Esoterica Tobacciana Pembroke

I prefer my Cognac in a glass, thank you very much.

Nothing I can really say about this one. Not my cup of tea.

January 2006. This is pretty good stuff!And I like it,but I definitely would not smoke it all the time,as we can't get it in Australia anyway. The flavour's were great for a change,as I prefer V-perique,Straight-V's,and latalika blend's. After airing out a portion of this tobacco on paper for 20 min's,I filled my Peterson bent & it only required 2 to 3 light's to get going with a few tamp's along the way to bowl's end. This blend is very tasty & most pleasant all the way through,leaving a nice clean grey ash at the bootom of the bowl. I'm not a fast puffer,& did not suffer any tongue bite at all. Recommended,to those who enjoy a splash of alcohol in their baccy.

Let me preface this review by saying that I've yet to try Margate, which is supposed to be the untopped/cased version of this blend.

The cognac casing is in the forefront but isn't overpowering; seems to mix well with and even amplify the latakia in the blend. I only smoke aromatics a couple of times each week, and this is one of the three I've been keeping stocked. The musty orientals, the cremey latakia, and the light cognac do play well together and never seem to run with scissors towards the tongue.

Drying out a bit will help decrease the typical aromatic gurggle and need for relighting. I usually take a bowl's worth out of the tin to dry for about 30 minutes before packing the pipe, usually a 4/5 billiard. And often this only needs a single relight during the smoke, mostly out of neglect on my part.

I have yet to try an Esoterica blend that I didn't care for. Like everything they do, Pembroke is good material, handled well, reaching for something unique.

some tobaccos seem to take a while to make an impression, and so it was with this one. i had very high expectations, because of all the good reviews i had read about it. after the first pipeful, i had to admit i was very let down. it seemed overly moist, was hard to light and required constant re-lighting, and seemed to have a bite to it. i left the can open, fluffed up the tobacco, and let it set for an afternoon. with each pipeful after that, things seemed to get better. the burn definitely improved, and i started appreciating the suttle and very different flavor, probably coming from the cognac topping over the latakia. this tobacco seems to have a pretty high nicotine content, which i enjoy also. i like to have a bowl of this after smoking a strong latakia blend, like old ironsides. they seem to compliment each other. the cognac flavor dominates the first half of the bowl, then the latakia seems to take over. kind of like an appetizer before the main course. i would recommend anyone who enjoys english blends give this one a try. just don't rush to judgement after the first pipeful. 3 stars.

I love the Esoterica series and most Germain and sons blends,but this one is not really as good as I have been told.The blend is a heavy English with cognac, which in theory ,should be outstanding, but alas, it falls a little short.This is a high quality tobacco that yields a good pleasurable smoke but I will stick with "And So To Bed". The blend is good. The aroma is nice.I will offer you the counsel that if you do not like Anise, do not try this.The other Esoterica offerings combine the Anise with the tobacco and they yield pure pleasure.Pembroke has the cognac and anise quarreling with each other. I would try it ,but there are others that are better.

Great tin, elegant calligraphy and mostly stunning reviews. Unfortunately, this tobacco does nothing for me. It?s characteristically Esoterica/Germain with its sour, briny, licorice/anise tin aroma. And So to Bed is a milder, tangier version of Pembroke. It?s a stringy ribbon cut of stoved tobaccos with latakia and laced with cognac. This is Margate drunk on brandy. Though I love cognac, I?m discovering that that venerable spirit is best left to breathe in a snifter. It may go well with a good smoke, but they should remain good friends in separate dwellings and never marry or move in together. Whatever Latakia is in this mixture is completely overpowered by the booze, and it?s a distraction, not a compliment. If you?re going to smoke this stuff be sure to devote a single pipe to it, because it will permeate the bowl with that distinctive Esoterica casing. This is a quality tobacco for those who might appreciate this style, but it?s just not my particular taste. At least I am pleased to have a pipe smoking buddy eager to take it off my hands so that the tin didn?t go completely to waste. Overrated!

One and a half of five stars

As I have never gotten to like Latakia, I do not usually gravitate toward traditional English-type blends except those attenuated by the addition of some type of topping in the form of rum or, in the case of Pembroke, cognac. I prefer high quality aromatics, VA flakes, burley & Perique blends, etc. However, the reviews from Wm. Serad on down are almost universal in their praise of the Esoterica Tobacciana line of blends and, in particular, Margate. Pembroke is described as Margate with the addition of cognac. I haven't tried Margate, so I approached Pembroke uninfluenced by any prior experience with either Esoterica Tobacciana in general or Margate in particular. I smoked several bowls of Pembroke one night in a recently acquired 50 year old estate Kaywoodie that I had "opened up" by Jim Benjamin down in San Diego, CA (see Rick Newcombe's articles about proper air flow for pipes collected in his book, "In Search of Pipe Dreams"). Sufficient air circulation is absolutely critical, especially when smoking moist dense blends. A hot, wet, bitter, and generally unpleasant smoking experience is frequently the result in the absence of adequate air flow, which most pipes lack. Anyway, as to Pembroke, it has a Latakia-spicy, fermented aroma in the tin. Upon ignition, the flavor is also spicy with a tangy semi-sweet undertaste. The cognac is evident and, to to my way of thinking, nicely circumscribes the Latakia element. The flavor and aroma are rich, thick, and nicely rounded, with the edges softened by the cognac. I think this a great after-dinner or late night blend. It burns well for me and resolves to a fluffy mottled ash. I give Pembroke a grade of B+.

Upon opening the tin, I was hit with a very strong vinegar smell, from the cognac. The tobac also presents very wet. I tried a bowl, and the cognac was just too strong overpowering any tobacco taste. I left the tin open for a couple of days, then came back to it. The first day that the tin was open, the aroma/vinegar permeated the room, and I found this unpleasant, thinking that I would never enjoy this tobac. Upon the second day of air drying the tin, I was now presented with something much more tolerable. This is a very fine smoke, once dried, and the cognac offers its own smooth flavor upon the Margate blend. I find that it mutes the orientals that were so tasty in Margate, but causes its own unique addition, which I find quite nice. I enjoy this taste from time to time, perhaps late afternoon, before dinner. Just make sure you air dry the tin for a couple of days before use.

This is a very interesting smoke in that it is the most mutable tobacco I've smoked. In the first third of a bowl, the cognac and Latakia team up to produce a powerful smoky, almost soapy taste. By the middle of the bowl the taste becomes much more rounded and the sweet taste of Virginias plays a much greater role. By the end of the bowl you'll swear you're smoking a Virginia blend in a pipe that's been used for smoking English blends. Now to me each of these flavor phases (with the exception of the soapiness) is very attractive. I love following the flavor changes as I smoke a bowl down. Highly recommended.