Esoterica Tobacciana Pembroke

This is supposed to be Margate with a fine French cognac added. Well, it does indeed! I immediately detected the subtle and unique Cognac addition, but still received the very full flavor of the Latakia/fine rich Virginias that I always get with Margate. If you've never had a French cognac before, after sampling Pembroke, you can bet your keester that you'll want to go hunt down a jug or two!

I was lucky enough to find some of this at my local tobacconist and knew I had to pick some up as soon as it caught my eye. The first thing I noticed is that this tobacco is very, very moist so you really need to take the time to dry this out properly. That being said, it is well worth the effort! The cut of this tobacco is perfection and makes packing a breeze. I was pleasantly surprised with how well the cognac topping of this blend works with the fine englishes. After first light, you are immediately greeted by the cognac and it stays strong and flavorful for quite some time. Then, it becomes a bit more subtle and you get to really appreciate the latakia and orientals in the blend. About halfway through the bowl, I was getting a lot of moisture from the blend (because I was too excited to fully dry out the tobacco) but after some minor fidgeting, I got the bowl to stay lit until the end. This is definitely one of the finest tobaccos I have smoked and I'm surely looking forward to trying more Esoterica blends in the future. I could imagine smoking this right by the fire after a long day, with my feet kicked up, with some smooth jazz playing in the background. Despite the moisture this blend left in my bowl, it is one of my favorites for sure and I can happily put up with the little extra work this tobacco requires considering how fantastic it is. Pembroke, like a glass of cognac, is quite a treat and I would not hesitate to buy some if you are fortunate enough to come across it!

The cognac hides some of the nuances of the wonderful Virginias in Margate. It's those Virginias that made Margate a favorite of mine. If I force myself to forget about that and judge this by it's own merits though, I find this to be a very nice smoke. In fact, I'll forgive Pembroke for not being Margate and say that there's plenty of room in this world for both.

The very smooth smoky Lat leads with the buttery Orientals hot on their trail. The Virginias give a nice sweetness and a modest amount of fruit. The cognac adds a little more sweetness and a fruitiness of it's own. I can't recognize it as white grapes, but it is fruity and delicious. This is a very pleasant smoke.

Medium in body and taste. Flavoring is mild. Might be stronger if I didn't dry mine well before smoking. I'll have to try it straight from the jar some day. Burns very well.

I usually don't like anything but tobacco in my tobacco. Pembroke is the only exception I make. The rich, sweet, fruity taste of the cognac somehow seems to belong with the other flavors. You can taste the cognac, but it doesn't overwhelm the latakia, orientals and virginias. It just adds one more layer of flavor to this well balanced English blend.

I quite like this better than I do the Margate. It actually says in the notes that Pembroke is “A luxury English blend (Margate) is married with fine French cognac.” So, apparently -- according to the notes -- Pembroke actually IS Margate with the addition of “fine French cognac” (Hennessy? Courvoisier? They don’t say). But I – like Ehrling – prefer this much more than I do the Margate, as it is a lovelier version of the Margate with the additional flavoring. I also suspect that DrumsAndBeer is on to something when he queries whether Pembroke is “just Margate with a topping.” There is a certain je ne sais quoi to Pembroke that cannot be explained away by the topping alone. In reviewing Margate, I made the comment that "a wee more Virginia would have perhaps improved the overall experience" -- and I do indeed detect more of that Virginia sweet in the Pembroke than I do in Margate. More to the point, as I sit here eyeballing both the Margate and Pembroke through a jar, the Pembroke is decidedly more tan with black than the black with tan one sees in Margate. (Peculiar that McClelland's Frog Morton’s Cellar would be the only of the Frog line to be labelled an aromatic due to a whiskey topping that I could not/cannot detect, yet Pembroke is listed as an English blend, and not an aromatic, in spite of the cognac). No matter. Pembroke is a particularly distinctive offering from Germain’s Esoterica line – as luxuriously grand a blend as one would expect any fine cognac to be. 4-stars.

This fine ribbon cut tobacco is what you get when you top Esoterica's dark Latakia-based Margate blend with French Cognac, which sort of makes it a crossover.

The tin note is deliciously sweet and peaty from the Virginias and Latakia with a flowery, alcoholic aroma from the Orientals and the Cognac flavoring. In a new tin or pouch the Pembroke tends to be on the moist side with the tobacco strands clinging together. Packing and smoking might be easier, once it has dried a little, but I find the taste superior when its fresh.

Upon lighting the taste comes pretty close to the tin aroma: a distinct sweetness that mixes perfectly with the tangy smokiness of the Latakia, the flowery Orientals and some almost dark chocolate-like flavor. This is a satisfying, full bodied smoke that is quite mild on your tongue. It burns evenly and slowly, but tends to require a re-light when the tobacco is still moist, leaving some greying ash.

The pronounced room note is rich and sweetish with hints of incense.

