Esoterica Tobacciana Penzance

07.30 am on a weekly day. *Beepbeepbeep* I awake startled, set off the alarm and smack a few times with my mouth. Jeepers! What a flavor, what did I do yesterday? My sleepy brain sits down to work. What did I ate last night.. Noodles with chicken. No it's not that. What have I been drinking? Water from the tap, it's not that. Did I do certain things with my girlfriend? Nope, she's not here on weekly days. Oh wait! I remember! Yesterday I smoked Esoterica Tobacciana Penzance! The tobacco that you enjoy extra long no matter what you eat and how well you brush your teeth.

Package: The by JF Germain and Son on the British Channel Islands made Penzance comes in two packages. 1. A tiny gold tin of 2 oz. with a label that could be printed on a standard house, garden and kitchen printer. 2. An airtight bag in which the loose tobacco occupies 8 oz. Personally, I use a tin which I fill up with Penzance from the bigger bag when it is empty.

Contents/composition: "Finest English mottled flake" says the tin. It is a wonderful complex secret recipe of the finest Virginia, choice Turkish, Orientals and Cyprian Latakia. All hand blended together, hard pressed and broad cut into thick flakes. This is what they call a crumble cake (no not THE Krumble Kake) and it is a rightful name. The tobacco already crumbles when you shout too hard at it: Clan (from Theodorus Niemeyer) is the best tobacco ever!!

Smell from the tin: Wow, uhm .. Fierce, penetrating, leathery, earthy. If you know the smell of a freshly plowed field when it has just rained just know what I mean. Seasoned pipe smokers who can not smoke in the vicinity of their girlfriend / wife, you simply have to smell it to get a kick out of it. I think that when you leave it half open on the ground it would make a fine ant-exterminator.

Roomnote: Too bad the tin is so small. Otherwise they could have added: This tobacco scares away mosquitoes, birds, rats, nagging wives and door-to-door salesmen.

Taste: The first time I lit it, I just thought: Whoa! Greasy smoke and flavor! Latakia! You can say that other tobaccos are coffee but this is espresso. I also tasted an aftertaste that I could not place untill a number of pipes later: salty licorice (a candy in Holland)! Not that that dominates in a nasty way, it actually belongs to the whole experience. The pipe tobacco remains remarkably similar tasting through the bowl with hints of Orientals and Virginia but this is not boring. A class act from the creators! Disadvantage, oh well, disadvantage, depending on how you look at it, the taste lingers in your mouth for a loooong time. As described above, you have fun of it the next morning and afternoon. Avoid actions and intimate conversations with family and colleagues.

Combustibility: The flakes are very moist / oily. It is recommended that you let them dry out a while before smoking. The flakes from the large 8 oz. bag are even more wet / oily. Once you've lit the pipe they burn a looooong time. I lit a pipe at the beginning of a soccer match. At the end of the match I was not through yet..

Varia: The tobacco crumbles easy so filling the pipe is even for folks who are not used to flakes not too difficult. If the pipe is filled you need to gently treat the tobacco and when smoking don't tamp too hard. If you are too heavy handed with the tobacco, you get a wet lump at the bottom of the bowl. Talking about the bowl, I discovered that this tobacco tasted the best in a somewhat larger, relatively shallow bowl. In a Peterson 317 the tobacco tasted the most intense. In a slightly larger Peterson 303 it was a little more mellow. I liked Penzance best in a Prince model pipe. That is when you give the tobacco the opportunity to really shine. As for the vitamin N, I found this tobacco to be spot on. It makes me nice and relaxed but without any side effects.

Price: Penzance is very difficult to obtain, and that is going on for years now. Occasionally a small shipment is sold in a (online) tobacco shop but when the great crowd of Penzance enthusiasts discovers that, it is sold out in no time. If you have the luck to be there on time than you pay for a tin ± $ 10.79 and a bag ± $ 28.95. Of course you can often buy Penzance on ebay, but those prices.. *pheww* And as it takes longer for a new shipment to arrive, the prices only get higher..

Conclusion: Because of the scarcity of the tobacco people begin to make comparisons with Balkan Sobranie and Bengal Slices. There is great fear that Penzance also disappears (Ok, Balkan Sobranie is back now..). Although that is not true and there is no evidence for it. The thing is that there are so many fans that JF Germain and Son can not keep up with the production. But the equations and large fan base do point out one thing: this is a good tobacco! The first times with a too small, narrow bowl I liked moderately. In a somewhat larger, relatively shallow bowl I was heading towards the same heaven as when I smoke Balkan Sobranie. This is good stuff of great quality! Not for everyday use, but if you're sitting on your own in the evening in your living room or porch without having to do anything, Penzance is your best friend.

