Esoterica Tobacciana Peacehaven

With Stonehaven being such a wonderful blend, and Blackpool also roaring with quality, it is also easy for me to recommend Peacehaven. Stonehaven and Blackpool are very finely composed with some clout - not so with Peacehaven which is a a less imposing sister.

As is the case with most Esoterica blends, Peacehaven has a place in some smokers cellars. If you are one who enjoys a lighter Virginia flavor and are disciplined enough to puff slowly, then this might be a good choice.

The smell out of the bag is where the strength is. The problem is that the potency of the smell doesn't quite translate to the actual smoking of the blend. Dried dark fruit, a lot of citrus and a very grassy/hay-like, woody, earthy mix of Virginias with a light sweet apricot topping that doesn't tone down the tobaccos much at all. All of the aforementioned flavors are lightly muted once you're puffing. The strength, taste and nicotine levels are mild. Won't bite or get harsh. Needs a little dry time. Has a very mellow, fruity, grassy consistent flavor, and burns cool and clean at a slightly slow pace. Leaves little moisture in the bowl, and needs a little more than an average number of relights, especially you don't dry it. Has a lackluster, pleasant after taste. I vacillated between two and three stars because the quality of the tobacco itself is high, as you would expect from Esoterica, but it suffers from lack of depth and body. A very mild and gentle semi-sweet all day smoke. Two and a half stars.

-JimInks

Peacehaven comes as a flat slab of tightly compressed flakes in a plastic tray, sealed in a metalized plastic pouch. The honey brown flakes are approximately 5½” x 1” x 1/16th”, and are quite difficult to separate without breakage. That’s not a problem if you like broken flake or you normally rub out flakes; but if you insist on folding flakes, have a spatula-like tool at the ready to pry the individual flakes apart. Even then it will be touch-and-go. This is not to suggest that the tobacco is overly moist, for it lights and burns well as it is, but many folks will prefer some drying. The flakes rub out into a shag with a variety of ribbon widths, some of which are so thin they resemble dill weed, giving a clump of this stuff a rather mossy appearance.

The bouquet of the blend is strong with the sourness of fermentation (as opposed to vinegar) and is resplendent with the aroma of sweet apricot, pungent green olives, and the zesty odor of moldering hay. Despite the sourness and pungency, the aroma suggests something sweet and fruity without being sugary; and it all translates quite well in the smoke stream. Upon lighting, the blend's flavors are joined by a subtle citrus taste, and just a hint of something licorice-like. The finish lingers on the palate in the same way chocolate does, but the taste is not exactly the same.

I usually categorize a Virginia blend as either fruit-like or grassy; the former being sweet, wine-like and buttery, the latter sharp, zesty and piquant. Peacehaven incorporates the characteristics of both. On balance I would call this a sweet, mildly sharp Va. blend with pungent, fruity complexity and above average nicotine strength. It is among the more complex blends on the market and exudes character and sophistication. It produces a good volume of cool, dry, chewy smoke that is a joy to play with in the nose and sinuses.

I find this very satisfying, so I can’t imagine smoking this more than once or twice a day – it is certainly not an all day/every day smoke; but there is something about it that leaves my taste buds yearning for just another taste – one more bowl. I think Shakespeare expressed the craving best when he described Cleopatra’s irresistible allure:

Age cannot wither her / Nor custom stale her infinite variety / Other women cloy the appetites they feed / But she makes hungry where most she satisfies...

Mostly golden in color broken flake that was very easy to rub out. Thin flakes that don't fold and stuff all that easily, so I rubbed it out. Bag aroma of hay with an underlying sweetness. Kind of a non-descript aroma.

Less disappointing than Scarborough, but still not in my wheelhouse. It did remind of OGS with its emphasis on citrus but this one was lighter, both in taste and in character. Nothing wrong with that, as I find OGS overblown on the orange taste. But this didn't have OGS' depth in any sense of the word. As with Scarborough, the flavor seemed thin and the "mouthfeel" seemed thin as well. One of the most interesting things about this one is how it fared in a morta pipe. In a word, miserably. It was as if the morta wood was a condiment that mixed with the tobacco as leather would mix with bread. This did much better in my usual meerschaums which are more neutral. Even so, this was a decent tobacco at best. Reasonably sweet but not too much so, not terribly complex but with an evenness of flavor that allowed me to multi-task. As with Scarborough, I think that if one is used to more flavorful and robust blends, this one will seem kind of limp-wristed. But certainly worth a shot if you value mildness.

Well, I suppose that I must confess that I like this tobacco, and perhaps for the same reason that others found it less than satisfying. The smell out of the bag was predominantly hay, with some sweetness--perhaps the dried fruit to which my friend Jiminks referred. It packed easily, lit with two lights, and smoked easily past the midpoint, at which some relights were required. I smoked it in a group 2 Dunhill Shell Briar, 1971 vintage, and it smoked clean all the way to the bottom, leaving a fine grey ash with two or three shreds of unburned tobacco. The taste was a consistently pleasant and typical Virginia flavor and I found it entirely enjoyable. Perhaps my different opinion is that I enjoy a mild tobacco without a massive nic hit, and as a result I had a fine smoke, and will come back to this tobacco again and again. I rank it alongside other Virgiinias that I enjoy, such as Mac Baren Number 1 Virginia, and below McCranie's Red Ribbon. Three stars.