This is, without a doubt, the best of the Esoterica tobaccos I have yet tried. While not as full and dark as some of my favorite English blends, this is still satisfying and smooth enough to be an all-day smoke; I actually prefer it to Margate, the uncased version. In the bag, the aroma is subtle, a bit sweet with a musty note; I can also smell Latakia. The tobacco is dark, with dark browns and black making up the majority of the blend, contrasted by a few lighter strands. The cut is medium to long, and it is on the dry side. It packs fairly well and lights easily, needing an average number of relights. In the first third, the main flavor I immediately taste is Latakia: a nice, rich, leathery taste. The other flavors are also making themselves known, primarily as a sweet, mellow note that softens the impact of the Latakia. I assume that this is the casing, though I couldn't tell you what it is specifically (Cognac). No one flavor is overwhelming, though Latakia is the most obvious at this point. In the second 1/3, the Latakia/English taste has merged with the sweetness of the casing. When in the mouth, the Latakia is dominant and supported by the casing; when blown out through the nose, the casing is strongest. A nice combination! The tobacco, apart from the casing, is very high quality and semi-complex, the overall sensation being that of a fairly rich, full smoke. There is thus far no moisture or tongue bite from this tobacco. In the final part of the bowl, the sweetness becomes more intense, varying in bursts of strength, at times almost reaching the level of the Latakia taste. The English flavor is still very obvious, however, and the casing (for me) doesn't detract from the excellent tobacco itself. It smokes clean, good, and moisture free right to the bottom; I was sorry to see the bowl end. Overall, this is one of the best English blends I've tried, even apart from the casing added. With the casing, there is a skillful merger of flavors and balance that makes this a pleasure to smoke. While not as full and dark as some English blends, this is nevertheless a very satisfying smoke for any time of day. This has moved into one of the top five or six blends for me, and I will most certainly be buying one or more tins of this in the near future.

This review is based on a generous sample given by one of my beloved internet friends. It’s unclear how old the tobacco is, but I know it’s at least 2 years old.

This came out of the mylar as a shag cut of medium length. The color is just a little contrasted, but really not that much, all spanning in the medium range, with some clearly black pieces standing out. The smell is firmly that of a Latakia laden English mixture: the classic triad of Virginias, Orientals, and Latakia. It doesn’t take much looking to find there is something extra, something sweet and fruity, maybe boozy. If I hadn’t read online that this had Cognac added as a topping, I’m not sure I would have guessed it. While I cannot speak for the moisture content out of a tin or bag, my sample was quite dry and absolutely ready to smoke.

Packing is easy as can be and the lighting almost does itself. Straight off, I’m charmed by the exceptional mechanics of the blend. No headaches, just an easily accessible pleasure.

The first sips give me a rich Latakia blend. A mouthfeel of deep and dark velvet. Plenty of clouds of white smoke could make one too enthusiastic but it is in the slow sips, as always, that this blend really starts to shine.

Quickly, the topping appears, quite subtle, but noticeable with little permittable doubt. There is much debate online as to the pertinence of it. Personally, I find it very pleasing. Although I am not a true aromatic smoker, I don’t mind those aromatically enhanced blends at all. To me, this is exactly that. The topping, while present, never takes a leading role and never hides the richness of the other components. It adds a layer of complexity, not really as a top note but rather nicely intertwined with its host tobaccos.

As I move deeper in the bowl, while still present, the Cognac and Latakia take a step back. There is a sweetness and sourness that become more apparent. I attribute these caracters to the matured Virginias and exotic Orientals, and this duo takes me to a place most pleasing. The Latakia is still there in the background, so obvious I don’t even pay attention to it anymore. The topping is there but leaves more room for the others. And in that harmony, my mind goes in The Zone and I have trouble concentrating.

This blend is like a key to The Zone. Like the brother and sister in Cocteau’s “Les enfants terribles”, I find solace in an apparent empty stare that internally takes me to a place of weightlessness. Isn’t this what we seek when smoking a pipe? An hour extracted from the turmoil of life? This is one of my keys.

There have been days I have had multiple bowls of this. I have never experienced any tongue fatigue or bite. The mechanics really are a treat to the lazy smoker.

The quality of the blend makes me wonder what it would be like having a pile of this in the cellar. Firstly, this is nearly impossible because of its limited availability, even more so for a French man. Secondly, I am not sure how the precious topping would hold up in time. After about two years and some airing out, I can confidently say it is grand. What about in ten years? I’m not so sure. Lastly, the sought-after aging and melding of the component tobaccos, I suspect, might not give so good results. Indeed, everything here has already been left alone for long enough to get the desired must and sweetness. After some point, aging has diminishing returns. This blend might be at its peak right now, and I love it as it is.

Esoterica tobacco always seems out of stock and for the most part I do not even look for it but the other Sunday, my local tobacconist had some of Pembroke for sale so I bought a tin. I have had Margate many years ago and recall it being very good. This is Margate with Cognac. I opened my 2 oz tin and was welcomed with a rich, deep, sweet almost liquor smell. This has a nice shag cut which I like and I commenced to load my bowl. This is also pretty moist out of the tin. For what ever reason I do not dry out my tobacco, probably because I do not think it makes that much difference. It probably does but that is just how I roll. This is a top-grade smoke with quite a varied flavorful profile with the liquor topping being faint in the background which I consider a plus. I find it interesting that this is labeled an English with the liquor but I guess with all of the other ingredients the label ‘English’ foots the bill. If you can find some at a reasonable price, I would buy it.