Gryffandor

Just got my order of Odyssey today from Knoxville Cigar.  In 40 years of pipe smoking this is the first time I have felt the need to do a review.  I have only had a chance to smoke 1 bowl of this, but wanted to get my first impressions out.  This may be the BEST blend, of any kind, I have ever smoked.   The first impression upon opening was just as expected for a heavily latakia blend.  Mostly dark with some medium brown cut thrown in.  Not too different from some other oriental blends (FMOTT, Caravan, Bombay Extra).  The odor from the tin was also heavily latakia.  I loaded up a Ser Jacopo Hawkbill I have dedicated to Orientals.  It packed easily & I lit up.  Stop the presses!!  This stuff is not like any other blend I have ever tried.  It starts off immediately with the expected latakia hit, but also has a subtle sweetness to go along.  The latakia does not overpower the Virginias or oriental leaf blended in.  I find that smoking this cool, as if it were all Virginia, gives an unbelievable number of layers to the flavor.  Half way down it is still showing additional layers of flavor while "mellowing" out a bit more.  The last 1/3 of the bowl is still as interesting as the first.  My LSW reports a "that's nice" room odor.  I am not used to writing reviews of tobacco blends, but hope I have conveyed my delight with this blend.  If latakia blends have any interest, at all, for you I highly recommend you give this a try.  Greg has hit one out of the park with Odyssey.

Fred Goldring

I was fortunate to open my first tin of "Odyssey" last Friday.  Actually I had my first bowl back in September when Greg sent me a little baggie of an unnamed blend that he was working on.

I admit that I have been after Greg for quite some time for a blend that would replace one of my favorite blends "Royal Ransom" which was produced by Drucquer's in California.  The shop has been gone for a while and I have been hording my last few pounds of this blend.  After working my way through my first tin of "Odyssey" I can say that Greg has captured the essence of what this blend meant to me.

This blend is full yet complex and not one dimensional as some latakia blends can be.  It is round yet the sweetness and sourness play tag with each other.  There is harmony here, music to the palate.  It will educate you to what latakia blends used to taste like and what sent me in the search of vintage blends of which I have too many to admit to.  I guess by now you know that I am more than impressed with this blend and Greg's talents.  It is great! This blend will make you think how lucky we are to have such a product available today.  No I am not kidding!

Odyssey will the hit of the latakia lovers search for the perfect mix.

Steven Schwartz

Maybe it's the pipe I smoked, but Odyssey reminded me of Raven's Wing more than Caravan. I had not smoked Raven's Wing in the pipe and so that couldn't be the reason.

Otherwise, a very tasty blend but I feel lacking in some body. It seemed to start out a little sweet, and then became nutty for most of the smoke. It did burn quite cool and packing was easy.

Overall, I was not very impressed. A nice blend but it didn't do anything special for me

Mike Rothenberg

I like Odyssey. It reminds me of Balkan Sobranie 759 more than any other tobacco that I have tried in my attempts to replace an old favorite.  My only complaint is that I would like the tin's wrapper to be black with gold print so that I can recall my youth.  Oh well, at least I have the tobacco.

Nathaniel Ward

I like it a lot meself. I'm smoking it now and my only comment (complaint would be too strong a word for a blend this good) is that I think it could use a hint of perique. My all time favorite English blend (being too young to remember the original 759 :(...) is Mel Feldman's woodlands and I think that Odyssey plus perique would be very similar. Having said that however, there really ain't a damn thing wrong with it just the way it is!

Mike Rothenberg

Hi, I understand your point and it is well taken.  That's why Balkan made two blends, the original in the white tin had the Perique.  GLP has the same option with the combination of Caravan and now Odyssey.  I hope Greg reads this comment, because he has given us the chance to have two fine blends that compliment eachother beautifully just as the old Sobranies did.  I don't think the similarities are coincidental, but I might be mistaken.  Greg, any comments?

Mike Jacobs

Nathaniel, how evident is the latakia in Samarra? I was under the impression that it is a moderate to heavy latakia (but of course that's relative, right?) Is it light enough to smoke in a Virginia-dedicated pipe, or do you think the latakia would remain into the next smoke of another non-latakia blend?

Fred Latchaw

Samarra has more latakia than Inverness, less than Renaissance.  It's definitely evident, but not overwhelming.  The latakia may stay for the next attraction, but then again it depends on your sensitivity to such things. 

Certainly after a couple of smokes of something neutral the Samarra would be gone again from the pipe.

Nathaniel Ward

I'll have to agree with fred. I should qualify my remarks by explaining that "Heavy Latakia" to my mind means 40% and upwards a la Pirate Cake, Bill Bailey's Balkan blend, Feldman's "The Smoker" etc. Fred is probably right that while the Latakia would hang around for a while, a good (strong?) natural flake would probably return the pipe to normal.

