I just tried GL Pease's Union Square...a little late

[Kyle Weiss]

I should have titled this "I just realized I hadn't written about the fact I tried GL Pease's Union Square."

I picked up a can of this stuff after trying it probably back in October or November. I can't remember. It was before I started these "I just tried" threads, which have always been a great way for me to keep track of my experiences with tobaccos, especially those I like (and even some I didn't understand or like, with good tips and suggestions from the Brothers).

Greg's tobaccos continue to have "wow factor" for me, and as a relatively new piper, this is very important, perhaps to other new pipers out there. Union Square was actually my first GL Pease product, and what ushered me into realizing what a talent this guy has with doing what he does, and being thankful he has the backing of C&D, who (by no shock to me) also has blends I find unique and with quality.

It's going to be tough to get that unique "just tried" experience, but I'll try and go based upon the smokes I have had, because they all led up to the point where I am with this blend, which is still "new." I also, today, revisited this blend because it got buried and I--somehow, for no reason, forgot I had it.

Union Square is a unique Virginia blend, cut in evenly-sliced flakes that rubs out (or is stuff-and-folded) easily. The first lights start out warmly toasty and sweet in only the most natural ways. This is what grabbed me from my first try of this stuff at my Tinder Box (on recommendation). The sweetness doesn't really start to come alive until about 1/4 bowl to the 3/4 mark, where I could get oatmeal cookie, key lime, and a lesser but noticeable "toastiness." Unlike the darker, matured Virginia I've become a fan of, this stuff stays bright and warm. Not to be outdone, the last part of the bowl has a delicate, multidimensional flavor that I seem to get different flavors depending on the smoke. All of them good. Today, it was almost like a spicy, malt-like thickness.

It burns extremely well, and for slow, steady "breath smokers" (I guess, like myself) it really responds wonderfully to a good sit-down. I used my Jirsa blowfish, which has a wider bowl and a good, open draw. It responds well to light tamps to maintain the burning, and provides extra depths of flavor.

Forgiving, light, satisfying and full of flavor, if you haven't yet gotten yourself some, please do so. New smokers and seasoned palettes alike. If Virginias aren't "your thing," this one may make you a convert, and by the least opening up your world a little.

It was worth a mea culpa to make mention of this blend quite after the fact of my original christening, as once again, GL Pease shines in his craft. May I not let it sit in the back quietly as I rotate through blends again! Luckily, it is not a jealous or vengeful smoke--it reminded me of my mistake neglecting it by being as kind and awesome as it is.

 

[dshpipes]

As per usual, nice review! This stuff is wonderful. I had a bowl of it, rubbed out, on Thursday and was reminded how much I like this stuff. Surprisingly, I got a pretty strong nic hit from it. First time I experienced that with this blend. Probably should've eaten breakfast first.

 

[scottbtdmb]

Great review Kyle. I am working through a tin right now and am honestly a little underwhelmed. It is much much milder than what I anticipated, and at best, does remind me a little bit of well aged Old Gowrie. Really surprised that you don't care for Full Va Flake, but responded positively to Union Square. Of course this proves what I have always suspected....pipe smoking is an extremely subjective hobby and we all have distinct palettes. Glad to hear you enjoyed it and as always, looking forward to more of your well thought out, well worded reviews!

-Scott

 

[Hermit]

I'm glad I bought a lot of Union Square
when it came out. I have quite a bit
that is nearing three years in the tin. :bounce:

 

[Kyle Weiss]

UbHub: Yeah, I get a pretty good steady Vitamin N hit from US too--but it never gets out of hand, even if I vary the bowl. It kind of "spikes" early on and plateaus... same for you or am I simply nutty in the coconut as per usual? :lol:

Scott: The FVF I tried, as mentioned a few times, was fresh/green stuff from a bulk batch. I do have some tins with a substantial amount of age on them, and that will get a separate review. It's odd, I like a lot of Virginias, but possibly to the extremes--I like very bright, very dark/matured, and strong Virginias. The unaged FVF just never seemed to reach out and grab me--so, it deserves a two-parter.

