Tobaccos Esoterica Tobacciana - Tilbury

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	JimInks (3022)	2013-09-26		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Tolerable

There's a natural Virginia buttery tart and tangy citrus sweetness along with some hay/grass, bread, a little tangy dark fruit, wood and earth, and a honey note due to the expert mix of gold and dark Virginias. You get much of the full range of tastes that those Virginias usually have to offer. The burley is nutty and toast-like with an earthy, woodsy flavor that gets a little stronger as you smoke it down. The burley is almost a competitive component. The fruity smell out of the tin or bag allows you to think an apricot topping is present, and I claim it was added in the casing of the Virginia, but this varietal tastes lightly fermented in any case. The tobacco is ribbon cut and a little stringy, so it burns at a moderate pace, cool and clean with a very consistent sweet, nutty and woody, lightly rugged flavor from start to finish. The strength and taste levels are medium. The nic-hit is a step or two below that mark. Has no dull or harsh spots, and won't bite. Has a few rough edges. Leaves a little dampness in the bowl, and requires an average number of relights if you've given it a light dry time. I recommend that. Has a pleasant, lingering woody, nutty sweet after taste and stronger room note.

11-2-2022 Update: I have recently smoked several batches of Tilbury from 2019 to 2022, and have experienced a moderately stronger apricot topping every time. That subdues the tobaccos more than it did in previous productions. I'm not changing my rating, but I am recording the difference for those who read this review.

12-20-22 Update: The latest drop of Tilbury produces another change in the product. The apricot is barely noticeable. The Virginias are not sweet nor are they as complex as the pre-apricot dosed version discussed in my original review. This only has light touch of dark fruit, more tartly sour citrus, and I notice a smoke note that I never encountered in any version. There’s a little more sharpness and is mildly more sour as well. The Virginias remind me very much of those currently used in Dunbar, which are a downgrade from past manufactures. Three stars for this December 2022 version.

-JimInks

51 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Pipestud (1829)	2003-09-06		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Very Pleasant

Now here is a Virginia/Burley combination that offers pure tobacco taste. The tin aroma is quite nice; sort of a subdued sweet Virginia screaming "Smoke Me!"

The tobacco itself is a little too long stranded for me. I use a small food processor to chop most of my tobaccos anyway, so, a few seconds in the zapper was all it took to make packing a pleasure.

There is no tongue bite--thanks to the high quality of the Virginia and added Burley. It can be smoked all day without fatigue. The flavor is subtle and fairly one dimentional. But hey, if tobacco taste is what you're after, then here you go.

Updated 9/6/03.....I have just finished a tin of 5 year old Tilbury. I must say, this stuff tastes better and better each time I smoke it. A true classic that Virginia/Burley lovers will consider to be a top-shelf. Not inexpensive, but worth every penny!

30 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2007-12-27		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant

I have to agree with SApipe that this is a ribbon cut. But, who believes what it says on a tobacco label, anyway? Tilbury has become one of my two all day Virginia blends, the other being Stratford. This is one of those "smoke one bowl, why not another one?" tobaccos. I don't find that too often in Virgina blends. The Burley may be there in "small portions", but it does it's job to enhance the fine choices of the Virginias I see when opening the can. William Serad stated in his "Trial by Fire" compilation that Tilbury smelled "musty and foul smelling". Well, I enjoy the smell, and I don't get that impression. Smells a little cigar-like to me which I find appealing, even if I'm not a cigar smoker. Due to it's ribbon cut, it packs wonderfully. The top light is delightful filling my mouth with a coffee like taste. This continues along pleasantly from top to bottom. However, mid-bowl I find a slight chocolate presence making an appearance. It doesn't seem to have any chocolate topping, so it's the sort of nuance that just reminds me of chocolate. I've never smoked a chocolate topped tobacco, thank goodness. I'm no fan of Aromatics. You hear what I am trying to say when people describe wine without the presence of a particular substance in it. Well, I get this until I get toward the bottom, then it's real tobacco. Real Virginia. Real taste. BUT, no heat! Amazing! This is the coolest Virginia blend I have ever smoked, and yet still holds it's sweetness until the last puff. Recently, I was in a real hurry while trying to enjoy a bowl of Tilbury in a thin walled Canadian. I knew I was in for trouble. It never came no matter how hard I smoked that pipe. This pipe can be a furnace with other aged Virginias I have smoked. Not Tilbury. Finally, if "This is a potent tobac, causes dizziness!", I have never felt that from Tilbury. Highly delightful, and most highly recommended!

19 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	SteelCowboy (685)	2016-03-15		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

With the exception of Silver Flake, I don’t have any VaBur’s in my regular rotation as I am pretty picky with it comes to Burley’s. Owning only 3 tins of Tilbury of various ages, this one was purchased late in 2013. I simply love the tin note of this blend! I also really like very thin cut tobacco and while this one is slightly more difficult to work with than other thin cut blends, it burns with pure tobacco flavor. The word “butter” seems to come up a lot with this blend and I have to agree. The Virginias have a light sweetness and the combination of Virginias is proportionally perfect and the earthy, nutty Burley is delicious. There is no bite, even when pushed and it has enough backbone to keep me satisfied with a moderate nic hit. As each bowl progresses, the Burley becomes more apparent, but never overcomes the sweet Virginias. I tend to puff a little bit rapidly and to get the most out of this blend, a slower cadence is a must in order to get all of the tremendous flavor out of this blend and to keep the heat down from the very thin cut. I tend to have a pipe in my mouth most of the day and do find that I need to allow some extra time before moving on to my next bowl. Along with Solani Silver Flake, this is easily my favorite VaBur. Sadly, there will never be enough available to be a regular smoke.

Age When Smoked: Two and a half years

15 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Captain Pete (83)	2007-05-11		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable

Experience has shown me it is not wise to judge a tobacco until I have smoked it for about a month (unless it's just downright awful from the gitgo). Tilbury is one of those tobaccos that initially failed to impress me. It wasn't bad; it was just alright. However, I had just been coming off of a couple months of DSK and MacB Navy Flake, and so had to re-attune myself to the more subtle complexities of a more natural tasting tobacco such as Tilbury.

Anytime a tobacco's description includes the word 'piquant', I have to give it a try; mainly because I am a boob who does not know what the word means, and really want to find out what it is. And if it causes dizziness, then I definitely want to give it a go. Well, suffice to say, I didn't get dizzy. And I still do not know what that piquant flavor is (piquant pie?). But this is really good stuff.

It is, as others have already said, a very fine cut for pipe tobacco. And in the tin, it is very moist, and will remain so for quite a long while (unlike some of the Dunhill blends that dry out within a week). I really wasn't quite sure how to load this stuff into my pipe at first. Finally, I decided on the "grab a bunch, roll it up, and stuff it into the pipe until no more will go in" method. This seems to work, as I have had good luck with the pipe staying lit and smoking cool all the way to the bottom; at least in a small to medium size bowl.

Now, this tobacco does what I like my tobacco to do. It burns evenly, and it pretty much tastes the same at the bottom of the bowl as it does at the top; no big surprises halfway through. And the flavor is nice and tobaccoey sweet; not the pungent aritificial sweetness of an aromatic. For those who like the natural sweetness of a McClelland mature virginia, but not the vinegar/ketchup aroma and taste, this tobacco should be spot on.

**Did I actually say "spot on"? I have actually now begun ordering this tobacco in the 8 oz. packaging, so it ranks up with Gawith & Hogarth flakes for me.

