Esoterica Tobacciana Peacehaven

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.

This is a difficult one to rate. It came packed as long flakes in a plastic tray, all sealed in a foil pouch. The flakes smell wonderfully rich and it is easy to see the variety of colors of tobaccos embedded therein.

The flavor is primarily from the mid-range to the high notes, and they all come at you simultaneously. There is not so much an interplay of flavors as there is a parallel assemblage of flavors.

This is a slightly sweet and lighter VA than I typically like, but it is a nice pleasant flavor and it tastes like a quality product. So I am always surprised at its tendency to bite, even when dried some.

The flakes are easily rubbed out - perhaps a bit too easily. I find I often end up with a high percentage of tobacco 'dirt', no matter how careful I try to be.

I do not care for the room note - it strikes me as not too strong but offputting and cigarette-ish. This is an outdoor tobacco for me. I also do not care for the notable presence remaining in the bowl afterwards. I think this ties in with the poor DGT quality of this blend, as I found out and as another reviewer noted.

All in all, it has the flavor of a 3-4 star blend, but the detrimental ancillary aspects cause me to give it only 2 stars.

This was tough to put a recommendation to. Read on, perhaps you will see why.

This arrives in a loose flake form, moist enough to make it pliable. Rubs out with virtually no effort. 1/3 light brown, 2/3 dark brown.

In my inside jacket pocket, I kept picking up what smelled like a spicy cologne, or a less-sweet, non-cloying version of that Christmas spice ribbon candy. It took me a while to figure out it wasn't my cologne. What I picked up was aromas of allspice, nutneg, maybe even light crushed clove.

When I smelled the baggie more closely, those flavors were not clearly distinguishable, but presented as more of a vague melange. There was also a GH-type pastry/cinnamon note, with only a hint of the usual musty Esoterica characteristic, suggesting limited use of matured leaf.

The moisture makes this a bit hard to light, but once going the rubbed flake stayed lit easily. Initially this presents as a medium strength Virginia with possibly even more nicotine than the usual Esoterica - but you don't expect it until things get a bit ... fluid. There is some tingle on the tongue.

The top range has a light pastry sweetness with a faint ginger zip. The mid-range is toasty. Very little in the bass zone. All in all, quite pleasant.

At just past mid-bowl, I pause for 30 minutes. Peacehaven does not take this kindly! The sweetness and mildly fragrant flavors disappear and do not return. While what remains isn't bad, it isn't good either. (NOTE: Poor DGT'ing seems to be a feature of several Esotericas).

So, a pre-DGT recommendation could have been three stars, but post-DGT would get one star. Thus, I compromised on two. Too bad. The appearance and pouch aroma promised so much.

Decent tobacco, cross between cigarette tobacco and pipe tobacco. Fairly mild, probably would not buy again.