the USA.
Soon now, supposedly, our neighborhoods will shift from grinning pumpkins, skeletons in various assortments, and zombies dashing about to pretty reindeer, angels, and flashing lights illuminating homes with sparkling stars and laughing, scurrying Santas. But, lest we forget, there is the turkey season, fancy pie aromas wafting from kitchens, and a national pardon of a big Tom Turkey. Remember, now, that only one of these holiday personalities is a pipe smoker. And that is the hefty, bearded fellow in a bright red suit sitting in a sleigh with a herd of deer hitched up and ready to streak across the globe, bringing tidings of joy and many presents. Ok, the scene is set for the next couple of months, right? So, before we get too far off the beaten path, let’s just take a deep breath of fresh autumn air, shall we? Ahh. That’s better, isn’t it? What’s got the Pundit in a snit is not all the Halloween spooks who came a-jostling for candy. Or the wild turkeys gobbling in the backwoods or all the fuss and feathers over the big one—Christmas. No, it is that we might need to take note of all the little things that mean so much to us. Like a good sunrise (seriously, Pundit has not gone all Pollyanna.) Mayhaps we need to appreciate more of what we have than what we have not. Or something like that. Like, a good pipe in the morning with coffee as the dawn brings us coolish weather now that we have flipped the calendar to autumn. But it also brings beautiful leaves that have become a spectacle of technicolor in the wind. It is the little things. The rereading of an enjoyable book and finding something you did not see or learn in the first go-round. Or a stunning phrase you commit to memory with the re-read, while smoking that favorite pipe. And you notice a superior puff that just seems to be different. It’s in the air and the seasons of meaningful little things. It’s aromatic! Or perhaps it is that sense of satisfaction knowing and appreciating you made it to another day. With the world in a kind of rinse-and-repeat history, reminiscent of a Shakespearean play, it is perhaps a good moment to remember some of Pipedom’s philosophers whose cogent thoughts brought light to clear a path in the mists of confusion and confounding opinions. Ok. No gloom and doom. Just some down-home thoughts. Think of times in the past when history was running off the rails. It took our pipe-smoking thinkers (the mind workers of the world) to speak of better pathways to more light. Think for a moment, with a pipe in hand, these wizards of the world and word: Albert Einstein, J. R.R. Tolkien, Mark Twain, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edwin Hubble, Bertrand Russell, C. S. Lewis, and Jean-Paul Sartre. All learned and enlightened. They offered wisdom instead of storms of meaningless roads to nowhere. All while smoking their pipes! Maybe especially with the help of their pipes in the art of thinking and philosophy. Recall the words of Mr. E=MC2 when he said, “I believe that pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgment in all human affairs.” Amen and amen! Dealing with world-rattling events takes a calm and objective view of things, to the Pundit’s way of summing it up. You just don’t go messing around with quantum physics without a calm and objective approach, methinks. Or as the extraordinary physicist Robert Oppenheimer said after he and a team in the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos Labs developed a way to split atoms into bombs during World War II. “I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds,” said Oppenheimer referring to the development of the first nuclear bombs dropped on Japan. It must be pointed out that Oppenheimer was more of a cigarette smoker than a pipe smoker. Nonetheless, pipes were part of his personality. Now, if you have read some of the great authors of the past and present, their pipes were always nearby. Reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle can be a three-pipe problem at times. S. Lewis and Jean-Paul Sartre require time with your pipes to reflect on the existential problems and solutions these authors provide in learned novels and other narratives. Or take Edwin Hubble and Bertrand Russell, philosophers of another world. Pipes are required for reading. The quantum lode of ideas Pundit is attempting to sort out is that our pipes are relaxing and stimulate our thoughts and creativity. Especially in these last months of the year. Many times Pundit has had that light bulb flick on while smoking my beloved pipes. And friends in Pipedom, it ain’t easy to turn on the lights in Pundit’s rock pit head. Now it’s time for a quote from a Pipe Smoker of the Past. Shelby Foote was born Nov. 17, 1916, in Greenville, Miss., and died June 27, 2005, in Memphis, Tenn. A fact is not a truth until you love it—Shelby Foote. A parting thought: It is said that famed Southern author William Faulkner carried a packed pipe in a coat pocket wherever he went. That’s one effective way to deal with workday conflicts and confusion. A calm and objective judgment in our everyday human affairs, as the quantum man said.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 633. Our featured guest tonight is Jon David Cole. JD is the Owner/Tobacconist at The Country Squire in Jackson, MS, and the accompanying online store. We’ll have JD and Brian talking about what’s new at the store and in the business in general. At the top of the show, Brian will discuss tobacco growing, what happens to the leaf, and provide updated information on where tobacco is being gown today. Tobacco production originated in the United States and we were once the #1 producer. It’s quite different now.
