Esoterica Tobacciana Pembroke

I really wanted to like this tobacco. First of all, it has one of the best tin aromas. Second, I love cross-overs. I often blend strong burley tobacco into aromatics and make my own cross-overs.

This tobacco just had a awful taste. On top of that, it burned hot and did not pack well. It's probably that cognac just does not make a good addition to tobacco.

Also, I must add that G. F. Germain/Esoterica Tobaccos has demoted itself to irrelevance and insignificance by keeping a stranglehold on the the market for its products and not keep production level with demand.

Essentially, Esoterica blends are a fiction, they don't exist anymore, no one has any for sale and I suggest they remove them from their websites - they all say the same thing,,, "Out of Stock"..... 🙁

Customers (like me) feel gouged and abused for our loyal fandom. Thus I suggest all you lovers of Penzance, never buy it again. Buy Plum Pudding instead and send the message you are tired of being gouged and abused by Esoterica's lack of concern for its customers.

I was able to sample Pembroke for free thanks to a generous friend of mine. 2 bowls was all I could manage. So lets begin.

The sample was aged and a tad dry having an almost ideal moisture content. It burned well and evenly with no relights after the first 2 matches, that's a plus anytime.

However, that's about all the plus points I can force upon this mix - simply put, I did not like it at all.

The orientals dominated (for what little tobacco taste that got by the casing), with rare glimpses of latakia taste after purposeful searching on my part. The casing was strong with a taste I found sickening, not pleasant for me. The closest description I can come up with for this is an artificial cherry taste that gave me a rich, sickening/sour effect. eeek!

Cognac it was not - in my opinion.

Maybe the awful casing was dissolved in Cognac as a delivery solvent? I'd buy that at least.

I enjoy and appreciate blends across the pipe tobacco spectrum from cased aromatics to latakia heavy blends to VA flakes, to English/Balkans - and thus I tried to find some redeeming qualities that suited my palate - I just couldn't do it.

Sorry Esoterica and Pembroke fans, not for me.

Not recommended.

I love esoterica, I don't love latakia, but I figured I would give this a try because esoterica makes some the higest quality tobies around. Well, this stuff reminds me of southern comfort. That might be good for you, but not for me. I smoked the whole tin but only to get rid of it.

This is the first tobacco I have reviewed on this site that I had to give a one star rating. Keep in mind I have not tried Margate yet.

It smells foul in the tin - a sour smell that does NOT remind me of cognac at all (a spirit which I like BTW). The taste is equally gross - think sour latakia. I would rather spend my money on a pack of premium cigarettes (like Nat Shermans) than Pembroke. Heck, there are drugstore aromatics that I think taste better than this blend. Now I know why this was "on sale" at the B&M tobacconists I purchased it at - YUCK!

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

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

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

Like other Esoterica blends I have tried, it's tough to get this blend just dry enough to smoke well without ruining the flavor. Sometimes it smokes well with a good taste, other times it smokes hot with a thin flavor. It always smokes on the sweet side, always has a good room aroma, and always smokes clean to a fine black ash. With the world full of outstanding tobacco blends, I got tired of messing with this one, and didn't restock my supply once it ran out.

This is probably the one that will have Esoterica fans at the door with pitchforks and torches, but I simply don't

---

like the burn of this blend. Its flavor is very nice, but it wants to burn hot and wet for me, and despite various different levels of

---

humidification and the smoothest smoking techniques I can muddle forth, it remains a tongue-blistering experience. It's on the sweet side,

---

presumably from the rum(?) flavoring added, and perhaps this is the cause of my smoking problems. I smoke it every so often for a change

---

of pace, but don't plan on replacing it once my current supply runs out.

To me this is like a aromatic english blend that fails on both ends. Don't get much smoke from it and it is hard to pack and leaves dottle in bottom of bowl. Don't like the ribbon cut. Might get better with age and drying out. I doubt it though.