Esoterica Tobacciana Dunbar

The tin or bag aroma is delightful. The melody of seven different Virginias is well rounded and exhibits fruity sweetness with woodsy undertones and are harmonized by earthy and notes and a touch of honey. The Perique incorporated is top notch, and sings through with spice and cassis. When fresh I detect a subtle topping that intensifies the blend but it becomes less apparent with age, there is also a mild apricot and citrus topping present. Burns at a medium pace, requires above average relights and leaves little moisture in the bowl. Medium nicotine strength and builds mid-bowl. Pleasant lingering finish and an enjoyable room note.

Complex, balanced and satisfying, will not disappoint the Virginia-Perique enthusiast.

This is hard to get in Asia, as all Esoterica's blends, and I am very lucky to have a couple of once from my pipe pal. My sample is 2 years old. Compared with my favored vapers, Dunbar's virginia is more bright and less sweet, and the perique is evident enough to give it salty, dry fruity flavor. Actually, my friend does not like it, but Dunbar is beyond my expectations. A solid 3 stars for my taste.

Here is another good one from Esoterica. This is a meaty VA, with chewy smoke and salty disposition. It burns well in all pipes, produces a good deal of smoke to play with and is one of my favorite VAPERs...when I'm in the mood. The perique used here is done sparingly so and it works really well for this blend...very good balance since I wanted to taste more of the different VAs working together. A winner in my book. KJCIYHA

I'm smoking a bowl given to a friend of mine and stored for five years. The maturity of the leaf is obvious and I can't speak to how it smokes new. But compared to a Briar Fox which was also aged 5 years I notice a lot of similarity. The Virginias in this override the perique (hence my comparison to BF) substantially but the perique is not hidden.

Bite free (which should be able to go unsaid but unfortunately doesn't always). Full of depth of flavor.

In my opinion a great smoke. But for my money, and for availability reasons I would probably be equally happy with other VaPers. I do not agree with the comparison to Orlik. But again, maybe because mine was not new (though I have smoked very old Orlik and it ages very differently). I would say for a vaper it's more comparable to Capstan blue. But the perique is much more muted (probably due to the time stored).

For anyone who has smoked any of the Esoterica blends you will know that they are the kings of subtlety. They don’t try to overwhelm any blend with one component or another. It takes a few bowls (or many bowls in some cases) to start to figure out the blend. Dunbar is no exception. I smoked through one tin and I still feel that I do not 100% get it. But I will try and put it into words that make sense.

Pre-Light Aroma: Straight out of the bag you can immediately pick up the woodland scents of the Virginias, grass/hay/mother earth…..it’s all there. I can only detect Bright Va’s in here. I don’t smell anything that may be stoved or dark. The perique in this blend is more of a fruity aroma rather than the usual spicy/peppery aroma that is apparent in most blends.

Appearance: Long pieces of ready rubbed tobacco is what I see. Tans and browns mostly but there are some darker pieces in there which I am assuming is the Perique. Easy to dry, easy to load, easy to pack. Thank goodness!! I’ve been dealing with McClelland’s Ready Rubbed chunks lately so this is a very welcomed departure.

First ½ of Bowl: When I first lit up this blend I was greeted with tons of smoke and a great Va aroma. Slightly sweet but definitely not overly sweet. It took this blend a little bit to settle down and incorporate all of the Va tastes and aromas and then the Perique slowly snuck in and out. Very pleasant, definitely not overpowering in any sense.

Second ½ of Bowl: The flavors in the second half of the bowl seem to be more pronounced. Different Va flavors are mingling with the Perique flavor dancing in and then moving out. It is a very, very pleasant experience. I can only imagine that with more time spent with this blend it will only get better.

Summary: When I first started smoking this I thought that it was a pretty straight forward blend. Va’s and Perique…..easy peasy. After a few bowls of this I realized that there were a lot of subtle things going on in the background. I think that there are several different Va’s that are represented here and it adds a depth to the blend that I was not expecting.

As I stated above, there are several things going on in every Esoterica blend. It’s like a Seinfeld episode actually.

This is an excellent blend. Esoterica seems to put a ton of thought into their blends and they take their time. That is why they are so rare and hard to find. I understand this and agree with their approach. Create a blend, make it awesome, and never ever compromise on it just to feed the masses. If you are lucky enough to get ahold of this blend (or any of their blends) you will not be sorry.

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.

It will never bite you even if you rush, it keeps its flavor all the way to the last puff. Mild VaPer, if you want to initiate with Virginia Perique blends, this is the one. Not overly complex for my taste but pleasant to be a all day smoke. Low on perique, more like a condiment. I am not sure about 7 different Virginias!? Reading this statement on the tin label you might be leaded to think this is something near to McClelkand’s Black Woods, but it’s nothing close, It’s more to a Elizabethan mixture from Dunhill. Bottom line, it’s a good baccy but not excellent.

smokes good taste good the only problem I have with it burn down to fast.

This is a good one. Like most Esoterica mixtures in an 8 ounce bag, this comes pressed down into the the bottom of the foil sack. Slice open the top and a tasty odor jumps out. Hay and horse feed. Omaline. Long golden ribbons, some darker ones, a few perique pieces and chunks of yummy broken flake. My wife and I just sat and sniffed the tobacco for a while. What's not to love here?

This is long stranded, but still packs pretty well. Can be hard to get lit. After a few weeks in my bail top glass jar, lots of oxidation is going on; Dunbar is becoming much darker. There is substantial bite at light up, but, it's worth it. The bite fades and this tobacco pulls a lot of tricks as the bowl burns. Starts out light and hay like, turns rich and spicey. Hints of caramel. Nice. The perique is there, but just.

This is a good one, but I prefer Dorchester. It's got all the complexity and none of the bite, with a slightly better cut, just doesn't look so pretty.