Well there’s nothing like a touch of the plague to usher in the changing season. Leaving the airport just when the first advertisements for all things pumpkin spice began to appear—lattes, muffins, shampoos, trash bags, and myriad other concoctions—so, too, my ability to breathe freely disappeared. The unfortunate side effect of losing one’s sense of taste and smell for weeks is the utter inability to enjoy tobacco. Not that I consider myself an expert on anything but my own tastes, but be forewarned that this review was made with mildly impugned sensory equipment. Just when a comforting pipe was most needed, its comfort was denied. Be that as it may, the road to recovery found me limping along on one lung this past month, trying to wrest the particulars of two blends on offer from Sutliff: the latest 175th Anniversary blend, Silver Quarter, as well as their spooky seasonal Maple Shadows II. Silver Quarter is a new style on offer from Sutliff, their first coin-cut blend. Naturally a Virginia-Perique, it is enhanced with a traditional core of black Cavendish. In the tin it holds much promise, with a lightly bready and very woody, if ever-so-slightly sour, aroma. After some time acclimating to air, the bouquet softens further and offers hints of the burley with some chocolaty notes wafting through the more dominant dry grassy aspect. The tin art is of a coin-style bas-relief bust, presumably of a founding Sutliff brother, Ă la The Old Boss On the reverse of the tin we find the blend’s description: Reflecting on Sutliffs 175 years of tobacco excellence, we came across a brand that embodies true value, SILVER QUARTER. This name pays homage to Sutliffs roots, the legacy of two brothers who popularized pipe smoking in the burgeoning mining society of San Francisco. We celebrate this heritage with a coin cut composed of the finest African Virginias, complemented by a core of Perique and Black Cavendish. The tin notes are, forgive the pun, on the nose for a good VaPer blend: mild tart sweetness peeking out from behind dried hay and slight chocolate undertones, with a lightly tannic finish of weathered oak. It is always a joy to prepare a coin cut, my preference being to put a few in my palm and vigorously warm my hands together to fully break them apart. These well-formed discs pack and light easily, and smoke with little prodding to the end of the bowl. For technical points it scores well—it smokes light, and it’s easy to tend the ember. While it gets sharp after a few quick bowls, pacing should be heeded to easily smoke down to the heel without inviting bite. Of the flavor, though, I am left a bit wanting. There are tart and high notes aplenty, but very little of the lemony citrus I would anticipate, as well as scant midtones; they tend more toward the red wine-vinegary and sour. The flavors are muted, also, lacking the sweetness and piquancy of other marques—the small measure of Perique tickles the nose now and again with peppery hints, and there is a smidge of a deeper sweetness to be found in the Cavendish from puff to puff, but overall it lacks some dynamism. The Virginias, to my palate, come off a bit on the dry side, and here they dominate the blend. The aftertaste and mouthfeel are neutral, again evincing more of the dry, woody, tartly tannic end of the spectrum. The blend has plenty of polish, but not enough depth or richness (*yet) to make it a standout. Here, comparisons are inevitable: Luxury Bullseye Flake has more sweetness, both from its Virginia as well as its Cavendish, and a better finish; Davidoff is similar but with a pronounced umami that is absent here; as for Escudo, I haven’t had any fresh tins lately so it would be unfair to compare. While it rates as a solid, fairly mild smoke, particularly to lovers of the genre, it does not surprise with any exceptional flavors. To be fair, all the boxes have been checked for the blend to benefit from some real aging, and it would be worth checking in on this after a couple of years sealed away. I’ve set half my tin aside to sample again in a month or two, in case I’m merely suffering from the lingering effects of parosmia, and will amend this review in that case. Maple Shadows II, on the other hand, made up for the weeks of sniffling and sneezing I’d endured. Offered in a full 8 ounce tin with delightfully spooky Halloween art, it’s (hopefully) enough to last through the season. Somehow I had missed this last year, so it’s a real pleasure to get some in my candy bucket this year. As the chilling winds of autumn draw eerie prattle from contorted, deciduous limbs, we find ourselves possessed by the spirit of the season. Bewitched by a dissonant charm, we’ve created Maple Shadows. In a season that is defined by the unlikely harmony of treats and frights, we’ve joined the enchanting sweetness of maple with the earthy spice of Dark Fired Kentucky for a smoking experience that captures the senses with an otherworldly fusion of flavor. This may be the best aromatic blend Sutliff’s ever made—and they make a ton of them. First off, it’s not overbearing in the least—quite the opposite, it is also one of the more restrained aromatics they’ve ever made, with a clear but very light topping that melds oh-so-well with their choice Kentucky added to the mix. Opening the tin, the sweet maple is up front and center, but so too is the must of fallen leaves, bready pie crusts, and a crackling fire in the hearth—a perfect invocation of HerbstdĂĽfte in a can. Packing best in an open and capacious bowl, the flavoring is subtle, and recedes to the background while puffing. With a sweet coffee or tea to accompany, the aftertaste of the maple is reinvigorated on the palate […]
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 632. Our featured guest on tonight’s show is the host of the Pipe & Tamper Podcast, Mike Murphy. Brian and Mike will have an extended chat revolving around the days before, during and after the Las Vegas International Pipe Show. We will hear about their travels to the show and the anxiety of Hurricane Milton bearing down on Florida at the same time while running a show and not knowing if your house is going to be there when you get home. In the end, the show went great and our homes survived, although many others in Florida were not so lucky. We’ll have clips from the show, and shoutouts to other podcasts and vlogs that were broadcasting from the pipe show.
