Is GLP Fillmore A Gateway To Va/Pers?

[B_Rock]

After primarily smoking English blends, last night’s bowl of GLP Fillmore was a revelation! Maybe it was the open draw of the Stanwell bulldog, my only straight pipe. Or it could have been Duane Allman and Dickey Betts dueling it out on the headphones. Or maybe the rye manhattan on the rocks. Or was it that “tiny percentage of Latakia” that appealed to me after so many English blends? Whatever the factors, it was a truly memorable smoke - I didn't want it to end.


Is there more to explore in the world of Va/Per? Or was I just “hittin the note” with the Fillmore and should I just stock up?

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

After primarily smoking English blends, last night’s bowl of GLP Fillmore was a revelation! Maybe it was the open draw of the Stanwell bulldog, my only straight pipe. Or it could have been Duane Allman and Dickey Betts dueling it out on the headphones. Or maybe the rye manhattan on the rocks. Or was it that “tiny percentage of Latakia” that appealed to me after so many English blends? Whatever the factors, it was a truly memorable smoke - I didn't want it to end.


Is there more to explore in the world of Va/Per? Or was I just “hittin the note” with the Fillmore and should I just stock up?

It may not you perfectly, I'm not a fan. Try others before committing to this one. Escudo, Viprati, Former, Solani 633, Directors Cut. There are a ton of excellent VaPer blends.

 

[Mr.Mike]

Viprati is a great smoke not talked about often.

 

[ben88]

Try Old Dominion from Watch City.

 

[Mr.Mike]

I've been eyeing their blends for awhile. They are highly regarded. Soon....

 

[saltedplug]

Virginias are the connoisseur's tobacco. With low nicotine, with fantastic flavor, but subdued compared to most others- latakia, perique, dark-fired- all with much more flavor. So take a fireball tobacco such as perique and marry them.

Any blender worth the name has a VA/Perique blend.

I only smoked a tin of Fillmore, thought to buy more but never did, but I remember liking it very much. I would guess that the perique was on the low end, but there are those higher, such as SG St. James Flake.

So you have examples of low and high perique blends, and has been said there are many others.

But that doesn't begin to account for the different VAs used.

 

[fightnhampster]

I love Filmore. Some places say it has Latakia, while smokingpipes (basically the manufacturer)does not list it as having any.

I don't believe it has any.

 

[cshubhra]

I like VaPers with only a touch of Perique. @hoosierpipeguy suggestions are great! I would also add Reiner Gold Blend #71 (Long Golden Flake) to the list.

 

[Papamique]

I am a fan of Fillmore and always have some on hand. The slight addition of Latakia (GLPease website speaks to this) is brilliant. I enjoy many VaPer s but Fillmore will always have a place in my lineup.

 

[alaskanpiper]

 

[tobefrank]

I haven't tried Fillmore yet, but do have a tin waiting to be opened. My favourite VaPers have always been Escudo and Solani 633, until I opened a tin of Viprati.

Not sure if it was because it had a few years of aging on it, but I couldn't belief how sweet and rich the smell and taste were. Sweet caramel popcorn I got from it, hard the believe it is not an aromatic. Very different to Escudo which I always thought had a more savoury flavour profile.

 

[creole]

For a two-ingredient mixture, there is a whole world of different VaPers out there. Try them all.

Fillmore is great. I don’t really taste the latakia that is supposedly there but I do sense something more than just virginia and perique.

 

[trubka2]

Plenty of good recs above. The huge range of VAPers makes it a really interesting genre. I like Fillmore, but it's certainly not a subtle blend. Kind of a fruit and pepper bomb, to my tastes. I have to be in the mood for it. Check out the Sutliff Match Victorian for a very different flavor profile. It's also dirt cheap.

 

[logs]

After primarily smoking English blends, last night’s bowl of GLP Fillmore was a revelation! Maybe it was the open draw of the Stanwell bulldog, my only straight pipe. Or it could have been Duane Allman and Dickey Betts dueling it out on the headphones. Or maybe the rye manhattan on the rocks. Or was it that “tiny percentage of Latakia” that appealed to me after so many English blends? Whatever the factors, it was a truly memorable smoke - I didn't want it to end.

Lucky you! These are the moments every pipe smoker lives for. It doesn't matter if came from a pipefull of Captain Black Grape... whatever you're doing, you're doing it right. I wouldn't worry about chasing the next blend. Keep on smoking Fillmore if that's where the magic is happening.

 

[saltedplug]

I love Filmore. Some places say it has Latakia, while smokingpipes (basically the manufacturer)does not list it as having any.

I don't believe it has any.

The latakia is trace. It's supposed to cant but not change the flavor.

When I smoked I was all about the next blend, which pleased the retailers but not necessarily me, as I already had plenty of blends to smoke. I spent thousands chasing the next blend instead of enjoying what I had. I wonder how much money went to sp given their barrage of advertising for Sun Bear. They know advertising works and spent money to recoup more.

 

[alexnc]

How different is Fillmore from telegraph hill? (a personal favorite) I have an unopened tin, but figured they might be pretty similar.

 

[fightnhampster]

I wonder why they don't list any Latakia in it? I dont see any listed on his website.

I've seen in his descriptions before "a hint or whisper of XYZ"

 

[Papamique]

Greg actually mentions it in some blogs. I don’t think it was intended to be a component that you tasted, as Saltedplug pointed out, hence the Latakia being omitted in the description. This is my understanding.

 

[stogie37]

Smoking a bowl of Fillmore right now from a 2012 tin. Def has a hint of Latakia, but more in the sense that you’d miss it if it was gone - rather than noticing that it’s there. While not even in my personal top 10 VA based blends, it’s very, very good and certainly has the potential to provide those sublime smokes occasionally. I don’t think you could ever go wrong cellaring this one, but continuing to smoke others will actually increase your ability to identify the flavors you love when smoking Fillmore.

 

[troyniss]

Fillmore is my favorite Va/Per. It's bold and creamy considering the heavy hand of perique and it has a base of the red Va's in there. I compared it to C&D Bayou Morning Flake, another heavy perique Va/Per and Fillmore wins hands down for me. I also am at the other end of the spectrum with Stratford, which is Greg's lightest Va/Per, and more on the border of straight VA. You can also go Telegraph Hill which is a pretty standard Va/Per, in between Stratford and Fillmore.

I bought all three and heavily cellared Fillmore and Stratford. Telegraph Hill I didn't care for as much.