Penzance is this finest English style tobacco i have ever tasted and it's easy to see why so many people rave about this stuff. There's certainly Latakia in this but i wouldnt call it a lat bomb. Way to well balanced for that. On lighting, the Lat is up front, but within just a few puffs the slightly sweet orientals come racing up to save the day and the ever present but not forward Va supports it all. Spades of complexity and tangy hues due to the tobacco conditioning process.

Some may note that it has mold or has an iodine taste/smell (its ammonia actually) but its this special aging and conditioning that sets it apart from other English's. If you dont get into delicacies and think they are a waste of money then this tobacco is probably not for you. For the more adventurous soul's.... nirvana awaits.

Update. To be more specific regarding the iodine smell. It is an ammonia byproduct of the mold process. Different molds will smell slightly different but it is ammonia being released, which in this case smells rather like good old fashioned, scrape your knee, iodine (as othere have noted).

Whether the molding is deliberate or up to sloppy climate control i do not know (i'm guessing the former). Love it or hate it, it sure gets some interest.

In testament that this blend is unusual and can take some getting used to and that perseverance reaps rewards. I'm so glad that Mr Big (below) now likes this blend. When others share your passions it doubles your pleasure. A true gentleman.

Penzance has been a hard to come by blend here in the U.S. most of 2011. I recently found tins available at a very affordable price. So finally... I have tried the legendary blend.

Upon first smoke I believed the blend to be hype, but a number of bowls later came to understand why this blend has become so popular with so many pipe smokers. This truly is a complex blend.

I carefully tried to maintain the flake when pulling it from the tin, folded it twice and stuffed it into a bent brandy egg. I went back to the tin for a half flake, repeated, and finished with a sprinkle of shake to top the bowl off. The tobacco smells slightly smokey, is moist, and wants to crumble naturally.

The initial light brought an immediate leathery earth, semi-sweet, and smokey flavor to the palate. It was an easy light and stayed lit following the initial tamp. The depth of earthy flavors faded and were exchanged for flavors of nut and chocolate. This surprised me for the blend does not knowingly have burley present. The flavors melded and were constantly held by a subtle presence of latakia throughout.

A relight was in order about half way down the bowl at which time the flavors began to take on a very forward floral undertone, both in taste and in scent. The chocolate, nut, earth, and smokey flavors carried through until the final relight. The turkish became heady and ever present prior to the last relight.

The main flavor present following the final relight was caramel. It remained until the end of the bowl and was accompanied by a wisp of leather and earth while holding on to the ever subtle presence of latakia.

One of the most complex blends I have smoked to date. I would recommend it to any pipe smoker looking for a thought provoking experience that will leave you wanting more.

I've been hearing about Penzance as long as I've been smoking a pipe - which is not very long... but long enough to hear how great it is. When I saw a couple of tins on the shelf of my local tobacconist, I grabbed them without thinking.

I am thoroughly impressed with this blend. It is a great balance of latakia and Orientals with just enough Virginia for my taste... little whiffs of sweetness that punctuate the pungent smoke and spice. Easily one of the finest tobaccoes I've smoked.

This is my first experience with a "krumble kake" but I found it very easy to load and light. I didn't rub it out too much, basically letting my light tamping break up the flakes, and got a long cool smoke.

It is a shame that this stuff is so scarce... I could easily make it my "regular" smoke. Would life go on without it? Absolutely, but it sure does make smoking that much more enjoyable.

It's like Zeppelin. It's like Guinness. It's like a Mediterranean sunset. Nothing difficult to understand or appreciate, but a perfect expression of what it is

SOLID QUALITY STUFF. 4 stars.

Difficult to add much to what's already been said, except that I find this excellent tobacco to provide two smokes for the price of one. Try this experiment: during the first two-thirds of the bowl puff gently like you would with any quality Virginia and you're rewarded with a very high quality VA sweetness. Then amp it up and get some clouds forming and the VA sweet gives way to delicious Latakia and Oriental complexity that expertly blends all the flavors together into a unique, delicious, relaxing experience.

As the bowl progresses, it gets richer, toastier and stronger. I have to slow down a bit near the end to keep it cool and to keep the flavors balanced. I get a tiny bit of gurgle but that's inconsequential to me because the reward is a powerful, creamy, and memorable grand finale.

I call this a complex smoke, I call it wonderful, I ordered a bunch in bulk for aging, and I can't wait to try some after it's been resting a year or two. I can't imagine that it can get better than it is, but other reviewers assure me it will!