14 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Noorrmm (192)	2004-03-03		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

Appearance: Mostly reddish tones, medium width ribbon.

Aroma: Substantial matured Virginia aroma with some trace of dark Burley.

Packing:. Packs well into any size bowl from group 3 through 5.

Lighting:. Lighting is quite ordinary. Not too slow to burn, nor too quick to catch.

Initial flavor: Very full bodied Virginia flavor with some extra strength noticeable. The additional component soon reveals itself as a very tasty Burley

Mid-bowl:. This is a simple blend, which has complex layers of flavors. The blending of sweet and nutty is extraordinary, while the fullness begs you to slow your puffing. Quite a bit of mouth feel to this blend, with a good range of middle notes, some high and some low, but no extremes. A cool smoke, but stays lit rather well.

Finish:. Finishes way too soon, leaving me wishing I had filled a larger pipe. Also leaves me satisfied for a while, no need for another. There seems to be a high nicotine content.

Summary:. Another superb blend from Esoterica. Reminds me of Cumberland, but without the Perique. An excellent choice for the evening, by itself, or with a nightcap.

13 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	tleek (51)	2014-07-01		Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable

Fanastic tobacco. Esoterica is almost impossible to find online, but I found it at a few shops, in tins and bulk. I am reviewing the bulk variety, if it makes any difference. First of all, I do not know why the tin says broadcut, it is a very fine ribbon cut as others have mentioned. It packs easily and burns very very well, down to nothing. This is probably one of the coolest smoking blends I have ever smoked.

The flavor of Tilbury is exquisite! It has a plum like Virginia sweetness rounded off by the pecan like nutty, earthy burly. As you smoke it, the burly becomes more and less prominent. The flavor also intensifies in the last half of the bowl. Like most tobaccos, it is best enjoyed sipped, but thats hard to do with a tobacco this good. Blow the smoke through your nose, swish it around a bit. This is some pretty nuanced stuff.

I love burly, and I love Virginia. Before I found this blend, as I was tiring of full flavored latakia blends and smoking a lot of straight VAs and drug store burleys, I was hoping I would find a Virginia heavy blend with good quality burly leaf in it. This is it. This is like Carter Hall (which is fantastic in its own right) with 50 percent more virginia and better quality tobaccos, and no apparent topping.

My only regret is not buying more, Highly recommended.

12 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Stefanos (222)	2018-12-30		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant

I usually smoke two, three maybe four different tobaccos each day and the next I might as well change and smoke others. With Tillbury I stuck! After opening the pouch, I kept smoking it almost exclusively for days in a row – a thing very unusual for me…

Tilbury comes almost shag cut but there are a few pieces of broken flakes in it as well. Colour is of different hues of dark brown. The pouch note is enticing, natural yeasty tobacco smell.

Loading is exceptionally easy and the tobacco needs only a few minutes of drying time. Lighting is also easy. In general, it is difficult for me to think of a less fussy tobacco. It smokes with incomparable ease, does not go out, burns slow and produces an abundant smoke. Naturally Tilbury’s mechanics are part of its appeal to me.

But taste is also superb. Natural, aged, yeasty Virginia goodness deceptively simple: you smoke it and while it’s a great natural-tasting tobacco, there seems to be nothing very exciting about it. But still, exactly because it does not have anything very particular but on the other hand it is solidly tasty with a taste that does not overwhelm or become boring after repeated use, I find it as good as it gets for an all-day tobacco!

Should be sold in bulk! Were it not for its scarcity I’d say that Tilbury is the perfect all-day tobacco. Alas, a pouch won’t last long and a replacement is not easy to get…

Tastewise it has the Germain touch which one can find in Medium Flake or Royal Jersey Virginia and even Uncle Tom but without the flavoring. Tilbury is to Esoterica what Ye Old Signe to the Dunhill line, or 5100 to McClelland, or Golden Glow to Gawith: a tasty, virtually straight, ribbon cut Virginia that is smooth and with no tongue bite suited for an all-day use. And though all the above lend themselves readily to blending with other tobaccos, Tilbury stands proudly on its own. It’s so satisfying on its own that I haven’t even tried to mix it with others leafs. And as for room note it is surprisingly innocuous to nonsmokers.

7 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	hawky454 (107)	2017-02-27		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Very Pleasant

A fiend of mine told me that this tobacco has no bells and whistles but it's an outstanding VaBur... I concur. This is another blend from Germain that I would consider a daily smoke if it were not for all you people buying it all up before I can get to it. Lol. This is a smooth, slightly sweet smoke and I see people using the word "buttery" to describe it in several different reviews and for good reason, it is somewhat buttery in flavor and texture. Again, Germain has a way of curing their Virginia's like no one else on the face of the earth. What is it that they do to their VA's that other people can't figure out? Well... that's half the fun, the not knowing, that is where the magic lies. This and Dunbar are my absolute favorite blends from the Esoterica line of tobaccos, you all can have your Penzance and Stonehaven. Give me Tilbury or give me death! Okay that is a little extreme but you get the point. Oh, and I agree with DK on the roomnote, it's absolutely stunning! The best of the best!

HIGHLY ESSENTIAL

Pipe Used: Neerup, Stanwell, Gamboni

Age When Smoked: Fresh

Similar Blends: Dunhill - Ye Olde Signe (Re-release).

7 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Gentleman Zombie (729)	2017-03-17		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant

The Burley is a little more nutty than earthy and has a little sweetness to it. It leads the Virginias by just a little. The Virginias add a little more citrus than hay and have a mild spice hit. They also give the smoke an underlying "freshness". It's a smooth smoke that satisfies in flavor and strength. Not the best VaBur I've had, but in my top five.

Medium in body and taste. No added flavoring. Burns very well.

Pipe Used: MM Little Devil Cutty, Little Devil Acorn, Marcus

Age When Smoked: 1 year

Purchased From: Cup O' Joes

6 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	DrumsAndBeer (217)	2014-10-24		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

This is a very good VaBur with just a touch of British flair to it. The tin note is reminiscent of Stonehaven, leaving me to assume that the leaf is lightly cased with treacle. The primary flavors are sweet and slightly musty with a hint of chocolate on the finish. The smoke is rich but not heavy, and there’s a light peppery quality to it that feels fizzy on the tongue. Tilbury has just a bit of strength to it and it becomes more noticeable as you smoke down the bowl. However, for me the manufacturer’s claim of "potentcy" is unfounded.

By mid smoke I get a firm yet smooth woodsy burley flavor that's well supported by the sugary Virginia leaf. Tibury is finely balanced and manages to walk a thin line between brighter sweet toasty flavors and the deeper bitter earthy characteristics of a stout burley blend.

Altogether this is an elegant, well nuanced and downright tasty tobacco.

Pipe Used: Briar

6 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Sinister Topiary (84)	2010-06-28		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable

Macadamia Nuts. They're buttery, creamy, clean-tasting, and subtly sweet. Rather like this blend.

My first few bowls were very frustrating and unpleasant, primarily because my packing technique was off with this fine a ribbon. But despite such horrible smokes, I was still able to discern some quality flavor. So I stuck with it. And I'm really glad I did!

Once I got my packing technique down it stayed lit beautifully. The more I smoked it, the more I appreciated its clean, pure tobacco flavor. In this sense it reminds me of FVF; but Tilbury, for me, has more nuance, with the Burley adding a delightful nuttiness.

I hadn't found a Burley blend I liked until this one. Tilbury has become one of my favorite smokes. This is the real deal for natural tobacco flavor. A wonderful Virginia/Burley blend. Highly recommended.

