When I first tried it, I had just started pipe smoking and having begun with Kendall's Sweet Peach, this English blend was a bit of a shock I wasn't ready for. I hated it. I even gave away 10 of them to a friend!

I moved on to my Grandad's favourite Erinmore Flake which I enjoyed and then to Erinmore's Balkan Mixture which has some really interesting flavours and aromas with the Latakia and Orientals. I was subsequently seduced by English blends and was led back to trying Penzance.

I now rate Penzance very highly. It has gorgeous crumbly flakes and despite the pungent smell ( like that of a farmyard I'm told), it burns very well with a rather pleasant room note. It is best sipped and savoured to draw the best from the subtle flavours of the tobacco. If you rush it, it burns too hot and like most the experience diminishes. This is certainly very top draw, best smoked after mid morning in my opinion.

The cans I have are aged I reckon because they have dried out a little. So much so that I needed to rehydrate them.

Like a lot of English blends I can understand it's not to everyone's taste. A fellow pipe-smoker friend of mine detests it but then he likes Petersen Aromatics such as Connoisseur's Choice which I find a touch shallow.

If you can find it and you enjoy English blends, you won't be disappointed.

Someone wrote this reminded him or her of beef jerky. It reminds me of church incense. After all, incense almost rhymes with Penzance. Rich, very creamy, citrusy and with a perfect body of taste and a dark, smoky energy. The elements - Virginia, latakia and the other orientals - meld together perfectly to my taste. After a year in the jar, it needed just a little rubbing out and fairly jumped into the bowl by itself, it was that easy to fill.

I like many English blends, but this one, along with Chelsea Morning, Margate and Park-Lane's Knightsbridge, makes me salivate and enter a state of sedate delirium. The epitome of an English blend, Penzance and CM are my personal top favorites among those four.

Nicely balanced flavors--everything plays a great role, so it never gets boring. Love the flake format. A must try!

Tin Note:

It appears as lovely dark brown bits of goodness. The moisture level is about right to perhaps a little moist (nothing a few minutes won't fix). The smell is wonderful - Latakia is there, but I sense something else, something interesting. It smells sweet, but not that similar to VA sweetness... maybe orientals?

Packing:

It packs well enough. Nothing special here.

First Impression:

Nice - it hits you with a fair amount of flavor from the get go. It is sweet and smoky. There's no mistaking that this is an English, but there's some flavor there that's just out of reach.

Halfway Through Bowl:

The flavors build a bit in strength. It is fairly complex, unlike run of the mill English mixtures that just have a single latakia note. I blow it through my nostrils. The taste is still sweet and still smoky. I know there's some oriental or something floating around in there too. I like it a lot.

End of Bowl:

It burns down as well as most, maybe a tad better. It never got too goopy. The flavors can get a little bitter at the end if you push it hard to keep it lit, but nothing terrible. I didn't get much nicotine, and that's a good thing overall.

Room Note:

Hard to say as I smoke outdoors by myself, but I think it is better than most English lat-bombs.

Likes:

There is a fair amount of complexity along the lines of sweet, smoky, and exotic flavors. Lots to enjoy here. One of the better English tobaccos I've had, that's for sure.

Dislikes:

It can tend toward bitter or hard if rushed. This happened once when I had to fight to get it lit, and tended this way toward a couple of late bowls. Keep it cool and the problem is minimal.

Packing: Packed very easily. Almost too easily. Broken down nicely and had to be careful not to pack too tightly.

First Impression: Seemed very "olde world" and I liked it very much! I can understand why this is popular. Took to the flame fast and almost immediately started turning into a nice white ash.

Halfway Through Bowl: Still providing nice plumes of smoke. Fairly one dimensional but not bad at all. Good solid English.

End of Bowl: Had a few relights near the end which is unusual for me with English blends. Maybe a little drying out will help. Smokes hotter than I prefer near the end but still an enjoyable smoke overall. Would not turn away a gift of this stuff.

Room Note: Wife actually said she didnt think it was an overpowering room note, which means anyone else may not mind it.

Likes: I like English and this is a good one! Nothing stood out too much and no wild punch anywhere.

Dislikes: Too many relights near the end and got a little hot. After taste stays with you for some time.

That's the key differentiation: while it's clearly at the forefront, the Latakia is not oppressive. The room note is fairly good for an English, and my wife even commented positively on it. It is consistent from top to bottom and burns nice and s-l-o-w. (It can get a bit ashy, however, if you don't let the flakes dry properly first.) It also is the coolest-smoking English I have ever tried.

I understand why so many of our fellow reviewers enojoy this stuff. It isn't a powerhouse, but there are times when more restraint is in order, and Penzance is a standout on such occasions. This one's very approachable and refined, and definitely worth a try -- if you can find it. And that, my friends, is the Big If.

Luckily Pipes and Pleasures of Columbus Ohio, had this in stock, and I managed to order 7 tins, which a friend who lives in Ohio collected for me, and sent over to the UK. He managed this strategically over a varying period of time, for obvious import reasons..

This is a great English blend, and it's really unfortunate that it's not available in England. This stuff is blended (as with all Esoterica blends) in the Isle of Jersey by 'Germain'.

Jersey, being just off the north western coast of France, is 'A LOT' closer to England than it is the USA, so I cant get it round my head that we can't get it here.....anyway.

Great flavours all round, and a real smoky English quality backed up by the orientals, and hint of Virginia sweetness.

Glad I got seven tins. I'll smoke two (that will take me about four months anyway) and celler the other five. Greed is always the downfall of many a good thing. (Unless they start stocking it over here in the UK!!)

Recommended. 4/5 (I'm still getting used to English blends)

Room note is quite nice and even my mother, who abhors tobacco, commented that it smells pretty good.

The smoking experience itself demands that one takes their time when enjoying it. For the best experience, make sure you rub out the cakes. Then lightly fill your pipe with just a slight amount of tamping, but not too much! It does take a little bit of effort to light as it is somewhat moist, and I usually have to do one or two relights while I'm smoking the bowl, but all and all, it's worth it. I actually like how my fingers smell after rubbing it out.

Penzance brings back a lot of memories for me. I don't know if my grandfather ever smoked it, but it's aroma always reminds me of him. That in itself is a compliment as he passed away when I was six.

The one regret that I have with this tobacco is that it seems to be lacking in the vitamin N department. As such, this is not an every day smoke for me, and only one that I smoke on special occasions. Thus, even though I really enjoy the experience Penzance provides, I'm forced to rate it three stars. However on my scale, it scores a 7.

I do highly recommend this blend and will be purchasing another tin or two when I finish with this one.

I opened up the tin and took a smell and thought "hell no" there is no way im filling a pipe with this but this morning I tried it. I used one flake which gave me almost half a bowl. I can say it wasnt as bad as it smelled, a different flavor than what im used to maybe alittle soapiness but it wasnt an unpleasent experiance. It needed a relight but left the pipe dry. Despite the liking of something different I think im gonna give this back to him, however this makes me want to try the Boswell mild english blend if anything just for something different.