This is my first review in this forum, tho I have been visiting here for a couple of years now. I have vastly enriched my smoking pleasure from the reviews I've read here. I am a huge fan of Balkan and English blends in particular, and have a few pipes dedicated to them. Acting on tips in this forum, I immediately transferred the contents of my new tin to a tightly sealed jar to keep it from drying out. I have smoked this weed in several of my pipes now, and in 43 years I have never found a tobacco that varied so much in taste and smoking pleasure from one pipe to another! Has anyone else experienced this with Penzance? "When she was good, she was very, very good and when she was bad she was horrid". I have found a couple of pipes that give me sublime pleasure from this tobacco, and will stick to them from now on. I actually dumped out half a pipeful from one of my favorite meerschaums, a 43-year old dublin which has experience with all kinds of tobaccos, but it couldn't give me any pleasure from Penzance. But it can be wonderfully satisfying in the right circumstances. I roll it out fairly fine, and pack it so there is just the slightest resistance to the draw. It then burns evenly and completely to a fine ash, often without any relight. In short, I heartily recommend Penzance. Just don't give up if the first pipeful puts you off -- try a different pipe until you hit the magic button.

A nice latakia-dark pressed and sliced typical English tobacco. Anyway, let me disagree with the raving reviews here. It IS a very good and pleasant tobacco: it has a nice, clean, licorice-like taste. It crumbles great, burns cool and even, and leaves an incredibly white and pure ash. Nothing really to complain about: my rating of "Might try it again but won't keep it on hand" comes just from a simple reason... There are not many alternatives if you want a Latakia-laden pressed blend, the main ones being Old Ironsides and Pirate Kake. Well, I think that these two are vastly superior. Not because Penzance tastes badly (no real bad notes in it!), but because in comparison it is a bit empty, not as mouth-filling. Old Ironsides is a monster of strength and taste, and Pirate Kake is very thick and full thanks to the burley. So, if you want a lighter pressed Latakia blend, Penzance is great: to me, it is good, but won't fall in my "best of" category.

Not to belabor this tobacco's properties, I,like others, have been looking about for a Krumble Kake, since the demise of Bengal Slices. Yes there is another, which I won't mention here, however, that is a bit dry for my taste. Dry, would not be the packaging description of this tobacco, like others from the Channel Islands, Jersey in fact, it comes a bit moist, so some air would help in the lighting process, not to mention the wet/hot smoke one may encounter. As the description reads, a typical English on the surface as far as the contents are concern, but like most tobaccos, the secret is in the blending. A full smoke, that will satisfy all who enjoy Latakia, with just the perfect accompaniment of Virginia's, Orientals, and Turkish. There are, but a few, that go to the top shelf, and this is certainly one. One word of caution however, unless your familiar with a Krumble Kake type of tobacco, take heed as to the method of loading your bowl, simular to DBE, in that the bowl can be over packed! In conclusion, a great tobacco, that will only get better with aging. Stock up! Cheers, Larry

I believe that this is my favorite full English blend from Esoterica. The burning properties are excellent and the flavor is better than either Margate or And So to Bed; if those two were standard lagers, this one would be Guinness Stout. As a deep, relaxing blend after a big meal, it has few equals; it's especially good in a very large pipe. The smell in the bag is strong Latakia, a musty, rich smell obvious even through a sealed bag. The sample came as mostly crumbled cake, broken into many different fragment sizes, and the moisture level was rather low. It packs easily and lights quickly, burning through a bowl with a below-average number of relights required. In the first third of the bowl, the taste is that of strong, rich, and very full Latakia. This is obviously a strong English blend, and the deep, leathery flavor reflects that. On first light and subsequent relights, there is also a sourish background note whose origin I can't quite place. The smoke is not overly smooth, but it certainly isn't harsh or biting. Moving into the second third, the taste is becoming even darker, maturing into a remarkably full and satisfying flavor. There is good complexity present as well, several layers of flavor being noticeable under the dense Latakia richness. There is a bit of a moisture problem at this point, but it is quickly taken care of with a single pipe cleaner. In the final third, the flavor remains dark and full. I believe that this is what Webster had in mind when he defined the word "rich"; it is *truly* a satisfying smoke. The sourness upon relighting has mostly faded, and the Latakia mingles well with the lesser tobaccos also present. There were no more moisture problems after mid-bowl, and no bite at any time. Overall, this is one of the few English blends I would call truly outstanding. It is full and rich enough to satisfy just about any English blend smoker, and the burning properties are excellent. The Latakia flavor is almost overwhelming, but in a *good* way! I strongly recommend this tobacco to anyone looking for that dark, complex after dinner blend. I already have more of it on order!