I popped open my tin of Embarcadero on its one year birthday. I had really wanted to try this sooner but it just got lost in the cellar. I am a fan of only two other Pease blends. Filmore and Barbary Coast. I'm not much of a Latakia fan so that knocks out most of his blends for me right off of the bat. This one, however, was much different.
Man, this blend has a great aroma in the tin. It's kind of a sweet and sour smell. I assume the sweet is from the Virginias and the sour comes from the Izmir mixed in there.

The cut on the blend is like nothing I have seen so far. It's kind of a ribbon cut but the ribbons are really long and pretty wide. It makes packing the pipe interesting. Not hard, but interesting.

My blend came a bit wet so I laid all of it out on a paper towel and dried it for about an hour and a half. Now it is at the perfect moisture level for me. The first light was very easy. Did a few false lights to really get it going and then I was off to the races.

For those who know me, I am usually a VaPer smoker. This different spice tobacco really appealed to me. It was similar to Perique but also very different. The Izmir plays in and out with the Virginias and never takes over. The Red Virginias are very flavorful in a way similar to Rattray's Hal O The Wynd.

I have smoked about half of the tin so far and I really, really like this blend. I will definitely be buying more to smoke.
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I have a tin on the way, I'm looking forward to it
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Had a bowl of this today thanks to DAFU. I like the undertone, but something about the blend as a whole
was a real bite. Maybe it is because I have been smoking far too much lately and letting alot of it go into my sinuses,
but it hit my sinus cavities like a freight train. I let it sit in the bowl all night since I had tried to smoke it last night
and it bit harder. Excellent blend, but for me it died short of the end of the bowl. There was unburnt tobacco,
but the flavor was gone. A good blend that I might have to smoke more of to be more fair.
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One of my favorites, likes to be smoked slowly.
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The blender often writes descriptions that taste better than actual tobacco. I want GLP blends to taste as good as they sound but it's one thing to write like F. Scott Fitzgerald and another thing to enjoy smoking one of his book jackets.

"Red Virginia tobaccos are deftly combined with just the right amount of choice Izmir leaf, then pressed and aged in cakes before being sliced into flakes. The result is a richly flavored and harmonious natural tobacco blend, as comfortable as an old pair of jeans, but with a delightful complexity to engage those who choose to explore its depths. The orientals provide an elusive spice, while the Virginias deliver substance and body. A unique and thoroughly satisfying blend."

I give GLP credit for original blends but too often forcing "unique" doesn't guarantee "thoroughly satisfying blend[s]."
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I smoked a tin of this shortly after it was released, but it never caught fire for me. I still have 6 ozs of it and definitely plan to return to it.
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This.

Embarcadero is subtle. I found that smoking it while it was smoldering to the point of going out, with only a wisp of smoke, provided the best flavor.

Sorry for the thread necro...
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You might also want to try GL Pease Cairo. I have found it to be and excellent oriental without any latakia.:-):-):-)
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