Esoterica Tobacciana - Pembroke pipe tobacco reviews

Review

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Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
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Kilmarnock Piper	07/18/2010	Medium	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant
I'm having this in a churchwarden right now (no, this is not my first bowl!) with a beverage that complements the tobacco beautifully, and even seems to be a pretty good analogy to this blend. This tobacco is a well-known English blend, doused in cognac. My potable accompaniment is Earl Grey tea, with rose petals added. Hey, it was cheap! So that is not a perfect analogy, but just as the familiar Earl Grey scent is changed or even overtaken by roses, the cognac treatment in this tobacco for me tends to overtake the Latakia. I am also smoking a twelve year old tin, so what I get is a very sweet aged cognac taste that is very nice. Not much body or depth, just the same mellow but unusual flavor throughout the bowl. That's really all I can say. I waited a while to write this review for "new depths of expression" to make themselves known, but it is no go. No problem, this blend's one dimension is a pleasant one. Remember, this is an old tin. That cognac has been sinking in and aging for 12 years. (I don't know how old it was when they poured it on the tobacco, but they probably wouldn't waste Hennessy Paradis!)
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Mr. Baggins	06/20/2010	Strong	Mild to Medium	Full	Tolerable
Too strong for my liking. Don't get me wrong, I love the original Margate, but I find that even Margate alone is too strong. I've had to add more latakia to cool it done some (namely, Syrian Full Balkan from McClelland; that did the trick!)...it turned out to be a great blend. Pembroke has all the complexity I look for in an English blend but the depth is too much towards the middle of the bowl. The nicotine tends to overwhelm. My tongue feels like it stops feeling altogether; not pleasing. Tin aroma is lovely. Pembroke also smokes well. I decided to blend Perique to my 2 ounces of Pembroke which adds a dimension that, interesting enough, has cooled it down a bit. It's easier to handle in small doses... I'll stick to Penzance & And so to Bed the superiors from Esoterica.
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Michael	02/27/2010	Medium	Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
Pembroke = Margate + Cognac. What's not to like, especially if you like Margate? Well, the Cognac.
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Fencing_Phoenix	02/22/2010	Medium	Medium	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
Man oh man. I love cognac, I love english tobacco, I love Pembroke. Smelling like it does right out of the tin, I personally was reminded of a strong cheese or alcohol. I personally lean towards bleu cheese when talking about this blend, as that is the kind of decadence that I'm trying alluding to. Right out of the tin, it comes a bit wet. Whether you dry it or not doesn't really matter, it is a fantastic smoke either way. If you leave it wet, it tends to be a bit hard to light, but once lit it effortlessly stays lit. If you choose to dry it out, you will be rewarded with a very pleasant smoke as well. Either way, it is a tasty dry smoke. I prefer it a bit moist, as the flavor really shines through. Although the description classifies this one as a broken flake, it really is a fine ribbon. Despite this, it burns slowly and evenly. The cognac casing isn't overpowering at all, but rather accents the latakia and virginia, which in turn complement each other well. At the beginning, the cognac is right at the forefront, then takes the backseat to the tobacco. If smoked in a large-bowl pipe, the lucky smoker may have the cognac come back to greet him towards the end of his bowl. Needless to say, there is a lot of flavor development going on here. I never had to relight this one because it went out, I only re-lit once for some thicker smoke, but that really wasn't necessary. I smoked this blend first in my big calabash, but I'm slowly sampling it in other pipes. If you really want to treat yourself, try this one in a large-bowl pipe.
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JGeisler	11/30/2009	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
A year or so ago a gentleman at the tobacco shop turned me on to a sample of this. I liked it pretty well at the time but didn't buy a tin at the time. Well I finally got around to buying some and forgot about it in the cabinet. Late this summer I found it and have been enjoying it very much. I do not know what cognac taste like but the Pembroke like others have mentioned is much like Margate only sweeter. Normally I am not a huge fan of sweet tobaccos but this one I like very much. It is not overpowering and you still have a fine tobacco taste unlike some which leave you thinking you just ate too much candy. I will keep some of this around for sure.
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Sinister Topiary	06/10/2009	Mild to Medium	Medium	Medium	Very Pleasant
This is essentially like its elegant twin sister Margate, but tarted up with cognac to seduce you with its intoxicating flavor. You suspect it's wrong to despoil such a dignified blend with the casing, but it is so deftly applied that it adds something special and unique to the flavor that complements it rather than overpowers. This is Margate with its hair down and corset on, a classy, alluring aromatic you can take out any time without fear of embarrassment. This little number really puts out and leaves you satisfied without making you feel dirty or like you're cheating on your beloved english/balkans.
