Todd Harris gave me a sample of Charing Cross along with my other goodies from the devastating bombing run inflicted on me, and it's been tempting me for a while. Believe it or not, I think it's my first Balkan!

I do have to admit, when I first tried this stuff, it was actually the night before last. I loaded up my morta poker (that Todd made for me, no less, a great Lat pipe), and watched that "super moon" rise in the east from my porch. It would have been okay, but I paired the pipe up with one of the worst accompaniment drinks possible: Klapojster Mjod, a Danish mead with caraway.

Granted, the combo was still delicious, but the mead was so thick I couldn't taste much of the tobacco--I thought my tongue had gone numb.

So, a fair shake to GLP's Charing Cross was in order. The problem was, my trusty morta poker was on standby waiting to be cleaned and dried out. Drat! Well, one Danish incursion deserves another. I picked a pipe known for giving me a little trouble with ribbon-cut, an egglike, freehand Danish Krona I received as a gift.

The thing that hit my senses about Charing Cross in the bag I received it in was the abundance of Latakia. In my world, never a terrible thing. The other thing I noticed was how darned chunky the tobacco was--like little, quarter-inch plugs. The first time I went after CC, I had a hell of a time keeping the stuff lit. Other C&D mixtures have done this to me before. Naturally, this second go, I tried my best to rub out these little, dense bricks into the Krona.

The Krona has an unusually wide and deep chamber, so I dare not stuff it full of flake, and it burns hotter than hell and gurgles with even the best-packed ribbon. I literally keep this pipe around for chunky, dense Latakia tobacco--tobacco that seems to come from C&D and sometimes GLP. Pirate Kake is one that does well in here, along with Junkyard Dog (though JYD never suited my palette). As a bonus, I dried out the CC even more than it already was.

Yeah, it was still hard to light, but I prevailed. First notes after first tamp are smokey, citrus and even tasting like a spiced wine. There's a sweetness to it on the background that's really, really good--think Sangria with a bevy of limes and oranges floating on top. I was told this tobacco, which I wanted to try for a while, was a good Lat-bomb Balkan. The unfortunate part is, as with some "Lat-scale tipping" mixtures, my tongue stops tasting the Latakia after so much as been added percentage-wise. I think about 25% is the max my palette can actually register. It isn't as if it's overpowering, it just seems to go the other direction with me. Kind of an interesting personal revelation I've been wondering about for a bit.

The bowl after the first 1/4 is still marvelous, Latakia expectations aside. The Oriental tobacco really does the job spicing up the whole ordeal, and the warm, wine-like sweetness carries over very nicely. I swear I even detect some oak-like nuances! The body of the smoke is on the medium side, never getting too dry nor too waxy--quite balanced, really. Nicotine was medium, DGT was moderate--but relights and tamps were always pleasant bursts of flavor. The end of the bowl is a treat--one that likes being smoked down into the depths of ash and dottle--and the Orientals really pop.

A curious and wonderful smoke, overall. I picked the right pipe (wide-bore, deep chamber) for the experience, for sure, if not for burn-quality alone. Another Latakia-chasing experience for me, that ended up being somewhat fickle, but left plenty of other flavors to consider and ponder, ones that I liked, and will go for again. Charing Cross, I put in my notes, has some ties to Blackpoint as I found out, and I'll be interested to see how BP does in comparison--as well as other Balkans.

Kyle: You wrote such a long review the guys probably got too tired to respond after reading it. So on behalf of all those droopy eyelids thanks for the read and it is a good smoke. I've been to Charring Cross.

This blend is queued up for my next order, so I'll have more to say once I'm speaking from a position of direct experience.

It's not my fault you old men have the attention span of a sugared-up toddler these days. Perhaps it's the Cialis.

I actually read GL Pease's site, and he waffles on with the best of 'em!