Esoterica Tobacciana Stonehaven

As a Brit, I have long looked at reviews on here and comments on various forums with a degree of envy, this stuff is unobtainable in my neck of the woods and seemingly rare as hens' teeth even in the US. So imagine my delight when a friend across the pond gifted me a sample and aged for 4 years to boot.

The flake is dark and mottled. A little unwieldy, cube cutting seemed the best option and I took it on advisement to let it air and dry for a while before packing.

Light it up and oh my, what an underwhelming disappointment. There is a pleasant sort of fruity/cake smell from the pack, but this does not seem to carry over at all into the smoking. It is impossible not to be influenced by reputation and, although I wasn't quite expecting angels dancing on my tongue, I did at least hope for something distinctive and striking. Instead, it is rather bland to my taste if truth be told and remains consistently rather monochromatic throughout the bowl. There is a kind of burnt tar taste beneath it all, which is not particularly to my liking.

I returned to the prepared batch a little later to try again, by this stage the consistency was almost dry and crunchy. It remained still far too dark and woody for me, I honestly wouldn't realise that Va was a part of this blend if I didn't otherwise know. To cap it all, it left an unpleasantly musty aftertaste which I haven't tasted since the last time I had a Marlboro cigarette many years ago.

All in all a huge disappointment and it left me scratching my head at all the positivity and hyperbole which surrounds this blend. Truly, when it comes to tobacco, everybody's taste clearly varies.

Sadly, not recommended.

I’ll cut to the quick on this one. Simply stated I think Stonehaven is highly overrated. For me, this was like puffing on a cigarette. I got none of the tastes or notes mentioned in other reviews. I rubbed it out and it was fairly dry. Still, it needed more re-lights than I expected. Nothing special about this blend, at least not for me.

boy, where to begin... ahh yes the beginning. so the first time i tried this stuff i was floored by how awesome it was. the flavor was not very in depth but it had a wonderful taste of dark unsweetend bakers chocolate. i was totally in love, and the problem was i was only given a few bowls as a sample. ok no problem, flash ahead about a year (thats how long it took me to get a bag of it) and see me happily jar up the nice wide long dark flakes, load a bowl and..... nothing. and i mean nothing. no flavor, of any kind. well maybe it needs some age. well here i am with still a few oz left, and its been five years and i still think its flavor less. this has to be the biggest case of the emperor wears no cloths. to me at least. im sure the scarcity of this and other esoterica blends plays a big role in the demand, we want what we cant have. and im sure they play on this at esoterica. im not hateing them for that after all they are a bussiness. but really smoke this stuff with an open unbiased mind. cause to me its really waaaaaaaaayyy over rated. and i do want to say thatl i have only tried my samplw and the 8oz bag, and i hear that esoterica can be very inconsistent. so maybe my bag was a bad batch??? not sure but i can say that some friends i know from a local tobacconist all agree w me, that esoterica, even though produces quality products they just are not the stellar blends that the market makes them out to be. i personally think that luxury navy flake by PS is a far superior blend even though they are not even the same types of tobacco. and LNF is never out of stock or cost more than 2.50$ an oz

Marlboro, hot dry smoke, no flavor at all, smells like it taste, to sum it up. I just don't see what I'm missing here? I've had this ageing since 12/2009 didn't like it then don't like it now.

I've given this stuff a few tries, in a few different pipes, and it never fails to leave my mouth feeling as if it had just swallowed an pint of ash. Although the room note is quite enjoyable, the tobacco itself tastes deplorable. After trying all I could to enjoy this stuff, I have given up and will not submit my tongue to such torture.

Fowl, fowl, fowl! This is perhaps the most putrid weed I have smoked since I trying Half and Half in a 99 cent corncob one summer as a teenager. Generally, I smoke multiple bowls in several different pipes before reviewing a blend. Unfortunately, I could barely finish my second bowl. Be warned: this will taint your pipe! I had to part with mine after giving up on this blend. Esoterica makes some quality blends. In fact, Margate is among my favorites. Unfortunately, I would recommend this leaf to neither friend nor foe.