Esoterica Tobacciana Penzance

I came into this Penzance too late I think. After trying all the different beginner tobaccos and working out that I?m an English/Balkan, Latakia type and then reading these fine reviews, I went straight to GLPs Westminster and I think I?ve been spoilt. I recently got 8 oz?s of this Penzance cause it ticked all the boxes as well, but it?s not nearly as good. It smells right, looks right and starts well. In the middle it gets steamy and one dimensional, and at the end it?s wet and tastes dirty. It leaves the pipe gummy and smelling a bit sour too. Maybe I got a damp batch, so to be fair I?ll let it age in a jar and try it again in a year or so, and re-review it. Moontigers remind me of summers long gone.

It's a bit finicky nature but was still an ok smoke. It was rather wet at the end of the bowl and I wasn?t rushing the smoke a bit. It was a nice and smoky blend but I found it slightly boring. I participated in a blind tobacco review in which none of the reviewers like it very much and most of them like are fond of latakia and orientals.

Update

Either this tobacco has changed or my taste buds have. This is monotonous and overpowering, with no subtlety. Abingdon is better than this, but I prefer Westminster -- there is just more going on.

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Quite possibly the world's most perfect tobacco.

I had been meaning to try this for years, as it seemed to be the holy grail of English Blends. I really liked the small rectangular tin it came in and the label was very appealing with its calligraphic-like font. When I opened the tin I was met with the very strong aroma of Latakia. This crumble-flake broke up easily into mostly black and dark brown pieces. There was a feel to the tobacco, in my hand, that seemed to suggest a casing or humectant, but I didn't notice any type of additive when I smoked it.

I filled my Stanwell bulldog with the finely broken up pieces after some drying time (6 hours. It still had that odd feel to it) Penzance filled and lit very well. It took off with a great volume of smoke and no relights were needed.

This is a well behaved tobacco offering only a little bite when over-puffed. The taste was very dominantly that of Latakia, and the aroma was the same. The Orientals winked at me, but not very often and the VAs seemed to be lost. I like a well balanced English and this simply was not...I found it to be very singular in its taste and aroma. It was boring and I found myself longing for a bowl of Squadron Leader (my favorite English).

After cleansing my palate with a gulp of water there was a strange soapy like taste that remained for hours.

I'm glad I finally got to try this blend, but it certainly was not as great as other's here thought. Oh well, there's no accounting for taste and to a lover of full blown Latakia blends this would be great, especially due to the great burning characteristics.

I used to love Penzance, but one day it just turned on me. I realized what I had mistaken for the fragrance and complexity of the orientals was actually a cloyingly sweet casing, the latakia started to gross me out, and I haven't been able to finish a bowl since. I don't get it, because this stuff used to be *it* for me. Now I usually smoke GLP's Westminster when I'm in the mood for an English, which admittedly isn't too often these days.

I find myself having to try to like this flake and to me if I have to try to like a tobacco, it's just not worth it. Upon opening the tin the smell is of a moist latakia and virginia blend. But there is also a companion aroma which consists of a slight chemical preservative musk which appears frequently throughout the smoking experience as well as in the raw tobacco aroma.

The presentation is nice, however, the flakes crumble much too easily and once a few have been removed from the tin the remaining flakes become more or less rubbed out within the tin itself. The tobacco is also extremely moist and not in a good way; it is almost like it was sprayed or soaked in some sort of chemical prior to packaging. I will finish this tin because I do enjoy the latakia and the smoke is smooth, but I will not be ordering more.

Am I the only one who gets a chemical sensation from the taste and aroma of Penzance?

Like many other folks, I tried this blend because of the raving reviews from this site. I am mostly an aromatic smoker but had to try this to see what all the chirping was about. I was pretty surprised when my order arrived. Upon opening the pouch, my first thought was that this was something that came from a cow pasture. It looked & smelled like cow shit. It has a strong/pungent aroma. My friends (who don?t smoke) like to smell the different blends that I have and when they smell this one, they step back and say ?wohhh, that stuff smells nasty!?.

I keep coming back to this blend so I can give a non-bias review. Upon lighting this stuff up, it has a strong taste to it and remains that way all the way down. No doubt you can taste the Latakia & Orientals. The room aroma is strong and very harsh. Takes awhile to air out a room after smoking this stuff and will linger on your taste buds for a while and leave a pretty ?turd like? nasty after- taste?.IMO. NOT RECOMMENDED BEFORE A DATE! I must say, you have to have a taste for this. For me, I?m kinda sitting on the fence with this one. It surely won?t impress non-smokers and I only recommend this if you are by yourself?..almost the feeling of eating garlic?..tastes great but be prepared for the strong aftermath! I think a person has to try this one as this may be their favorite or?.worst.

OK, at the risk of being burned at the stake for heresy, I have to admit I'm not very fond of it as a regular smoke. Or maybe I'm just burned out on it.

I bought an ounce from a bulk container at my local B&M. I liked it so much that I went back and bought a 2-oz tin. Still enjoyed it. Then I bought an 8-oz pack. Big mistake.

No, there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. But it's no longer part of my regular rotation. I don't know, maybe I've just smoked too much of it. I'll wait a few more weeks and give it another try. As I said, maybe I'm just burned out.

I had such high hopes for it, too, after reading the reviews here. As far as the room note, it was hard for me to put it into words until I smoked it at work and a couple of people told me it smelled like "incense at high mass." That's exactly it.

Penzance is a spicy smooth Oriental smoke that has minimal Latakia and Nicotine. It has no bite & smokes cool & dry.

Everything is great about this tobac except no Nicotine !!!