Esoterica Tobacciana St. Ives

This is the WORST tobacco I've ever tried. It literally tastes like the butt-end of a Camel Blue cigarette. Horrible, I honestly find this blend to be an affront to pipe smokers if nothing else. Even though they call it a fruity aromatic, and the fruity smell does come through in the tin aroma, the actual flavour couldn't be further from that. No matter how much I tried I could not get any fruit flavour to come through, instead it just tastes like a cigarette, and possibly worst than that. Come to think of it I'd take some of the Brazilian rope-tobacco-based cigarettes any day over this trash. This is trash and I recommend you pass on trying it. There is literally nothing good that I can say about this blend.

I was given a couple of bowls of this a few weeks ago and tried it out in a corn cob. It has a sweet grassy smell, shag cut and smoked smooth and mild. The first thing that came to my mind concerning the topping was ‘Juicy Fruit’. This is an okay blend but I found myself wanting to hurry up the second bowl so I could go on to something else. Glad I had the experience but this flavor combination is not for me.

Based on recommendations I dried this out quite a bit first and then packed it normally. The first thing I taste is high quality tobacco and I know that I'm gonna at least "like" it. It burns very cool in spite of my near constant sipping. This is a well balanced blend. I found that the Latakia is very present but not overpowering, playing well with the Turkish and Cav. It's everything I want in an English, but this has even more. The flavoring elements are subdued and quite nice; just enough to know that they're there; I pick up berries, primarily. It lit easily and stayed lit. I don't know why this tobacco gets such a bum rap, it's something I'm going to try to keep around. Think of it as an English with plus flavor but not goopy flavor.

This is one tobacco by Esoterica that I can't really classify. Is it English? Aromatic? Virginia with additives? There are so many different flavors, with no one standing out, that it's difficult to say for sure. The smell in my sample baggie is rather mild, somewhat leathery and fruity and sweet without being musty at all. The leaf is dark, mainly medium and dark browns with some lighter brown strands also present. The cut is interesting, being a soft, partially rubbed-out cake mixed occasionally with hard, black flakes. The rubbed out portion is narrow in width and of varying length, short to rather long. The moisture level is about average, though the unrubbed cake is more damp, and the tobacco packs fairly easily. It lights quickly and burns very well, needing less than the average number of relights. In the first third of the bowl, the flavor is very mixed. I can identify the sweet, fruity casing, but it is rather subtle and quiet. I can also taste the Latakia, but only as a part of the mixture rather than a dominating factor. The Virginia and Cavendish flavors are also notable, mixing well with the other tastes into a rather pleasant, intricate blend. The smoke is very mild on the mouth, having no bite at all and a very smooth taste. I really can't decide what type of blend this is supposed to be: English, aromatic, adulterated Virginia...? In the second 1/3 of the bowl, the sweetness is not as obvious, becoming a more sour and less fruity note. The Latakia and other tobaccos are still mixed, with no one flavor being prominent. There are no bite or moisture problems to this point. In the last third of the bowl, the taste hasn't changed much. The sourish note is still strong, and the other flavors remain well-incorporated into the overall taste. That taste is good, not overly complex but mild, well-balanced and interesting. I would hesitate to call this an English blend, if only because the Latakia is so subdued. A bowl of this burns very quickly but smoothly, even in a large pipe, and is dry right to the bottom. Overall, this is a hard tobacco to categorize. No one taste is prominent, except the sweetness at the very beginning. A full blend this is not, but I could easily see this becoming an all-day smoke for me, or perhaps a morning Latakia treat. Not bad, and I'll consider ordering more of this in the future.

I don't consider Esoterica Saint Ives an aromatic; it is true that it has a coffee topping, however it is more accurately a crossover english. The Virginias are of fine quality and cured properly, they are in perfect balance with the smokiness of Latakia and the dry spicy orientals, unsweetened Cavendish rounds out the blend. The coffee notes come through without sublimating the tobaccos much. When smoked at the correct moisture level, St. Ives is quite enjoyable and pairs well with a mug of java. The low ratings this blend has received may be in part a disappointment that a robust aromatic component is not present, or not allowing to dry properly which can adversely affect the experience.

I received a sample of St. Ives and was happy to get to try some without investing in an 8oz bag.

The cut is shag-like. Bag note was spicy and sort of fruity. Moisture was great. Easy to pack, wanted to clump together a little. Lighting was quick, charred, tamped, and light and go.

Taste wise this one is interesting. The background is highly reminiscent of Margate. Where Pembroke adds Cognac to Margate, I'm not sure exactly what was added to the English background here. Dark Fruit overnotes to me a little bit like Raisin? Spicy hints here and there from the orientals. Together, a little odd at times, like it really can't figure out what it is.

Left quite a bit of moisture (needed a few cleaners during the smoke) but burned down to nice grey ash.

This is one that I'll have to come back to later once I really decide what it is.

This is one weird bag of pipe weed. The smell out of the bag is overwhelming. Somewhere between rotting fruit mixed with the ladies section of a bingo hall. Fruity, perfumey, and old lady foot powder, not a good smell if you asked me. Now the appearance of the leaf is typical for anything that comes out of the Germain factory, top quality leaf, so I did not let the stench drive me off. To be clear, I did not put any of this stuff in a pipe without 40 minutes minimum of drying time. The aromatic casing/topping does dissipate with dry time. It needs the dry time because it is pretty damp out to the tin/bag. Flavor: This is not as bad as I thought, but not as good as I hoped. I held back on writing a review to give it a fair shot. This is very similar to And So to Bed but just stronger on the topping/casing side. This is a solid English blend under the topping/casing. I am not an aromatic smoker as a general rule so I am not sure if spraying good leaf with fruit loops makes it more appealing to that type of smoker or not but it might. For the traditional English smoker this might be too much for you to get past, however I can taste the VA's and Latakia despite the flavoring. The flavoring hits you first every time and it is kind of floral and what I call "powdery" like old woman body powder. It is like walking through a department store perfume counter with you mouth open and then taking a drag off of a cigar or cigarette. The first thing you get makes you wince an then you settle in and enjoy the smoke. I found that sipping this is not the way to go unless you want to savor the perfume. If you puff at a medium/fast cadence you get sweet and slightly grassy VA and creamy Latakia. I cannot find an Oriental tobacco here but it is a decent sweet English if you can get past the flavoring. Big strength is the room note. Very pleasant smell in the room