6 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	hiplainsdrifter (9)	2014-07-22		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

This one was a surprise winner for me. With the exceptional quality of Esoterica's Stonehaven, I thought any other VaBur in the Esoterica line must be lackluster. Not so! Tilbury is very different from Stonehaven both in processing and ingredients, but it is an excellent blend. It likes thorough drying for best flavor. Pack this ribbon cut rather loosely for best results. This one is an explosion of fine Virginia flavor, with just the right amount of sweetness. The burley adds great complexity, coming through as a nutty undertone through much of the bowl. As others mentioned, this blend is exceptionally smooth. I usually get greedy when smoking a good Virginia forward blend, resulting in tongue bite. Tilbury is very forgiving, and can be pushed more than most. This makes it a great all day blend for an active pipe smoker or a novice. I am very glad I tried this one, I will definitely be stocking up on some Tilbury when it is next available.

Pipe Used: Ashton Canadian, Ruthenberg 1/2 bent brandy

Age When Smoked: Unknown

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2009-12-09		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant

Beautiful, mostly chocolate brown ribbon cut of predominantly virginias. A couple of noteworthy observations - first, as Bierstadt mentioned, I get a very distinct flavor of something like buttered and sugared toast. This comes directly from the tobacco rather than a casing of any kind. Second, this has absolutely the best room note of any natural tobacco I've ever smoked. If you want a nice DGT, instead of relighting it, just leave the room for a few seconds and re-enter. Honestly, I did that several times during each bowl. I have no idea why or how it smells so wonderful in the room but it is absolute heaven on earth!

The essential constituent tobaccos may be the same but I find this as close to Stonehaven in flavor as peanut butter is to a steak. Where Stonehaven was robust with burly burleys and a touch of virginia, Tilbury is a light, sweet gentle blend with the virginia on top and the burley well underneath. The burley is definitely in a supporting role here. It only comes out with any force during the last 1/3 bowl.

This is a very good tobacco. It's a little mild for my tastes but it's definitely something any virginia lover should try.

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Tomcat (212)	2021-05-29		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium	Unnoticeable

Esoterica Tilbury- When I opened the tin amd smelled the tobacco I knew this was the one ! VaBur blends are my favorite and this one lives up to the hype of Esoterica blends . I have sampled a few bowls of Stonehaven and Tilbury beats it by a mile ,IMO . Buttery is a very apt description. It is nutty with a slight cocoa note and sweet citrus fruits . Needs little dry time , burns great with a perfect ribbon cut . Mild to medium nic hit . So easy to smoke . I scored 3 tins and it will be very hard to let them age . Outstanding! 4 stars

Age When Smoked: Fresh tin

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	DeathMetal.org (231)	2021-02-13		Mild to Medium	Mild	Medium	Tolerable

Summary: gently fermented Virginias remove the acidity and bring out a more Burley-like flavor with a honey-brandy topping.

Although this is listed as a Virginia blend, the fermenting process has removed much of the evident sugar, causing it to burn and taste more like a Burley blend without the cloying sweetness of most Virginias. A topping that tastes like brandy or plum brandy with honey mixed in has been gently applied, and in the right amount to just nudge the flavor upward. This, and the fermented Virginias, give it a stewed fruit or plum wine flavor on the edges, so that you mostly taste that broad almond-wheat Burley essence of Burley, then pick up the honeyed Virginia increasingly as the bowl caramelizes, with these broad-cut ribbons burning slowly like ready-rubbed leaf. By design, the bowl moves from the stronger flavors to the gentler, and brings out the best in each leaf, similar to other British nautical blends.

Thanks to Pipes Magazine Forum member "misterlowercase" for this generous sample.

Similar Blends: Dunhill - Royal Yacht , Robert McConnell - Paddington (Heritage), Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. - Kendal No.7 Unscented (Unscented), Robert McConnell - Scottish Cake, Mac Baren - HH Bold Kentucky.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Dr.James (39)	2017-11-22		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Very Pleasant

Tilbury is presented in a fine ribbon cut with a tin aroma reminiscent of dry autumn leaves and a hint of cocoa. Easy to pack and perfect moisture. The blend of gold and dark Virginias produce layers of dry grass, sweet hay and citrus balanced by light fruity notes. Burley is predominant but not overwhelming and steps in with a sweet nuttiness, white pepper and notes of maple wood. As it burns moderately to a white ash, the aroma reminds me of an autumn stroll in the neighborhood as hardwood leaves are smoldering away. Won’t bite your tongue even if provoked. Can be an all day smoke. Balanced and smooth but on the upper side of medium in strength, aftertaste is pleasant and leaves a very enjoyable room note.

Age When Smoked: Fresh

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	gladi8tor96 (143)	2017-06-28		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

From the tin the aroma is quite pungent. It smells like fermented plants mixed with leather with just a slight hint of sweet grass. It actually didn't smell that appealing at first sniff, but now it gets me quite excited.

The tobacco is mostly light to medium brown ribbons with a few light ribbons mixed in and even less dark ribbons present. Extremely easy to load and light. I recommend a medium pack, not too tight or too much tobacco, but not to soft either. If packed right this will remain lit with light and easy tamping.

The smoke is very flavorful. I get natural sweetness that is balanced by woodsy flavors, toast, a slight tang and some nuttiness. There are hints of citrus and a little grass, but not that much. Maybe a hint of spice, more pronounced about mid-bowl when the wood flavor really comes out. From that point to the end of the bowl there are notes of dark chocolate, but just hints. This tobacco is hard for me to describe, but it seems quite unique to other blends I've smoked before. It has the bready, tangy, natural sweetness of a red va and the nuttiness, and perhaps the cocoa too, from the burley. The flavor combination is wonderful and enjoyable from top to bottom. It has a nice kick to it as well. Great with the morning cup of coffee.

This tobacco is great all on it's own, however, I was first introduced to this blend by a wonderful pipe maker. He sent me a sample of what he calls 'Surf-n-turf' blend. It's a mixture of LA Perique and Tilbury, being more Tilbury than Perique. He described it as tasting like meat and the ocean at first and ends up tasting like you are sucking on chocolate by the end. He was right. I have since remade this blend and thoroughly enjoy the blend and Tilbury on it's own from time to time.

Pipe Used: Billard, RB Morta Poker, Dragon Briars Poker

Age When Smoked: 1-6 Months

Purchased From: Morgan Hill Cigar and Wine

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	½ bowl (103)	2016-03-07		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

I popped a rather young tin of Tilbury and found a highly compacted brick of dark golden shag that falls apart very nicely. I can only describe the tin note as sour apricot -- but that did not translate into the taste or aroma of the burning leaf. Rather, it delivers a subtly sweet, natural Virginia taste that belongs more on the fruit-like side of the Va. spectrum rather than the grassy or sharp side. It has a buttery, clean-tasting natural tobacco taste with nut-like undertones, hints of olive, and a bread-like, maybe even yeasty, flavor. Not exciting, no pizzazz, just good smoke. If someone asked me what unadorned tobacco tastes like, I would have to offer Tilbury as the example of choice.

Tilbury exudes quality and refinement, and it produces a nicely rounded mouth feel and great volumes of creamy smoke. There is good balance between strength, flavor, and body, which makes for a very smooth smoke of medium strength (bordering on strong). It burns dryly and is totally bite free; and if I needed some clean ash for a batch of pipe mud, this is what I'd smoke.

If you like uncomplicated blends of high quality you should give this a try. It would be especially suitable for people trying to transition from cigarettes to the pipe.

