Esoterica Tobacciana Penzance

When St James and Brown #4 were out of stock, based on these virtually unanimous effusively glowing reviews, I substituted 8oz each of Stonehaven and Penzance, and gained a higher education in a culture of 'tasting' that I'd egregiously misunderstood. Fish out of water; I didn't know how much I didn't know. Contrary to researching and buying cigars by the box for walk-in humidor conditioning over months to years, reserving judgment to time and 'finish,' I am unfamiliar with the utility of flavor 'notes' divorced from a conditio sine qua non nicotine bass cleft. I thought; perhaps the bulk version is different from the tinned or I'd gotten 'And So to Bed' in a quality control gaffe. An opportunity in every debacle, I learned that my expectations and goals are as at variance as an aficionado of aged single malt scotches and wine tasters who rinse and spit. I 'tasted' it again, 'searching for the good:' Light cotton-candy liquid smoke that leaves an aftertaste I had initially interpreted as preservative, I took a gentleman's word that it is not. One de-caffeinated disappointment at a time, s'il vu plais; I haven't bothered with Stonehaven. Yet. On a positive ending note, I gained a deepened appreciation for my 1792, Full Virginia, Brown #4, Cob Plug, and Black XX blessings, among others.

Something went terribly wrong with this blend. I had a review ready to go that went like this: "Penzance is a gift from the Gods..etc" but now, well, I just don't get it.

I had bought two 2 ounce tins and loved the stuff so stinkin' much that I went ahead and bought two 8 oz. bags. Now I'm stuck with one pound of compost.

This bulk stuff is like comparing a corncob to a Dunhill. It finishes soapy where it used to finish clean. It burns when it used to roll by like a cool summer breeze. It gives little smoke when it used to yield smoke like the Denver skyline. You get the picture?

Is this just the bulk that's gone bad or is it the little guys too? Somebody's gots some 'splainin to do.

If you see a tin that was made in 2007 or earlier GET IT!! If not, remove your hat, say, "I'd love to Penny but you've changed," put your hat back on, then walk off into the sunset. -Z

This stuff stinks...cresote fence post. I was sure, after reading all the reviews that this would be, at the very least, a real good tobacco...so I ordered six tins. I'm glad that everyone enjoys it. That's why they make chocolate and vanilla ice cream. The taste to me is flat. It's the only tobacco that my wife of thirty-four years, has asked me to please go to my shop to enjoy. I tried all of the usual techniques...iodine aroma and little else is all that I could get. It's absolutely beautiful and the tins are from my era. I guess that I'll try one of the five remaining tins each year just to be honest.

The tin aroma is not strong...it is foul. The flavor is not full, it is ghastly. As I tried to get through a bowl, the analogy that came to mind was smoking finely minced tar paper.

I'm reviewing this from a tin that was opened about 5 months ago and that has sat in a jar since then. I recall when first opened, it was foul and ghastly, but not to this degree. Other reviewers have noted that age does not improve this blend and I'd agree. I threw out the rest of the jar, and did my best to remove the oily residue it left inside one of my better pipes reserved for Latakia blends.

I really like latakia. Honest!

But this blend is over the top. Good as it was, I could still taste the latakia two days later despite intervening meals and brushing of teeth.

Full delicious flavor, but I don't want it to last THAT long.

This is just a very strong blend with no subtle tastes or palate textures. If you're dying to taste a heavy shot of latakia, I'd recommend Penzance to you. For all of its popularity, I have never liked this blend and I've tried it at different times in different pipes. It is always disappointing to me.

Smoking this stuff made me reminisce back to my childhood days, growing up in Far North Queensland. During the wet season, when the mosquitoes were really bad, we would have to use Mozzie coils to keep them at bay. The smell and taste in the mouth of these burning coils of cow sh*t is exactly what Penzance remindes me of. This is one of THE most foulest tobacco's you could ever not want to try. I even persisted with this one due to all the other good recommendations and reviews. If my rating comes up with any stars just picture a minus sign before it.

We Tried This Tobbaco Because Of The 3~4 Star Review It Was Getting ~N~ Was Looking For Another Pipe Tobacco To Smoke

The First Penzance 8oz Tobacco Pack We Recieved Was Good ~ Very Good ~BUT~ After That ~ Well Read on If U Dare

When It Was Time To Purchase Some More Penzance ~ They Were OUT of Stock From ALL Tobacco Online Shops

So We WAITED ~ When The Online Shop Got It in Stock We Purchase THREE Penzance 8oz Tobacco Packs

Another Thing ThIS WEB Site Will Not Let Us Say The Tobacco Shop That They Are In BED With ~ They Don't Want To Lose Any FKen Business

We Have NOW Tried ALL Three Packs ~N~ It's ALL Very BAD Tobacco

We Have Around a Dozen or So Pipes To Smoke From ~ We've Been Smoking Pipes For Around 14yrs ~ We Cleaned All Our Pipes Several Time Just To Make Sure It Wasn't Our Pipes

This Tobacco NOW Get's a 4 Star Review ~ For Being So Bad ~ So Very BAD ~ This Company Esoterica Tobacciana That Mix's Penzance Tobacco ~ Mix's Really Very BAD Tobacco

We Think That The Tobacco Company Esoterica Tobacciana USED Any OLD Tobacco They HAD In Stock ~ Just So They Could Ship That DAM Penzance 8oz Tobacco Out

It Had Be Out of Stock For a While ~N~ We Think They Saw They Were Losing To Much Money By Not Selling This Penzance Tobacco

We Will NEVER Purchase Any Thing From Esoterica Tobacciana Ever Again

Thx U ~ In Advance For Taking The Time To Read This Review of ONE BAD Tobacco Penzance ~N~ The Company That Mix's It Esoterica Tobacciana

Thx Again ~ The GRIM REAPER

Penzance is an interesting offering, yet I couldn´t get satisfaction out of it despite tyring different pipes, packing configuratons, and rubbings. Different smokes for different folks. This tobacco has a strong top note of latakia, a nonexistant bottom note and nary a middle note. It´s all top note and there is no fullness that I can speak of. It is tough to keep lit thereby revealing its´ potential for tongue bite. It is not the scorching kind, but the nipping kind. A large part of the pleasure I get out of pipe smoking comes from the creation of a nice red ember throughout the top layer of tobacco, thereby allowing me to gently sip the smoke at my leisure. I was never allowed this luxury with this tobacco, dispite my best efforts. I could not find the complexity others have spoken of, unlike Margate which is blatently complex displaying alternating tastes throughout the smoke. Penzance´s taste is a one-trick-top-note. No doubt contributing to my lack of smoking satisfaction is the absence of the pscho-active effects most attribute to nicotine. I wonder if tobacco would ever have been smoked if it didn´t induce these effects, then or now. With out these effects, be it pschological or not, taste of pipe tobacco seems to suffer. On the plus side, this tobacco does not have any off-notes. Just a monotonous sharp latakia top note