G.L. Pease -- Westminster

Brand: G.L. Pease
Blend: Westminster
Style: English
Pipe Used: Peterson Aran #150 Bulldog
Price: $8.15/2oz.

Appearance: 8
Taste: 8
Room Note: 7
Value: 8
Overall: 8

If you've ever wondered what goes into the creation of a new pipe blend then head over to Greg Pease's blog and check out the story of Westminster. Born out of frustration at the loss of the classic Dunhill London Mixture, Westminster quickly became a star in its own right and is now widely hailed as one of the preeminent English-style pipe tobacco blends.

I first bought a tin of Westminster about two years ago at the start of my second attempt at smoking a pipe. Since then I've tried many English blends and the little Mason jar with Pease's offering has slowly crept farther and farther back into my cellar. But every time I stumble on that jar I have to stop whatever I'm doing, load up a pipe, and enjoy this wonderfully sublime blend.

Westminster is a dark brown and black ribbon-cut blend although there are quite a few over-sized bits of tobacco leaf that really need to be further broken up before smoking. The aroma out of the tin is that of a light English blend in which the Latakia doesn't overpower the other tobaccos.

For this review I loaded up my Pete Bulldog and gave it a quick charring light. Tendrils of tobacco slowly curled over the top of the bowl so I gave it a very light tamp and relit the tobacco to get things started.

If you were to ask me to define "English" in terms of pipe tobacco I would wordlessly hand you a tin of Westminster. This blend features a perfect harmony of Virginias, Orientals, and Cyprian Latakia and all three components are held in check by each other to keep this blend from straying into Oriental or Balkan territory.

The combination of bright and red Virginias brings a very subtle sweetness that appears most readily in the room note as caramel but is not nearly that sickly sweet on the tongue. The Oriental tobaccos lend a bit of spice and the hint of a cigar-like kick that can be tasted when the smoke is exhaled through the nose. And the Latakia offers up its smoky delights without stealing the show.

I've been on a bit of a Latakia kick lately and have been trying tobaccos that are heavy on that particular leaf. For that reason I found Westminster to be milder in both body and taste than many of the tobaccos to which I've grown accustomed but I can't fault a blend for not being what it isn't.

For an English blend Westminster actually has a fairly nice room note. Once again we can probably thank the restrained Latakia presence for that.

The tobacco required quite a few relights which was surprising since it was fairly dry. At any rate it eventually burned down to a fine gray ash and left no dottle or moisture in the pipe.

While it's easy to decry the loss of so many vintage tobaccos in recent years I truly believe that we're living in, if not a Golden, at least a Silver age of pipe tobacco. Blenders like Greg Pease continue to roll out new, intriguing blends and with the help of the internet it's become all too easy to learn about, debate, and purchase the latest pipe tobaccos.

G.L. Pease's Westminster may have started out as yet another attempt to clone a classic, lost tobacco but through the magic that happens when different tobaccos are brought together it has instead emerged as one of the touchstone English blends.

I found Westminster to be a wonderfully restrained showcase for its constituent tobaccos and while it's a bit mild for my current palate this is a blend that can magically transport you to a time when pipe smoking was the norm and blends such as this one could be had at any newsstand for a few bits.