Pipe Used: Radice, Ser Jacopo, Ardor, GBD, Savinelli

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	HabaneroHardy (395)	2020-02-24		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Unnoticeable

A friend of mine had two Esoterica blends that I got to try today. This one was almost about as good as it gets. This one he purchased at the store and when I asked him where he got it, I found out it was kept behind the counter. Maybe the next time I go there I will approach the counter, give the secret code word and be taken back to a secret vault with every out of production and hard to get blend that is glistening like the gold from King Midas’s touch. He opened the tin up and it has a really wonderful sweet VA smell and smoked smooth and like a charm. Thanks again my friend for sharing.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	BlueDog1950 (17)	2019-03-09		Strong	None Detected	Very Full	Pleasant

Described on the tin as A Broad-cut Extra Mature Virginia.

Contains Virginias and Burley. Fine ribbon cut, close to a shag, no topping detected, typical high quality tobacco and excellent blending.

Full taste and strength, moderate to high nicotine, rich full smoke with lots of complexity, dense smoke, lots of mouth coating.

Kind of blend that is best to savor and contemplate while smoking, lots of enjoyment experiencing the true tobacco smoking experience.

Smokes relatively cool considering the components, burns evenly to nice gray ash. This is a full strength smoke, not for the faint of heart, you will notice the nic.

Stronger than Margate and Pembroke, high quality mature Virginias keeps you alert so to speak.

A very good experience for the seasoned pipe smoker.

Erik Nording Zulu.

Pipe Used: Erik Nording Zulu

Age When Smoked: several years

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Rustedrailsmokes (293)	2018-09-14		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

One of the underappreciated Esoterica's I believe. I was lucky enough to get both tins and bags at my local B&M during a drop.

The burley stays in the background to me and the virginas come through during the beginning of the bowl. In the last 3rd of the bowls I felt more of the kick and also got the taste of the burley.

While bags of Stonehaven disappear in seconds it seems, this one sometimes gets overlooked. Grab it if you can.

Pipe Used: various

Age When Smoked: fresh to one year

Purchased From: Smitty's Cigar & Tobacco

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	OhioTony76 (59)	2018-07-08		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant

First off, I’m not an Esoterica fanboy. I won’t say I love it just because JF Germain makes it (and I don’t like Stonehaven). Tilbury review: Speaking proportionally, this might be one of the most well done “blends” I’ve ever smoked. Neither the va or the burley jumps out. The perfect proportions make a wonderfully easy smoking tobacco. It does start to build in flavor by mid bowl. Becoming med/full. I love this blend because every draw is different, bouncing between the va and burley being slightly more forward. Such a simple blend and so complicated at the same time. It burns dry and slow with large amounts of smoke. No dottle ever. All day smoke for sure. I wouldn’t want to get tired of it though. 9/10.

Pipe Used: Briar Meer

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	King Weed (228)	2018-03-01		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable

The tin of Tilbury I opened was from a large buyout of a fellow smoker and was sealed when I received it in August of last year. When I saw it the next time, about the first of February this year, it had lost it's vacuum seal but was mechanically sealed. So, I opened it and discovered that it was still moist enough to smoke. I also discovered that it had a strange tin aroma that was about one half fermented grass and one half dirty socks. Not quite off-putting, these "flavors" reflected it's composition of Virginia and Burley with fifteen years of aging behind them. Now, although this sounds groovy, the smoking qualities of this blend were weak and thin and I had trouble extracting enough enjoyment from it to feel positive about the experience. This lackluster performance was repeated in every bowl I smoked . I began to use Tilbury in blending, but this didn't produce anything notable. I don't know whether the age of this tin was a causative factor in this bland performance or not. Age is, usually, a positive factor in pipe blends but it didn't turn out to be the case here. I intend to obtain a fresher tin of this blend to smoke for comparison but, until then, two stars.

Pipe Used: Ashton LX Brindle Dublin

Age When Smoked: 15 years old

Purchased From: buyout of another smoker

Similar Blends: nothing I remember.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	fr_tom (393)	2013-12-30		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

I am enjoying a sample of this a friend sent me. This is a very high quality and tasty VaBur that presents initially as a straight, slightly sweet Virginia. As the bowl progresses, you start picking up the burley. I claim there is no topping at all. I just taste tobacco here, and it is very good. I do not find this to have any unusual nicotine hit as the description and other reviewers have suggested, but maybe I am less sensitive to it.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	TallPuffO'Burley (632)	2012-04-16		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

UPDATE 1/22/2018

I somehow smoked through an 8 oz bag without returning to update this review. Based on what my impressions were about 5 and a half years ago this one really needs an edit. In context, I had only been smoking for about 6 months when I first reviewed this blend. To my good fortune my local B & M had three Esoterica tins sitting in stock, one each of: And so to Bed, Tilbury and Dorchester.

I ended up buying all three of these out of curiosity more than anything else as I had no idea what a treasure this was to behold at the time. The three of these tins offered such sweet smokes due to the aged Virginia, that I have been unable to replicate any of them since. I attribute this to the age of the tins and have really put aside a lot of the Tilbury and Dorchester in hopes that I will have a lot of that taste in the future.

Back on topic. The tin I had was so sweet that I really thought that this was a straight Virginia. TR descriptions at the time did not offer me any contrasting ideas that Burley was a component at all. It was not until I tried 8 ounces of this fresh did the burley make its presence felt. By presence I mean the nuttiness that was still outweighed by the Virginia IMO.

Tilbury is a fantastic smoke whether new or old and maintains its 4 star rating for me even with this update. I think that people who like burley but are a bit of lightweights will especially enjoy Tilbury, if they are able to find some, as this blend will not clobber you with nicotine at all. Although I do enjoy a hearty blend, I find this not to be a problem for me. It really is a great blend and I look forward to the day when all of my stash is aged.

ORIGINAL REVIEW 4/16/2012

I just finished my first tin of this and each bowl of it reinforced that it was my favorite straight VA blend. To my knowledge there was no way to actually date the tin I purchased, but the four different pricetags suggests to me that it was ancient and perhaps could be the reason for my adulation.

Not normally a VA smoker as my name would suggest, I was only able to compare it to two other straight VAs. Those other two were also highly rated on here, so I feel comfortable giving this one four stars.

I have found I really like the VAs used in all of the Esoterica blends. There is a subtle sweetness that is left in the back of mouth with each puff. I notice this in ASTB and Dorcester as well.

I plan on buying more of this and will be interested if a new tin has a different taste than what I encountered with this first tin. If anything changes then so will this review.

btw . . . Tin smell is heavenly, perhaps best I have ever experienced.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	fireball (36)	2011-05-24		Medium to Strong	Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Simply wonderful. A lovely red/brown easy ribbon cut mixture of very mature Vas and a touch of Burley. Makes me think of blue cheese for some reason, it's strong, certainly, but has an undeniable sweetness which I was nearly convinced was natural. Burns great, high 'N' levels but always leaves me wanting more more more. I could smoke this day and night. Yes, I like it, and have ordered in bulk to make sure I never have to not smoke this.

Update: Sweet milk chocolate to Stonehaven's dark. I smoke this every day all day in a tiny Dublin that takes 10 minutes to clear. This stuff is it for me. I alternate with Dunbar depending on mood and weather. Cloudy: Tilbury; Sunny: Dunbar.

