Esoterica Tobacciana Penzance

Penzance is definitely worth all the positive reviews. This krumble kake is one of the best Oriental forward latakia blends I've had the pleasure of overpaying to smoke...grin. Seriously, though hard to find, it was worth the chase. Lighting this up and closing ones eyes while sipping a tea and listening to most any of the classic rock groups from the 60s or 70s and I'm in heaven. This packs very easily and takes to light easily after a little drying time. The aroma is fantastic and my palate felt clean upon finishing. All the components of this blend merry together so well that you would think another bowl is called for, surprisingly you may not need a second bowl since this really satisfies your smoky, spicy, sweet tooth. This is not a powerhouse for nicotine, but that seldom drives my desire for any given tobacco. Highly recommended!! MGBWYA

It's true, it's true, it's all true. I didn't want it to be, but it is. I've read a bunch of the reviews of this tobacco and was recently walking through the local pipe and tobacco shop, when I noticed the golden glint in my periphery...I stopped and looked to the left. Lo-and-behold, there was an 8-oz. bag of Penzance in their pipe tobacco humidor.

I stared at it for a few minutes, having the internal debate with myself. I then walked up front and asked the store's 'pipe guru' what he thought of it. His response - 'I have 2 lb. cellared and if they let us buy more than one bag out of every shipment we get in, I'd have a lot more.'

I bought it, took it home, and debated ripping it open right away so as to try it immediately. In the end, common sense won out and I decided to wait until that night when the kids were in bed and asleep (the wife was out-of-town) so I could take my time and enjoy it.

Holy cow, did I ever! This is one of the most perfect tobaccos I've ever smoked. Fullness and richness but without any overpowering elements. I won't repeat what so many others have said about this phenomenal tobacco, because it's all true.

I smoked two flakes that night and cellared/jarred the rest. This will be a once-in-awhile celebratory tobacco, at least until I have about 5 lb. or so cellared and can enjoy it a little more often. If you like English blends and can find this, buy it.

Incredible stuff.

Unfortunately, it is worth the hype. It is worth hunting this down, scouring B&M's and websites, its worth all the superlatives, all the praise, all the mystique.

This will become this generation's 759. I'm almost sure of it. When this goes OOP, watch out, it will be gouged to heck, there will be silent auctions for the tiniest amount of it, there will be blends and competitions dedicated to mimicking it and trying to match it with what's available. College kids will ask us what was it like to smoke, what compares to it now, was it really THAT good?

Yes.

I didn't want this to be the case. I really wanted this to be like a Tulip craze, a complete bubble of speculation with no substance, but then I got some, smelled it, packed and smoked it. There is nothing like it. The orientals are a one-off hit. I don't know what they are called, where else you find them, but there is an oriental in this which unmistakable and just such an enchanting taste and smell that it cannot be described.

Sadly, the scarcity goes on. I have 2oz in a mason jar, and a sealed 8oz bag that I dare not open until I can secure some more. You may hate me for my hoarding, but once you smoke some, you will join the herd. I almost guarantee it.

Penzance is a classic, there's no doubt about it. It's a truly amazing smoke—smooth, smokey, bacony, not your usual English blend, that's for sure. My bowl lasted nearly an hour—an hour of pure bliss. This blend is a true credit to the art of blending tobacco (God knows what's in it, though). Now I know why it's so hard to hunt down, it's good, really good. If you have a chance to buy it at a reasonable price, do so. I'd like to thank Bobby G at Pipes & Cigars for the 8 oz. bag he sold me (at retail, no less, thanks much!). Because of its scarcity, I will enjoy it only on occasion. Highly recommended.

Cheers!

ORIGINAL REVIEW 11/21/13 Well it feels weird for me to review a blend off of two bowls, but I figure that this is review 358 and since I have nothing bad to say, why not.

A fellow Forum buddy sent me the leftovers in a tin that had dried out with several other samples. I rehydrated it while up north hunting and packed my Large Altinok Canadian. My hunting buddy who I recently reintroduced to pipe smoking also had a bowl. We both agreed it was an incredible smoke. I smoked the last bowl of it in the tree during a cold morning hunt.

I usually don't like full English blends although there are a few that really hit the spot once in awhile and I can see this one sharing that trait. It was smoky and smooth and burnt cool. I wish I had more.

Anyway, I have likely already said too much as there is a reason this is extremely hard to obtain. It is that good. Highly recommended.

EDIT 12/15/14 After finishing 8 ounces of this recently I will say that it maintains a four-star rating IMO. As I now move into my fourth year of smoking, I find my tastes now moving more into the fuller bodied Lats and the lighter ones no longer really do it for me. This is a great tobacco and I think it fitting of its demand.

That said there are some that I favor over this blend. To start with there is Smoker's Haven Krumble Kake which is even harder to obtain than this as it has not been available for a few years. I was fortunate enough to find a forum member willing to trade me for some.

