Esoterica Tobacciana Dunbar

Couldn't resist any longer. This tin has been sitting in the cabinet patiently for months, and I just cracked it open. I knew this was a very familiar aroma, but what was it? Oh, yeah! V8 Juice! And I don't mean kind of like, I mean exactly like V8. I was surprised by this, because the only tomato-ketchup smell I've experienced is from McClelland tobaccos.

The leaf is very brightly colored, beautiful actually, and cut into long ribbons. They're packed together tightly in the tin. I didn't give it time to dry, and maybe that was its downfall, since I was very underwhelmed with this weed.

I love Esoterica's Penzance and Stonehaven, but this stuff just did not do it for me. Way too austere and bitter. Maybe it was an off day, maybe the wrong pipe. I'll keep trying and will update if things change with a few months of aging. I'll stick with Escudo and St. James Woods for my current Vaper rotation.

This was the tobacco that started my love for Virginia/Perique blends. If pipe smoking was like being in college, then English/Balkans would be my major and VA/Periques my minor, but I digress...

Like the other two Esoterica blends I adore -- Margate & Penzance-- Dunbar possesses the correct level of moisture. Oddly enough, this tobacco, though I'd been warned otherwise with VA heavy blends, seemed virtually bite free, unless you count that nice peppery tongue sting from the perique (very different sensation -- it's pleasant).

This blend smokes down to a fluffy white ash. I have broken in three pipes with this blend: a Tsuge Mizki, a Peterson Aran 306 and a Stanwell Vario. The blend did a good job breaking each in, and left a nice, well formed cake quite quickly, even in the dip stained Peterson.

You couldn't convince me of VA blends until this. I like it. As always, it posseses Esoterica moisture. This is not all bad, but as with most VA's it can bite just 'o wee bit if too wet. Dry it out a tad and no bite. A miracle for sugary Virginia's. In the tin it has a great date like aroma. Just a nice quatity of Perique to add body and spice. The peppery taste shows through nicely. This burns evenly with small puffs bringing out that great date like, rich VA flavor. It's nice blown out the nose. This is one of my favorite spring/summer blends and is very good as a morning smoke. Smokes great in a medium to large bowl.

Dunbar came to me serendepitously. A non-smoking friend having kindly offered to run an errand, I asked him to pick up some Durbar for me. What I got was a substantial amount of Dunbar. Never having taken to Three Nuns or Elizabethan Mixture, and turning to Escudo and Dunhill's Navy Rolls only occasionally, I was not particularly enthused by the tin description, and put the tins away. A few weeks later curiosity won. Dunbar turned out to be quite unlike any other virginia-perique mixture known to me.The tin aroma is delicious in a dried fruit kind of way,and the taste does not betray the promise of the aroma.A day or two after opening the tin the mixture has had time to breathe and practically demands to be smoked - a demand that one all too happily concedes. In fact, until the entire tin was gone there was no temptation to turn to any other tobacco. Sterling stuff!

Adding to what has been covered well in the reviews of Dunbar, I'll only say:

*Tinned and bulk versions are identical (not always true), but the pressing to fill a tin does marry the tobaccos nicely. Try pressing some of the bulk Dunbar at home and save some money.

*This has more Perique than Dorchester, and like Dorchester, Dunbar is a blend for those who enjoy the mystery of Perique without being overwhelmed or constantly aware of its presence. Go Stokkebye if you want lighter uses of Perique and most everywhere else if you like a bigger helping.

*Think of this as a brown flake w/Perique (with a bit of bright and dark VA) mostly rubbed-out, though not to be confused with Germain's Brown Flake which has cigar, musty and heavy flavors. The room note is not pleasing to most non-smokers in my experience.

This will bite you if you do not bring the moisture down quite a bit, pack firmly into a small to medium bowl and puff gently. Lightly sweet, sometimes darkly rich, always a quality, interesting, plentious smoke.

Notes: I have smoked this in bulk and from the tin. I prefer it tinned and with several months of age on it. It seems to do well in most pipes, being, while not insensate, somewhat less sensitive than most blends to the selection of pipe.