There's only one drawback in my mind: it does not like tamping out, pocketing and relighting later. Gets bitter, not sweet.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	RonR (85)	2021-03-03		Mild	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable

3rdguy

Just finished a full tin, about 2 years of age on it. I like the body the Burley adds to this and for me that kept it satisfying enough to reach for frequently. Needs a little dry tme, takes a relight or two. Retrohale is very mild. I did get a slight bite at times but probably more from my cadence. Burned fairly quickly but down to a nice white ash.

A solid blend but I really want to revisit my remaining tins with a bit more age on them. I think this could be a incredible blend then.

Highly recommended.

Pipe Used: briars, cobs, meers.

Age When Smoked: 2 years

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Indianapolis (49)	2020-01-27		Mild	None Detected	Mild	Pleasant

Took me three bowls to appreciate this beauty, but I'm glad I stuck with it. My first impressions were that the flavor was too light, lacked some sweetness, and came off a little flat. However, it dried just slightly (came a little wet) and I started to appreciate the nuance. There is a great herbal note that I don't find in a lot of virginias, which keeps me guessing and intrigued throughout the bowl. The spiciness comes up over the course of the pipe, but never gets overwhelming, but balances into the herbal qualities.

It's not the sweetest virginia in the world, nor the richest. Smoke this when you can really focus, the subtlety requires some attention to appreciate. Smoke slow, it can burn hot and ruin the experience. Smoked well, its a real treat, and a unique flavor profile.

Pipe Used: Briars

Age When Smoked: Fresh

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2019-03-27		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable

I remember back around 2008-09 when I first started my pipe tobacco sampling frenzy. I used another handle at the time but have recently rejoined TRs & forgot about this one. I'm gathering up my notes & editing them. Back then, all tobacco blends, including those from across the big pond were readily available most all the time & Samuel Gawith tins were around $7.00. There seemed to be no scarcity of any blend & prices were very reasonable.

I left the hobby for about 7-8 years but became revitalized in 2018. FWIW, I could not believe the changes that had occurred in those years... almost went into shock! I didn't even know McClelland had closed their doors or that Orlik & Mac Baren Dunhill were out of business as well when I rejoined TRs. OK... upon opening I was greeted with a semi-sweet aroma that was very pronounced. I'm guessing that the sweet aroma had to be from an aged Virginia variety.

The cut is that of long ribbons and after about an hour it was at the perfect humidification level for stoking and smoking. This blend lit very well and produced a good volume of smoke. The taste did not impress me as many other similar blends that I sampled but thought the aroma from this blend was surprisingly sweet since it stated there was no topping.

It seemed to me, back in the day, that Esoterica blends were simply ordinary with the exception of Stonehaven which became one of the best of that genre that I ever tried. I never tried any of their English. The Virginias were tasty, the tobacco smoked mildly & had about a medium kick to it. There was a little sweetness from the VA & a creamy nuttiness & additional strength from the "light" Burley infusion which became stronger as the smoking session progressed. I found this blend to be fairly satisfying but prefer a blend with more punch. I think it could have used a little more Burley for added strength but that's just my personal opinion but then again, it would be something else.

There was a little tongue bite initially but at the time, I was unaware of the DGT method. I only tried one tin of Tilbury, so, I guess I didn't think it was a great blend but look forward to trying it's cousin Stonehaven soon & did eventually acquire a pound of Stonehaven (two 8 oz. bags) from Iwan Ries for around $75.00. It was heavenly & Tilbury does not measure up to a comparison. That was right before the scarcity epidemic hit around 2010.

Pipe Used: Peterson Deluxe 9S & 11S

Age When Smoked: Fresh Tin

Purchased From: Pipes & Cigars

Similar Blends: Solani Silver Flake #660 & liked it better than Tilbury...

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	BingCrosby (161)	2018-02-18		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Unnoticeable

Nice straightforward smoke... light sweetness.. good grassy brightness... burley is very subtle... I like it overall but doesn't excite me as much as other esoterica blends.. a little simple.. but sometimes that's not a bad thing.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Pryhosm (248)	2017-11-16		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable

UPDATE: Been in a jar for 3 years now and this blend aged surprisingly well, probably due to the higher percentage of VA's in the blend. The few years in the jar really evens the smoke out nicely. The Virginia's are a bit sweeter and the topping is a bit faded but the essence of apricot is still in the jar note and the flavors are a combination of nutty, woody and sweet, somewhat earthy flavors. I have started this back into my rotation as a first smoke of the day but can be smoked any time and can be an "all day" smoke.

ORIGINAL: Yet another great blend from Esoterica Tobacciana. This is a great Virginia/Burley blend, although the burley is very subtle. The tin note on all of the Esoterica Virginias I have found to be incredibly good. This is a sweet tangy VA, with bread and hay notes along with a lemony/lemon zest smell. If you stick your nose in real quick I get immediately makes me recall the smell of Parliment cigarette's (which I never smoked, just smelled the packs of friends). But if you really put your nose in you get a great VA smell that seems to really be pronounced with this brand. I only use the air pocket packing method when smoking Virginia tobacco's. I find the air pocket in the pipe helps minimize the likelihood of bite and I also find with Virginias in particular you can really get all of the subtle flavors. From the charring light to the last puff you the hay like grassy and sweet flavors of these outstanding Virginia's. There is toast from the burley which really makes the sweet bready Virginia flavor shine. The lemony scent in the tin is also in the flavor but is almost grapefruit like in the mouth and especially on the retrohale. I also get a "cut grass" like flavor, which may not sound good, but I like it. Medium nic hit for me and burns very will if given 15 mintutes of drying time.

Pipe Used: briar's & Meerschaum

Age When Smoked: less than 1 year

Purchased From: Tinder Box IN

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Bluegrassbrian (9)	2017-04-10		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

The first Esoterica blend I ever tried. I didn't know what to expect upon opening the bag, but it was a feast for the eyes. Mostly chestnut shag speckled with dark brown to black pieces of thinly broken flake. The initial aroma was entirely unique. Sharp, mysterious and pleasing. Plenty of moisture so I let a large pinch air out for a while. I like packing it into smaller group 2 or 3 sized bowls. Smokes faster than flake or most ribbons so it's great for a short and satisfying smoke. The best singular adjective I can give is "piquant". The smoke is plentiful. It is savory moreso than sweet...about as complex as a Virginia blend can be. There's an almost "green olive" note to this, without being "vinegary". Overall a magical blend that I cannot recommend enough, even if you're a predominantly english smoker.

Pipe Used: Dunhill Quaint (Group 2)

Age When Smoked: 1 year

Purchased From: Strauss Tobacconist

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Cat Jockey (21)	2017-02-14		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Strong

Tin labels are highly irritating.

I'm fortunate to have a tobacconist that has a good variety of tobaccos on hand. While driving there, I decided I was going to pick up a tin of a Va I hadn't tried before. I have both Dunbar and Penznace on the shelf, but hadn't branched out into Esoterica beyond that. Knowing that Esoterica made Straight Vas and that my tobacconist stocks 6-8 varieties of Esoterica in tins and bags, I figured I would look at the tin labels to see if they carried one of the straight Vas.

Hmmm ... Tilbury, "A broad cut extra mature Virginia."

Perfect, I thought. A Va. (surely a straight Va, right, else they would have informed me of the other tobaccos, right ?...?) The first thing I thought upon opening the tin was, "Broad cut, my ass." I consider Dunbar to be ribbon cut. This is cut like RYO shag. Though my mind should have been prepared for more misleading mislabeling, it wasn't. I was entirely focused on having a straight Va experience. So, after 3-4 puffs and the Burley made itself known, my mind refused to accept its presence (Funny how a mind can refuse to accept what it knows to be true and has evidence of staring it right in the face, err, palate. Another oddity of the Human Experience, I suppose ...), and my immediate thought was, "Hmm. I don't think I have ever smoked a straight Va that tastes so much like a cigarette as this one." My mind remained perplexed, and unwilling to accept that I had been lied to by Esoterica, and there was more to the blend than Vas.