Vegas Baby The show started out strong on the 14th floor hospitality suites hosted by the Vegas Pipe Show and Smoking Pipes as well as room hopping to carvers, estate sellers, and vendors to pre-game for the festivities. If you’re interested in what that looks like I’ll refer you to last years pipe show round up. I circled with Brian Levine to get the totals in comparison to last year: This year’s show numbers: 108 Exhibitor tables, 445 attendees, 3,250 Raffle Tickets, 100ish dinners, 172 Rooms in the Hotel. Last year, by comparison, 107 exhibitor tables, 425 attendees, 2,200 raffle tickets, 104 dinners, and 175 rooms on Friday and Saturday nights. We were at capacity, basically, when it came to vendor tables and the dinner, so there is no physical room for growth at this point except for attendees. That said, we filled that smoking lounge to the brim. New Carvers Spotlight Garret Woo (Pipes by Woo) How long have you been carving? Garret: I’ve been carving since 2021, and I’m guessing your next question is probably how’d you get started carving? James: Yes. Garret: In 2021 I took a break from my full time job – that included machining and assembly work and I thought maybe it was time I made something that I would like and I started looking at youtube and Instagram and putting together my shop. I did struggle on the stems to start and there was a lot of failure at the beginning. James: How many pipes have you made so far? Garret: I number my pipes, so I just finished up 186. James: What is your favorite shape you’ve been making? Garret: I really dig Canadians and pipes with longer shanks and lovat Canadian blends. I like to play with different shapes of stems on the longer shanked pipes. The billiard would be my go-to shape but I want to learn more techniques on freehanded shapes. I like to put brass and copper adornments on my pipes with my machining background it helps. James: What is the craziest thing you’ve seen at this show? Garret: The first thing that comes to mind is the table over there with C-Pipes with the shapes and the size and petiteness and the intricate details they did. You can check out what Garret is working on by going to his Instagram. Stefan Cashwell James: how long have you been carving? Stefan: about 3 years. James: What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen at the show? Stefan: The Adam Davidson pipe with the clear shape and the bamboo—I don’t know if it’s 3D printed or what, but it’s amazing. James: What’s your favorite shape to do? Stefan: That’s a tough question. I think they’re all the same shape, but what’s fascinating is that Dublin, volcano, and blowfish are all the same depending on how you turn them. Playing with that, with all its variations, is a lot of fun. My favorite accent to use is also horn; it’s finicky, but it’s a great accent on pipes. You can check out Stefan’s work on his Instagram. 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Chris said he was able to use this to slow down his cadence, which, of course, could mean you could get a slow-smoke training pipe to teach yourself to perform better. If you’re interested in learning more or want to check one out, you can contact him on Instagram: Copper Beard Pipe Works The Negative Space The show was buzzing about one specific pipe, which had everyone guessing how it was made. I chatted with Adam Davidson briefly about it. James: How did this idea come to fruition? Adam Davidson: Smokingpipes.com had an expo back in August open to all of the makers they carry. The theme was to make a pipe utilizing bamboo. Given that the last time we had the expo I made a smooth Almond with three bamboo shanks, […]
I have to take issue with your method of peeling off layers of the cake. The different layers of the cake contain different tobaccos. The only way to get the homogenized flavor of the tobacco is to cut vertically through the layers and then prep as desired. Think of it like a birthday cake; if you eat it top down you’ll get all icing with the first piece, then all cake for a couple of pieces, then all icing again, then maybe a fruit-only layer, cake again etc. No. We cut birthday cake vertically so each piece gets all the flavors that the cake as a whole contains. So we should cut plugs and baccy cakes so each bowlful contains all the flavors present in that cake. Just my two cents.
sounds very delicious, I can almost taste the cake, I love to prepare my tobaccos too, I makes the whole experience more interesting.
ericusrex– You are more than free to take issue with the way I prepare my own tobacco for my own enjoyment! You have my permission. 🙂 Please take note I mentioned in the article how plug should be “normally” prepared. Temple Bar, unlike Jackknife Plug, features tobacco pretty uniformly interspersed; I firmly believe someone could cut it apart with a weed whacker* and get a smoke as Mr. Pease intended. Keep in mind, for safety reasons, I do not encourage anyone gleaning additional information here to bring out any type of powered tools to prepare their tobacco. You know, just in case.
hextor– Indeed!
Thanks guys.
KW
Fantastic review, very eloquent and almost poetic.
Have got one in my cellar “ageing”….for almost…….1 week now…..ahem.
So this has encouraged me to get it out much earlier than originally anticipated haha.
All the best
Smoke it now so you will know how many to buy to cellar. This is a fabulous smoke!
“There are distinct layers of very chunky, sometimes even whole-leaf tobacco.”
There are some folks who claim that to be designated a plug ‘only’ whole leaf tobacco can be used. I personally don’t subscribe to that notion preferring the term to be used for the style of the finished product.
Temple Bar was the second US plug I tried after Jack Knife Plug and I loved them both.
Regards,
Jay.