Appearance: A pressed brown flake, rubbed out partially.

Aroma: Quite mild, sugary, fresh-cut hay, sour prunes, musty books, smoke.

Taste: Grassy, smoky, mild, yet pungent with a propensity to burn the tongue if care is not taken. Sour prunes, raisins, button mushrooms, hay, autumn leaves.

Comparisons: Very much in line with other Virginia-perique blends, such as Revelation, but a bit more sugary perhaps.

Bottom Line: Those who fancy Virginia-Perique blends should give this one a try at least once. For those who fancy a smoky, sweeter, slightly salty-sour Virginia blend, here you go.

Dunbar is a Virginia/Perique blend of the Esoterica Tobacciana brand and is blended by J.F. Germain & Son for the Butera Pipe Company.

The Dunbar mixture has a musty and slightly sweet fig-like tin aroma and is perhaps similar in respects to the fragrance of dampened hay. This is an exclusively Virginia and Perique blend with no topping or casing applied. This mixture of tobaccos is predominately medium brown interspersed with strands of black.

Dunbar is matured in flake form and rubbed out roughly leaving the tobacco in a long partial flake state. The claim that Dunbar is a well-matured tobacco is validated by the great quantity of sparkling sugar crystals present. The blend can be packed as is or rubbed apart further to facilitate indoor smoking. Slight caution should be taken when packing since this tobacco seems to have the tendency to become over packed easily. Dunbar?s initial moisture is good and requires little drying if any.

The initial charring and eventual lighting of this tobacco takes longer than average, but is of no real hindrance. Dunbar has a great fluffy, fine ash burn that leaves very little dottle in the pipe bowl at the smoke?s end. The room note is a bit pungent and overall is decent.

Dunbar has a spicy peppery tanginess for a taste with a slight underlining sweetness compliments to the matured Virginias. Though with this stated, Dunbar lacks any great distinctive flavor. A somewhat bland, dry, and medium strength smoke is produced by this tobacco. The blend is not overly hot though its tendency to bite increases slightly as the smoke progresses.

In the end, the Dunbar Virginia and Perique tobacco mixture is a balanced, well-matured tobacco with some admirable smoking qualities. Yet this blend lacks any great flavor and is simply too monotone and thus not enticing enough to become a favorite smoke.

Broken flakes is the description listed for the preparation of this tobacco, rubbed out, well they are, and nice flakes too. The tin aroma is natural, kind of like a summer day, in the field, well I won't get poetic. There are flakes, but mostly hidden among shreds of Va's. and Perique. The tobacco is well prepared, slightly moist, and with some air, it dries very well. Packing is a breeze, as to the texture, kind of sticy, but with no residue. Caution is to be heeded, when packing. Charring light connects, and the initail few puffs are tasty, earthy, really. Tamping proceeds, and with it a great, long lasting smoke, one hour at least, slow and easy. This tobacco is a calm, and easy tobacco, not as spicy, as it's relation, Dorchester, but in a league by itself. Not to confuse this with a Dorchester review, but I just finished a tin, of it, and jumped into Dunbar, my Esoteric expeience, if you will. Great tobacco, smokes to the bottom, with no dottle and no disapointment.

Tin note of sweet raisins, apricot/stone fruit and spices. Tobacco is a ready rub of a reddish brown, light brown and a little dark brown. Moisture content is great. Burns slow with a few relights. The strength is medium and nic is mild to medium. Stone fruit flavoring detected, though it doesn't seem to be a topping, maybe a casing? Taste is medium and very consistent, with notes of dark sour plum, spiced fig, savory, sugar, wood, tart raisin, very earthy, bready, floral, lemon grass, fermented vegetation, slightly bitter orange peel/zest, a rich semi-sweet and tangy stone fruit like background note, and a peppery retro. Virginia is leading with Perique and Flavoring supporting. Room note is pleasant to tolerable, and aftertaste is great.