Esoterica Tobacciana Penzance

After a few bowls and two weeks of the tin being cracked, the flavors really came through for this wonderful stuff and it is something to savor on. It has some Balkan like thickness and creamyness to it. The taste is extremely pleasant if not addictive. Cool smoking and no bite. A load needs to dry out for 30 minutes or so before smoking. I give it 5 stars if you're into balkans and latakias. This stuff is really in a class of its own I think. Another keeper for my monthly shopping list.

Try this one in the tin before you try it in bulk. The presentation in the tin and the composition of the flakes (sliced Krumble Kake to be more precice) is a big part of the appeal of this tobacco. I have tins and I have some in bulk and the taste is different as well. The tins have a much smoother and rounder flavor, perhaps because of the extra time spent aging in a tin at the tobacconists shop without exposure to air. The bulk version seems to be the bits and ends of the kakes left over after they have trimmed, cut, and sliced the kakes to fit so perfectly in the tin. Surely this is the same tobacco but is not handled in the same way. My flakes were a lovely dark color with light specks and the sugar crystal formation of the aged virginias. Much of that is missing in the bulk version. Also, if you pay close attention, many of the poorer reviews are given by smokers who sampled the bulk version only. I give this one a solid 3 stars because I prefer perique in my blends. 4 stars is reserved for those rare blends that put me in a state of bliss which I am finding in perique blends only these days.

I must say this is a tastey smoke.Very well balanced and neatly packaged.Easy to rubout and to smoke.Not a smoke for newbies.Not my every day smoke but nice for late evening.I would say every one should try this at least one time.I'll stick with my virgnia but like a change now and then.

I think this is a near-ideal Latakia blend.

It comes in crumble-cake, which is an annoyance if you carry / travel your pipes, but is really the right packaging for this style of tobacco. The tight-packed flakes turn into straight little spikes pretty much on their own, and then they descend into the pipe in a neatly organized and helpful manner. Almost packs itself (if you have a table on which to break up the crumble). I often find the tin itself to be insufficiently sealed -- closing the remaining tobacco back up in the tin isn't tight enough, and it dries out too soon. Maybe I just need to smoke faster so that it runs out before it dries out. 🙂

It has just the right amount of zippy Latakia tang, without being overbearing, for me. It's like the perfect sweet-and-sour sauce, exactly the level of mixture that makes sure you aren't tasting one note over the other, such that the instant you concentrate on A, B takes over, and vice versa. It's easy to light, it stays lit well, it smokes cool and slow, or, if you prefer, it also smokes wet and fast, it makes a fine nice white ash. It tends to smoke through the center of the barrel of the bole (does that make sense?) rather than across the whole body of the pot. In other words, the fire drills a core down the middle of the pot-ful, and I use a tool several times to bring the sides of the bowl down, in order to gather a lot of unsmoked tobacco down into the belly of the bowl to smoke it.

I would give it top marks but, it's just not "special" enough. Something's missing for the top grade. But it's still excellent work, now one of my main go-to tobaccos.

Enough has already been written about this blend. Everyone should try it at least once.

Tin: Light smoky Latakia smell. Mottled brown and black 1 1/2x1/2x1/8" cross-cut sliced cake. The tobacco is neither moist nor dry. The wrapping paper has little oil absorbed in it. There are what looks like small white mold spots on each slice.

Packing & Lighting: If one is careful, each slice can be pulled out of the tin. The slices are easily rubbed out. No residue is left on the fingers. Just gravity-feed into the bowl, then tamp as it is smoked; no problems or concerns, easy. Done in this manner, two slices easily fill a bowl. It takes two matches and a strong effort to keep it lit, with puffing. Took two relights down the bowl, in very humid weather.

Taste & Aroma: Soft, smooth, silghtly creamy, and spicy, a Balkan blend, in that the emphasis is on the orientals. There is not much taste or aroma to it. Burns a little hot on the tongue and multiple bowls wear the mouth out, the effects lingering into the next day. Further down the bowl, a mild smoky Latakia aroma evolves.

Nicotine: mild to medium, closer to medium.

Room Note: medium.

Overall: For some odd reason, I'd reminded of Squadron leader, which is much better. I experience little of the strong effects or problems many have reported. Penzance is an interplay of smoky Latakia and creamy, soft orientals, the orientals making it a Balkan blend.

After many starts and fits with various tobaccos to appreciate the English blends, Penzance is the one that did it. Be wary in the packing. Break the flakes up, but not a full rubout, gravity fill and perhaps a SLIGHT pressure, and it should perform well. I find the taste is not quite full, but is not an all-day smoke either.

UPDATE--I'm docking it one star because I found it fussy to work with and I started to detect an unpleasant soapy taste.

This blend is polarizing to my taste buds. On some days I consider this to be one of the most over-rated tobaccos on the market and can only watch with disbelief as its value rises on the vintage tobacco market. On other days, however, I totally 'get it' and wonder what I would do if the supply in my cellar ever ran out!

Penzance is a one-of-a-kind mixture. The crumble cake presentation is one of my all-time favorites, and the burning characteristics of this blend are superlative. The tobacco itself is quite oily and has a generous dose of something offbeat that lends a vaguely medicinal aroma. This smell, which reminds me of iodine, carries over into the smoke and is largely responsible for the absolutely unique flavor and texture of this blend. Is it a flavoring agent or some type of exotic oriental leaf? I simply don't know, and also don't care. In a very real sense, this added "something" is what makes Penzance so distinctive. There seem to be countless English mixtures on the market today and Penzance is the only one that I could never, ever confuse with any of the others. I guess this is why it commands such high prices when the supply dries up. If Dunhill's 965 or Squadron Leader were to disappear, I can immediately think of several mixtures that could replace them. Not so Penzance -- if it goes the way of the Balkan Sobranie or Edgeworth, the pipe smoking world will have lost something utterly unique.

Despite the obvious presence of latakia, it's several notches shy of being a "lat bomb" as some others have claimed. Odyssey, Larry's Blend, and Frog Morton eah have so much latakia you can often taste nothing else -- that's hardly the case here, and in fact there are time when I can barely detect latakia at all. Penzance is at most a "medium" on the strength meter. There is very little nicotine here and the flavor is a couple of notches shy of full. On the plus side, it usually doesn't bite and burns quite nicely with a single charring light. One word of caution: when you open a tin, try to either smoke it all within a few days or transfer it to a glass jar, as it loses some of its character soon after opening. It feels moist right out of the tin, and in my opinion this is when it smokes the best.

To many smokers, this is a four-star or "desert island" smoke. Objectively, it is clearly a classic English mixture (as is evidenced by its sustained popularity on this site and others). You really should try it at least once, if you're able to locate a tin at a decent price. Personally, however, I don't love it the way that many others do. I prefer blends with a full flavor and respectable nicotine punch, and Penzance has neither. I have about a pound cellared, and even if it were to disappear tomorrow I imagine that's enough to keep me sated for the next 30 years given how infrequently I crave its unique flavor. YMMV, of course.

After so many reviews I will not describe this tobacco, what I will say is that this was a very good smoke. I feel that this is a perfect example of a three star blend. Good but not great, I will smoke this again in the future, but when this tin is gone it will be some time before I return.

The Latakia was noticable, but not in great quantity, as were the Orientals. I wanted to find what so many others have found in this tobacco, but it was not there for me. A very good middle English blend.