Generally speaking, Union Square does a good job letting the Virginia speak for itself. Hell, Pease tabak just does that in and of itself. It's a confident move, and well-earned. Now when I approach a Pease tobacco, I know it isn't going to be, so to speak, "candy coated"--it's going to tell me how it is, and that's kind of my style, anyway. 8)

Thanks for the compliments, gents. I write for you guys, and that's in my head as I churn out this dreck. :lol:

 

[Zanaspus]

Well represented in my cellar.

I've discovered a wonderful method for this stuff. If you're too impatient to let it age (like me) open a tin and forget about it for six months (jar it if you must). Upon revisiting it is absolutely sublime.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Well represented in my cellar.

I've discovered a wonderful method for this stuff. If you're too impatient to let it age (like me) open a tin and forget about it for six months (jar it if you must). Upon revisiting it is absolutely sublime.

I'm almost convinced that's what happened in my case here, quite by chance. It was five months ago (I'm pretty sure early October, because it was still quite warm out that evening) when I first opened this tin, and I had a try or two of it a week later. Then, my generous Brothers bombed the crap out of me at all angles, and I had more samples of tobacco to try than I could deal with, and it got set aside--until now. Even me talking about it on the forum as if it were an old friend. :lol: Then yesterday, I find a corner of a ziploc bag with a tin in it, and I was elated! It was just what I wanted. 8)

I do remember a green, almost warm hay-like grassiness when it was first opened and smoked, but that's since subsided. It's not quite as bright, but just as warm and toasty. Kind of neat to experience how it changed in just a few short months.

 

[billmess]

FVF is so hyped up that you expect it to blow your mind. Then you try it and you get angry that its not the most amazing thing in the world and you realized you can live without it. The scarcity Not to say FVF isnt great, it is. On the other end of the specturm you have something like Union Square. The expectations are much lower and you are pleasantly suprised by how good it is when you try it for the first time.

In summary, Kyle is crazy. But we already knew this.


Bill

 

[Kyle Weiss]

FVF is so hyped up that you expect it to blow your mind. Then you try it and you get angry that its not the most amazing thing in the world and you realized you can live without it. The scarcity Not to say FVF isnt great, it is. On the other end of the specturm you have something like Union Square. The expectations are much lower and you are pleasantly suprised by how good it is when you try it for the first time.

In summary, Kyle is crazy. But we already knew this.


Bill

While the last line is very likely, I can fully say with all confidence I am impervious to hype. In fact, I tend to go the opposite route at times and have to correct myself. I do indeed like to discover for myself and by myself things that "must mean something" to others--including FVF.

Now, with my skepticism, something comes through, kicks my ass and forces me to see the light, I'm game. This may seem like I've done exactly what you suggested, Bill, by de-hyping myself over the hype and simply getting the same result--the problem is, I do this with all things I test and try, up to and including Union Square. Call me a pessimist, but with scotch, coffee, tobacco, etc...all of it is deemed crappy until I have determined otherwise. Maybe I have an overconfident tongue. Another way to look at this--Early Morning Pipe. I bought it based on the tin graphic--admittedly stupid. The sentiment "A Delicately Flavoured Smoking Mixture," or whatever it is--I had visions of light scones and warm tea. This mix is far from scones and tea. In fact, I didn't like it much after I smoked it. Eventually, I discovered my love of Latakia. I re-tried EMP. It's now one of my go-to mixtures.

So, back to the crazy part:

FVF is coded "orange" in my notation list of tobacco (from a scale to gray [bleh] to bright red [awesome]) which is right in the middle. I didn't hate it. I didn't like it. Its mediocrity was curious, and I have to revisit the aged stuff.

Union Square blindsided me. I tried a little after a couple of drinks at the Tinder Box. T'was okay. I took a tin home. I popped it open. I'm intrigued more. I smoke a few subsequent bowls, am even more delighted, and then forget about it for five months. Yesterday I revisit it, and find the character (and possibly my tongue) has changed a bit since then--and it still outperformed my expectations.