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Bob Smith	04/30/2009	Medium	Mild to Medium	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
I usually don't like anything but tobacco in my tobacco. Pembroke is the only exception I make. The rich, sweet, fruity taste of the cognac somehow seems to belong with the other flavors. You can taste the cognac, but it doesn't overwhelm the latakia, orientals and virginias. It just adds one more layer of flavor to this well balanced English blend.
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Korndog	04/04/2009	Mild to Medium	Medium	Medium	Pleasant
I know people either love this stuff or hate it. Many years ago this was my main smoke. I took to blending it with Margate for a while too(marries great). I decided to get away from any topping at all for a long time, and smoked Balkans mostly. I just cracked a tin after many years of not smoking this fine tobacco. It's very luxurious in the tin, and smokes beautifully most of the way down the bowl. One thing I like about this blend is the room note. I don't get any hassle whatsoever, and my golfing buddies use to crave the aroma. I'm glad to rekindle this old friendship. It's best to have dedicated pipes for this stuff though. It does leave its presence known.
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Harpua0077	02/24/2009	Medium to Strong	Medium	Medium	Pleasant
Pembroke in the can smells like a nice Merlot Wine. It has a terrificly strong smell which almost makes it seem un-smokable. Quite the contrary this tobacco is excellent. The smell from the can comes out in the room note. It smokes well indoors and out. However I most enjoy it in the evening just after sundown. I like to smoke this one while out for a walk given that passers by seem to approve of the smell. I would keep some of this on hand most of the time. Either this or Margate or Tilbury. I am excited about trying Penzance since it is highly recommended. As for staying lit no problem here, it is a slow burning tobacco to take your time on. Rushing it seems to cause me hiccups and quite a bit of tongue bite. Smoking to fast tends to cause problems with pipe juice. Slow and steady. My personal note rating was about 9.4 I can't say it is a perfect 10 but worth having around. I have also done a video review of this tobacco. view it at http://www.myspace.com/elemental_pipes or at http://www.youtube.com just search esoterica tobacciana Pembroke
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tabaco	12/23/2008	Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Full	Pleasant
I like trying new things either to find something special or to reaffirm my existing favourites. It is very well balanced and fairly complex, I really enjoyed this one a lot. This has one of the best tin aromas that my schnoz has ever encountered. I am a confirmed Latakia nut, and I do not care for aromatics all that much. That being said, this tobacco is very mild on the aromatic side, if at all and leans strongly towards the English, with the Latakia gently combusting in the background. Very good for folks who want to stroll along with Latakia for awhile without completely going off the deep end. The sister blend Margate is no slouch either. In my opinion Pembroke is a tad deeper and more dynamic. If you really want to get the party going I would invite over Penzance. Peaceable puffing.
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joseph	07/20/2008	Medium to Strong	Mild to Medium	Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
The description says this tobacco is cased with French cognoc. This may be true, however I don't recognise the casing as cognac (but more important is that I like it, whatever it may be). This stuff is great imo. Especially on a hot summer night, together with a sweet drink. But careful sipping is needed! (there is a tendency to burn hot).
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SMOKETSES	07/10/2008	Medium	Mild	Full	Tolerable
It has to be a little dried so that you can smoke it pleasantly and to improve its flavors. This is also due to aging. A thin gold, brown and black ribbon. Aroma: fruity flavor of prunes and autumn fruit, French cognac and honey compose a very good tobacco, which in my opinion is very heavy. After the necessary drying it burns leaving a white ash without muddying at all. Very soft and fine taste. The more experienced say I should have smoked Margate first. General observation: I was disappointed because I expected it to be much better.
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PfeifenRaucher	04/01/2008	Medium	Medium	Medium to Full	Tolerable to Strong
This is the first tobacco I have reviewed on this site that I had to give a one star rating. Keep in mind I have not tried Margate yet. It smells foul in the tin - a sour smell that does NOT remind me of cognac at all (a spirit which I like BTW). The taste is equally gross - think sour latakia. I would rather spend my money on a pack of premium cigarettes (like Nat Shermans) than Pembroke. Heck, there are drugstore aromatics that I think taste better than this blend. Now I know why this was "on sale" at the B&M tobacconists I purchased it at - YUCK!