The reason that I (usually) find blends like Samarra to be good all day smokes is that while the Latakia is evident and definitely wakes up the palate, the virginia/perique component and orientals hold their own as well giving a tart but not bitter flavor. Well, to my taste buds anyway. Cheers,

Mike Rothenberg

Hey, smoked a bowl of Odyssey yesterday afternoon, but too much of a good thing...  I had an overdose of nic.  I usually only experience an OD from Virginias, got to be more careful.

Jeff Schwartz

One of the qualities of Greg's blending style that I really enjoy is that he seems to favor stronger blends. Since I prefer my blends on the stronger side I find some of Greg's product then to be very attractive. IMO, a blender who considers strength as an ingredient in his blends is a better blender and Greg is one of the very best.

Steven Schwartz

I'll say Greg's blends focus a great deal on flavor, but strength? Well, try some Samuel Gawith's 1792 or Full Virginia and then you'll know about strength. I know of people who had to lie down after smoking that stuff, including myself. :-)

Jeff Schwartz

I am no stranger to the Gawith blends, SG and G&H. Yes, some of them are very strong and tasty. I like some of them and some of them I don't. Perhaps you might go back a few years and reread my comments which I originally posted here on them.  I coined the term "Tonka Bonka" in reaction to my first experience with the potent 1792. FVF, on the other hand, is one of my favorite fully matured Va. flakes (I don't consider strong, though. Not in the same context as some of their other offerings). And I've had my share of numerous Gawith plugs and ropes as well.

But strength alone wasn't my point. My point was that as a blender I imagine that Greg manipulates strength as he does the flavor and the end result reflects both. As a matter of fact, I imagine that when Greg sets out to create a new blend that he already has an idea in his mind what strength he is aiming for. And, in that light, his selection of leaf, their curing methods, and his blending processes reflects that. IMO that is the sign of a skillful and great blender. But of course, YMMV.

And yes, I consider some of Greg's blends to be rather robust in strength. Haddos in particular. His judicious use of deliciously topped burley gives it that edge IMO.

Steven Schwartz

Haddo's Delight is strong only because there is lots of perique in the blend. No big deal as far as I'm concerned. Lots of perique but no body. It is a thin tasting blend. Everyone I know who has smoked Haddo's Delight, has said it is too thin.

Remember Carl Ehwa, Jr.? He wrote the book "The Book of Pipes & Tobacco" published in 1974. He was a master blender and the founder of McClelland Tobacco Co. Well, he started out and produced excellent blends and the price of McClelland's has been very stable until this very day. I certainly don't see that with Pease's blends. Anyway, that's neither here nor there. We apparently disagree about certain things and that's alright.

Just for the record, I think Pease's blends are quite tasty. I also think most of his blends lack a certain richness/body that I find elsewhere. I also believe the Virginia he uses needs to be aged longer. Odyssey is perhaps his best offering to date, but I still don't see what all the fuss is about. Has someone compared it to the old Balkan Sobranie 759? No comparison for me. 759 had a creamy texture that I didn't get from Odyssey. Okay, maybe I need to smoke it again in the same pipe, and I will tonight. But I remember my first experience with 759 - WOW! Odyssey is nowhere in that same category for me.

Actually, my first experience with Penzance was better than Odyssey. Considering what Odyssey costs - higher than Penzance which comes from overseas - I wonder why the price is so high. What 'costly' tobaccos are in Odyssey? Certainly not the Virginia.

Okay, you Pease fanatics, fire away. :-))

Tom (solomanlaw)

A few words about this blend as I finish my first tin of it--  I Love It!

Too often, one must choose between a huge blast of Latakia flavor and subtlety in flavor.  Somehow, by applying his unholy magic, Greg has managed to put a whopper of a Latakia punch into a delicate fugue of flavors which allows the other tobaccos to poke their heads out for a riff or two.  While the dominant flavor remains constant, certain puffs provide me with special treats if I pay attention. 

Intriguingly Balkan as Caravan, subtle like Renaissance, big Latakia flavor like Raven's Wing--While Renaissance, Caravan and Raven's Wing are all excellent tobaccos which I enjoy, they seem to be the stepping stones which got Mr. Pease to the place where Odyssey could be created. 

Full, Rich and endlessly Interesting.  I can't wait to see what the second tin brings.

Outstanding.

Mark Cicero

Almost every day after work I stop off at Uptowns for a smoke and some good conversation (and to also mooch a free bowl of something I have yet to try).  Well Uptowns just got in their GLP order and I just had to try the Odyssey tobacco.

WOW........BLOWN AWAY!!!!

Greg....you out did yourself.....this is one fine tobacco.  For all of you English blend smokers I highly recommend it.  I walked out of Uptowns with four tins.

I plan to smoke a bowl in my new Jody Davis pipe.....which just arrived in the mail today.

Gregory Pease

Thank you, Mark, and everyone else for their kind words, too! I'm more than a little proud of Odyssey. It's something I've been trying to do for a long time. Like anything else, experience and patience often reward even the fool. I didn't quite pull Odyssey out of my hat, but there WAS a little of the fool's luck involved in the process.

So, it's especially meaningful to me to hear that people are enjoying it.  I'm feeling like a proud papa!

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