I might actually be saying Union Square is superior to FVF. That, however, would be a poor comparison and classification--but it has an advantage over FVF in one area already: it's good at any point you decide to smoke it. That's important!

 

[skullnbones]

Nice write up Kyle. I'm almost out of my two VA's that I've been working on and you convinced me to go pick up a tin... Maybe two

 

[Anonymous]

Courtesy of Mr. E, who traded me two half-pound tins (and three of Embarcadero) for five tins of old Dunhill stuff that was gathering dust here, as of tonight I'm in a position to comment on Union Square.

It only took what -- three years ? Four ? (Not one for rushing into things as a rule. Even when they're good things).

Years ago, a Bro suggested I try Wessex's Red Virginia, that being (at the time) the cream of the Red Virginia genre. Used to more intense stuff back then, I didn't "get it." (I was probably smoking it too hard, trying to get something out of it that wasn't there. Slowing it down and lingering on the edge of it going out would have been better). It just tasted like eating plain toasted white bread. In comparison to which, FVF was German Chocolate Cake.

This stuff (Union Square, tinned 5/16 ; opened & smoked 7/18) is from a different planet than FVF. It's made me re-compute just what "Virginia" pipe tobacco is. I thought I knew that by now. I didn't. I had only gotten familiar with a room full of Virginian city girls who were laughing too loudly and wearing too much perfume.

Ever be with a girl (especially when you were younger) and struck by how she just smelled good ? Not soap, shampoo, perfume or any of that. Just some kind of natural, wholesome goodness (?)

Well, Union Square has that smell. Both in the tin and in the smoke. And that taste. The word that has kept coming to mind since puff one is "velvety." That, and "honest." I haven't smelled (or at least noticed) that since back in the 1960s -- it was a regularly noticed component of the Glory that used to be Granger. Which was a fermented Burley. And this is a pressed, blended Virginia. Same honest aroma in both. WTF ?

I suspect it's that both Union Square and Granger are/were from outdoors in the fresh air and sunshine. The other ones stay in the house watching television.

If I microscope it, there's the good earth coming through in Union Square's velvety, gentle flavor.

US is the easiest flake to smoke I've ever encountered. It lights readily right out of the tin, and even puffing it up produces only more glorious velvet -- not steam and tongue scorch. It isn't until (this is in an old pipe with a narrow airway) it starts needing a cleaner that it's anything but gentle and velvety. You don't have to be careful with it and learn the little ins-&-outs of how it likes packed and smoked. This UN-like FVF & my beloved Embarcadero. It's damned near like Granger was : dip the pipe into the pouch, scoop some in, push more in with your thumb, light & smoke. Almost that easy. And nearly that forgiving.

People are always saying about how it packs wallop, but I'm missing that. The maiden voyage pipe (smoked down to the last smidgeon) was a pear with a conical chamber, which should have concentrated whatever Vitamin N was in it. But, like with Embarcadero, nada.

Embarcadero is diaphanous ; Union Square is velvety. Embarcadero is a multi-level love story told with hints and allusions. Union Square, tonight, is a 14-year old country girl with a pretty face, a gentle, affectionate spirit and heart of gold. All potential. And there's no suggestion that some waiting will be necessary until "the good part" starts. Just enjoying her company IS the good part. Right now.

If you want nuanced eroticism, you can find that elsewhere. Neither is there any of the (a quote from my all-time favorite review here, which I can't find to cite to save my life) "sweaty girl bum" taste that some of the aged, funky English classics deliver. (Diff'rent strokes here I guess). Union Square is a wholesome, Nice Girl. Remember those ?

I do.

I'll spare you the rest because this is over-long already and it's coming up on bed time.

Get some.

:face:

 

[billmess]

Yak sold me. I will have to pick up some US soon.


Bill

 

[s.ireland]

\
Get some.

:face:

I will.