It left me thinking, "Well, I guess I'll smoke the rest of it, but I don't think I'll be buying another tin, let alone bag."

Trying to find answers and meaning to what it was about this Va that was not setting right with me, I came here, as others do. Then I started laughing, reflecting upon my 'cigarette' thoughts when I saw it had Burley in it.

I almost gave this 2 stars, or less, because I most definitely was expecting a straight Va experience, but the tin label misled me into a VaBur experience - and I am not a big Burley guy. It irritated me that the tin label was so misleading. I was initially irritated. I had to give it 4 stars, though, for once I realized it is a VaBur, I was no longer expecting a straight Va experience, and could appreciate and enjoy it for what it is.

I'm not a big VaBur guy, but this is very good stuff, and has been added to my rotation. I finished the tin last night and brought home half a pound from the tobacconist this morning.

Pure tobacco taste. Hints of a cigarette, but in a good way with quality tobacco, with the Va playing in nicely and develops throughout the bowl.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Bluesmoke (75)	2014-11-24		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Very Pleasant

Though I enjoy latakia/oriental/va blends mostly, I do love an occasional VA or VA/Bur mixture. Let me present Tilbury. This is a nice medium in strength, but full in flavor VABUR from Esoterica which definitely delivers for me every time. There is a nice volume of smoke delivered when dried just a little and for my money this is one of the best blends Esoterica makes next to Penzance. I find the full body and fermented, sweet-yeasty flavor to be just wonderful. This is not a cased or topped tobacco, IMO, the unique flavor is from the fermentation process and there is very little nuttiness or hay-like essence, so often found in its constituent elements. This blend is a little singular in flavor but for an occasional bowl that's just fine with me. I know its not always easy to score any of the Esoterica blends sometimes, but this is one fine blend to stock up on if you can and age seems to only smooth it out and make it that much more delicious. Try some! LJSOW

Pipe Used: Sav.

Age When Smoked: Fresh Tin

Purchased From: BATB

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Coda (33)	2014-05-27		Medium	Mild to Medium	Mild	Tolerable

This is an interesting tobacco. I would consider this, in most cases, a "consolation" tobacco. This is what you may buy when Penzance and/or Stonehaven are out of stock. That said, its surprising. A shag cut tobacco, Tilbury is reminiscent of very fine, high-quality cigarettes. The Virginias are a bit subdued, but the burleys are earthy. Fresh out of the tin, I was not impressed by this blend. However, after a month or two in a jar, it began to take shape. Not always a dependable smoke, however. Sometimes, it just tastes...off. Regardless, its a decent tobacco for anyone who likes natural VaBur blends and/or shag cuts...

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Cochon74 (29)	2012-03-19		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

I should start by admitting that I am not a huge fan of VA's to begin with, but I do like to change it up from my regular diet of English blends. Having said that, I was not super-impressed with Tilbury. The VA blends I've tasted have been either straight VA flakes or VaPer's and I've preferred all of them to this.

In the tin, it smells lovely. Many reviews have already described the wonderful aromas and the promises of a great smoke to come. It's a bit wet and along with the shaggy cut, makes it a little difficult to load. It dries out relatively quickly though and once you understand it's moisture, you can get it to load and light pretty easily.

I divide my smoking experience with Tilbury into two phases. The first is a relatively mild virginia smoke - a little sweetness and a bread-like savory taste with ample smoke. Smoked slowly and thoughtfully, it's pleasant enough, if understated. After the rich tin aroma, I'd hoped for something more though.

The second phase is that in which the burley becomes more pronounced. The flavor becomes characteristically nuttier and flatter. My experience with Burleys has always been thus. While not unpleasant, I just find it boring, What the matured Virginias have to offer seems almost entirely covered up by the Burley.

All in all, it's a decent smoke. The quality of the leaf seems good. There are no unpleasant flavors or aromas and the consistency of the smoking experience tell me that much. The "potency" of the smoke is another issue. I don't have the highest tolerance for nicotine, but I can smoke this without fear of dizziness, which makes me wonder.

There are numerous other VA's out there to try, most of which I think I'll enjoy more than this VA/Burley blend. I probably won't ever get through the tin I have because of boredom, let alone purchase another. Still, I'm certain that others like it just fine, as the reviews indicate. I think it's just not my cup of tea.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Dr. Scott (82)	2011-02-21		Strong	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

My tin was purchased in 2010. My impressions were different from some of the older reviews.

Tin note: very mild, little aroma. It is on the dry side when the seal is broken.

Like any predominantly Virginia blend, it bites like hell if you smoke it too fast.

Nicotine is strong, and is probably the main attraction of this blend.

Very subtle, very mild sweetness to the smoke. Flavor is consistent through the entire pipe.

Again, my tin was not aged, and a little dryer than optimal.

Comparisons: stronger nicotine and less sweet than Tordenskjold Virginia Slices, not as strong as Union Square. And in overall quality, not even in the same league with the Virginia blends from McClelland. I can imagine that this blend might become a favorite for some. But it shouldn't. There are many better Virginias in the world.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Pipe4ever (204)	2009-04-03		Strong	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable

The basic tobacco flavor of this blend is somehow similar to stoneheaven but without the chocolate casing and with more natural taste and less body, this is simply a pure, high quality Virginia, fermented and processed in the Esoterica sort of way, with very natural flavor and with strong nicotine.

This one worth a try for those who loves natural Virginia without any casing, and it may be a winner; depending on how do you prefer your Virginia.

There is so many excellent Virginias to try, Tilbury is one of them.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Jaybee (77)	2003-08-25		Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

This tobacco is exquisitely subtle. The reason I only smoke it on occasion is because I appreciate it most when I am calm and reflective. It burns very easily and is "hands down" THE most bite-free tobacco I have ever smoked. It is suitable for the experienced pipe smoker and would be excellent for the novice, as it's gentle nature subtle flavor would surely insure continuation of the "gentle art".

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2003-01-03		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

I'm not sure how Esoterica matures its leaf, but this stuff makes this one of the most subtle and complex tobaccos I have smoked (and I've smoked about 200). If my descriptors in the following review (it was blind) sound disgusting, ignore my words, because everything works beautifully together. This is the kind of tobacco a mad genius would put together.

I don't know if this would appeal to just a few smokers, or to many, but I enjoy it immensely. Everyone should try this at least once. While it smokes cool, give it a slow puff-rate and your full attention. You will be richly rewarded.

(Blind Review) Sample "C", first smoke (corn cob).

Appearance: A finely-cut, almost cigarette ribbon, tobacco. ~95% of the leaf is light brown, 5% dark (which I suspect to be stoved Virginia). A bit dull in appearance but will probably stay lit well due to the cut.

Tin aroma: Sitting beside me on my desk, I am picking up a clover honey essence that I believe is a natural aroma of this tobacco, and nothing at all like the MacBaren casings. A closer sniff discovers a very mild malt vinegar note (unlike the "sparkling" McClelland vinegar aroma), a light fermented/musty undertone not unlike a faint Gorgonzola cheese aroma (if this sounds disgusting, fear not. It really works here.) My nose impression is that there is plenty of matured leaf in here. Upon a subsequent sniffing, I could swear I smell some cigar tobacco tones, or perhaps some Turkish.