I love Germain tobacco. If I was asked off the cuff I was an aromatic smoker I'd say no. This is an aromatic and most if not all Esoterica adn Germain aromatic's are not what most folks attribute to an aromatic. These are subtle and truly enhance the flavor of tobacco vs masking the flavor. Peacehaven is a wonderful smoke and is more an aro than say Dunbar or Dorchester but it is a Virginia and a damn good one. I will also add that may Esotrica blends are merely copies of J.F Germain blends under a new name in the US (there may be VERY subtle differences but they are so small that I would rather just say they are the same). Peacehaven is the US equivalent of Medium Flake (and maybe even Goldleaf ready rubbed). The tin note is sweet Virginia along with dark fruit and an obvious orange topping. I also get "bubblegum" which is just an amalgam of cherry, banana and strawberry). The tobacco comes pretty wet like most/all Esoterica and JFG blends, but it is a light flake that will dry quickly in the open air, 15-20 minutes is perfect. The smoke is not very complex but is delicious from the first puff until the last. This will burn to a fine white ash with one light (after the char). The flavors I get are citrus and a caramel like sweetness. I am not sure what VA's constitute this blend but they convey grassiness along with the sweetness but I get mostly grapefruit, orange and lemon grass. There is an ever present freshness of cut grass, but it is in the background. The last quarter of the bowl brings some breadiness and some dry rye toast which is very subject to smoking cadence. I found that if I puffed hard and fast, which is easy since this is so tasty, but the result of freight train puffing is a harsher smoke in the bottom of the bowl. When sipped or just puffed slowly the last 25% of the smoke does add some complexity in the flavors I previously mentioned. This sings in a meer or clay pipe but is wonderful in any pipe, and I suspect would taste great if you smoked it from an old shoe.

I honestly don't know why the guys rate this tobacco so lowly! I find it very pleasant, delicious, in fact. The aroma emitted from the opened bag is citrus, better than that of OGS with which it is compared. It rubs out easily, packs easily and lights without a problem. Right from the start the tangy taste, assossiated with virginias, is there. I just LOVE it. No bite. And if you really want to enhance the sweet tangy taste, put the pipe down after a couple of puffs, let it go out, wait a couple of minutes and relight. WOW! This is good stuff man. Highly recommended to virginia lovers

Original Review 6/12/2017

I just finished up an 8 ounce bag of this and I am surprised I had not yet reviewed this one as It was not my first experience with Peacehaven. Esoterica makes great tobacco, this is something nearly all of us know. Peacehaven is also a good tobacco, but in a world of Virginia flakes it doesn't rank high on my list.

Part of the reason is that the Virginias used come off as light to me and I prefer a little more oomph to my Virginias. Similar in some respects as a Capstan Gold versus a Capstan Blue. I much prefer the Blue, but the GOld is still a good smoke. It has more the grassy hay type sweetness than the earthy type sweetness the heavier Vas tend to give off.

There is no topping listed in the description, but it would not surprise me to discover it had some sort of topping. Maybe Honey or something to that effect. I have a little bit of this aging in the cellar, but probably won't fill the cellar with it.

I still recommend this as a good Virginia Flake and this would probably jump to 4 stars for those who prefer Capstan Gold to the Blue.

Addendum 1/20/2020

As I alluded in the lower part of my last review, I had a little bit of this I had been aging in a jar and I finally decided to pop said jar and smoke it. It only lasted a touch over 5 years in the jar and the results were favorable.

The appearance was kind of odd, Like a Castello Fumed pipe, the flakes near the top of the jar were very dark which slowly gave way to a lighter color. This was the first time that I have ever seen a tobacco age like that and I have no clue what may have caused it. There was no real plume on the flakes and the sweetness did seem to grow. Whatever I may have thought was a topping before had long lifted off the leaf as there was little doubt, this was a straight Virginia.

It was good and it also had the sweetness you would come to expect from aging; however, it was not good enough for me to add a fourth star. Peacehaven still lacks the fullness I like in my tobacco.

Yet another underrated gem that has been overshadowed by its peacock siblings Penzance and Stonehaven.

Tips for maximum enjoyment, dry it out. Rub then pack in a normal fashion. Then sip slowly.

Bright VA taste and aroma. Mild in strength yet full in flavor if you push a touch out the nose on its way out your mouth.

A+ tobacco if you're a Virginia lover as I am.

I can really only recommend this tobacco to veteran smokers and seasoned Virginia lovers, as the threat of tongue bite with this weed is right up there with some of the MacBaren or McClelland's offerings. Of course, veterans may ask themselves if it's worth this amount of concentration on technique to enjoy a bowl...? Well, I do! With that said, the weed is lovely four inch mottled flakes that rub out easily, and while I can't say they are moist, they did have a resiny feel and some may want to air the stuff out. The flavour IS very very good: fresh and bright, grassy/oaty with an abiding fruitiness and mild citrus overtones. The flavour progresses somewhat through the smoke but not dramatically. I believe that a well-aged version of this tobacco would smoke like an absolute champ and I wish it came in a vacuum sealed tin! There are Va flakes that aren't as demanding, but this one is worth it!