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Glorfindel	02/07/2008	Medium	Strong	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
I was able to sample this blend for free thanks to a generous friend of mine. 2 bowls was all I could manage. So lets begin. The sample was aged and a tad dry having an almost ideal moisture content. It burned well and evenly with no relights after the first 2 matches, that's a plus anytime. However, that's about all the plus points I can force upon this mix - simply put, I did not like it at all. The orientals dominated (for what little tobacco taste that got by the casing), with rare glimpses of latakia taste after purposeful searching on my part. The casing was strong with a taste I found sickening, not pleasant for me. The closest description I can come up with for this is an artificial cherry taste that gave me a rich, sickening/sour effect. eeek! Cognac it was not - in my opinion. Maybe the awful casing was dissolved in Cognac as a delivery solvent? I'd buy that at least. I enjoy and appreciate blends across the pipe tobacco spectrum from cased aromatics to latakia heavy blends to VA flakes, to English/Balkans - and thus I tried to find some redeeming qualities that suited my palate - I just couldn't do it. Sorry Esoterica and Pembroke fans, not for me. Not recommended.
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imago	01/20/2008	Medium	Mild to Medium	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
An interesting blend, Pembroke marries a great English blend with cognac; the result is surprisingly quite impressive. Allowed to dry (as Pembroke is simply too moist straight from the tin for my tastes), the latakia is barely noticeable yet is nevertheless complemented by the slight tang of the cognac. Margate is a better blend overall (and Penzance is my favourite of Esoterica's offerings), but there are times that seem to call for Pembroke.
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Sasquatch	02/25/2007	Mild to Medium	Medium	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
Well, I just love this stuff. Not a huge fan of boozey tobacco in general, I don't mind the occassional navy cav with rum. This however, is such a lovely marriage of a premium English with a delicate cognac, that it's in a class all by itself. Not going to be for everyone, and it certainly taints pipes. Not quite as heavy in flavour as I was expecting - this could be a summer smoke for me.
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Jake696	02/20/2007	Medium	Mild to Medium	Medium	Tolerable
If you a smoker of non-aromatic English blends, you most likely won't like this. If you are an aromatic smoker, you still may not like this! It's somewhere in the middle and definately an acquired taste. I have tried it new from a tin and purchased some in bulk - cellared and aged nicely. It mellows nicely with 5+ years of age and I prefer it this way. It was a little moist in the tin and needed some drying out. I found this blend to be tempermental, it smoked differently in different pipes and can certainly bite. Be careful not to smoke it too moist. I use a high intensity light for a few minutes to dry out wet blends and flakes. I thouroughly enjoy the cognac and although it's strong, not too strong on the nicotine ~ no jitters. For me it's comparable to Stonehaven in the nicotine strength, yet stronger than most aromatics I normally smoke.
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Pipepundit	01/16/2007	Medium	Mild	Medium to Full	Pleasant
Though I have been smoking Penzance and Margate with a great deal of pleasure for years, I had not got down to trying Pembroke until recently. It does come a bit more moist than usual for English mixtures and some drying out helps, but is not essential. The tin aroma is awesome: rich, opulent, luxurious. The cognac is skilfully married to the base tobaccos. In the pipe, the promise of the tin aroma is not belied. The taste is rich, almost incredibly rich. In more than forty years of pipe smoking I have never come across a mixture so full in taste and aroma. That having been said, Pembroke for me is party food - enjoyable on occasion, but a daily diet would probably lead to high levels of cholestrol. If alcohol has to be put into tobacco at all, this is the way to do it. Whether or not you like Pembroke in the end, it is absolutely worth trying once.
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peakbagger	10/15/2006	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
This is another fine blend from Esoterica, one I enjoy occasionally. Pembroke is a pleasant English style (aromatic) blend, as others have stated this is Margate with Cognac; same cut same mixture. The Cognac is not overpowering but only adds some extra sweetness, depth of flavor and a room note which my wife finds pleasant. A worthy smoke: 8 stars out of 10.
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Flyboy	06/10/2006	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Medium	Pleasant
Pembroke, along with Margate are 2 tobaccos that I have in both bulk and tinned as they`re both in my rotation for early evening smokes though, can be puffed all day if one chooses. This works well for me when dry and does DGT very well! It is 1 tobak that can take you above the clouds as the cognac-taste will settle down once in cruise. Always an extremely dry smoke and provides a nice ride for the trip! Grey ash at the bottom lets you know your journey has ended much too quickly! This tobacco will always be in my hanger!
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