The Smoke: Upon light-up, the perplexity remains. I don't sense any Lat here, and if there is any bright VA, it's matured. The first flavors that arise are raspberry, prune/fig and a mild mustiness. Not expecting to like this blend, I find myself nodding approvingly when I come out of focused analysis mode 10 minutes into the bowl. There IS a nice top range, a touch of zing, which could be the raspberry tone or an orange/red VA. Orientals? Overnight DGT does the flavor no favors, and light-up is bitter and a bit ashy. I believe this has a decent Oriental component, both because of the old cigar tones today, and the warm, brown mid-tones from yesterday. Or again, it could be some cigar tobacco. Overall, my first impression is that this is not especially complex.

My second smoke was in a Savinelli Oscar Dry Bulldog. The first 70-plus degree day of the year brings a thunderstorm, followed by a warm, misty evening. Porch smoke. I'm really liking this now. It really is unlike anything else I have ever tried. Initially, I am hit by notes of cigar and honey, with secondary fig/date flavors and a musty coolness, possibly indicating some age to this blend. There are a lot of flavors here that I just can't identify, which usually means Orientals, but could also be from well-applied toppings. Next, an unsalted sweet butter nuance appears, close to a mild Gorgonzola. Maybe a touch of sweet liqueur. The blend is very cool, sweet without being obvious or cloying. There is a mild Virginia toastiness though it is under the buttery tone; and there are occasional hints of black pepper, though not harsh in any way. Still, I'm betting there is no Perique in this. While the entire tobacco doesn't change, it evolves with new flavors developing to compliment the solid, tasty, mid-range theme.

At ½ bowl, whatever topping there was burns off, leaving lusciously smoky, mushroom-musty, cigar-toned smoke. Smooth, still very cool. Gorgonzola feel still present. This tobacco sometimes defies description, other times there are too many flavors going on to capture. For instance, now I am picking up comforting campfire tones, which have cropped up occasionally through smoke, and I'm in last .125 of smoke. Caramel and burned marshmallow tones, then ammonia (in a good way). It would take many smokes to get the full measure of this wonderful, unique tobacco.

I will definitely buy a few tins of this tobacco. It gets a 92 of 100.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2002-10-25		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant

If you want a tobacco w/real tobacco taste as well as other positive attributes going for it then Tilbury may be just what you're looking for. As I've stated w/other Esoterica Tobaccos I've reviewed, this is a clean-burning tobac w/a natural and very flavorful taste. The tin describes it as a broad-cut extra mature VA., that gives off a very pleasant, slightly sweet, musty and woodsy-like aroma when you open the tin. The tin I have has brown/black age blotches on the paper, and the smell translates to the smoke when you light up. Packs easy enough and typical lighting ritual is all that's required. The VA tang presents itself straight-off but not in a "bitey" way, sort of "sparkly", and the Burley gives a subtle note to round out the flavor. Slight sweet/sour notes are present w/maybe a bit of a citrusy flavor @ the back. Mostly though, I taste rich, deep earthy flavors that linger and deepen as you smoke down the bowl. There is a pleasant sweet woodsmoke (?) flavor sort of like an apple pie cooked over an open campfire and the crust burns a little bit. Smoking this blend transports me to an "Old World" time and place, maybe one of those English country cottages like you see in a Thomas Kinkade painting w/the thatched roof, stone fireplace and sitting on a comfortable bench in the garden on an early Spring morning. Tilbury smokes clean and cool and dry, w/virtually NO bite. I used one pipe cleaner about 1/3 the way down and no more. Smooth and creamy most of the way becoming deeper and more smokey near the bottom, burning to a fluffy light grey ash. Perhaps a bit pricey, but not overly more than an 8oz. bag from other esteemed blenders. This may not be an overly complex tobac, but it's not boring either, and I find it equally pleasurable while relaxing w/a good book as well as doing other things. It's flavorful enough that I taste the nuances even while otherwise occupied. There are so many good tobaccos out there, but I seem to keep reaching for the Eso's more and more often. Hey, works for me........

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Tlemon200 (5)	2022-04-11		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable

The greatness of this blend lies in it's simplicity. The sweetness of the virginia comes through clearly despite the blends overall mild flavor. Hints of dried fruit complement the caramel nuttiness of the burley. I've been drawn to the va/bur since I started pipe smoking and have always wished for a blend as well balanced and straight forward as this.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Antonius Blok (190)	2022-04-05		Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

After opening the tin, the paper that covers the tobacco appears completely impregnated with oil, as is usual in Esoterica mixtures and even more so when they are a few years old. After lighting the pipe, my way of understanding this tobacco is as if it were a hybrid between some of the most predominant virginias that make up Dunbar and C&D's Briar Fox burley, two of my favorite tobaccos. The earthiness of the burley increases progressively during the smoke and depending on the puff it will feel more or give way to virginias, but always within a line of great smoothness and balance. I would advise smoking it at a very slow rate, as its delicate flavor can easily be lost and it would be a shame to waste every single strand of this tobacco.

It would be a very good recommendation for those who want to venture into mixtures with burley, or those who have tried others and found them heavy, but who already have some experience smoking a pipe. It only has one problem, and it's not a small one: how difficult it is to get it.

A fine mix (one more), of Esoterica Tobacciana, of those that invite you to have enough spare parts to repeat...

Age When Smoked: 12 years

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	pipesINpairs (19)	2021-07-08		Mild	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant

People always ask me the same question: "Hey, Pip," they say, "is an Esoterica blend worth all the hype with so many excellent, readily available blends on the market today?"

I often respond with a question: "You mean, do I enjoy an Esoterica blend from time to time?"

It's easier to answer my own question. ("Yes.")

I can only speculate as to why people hoard tobacco, but they do. Perhaps to be ready. Ready for when... the GOVERNMENT comes? ...the ZOMBIES come? ...JESUS comes? I'm not so worried. Esoterica is an unfortunate casualty of this "end times" paranoia because it's produced in such small quantities. Are the blends "good"? Quite, but it's also true that their scarcity and the general unscrupulousness of the tin scalpers distorts this a bit.

That said, Tilbury, like most of the others, is a really well composed blend using exceptional quality tobacco. For me, the image of Plato's chariot comes to mind: the two winged horses are the Virginia and the burley components - one part obstinate, the other virtuous (you determine which is which) - while the hand of the master blender/charioteer reigns them in, directs them toward the ridge of heaven. Sometimes the Virginia glides ahead, sometimes the burley edges forward, but no one would dare say which is more important, because they are both needed to pull the chariot, and each excels where the other would be considered weak.

It's an excellent blend. Very subtle and refined. Ignore the hubbub surrounding it, and enjoy it if you can get it (or a friend can share it), but don't go crazy scouring the earth for it, or paying sucker prices, or even worrying if it's "worth it." I don't even think about it, it messes with my serenity. I smoke it on occasion, which is sparingly, because I only have a little on hand (about 78 oz), and I'm not interested in fretting about getting more. Pipe smoking should be the opposite of stressing about such things.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	steppx (186)	2021-06-15		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant

This is just an exceptional blend. Germain & Sons have a special touch, no question about it. This is a light and dark Virginia ribbon cut, with a background of unsweetened burley. I dont taste any dark fired leaf, so it cant be much thats in there. Im not a fan of ribbon cut, but this is Esoterica, long unavailable, so Im not going to complain. Im just glad one can get their tobaccos again. This is medium strength, very tasty -- there is that naturally sweet grass taste of virginia, of quality virginia, and some fermented dark fruit taste too. (The dark stoved virginias). The burley gives it a bit of extra character. Its simply delicious.