...This is one of the GLP blends that has been on my list forever but like Yak, I didn't rush it. Hey, I was preoccupied a bit by many others! lol



Union will have priority in my next TAD

 

[Dave_In_Philly]

I'll admit, I had to look up: diaphanous.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Can I just delete my review and put Yak's in its place? :lol: (I won't, but... wow). :cheers:

That was effing poetic, true sentiments. Holy crap. :shock:

Union Square captivated me from the first tin, and it was one of the first non-aromatics I was led to by a guy who knows his stuff over at the Tinder Box... I feel sometimes, between you guys and those here in town that know, I humbly lucked out and didn't have to feel my way around many of these amazing tobaccos over the course of years, but practically instantaneously. I just hope my love for Union Square never diminishes.

8)

 

[Anonymous]

I intended to mention the room note, but ran out of time & was not wanting to abuse people's attention/interest level by rambling on even further.

Evenings from 8:30 (when I get home from work) 'til 10 (bed lunch) are Mrs. Yak's TV time & Mr. Yak's smoke-one-of-his-pipes-while-playing-on-the-computer time. The computer's in the bedroom, so I usually get a room note comment at 10:00. Sometimes this is favorable (she likes Embarcadero) ; other times, although she likes the taste of little share puffs of it, meh (FVF).

This time, with Union Square it was a puzzled "I thought you were going to smoke a pipe." (?)

That's pretty subtle.

:face:

 

[Anonymous]

PS : The assumption (one I'd made) that US must be essentially similar to BBF is a misapprehension. BBF hits the ground running with citrusy, grassy/hay-like and sweet. Which can, as you're nearing the finish line, get just a teeny bit wearying.

Those probably are elements in US's makeup, but they aren't so prominent that they "are" what it "is."

Union Square is an authentic revelation.

:face:

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Heh, I like knowing Mrs. Yak partakes in her own way. So I take it US was kind of a non-issue one way or the other with her? I've been told by some people it smells like toast. :scratch:

Personally, I consider BBF a distant relative of US, maybe speaking the same language and with accent (to one another) but generally brought up in different ways--both charming and interesting, but...one grew up in the hills a little and the other in the valley. Probably a terrible metaphor, but it's all I got right now. 8)

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Kyle

She was puzzled because there was no room note she could detect. Granted, we both have allergies, and intermittent thunderstorms with temperature drops & consequent relative humidity spikes play jolly hell with taste-smell acuity (I suspect one reason "why" your taste can be so finely honed is your relative humidity. Dry days -- especially cool ones -- and you can smell all kinds of things). Still, the room note seemed worth mentioning for those of us who have wives whose fathers, uncles & grandpas didn't smoke pipes when they were young, blessing them with an automatic association of pipe aromas with happiness and wellbeing.

PPS : A/The word I was groping around for the other day, was unable to come up with, and had to suggest the gist of by painting a picture was

WHOLESOME

:face:

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Ah, yes. "Wholesome." Kind of a crypto-consumer term that gets abused by marketers, but in this case, apropos. I'd rather be left to describe something like US as wholesome rather than read it on a package of hamburger buns (if that makes sense). Union Square's simplicity is not to suggest it's simple, it's just a good solo virtuoso. Sometimes, you don't need the whole damn orchestra. (...and that's coming from a former violist, who often relied on said whole damn orchestra quite a few times) :lol:

You're probably right, the dry factor around here does something. When recently visiting Sacramento with a buddy, smoking there took on a different avenue. I had to draw and puff slightly differently to really "settle" into the flavors I've come to expect. Sacramento gets a lot more moisture, and a lot of it from the salt air that blows in from the Bay Area. It was interesting, and opened my eyes. Recently, too, taking my pipes up into the mountains at 8,000 feet (but still pretty dry), the mountain air even further cleared my senses as I wasn't around the various exhaust, cooking smells and "urbana" from the apartment complex balcony.

No wonder I get a lot of folks older than I actually requesting I smoke my pipe around them, I've been told my calm demeanor and just the smell of the smoke reminds them of good times with family and friends from a long time ago. I thought it was just nostalgia (which I was honored to provide), but now I suspect it's a little more than that--relaxation is contagious! :lol:

8)