The flakes are beautiful in appearance and need a little rubbing out to get the right consistency for packing. Not the easiest tobacco to pack but with a little patience it is well worth the time it takes.

I find this a very sweet tobacco with great high notes that needs to be smoked very gently or it can bite. I smoke it primarily in a medium sized bowl maybe group 5 Dunhill and it burns slowly and very clean and reasonably dry.

This is not my "Holy Grail" smoke but I continue to smoke it to try and find the magic in this blend and it is nice but not my go-to Virginia.

I like it very much but must give it 3 stars for lack of complexity.

Recently and by simple curiosity I opened the jar to find some black color flakes, very fermented with promising smell, well, you guess... oxidation and bacteria where doing good job, I will not describe the taste simply because I cannot. What I can say is that this is actually the best smoke I have in my tobacco collection.

The overall richness and naturalness of flavor has put it in a category of pure English without the orientals and Latakia. It has moved far up the list of good baccys in my collection and has become one of my more favored. All this said, I most likely will buy more.

10/01/08 This baccy has to be dried out some to be acceptable at all to me. It packs well (no sticks either) and evenly, lights OK but sometimes needs 3 matches to get it's head down, stays lit well and has a nice, robust, unadorned tobacco taste. Presents plenty of good, rich smelling smoke with no sucking up required.

My only problems seem to deal with moisture content and strength. If it isn't dried out, it starts gurgling at about 1/2 bowl and gets super strong as it nears the bottom. If dried out sufficiently, as in previously stated reviews, starts to smell and taste like a cigar which I find offensive, and still gets stronger near the end of the bowl. It also leaves my pipes with a strong, somewhat offensive after-odor which doesn't go away easily or readily.

I don't detect the Burley (unless I don't know the difference) in the flavor but the Va comes through loud and clear.

This is probably a very good smoke for the right palate and I wouldn't turn it down in a pinch and will finish what is on hand. I seems to be pretty representative of a true English blend without orientals or Latakia. However, I don't think I'll be buying more.

I recently opened a 2-year old foil pack of Stonehaven. At opening, it was nicely pungent and rich, with excellent moisture. Sugars started to form on some slices. I rubbed and aired a slice 30-45 minutes and loaded it on a mid-large briar (which I also use for VA/VA-Per).

Excellent! It delivered an amazingly enjoyable thick smoke from start to finish. It reaffirmed its already assured place in my permanent rotation. Now, I keep it in a sealing mason jar.

To me, Stonehaven is never disappointing. It ages great. I recommend it highly to non-aromatic aficionados. In my experience, it is also a nice blend to share and enjoy with smokers of cigars and aromatics.

Other tobaccos that I am currently enjoying and that are in a similar rotation standing with me are (but are not limited to) R. Lewis? Orcilla, Schürch?s Onyx, and McClelland?s Virginia # 24, each one with its unique charm. Enjoy!

A world of sensations opens to me when I smoke this tobacco (previous letting it dry for 2 hours, of course). Very very recommendable.

Anyway, smoking it is fun. It does not bite at all. It tastes amazing, somewhat like Guiness or some kind of stout, very malty and chocolatey. And it's pretty strong, but I wouldn't say it's by any means really strong. It's great. I love Stonehaven, and hopefully I'll have it again sometime, although there's so many tobaccos I don't know when I might get back around to it.

This is a very odd blend in appearance, and aroma. The rather large, black flakes are unlike any of the many flakes that I have seen. They come very moist, but after a full rub they dry out nicely. The pack, and light go well..then the fun begins. This blend is big on smoke, and flavor. Words like organic, and fruity come to mind. This blend has less bite potential than most that I have tried. I will be getting another pound of this blend to cellar, and some to consume now. It has not worked its way into my top 5 blends..........yet. It is in the top 10, and working its way up. Rate * * * *

update 5/16/08 this gets better with each bowl...just ordered another pound.

10/10/2007: This is a new review because some things have changed for me with Stonehaven and the old review said, well, nothing.

I was ready to bump this up to four stars because the last few ounces I've smoked were outstanding. Tin smell was great, rubbing out was fun and, with a little dry out it smoked clean all the way down. Plenty of vitamin N.

Now, I open up an eight ounce bag and inside the plastic case sits a complete mess. What's this? It's not Stonehaven, I know that much. The flakes are light to dark brown and very mottled. They're cut twice as thick and smashed together in there. I'm thinking somebody at Esoterica wanted to get off work a little early and slacked on the job. Esoterica's consistency had always impressed me.

So, I open the plastic box. It smells vaguely like Stonehaven, but I'm still thinking this is a different blend. This broken flake is so wet it's not smokable. Even overnight drying doesn't help. Two days later and it's still damp, still won't smoke and tastes only vaguely like Stonehaven. I've dried some crispy and it doesn't stay lit. It smokes with substantial bite when it does burn. (There is no date on the sack).

The black thin flakes that rub out easily into soft needles and smoke and taste great are gone. There's seven ounces of a sad impostor in my Stonhaven jar. If I can smoke my way through it and if I order more, I'll be expecting the old style. I assume this was a mistake. If they changed the blend, or have given it over to Orlik (ha!)and this is the new stuff, you can bet your favorite pipe it'll get no stars from me.

Something else-- After a few more bowls of this, (I'm a trooper) I realize 2.5 things. 1.) This is cased with 'Stonehaven essence'. 2.) The base tobaccos taste very much like they were blended by McClelland. The McC twang is there. 2.5) I taste no burley. --- This is one strange sack of tobacco. Maybe this is the real 'Stonehaven on crack'. Or could it be a mislabeled Peacehaven?

At least if I don't care much for the Royal Cajun, I only have 2 Oz. to deal with. As we all know, most retailers only offer Stonehave in 8 Oz. packages.

It is presented well and dries out for smoking in about an hour. It does burn well and does not bite. There is something about the taste that doesn't ring my bell, and I guess I would say the same about Royal Cajun.

To date I have smoked this fully rubbed. I have not found the happy medium between when it is too wet to smoke and when it turns into crackers.

I won't give up on it yet because I have another 5 Oz. or so to smoke. I just don't see it as a 4**** blend.

UPDATE, 11/19/07: Stonehaven has slipped a notch or so in my personal ranking since 2005. Still four stars I think (it's definitely quality stuff), but I now think of it as "somewhere in the top 10" rather than "the best".