Esoterica Tobacciana Stonehaven

Stonehaven: pretty good. A very cased and moderately topped flake tobacco. The red Virginia is sweet and smooth. The Burley is chocolatey, nutty, and provides some strength. The topping tastes like molasses and fruit to me. The smoke coats the palate with flavor. This is a cool-burning and never biting blend. I enjoy this just a little less than Erinmore which says something either about me or this tobacco.

Finally scored some of this rarest of rare stuff. I've never seen it available before in my 20 plus years of pipe smoking despite smoking other members in this brand line going back almost that far. I found it in bulk at a Tobacconist. They had Penzance too. This flake is exceptionally mild and smooth despite it's nicotine strength. It's not immediately perceptible but a third of a bowl in, my head started to feel it and was starting to break out in a light sweat so, I had to stop. It's too rich for me. It's a thin sliced, moist and pliable dark stoved flake with a lessor fig fruity bouquet than most other dark stoved virginias. There is also something along the lines of a brandy flavor which someone else has alluded to. Knowing the Germain guys, they use a fair amount of flavoring. The burley doesn't come through in a usual way with air cured and darker notes but, is melded with the virginia which dominates contributing to the bite-less mildness on the palate despite adding larger nicotine strength and impact. If they could only come out with a version with far lesser strength.

Wow, this is strong stuff!! The flavor is dark, sweetish, tarlike and overpowering to me. I tried simple sipping, but I like to get the furnace going from time to time and this blend chokes me. I'm not sure if this is the nicotine making me pause or the very robust flavor. The quality of the tobacco seems high quality, but not quite the plumes of smoke I look for. I must admit that I have yet to find a tobacco with an unpleasant aroma, this smells great nonetheless. This is a fine offering from a fine maker, but I have to pass on SH, I much prefer its cousin Tilbury. If you like em' strong then I recommend this, if not try just a little before buying any substantial amount. CBWYA

Let me preface this by saying I am not an English fan. "Esoterica" means "hidden" or "secret" knowledge of a particular knowledge (dad was a Freemason and the term popped up in many of his books). In this case, Esoterica Tobacciana means secret knowledge of tobacco. I think they should have kept their secret.

I tried this in 2003 and it had the same campfire smell as other English blends. If Arcadia represented a 10 on the strength scale, this blend would probably represent a 7. If you like English blends, then you might like this. Otherwise, stay away.

A unique and wonderful burley/va blend. A friend of mine gave me several bowls from his well-aged stash. Rubs out, packs, lights, and burns easily. Silky smooth with just the right balance of matured Va and high quality burley. Fairly strong but not overpowering. I don't find it to be at all like Tillbury. I had tried FVF hoping it would be a stand-in, but it isn't even close due to it's lack of burely, flavoring, and poor burning characteristics. Unfortunately, it is unobtainable except at horrifically inflated prices.

I agree with previous reviews I think this blend is a little over hyped ,I used to smoke this daily tell I found suitable others , I hadn't smoked this in years I stumbled across a jar I had put away 6 Yrs ago and figured I would give it a shot even after 6yrs the flake was still pretty moist and required some air drying time after drying, 2 chars and it stayed lit one of thing I like about this blend is it produces a fair amount of smoke but right away I noticed some bitter under tones that stayed tell about mid bowl , the burley came thru in a harsh bitter fashion which I liked but this blend will bite even after 6yrs age if you get aggressive I would say this is a decent english burley but there far better burleys for less on the market Solini aged burley has this beat hands down in al departments in my opinion as far as nicotine it was a little on the light side for me but satisfactory the availability seems to be thin on this blend but my guess is after people try it from the hype 1 time and don't reorder there will be plenty not putting it down I kinda liked it in a ruff way.

Just a super tobacco, I found it very relaxing with just the right amount of Nicotine. High quality!

This is one of a kind! Reminds me of dark chocolate when preparing the flakes, both smell and appearance. This blend will satisfy your nicotine needs. The taste is absolutely amazing, I won't even try describe it (plenty of reviews already.) I just felt the need to express what a wonderful blend this is. I don't care if you like aro's or English blends.... This will reward the smoker who truly loves the taste of tobacco! Absolutely essential!

Down side: Everyone seems to know how good this blend is and it's very hard to come by. If you see it, stock up and cellar as much a you can. It only gets better with age.

I've been smoking a fair amount of this recently having got hold of two bags and jarring them. It's a very dark flake that smells like dark chocolate in the jar, with little or no sweetness apparent. This pretty much transfers over to the smoke, with packing requiring breaking up the quite irregularly cut flakes, and to my tastes, it needs to be a bit dry, otherwise taste drops off. It's quite hard to keep this rich, dark smoke alight for me, regardless of pipe, but well broken up and dried out a bit helps. It's complex certainly, and not the sort of tobacco I could smoke all day. I usually smoke this in the evening to finish off the day, and if you get it right it is very good - chocolate, very slightly bitter-sweet, room note is excellent according to the missus. Stonehaven's cousin, Tilbury, is much more of a daily goto smoke for me; sweeter, easier to handle and just as satisfying.