I would also put HU's Fayyum kake above this, but not by much. Being that it is in Germany and needs to be shipped overseas this is a costly alternative, but it is available and I would recommend that to overpaying for some Penzance.

There are two I have had that are highly available and I think are better than Penzance and they are both by McClelland. One is Blue Mountain and the other is Three Oaks Syrian. I do prefer these to Penzance and the thought came to me that this should lower Penzance to three stars, but the differences are minor and all of these blends are worthy of four stars. Since I think this a blend everyone should try, I will keep it at four stars and I will rebuy it any opportunity I get.

After reading nothing but good things about Penzance I really wanted to try it. Not an easy blend to find but I was fortunate to locate some in bulk. I could smell this blend through the packaging. I wonder if the mail lady was picking this up while it was riding along with her. My first impression was that this stuff smells great! Reminded my of a woodsy smokehouse beef jerky kinda aroma with a hint of latakia hanging around. I looked at the clock and it was no where near 5:30, it would have to wait till I got home. Penzance requires little if any rubbing out. It does rub out very nicely though. I let it dry for about 20 minutes to let it "breathe" a bit. I loaded it up, got my Makers Mark Bourbon and I was good to go. The initial light and the first draw was freaking incredible! This was going to be good.... Two relights later, I settled into what was going to be one of if not the BEST bowls I ever enjoyed. I did'nt even touch the bourbon because I wanted a one on one with this fantastic blend. Incredibly smooth and flavorful from start to finish. Towards the end of the bowl I was picking up a sweetness almost as if I was tasting the briar along with with the tobacco. It was like they got married and was getting along extremely well. Remember when you were a kid and your mom gave you a pudding cup and your were enjoying that pudding cup but after you was finished you were kinda sad cause you had no more pudding and you wanted more? Thats the way I felt. I looked in my briar and all I saw was a fine ash. I smiled real big because I'm in control of the pudding now. Smooth, flavorful, pure bliss in one very hard to fine tobacco. I did finish my bourbon afterwards reflecting on the incredible bowl I just smoked and how lucky I was to find it. Definitely purchase some if you can find it.

Makin' my wife rich one bowl at a time.

So I scored a pound in April-2 eight oz bags, looked to be a year old or so when I recd them. Canned 1/2 under heat immediately, left one bag sealed. I am finishing first "tin-full" of that bag-10 months later. I've smoked several English and Lat prevalent blends, of which NightCap, Legends, Maltese Falcon rule, but this stuff can't be fit into a strict category.

To start with, this baccy crumbles with a grimacing look, no force needed. It crumbles perfectly though, I mean that, perfect every time.

It burns thoroughly, burns with little effort, is forgiving to relights and generates smooth buttery smoke, easy on the nose with retro-haling.

The lats and orientals stand out over any Virginias, and the taste profile has some flavoring I cannot-with the 10+ bowls I have consumed, attach a description except to say its slightly medicinal....? It's tasty, can become somewhat sweet for a puff or two, then return to profile just as quickly.

My only beef-minor though it may be, is that the taste coats the tongue and stays there for quite some time-to the point where it limits what other tobaccos can be properly enjoyed for hours after sampling Penzance.

It is fantastic, it's in a class by itself. I will be on the lookout for more this year, I bet it ages gracefully 🙂

one of the best pipe tobaccos I've ever tried. Room note and taste are unique and strong, but in a good way, though I'm not sure how this would fare with a significant other.

No artificial flavoring detected, but it definitely tastes like a full bodied, smokey grade A tobacco!

Opening my tin I definitely noticed the almost smokey.. beef jerky smell.. not in a bad, store-bought kind of way, but the kind of smokey goodness you'd find at your local farm, or out up in the mountains to the west.

Almost takes you back to simpler times.. and it is, so far, one of the most "tasty" tobaccos I've ever had, after smoking it, I don't feel like brushing my teeth, instead I want to savor how good it is!

Highly recommended!

Penzance should be the very best tobacco in the world, but it isn't. On taste alone, it has few peers. One of my favorite thrills is the first bowl of a freshly popped tin. The wax wrapper oozes more oil the my old Triumph (shift with the right foot, thank you), and the first taste makes me utter "Oh, momma!" I can't think of another English blend that has such a strong underpinning of delicious Virginias. It's incredibly smokey and lush, and completely unique in the world of pipe tobacco.

The troubles arise from the cut. The crumble cake format, though novel and, at first, nifty, proves problematic. I know of no other blend that seems to lose its essential oils as quickly as Penzance. Even in tin form, I'll take the first few bowls, and you can have the rest. Bulk is far worse. Werner Heisenberg could have offered Penzance as proof of his uncertainty principle- just LOOKING at this stuff makes it fall apart. The lightest of hands are required to handle it, lest it crumble into oblivion. The ensuing increase in surface area only serves to accelerate the decline.

Penzance is like a flower that must be appreciated before it withers and dies. But what a flower it is.

An absolute must try.