Purchased From: cup o joes

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2018-12-28		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

This is a review I'd written on Tilbury around eight or nine years ago. I have since rejoined TRs under a different handle. This blend comes in a nice copper colored tin with a white label affixed to the front; the font is fancy on the tin label and very appealing to my eye. Upon opening I was greeted with a sweet, fairly strong fig-like aroma. The cut is that of long ribbons and after about an hour was at the perfect humidification for packing and smoking. This blend lit very well and produced a good volume of smoke.

The taste and aroma was heavenly. The Virginias were smooth, sweet & tangy. There was a creamy nuttiness due to the burley and I found this blend to be very satisfying. There was a little tongue bite initially due to my puffing cadence but things cooled as I set my pipe down for a little while & restarted with proper puffing. This is not a top ten in my rotation but liked it really well... good flavor. I look forward to trying it's cousin Stonehaven soon. I like the few Esoterica blends very well that I've tried thus far. I did finally get my hands on some Stonehaven & liked it even better. I purchased two eight oz. bags from Iwan Ries for around seventy-five dollars. How much would a lb. cost today? More than I'd be willing to pay.

Pipe Used: Dunhill 2S Shell Briar

Age When Smoked: Fresh Pouch

Purchased From: Iwan Ries

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	wags888 (11)	2015-03-07		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

Opening up the bag, I did not enjoy the smell. Similar to Stonehaven, there was an "almost chocolate" off-putting smell. I jarred most of it for aging, but let a few bowls sit in a bag for two weeks. I pulled a bowl out of the bag and let it sit for 10m before packing it. While the smell was off, the taste was on. I enjoyed the bowl. The chocolate tasted chocolate and it was a bit creamy.

Pipe Used: Balkovec Tubos Reverse Calabash

Age When Smoked: Fresh

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Adam S (6)	2014-05-29		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant

I will keep it simple. This is superb smoke. If your taste buds are not burnt from heavy or flavored tobacco, you should try this! It is a very delicate stuff. Simple and highest quality. It requires passion to get the best out of this blend, but it can be smoked any way, and it will still deliver. If you like pure tobacco taste, you will love this.

Pipe Used: Asteriou freehand RC, Peterson 1902 Billiard, Cob

Age When Smoked: aprox 5 years

Purchased From: Pipes and Tobacco

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	moniker (217)	2013-07-20		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

Despite ET's veiled suggestions to the contrary, Tilbury is not a strong or robust tobacco. It is not likely to cause an experienced smoker dizziness, and I'm not so sure about "piquant", either. On the other hand, the smell of white chocolate (or cocoa) over the well blended, aged tobacco seems to be a result of natural processes, and the parallel flavor and aroma of the smoke is quite comfortably nice. The constituent tobaccos are well melded, round and smooth, end to end. It's probably partly because of its simple, easy going nature that I tend to smoke Tilbury as a no-brainer, since it delivers its comfort and satisfaction with minimal effort from me; not to mention, it smells and tastes good! One need only load gently and avoid tamping while staying light on the draw in order to enjoy this tobacco. It does smoke down rather quickly; but it seems pretty safe to me to just go ahead and enjoy another bowl. Very easy going for a VA/Bur.

Nothing Fancy; Just Plain Good.

Pipe Used: large-ish briars

Age When Smoked: young-ish to old-ish

Purchased From: 4Noggins

Similar Blends: Contrast to GLP Montgomery.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Knightsmoker (216)	2013-04-13		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Good all around VA/Burley. Must be smoked slowly or it will bite. I go back and forth about buying an 8oz. bag or just another couple of tins for now. It has some aging potential. It cannot be smoked all day, the bite is too much. But still a good smoke and well worth the try.

Update...................................

This is a jar from the initial purchase aged 2yrs. Nice changes, no bite. The VA's are starting but just starting to sweeten a little more. I would love to see this develop to about 8-10 yrs. Very good aging potential here from what I am seeing so far. However, finding this has been difficult. I am not willing to pay $100 a lb. when it can be found. I know of one online retailer that has the expected price but good luck getting a bag when it comes in. This is good/very good but I am note going out of my way to run down a bag or pay the jacked up price.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Mr. Big (321)	2011-10-06		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

I found this to be a nice blend with the Virginia out front, however,it just didn't have that "zing". It was sweet but not real sweet. It didn't bite, but needed some drying prior to smoking. It's not complex, has decent "N" ( I didn't get dizzy !) and could be smoked all day, . I don't want to say there is anything wrong with this , it is just boring ( this can't hold a candle to Solani"660 Silver Flake" , that is a Virginia Kentucky blend). Smoke can get a touch of bitter if smoked fast. I'll finish the tin but won't order more , I'll stick with "660".

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Kilmarnock Piper (250)	2011-04-21		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

This review will probably not be too informative. It is based on two bowls each of recently tinned and 12 year old Tilbury, sent to me as a sample by a fellow pipe forum member. We were discussing aged tobacco and how much of a difference an aged tin makes. I enjoy aged tobaccos, but don't often have the experience of trying the same blend in 12-year- separated "vintages" and trying to write a review. I like to review everything I try, but keep in mind the caveat that this write-up is based on very few bowls, and that usually I like to smoke a few more than this before forming an opinion. So, here are a couple observations. I like this tobacco, but the few Esoterica blends I've tried have been all top quality. Nice Virginias in here, and a touch of Burley, but the Virginias predominate. Based on the small amount I have smoked, I would buy this again, and probably will acquire another tin at least of this blend at some point. I also will not go and order ten tins right now: in other words, it's not knocking my socks off, and I have several blends in jars that are just as good and a couple that are better. I don't think anyone who likes this style would be too disappointed. The tin description says potent, causes dizziness. I guess whoever wrote that never had Irish Flake. Puffed a little harder, I get some strength from it. Now to the crux of the review: do I detect a difference between the old and the new? In a word (well, two words), not really! The newer vintage tastes aged already, because of the blending and curing, and that tin description says it's "matured," so of course they didn't just pluck the leaves off the plant and stuff them in a tin! I might get a touch more mellowness from the 12 year old, but there is no striking difference between the two ages I just smoked of this blend. Well, this pipe I'm smoking right now (of the older) is very enjoyable! I will buy this again, but don't really care if it's aged. I could add this to my stash. Nice complexity to this blend, it's not just another Virginia-with-a-bit-'o-Burley mixture. So, aged tin experiment: inconclusive, at least as regards Tilbury. But though I have not smoked much of it, I can recommend it without reservations.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	erthbound0 (10)	2011-03-01		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable

This is the first tobacco I've smoked/reviewed. Very sweet smell from the jar. Nice fluffy ribbon cut. Easy to pack. Fill up your bowl though cause it burns fast. Its a great smoke with a nice smooth taste that's not too overpowering. My first bowl knocked me over with the nic hit but subsequent bowls have not. For any virginia lover its a must.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2011-01-08		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

Esoterica Tilbury - Medium Virginia, extra mature, Pipe tobacco

We come here to read the opinion of others and find only a mix bag adding more questions. Few reviews actually describe anything useful. So, I give my two bits on Teilbury. I am going to stock up after posting this review.

THIS IS A LOVE STORY: Tilbury is a true Virginia mellowed and sweetened naturally. You may not please a crowd with the aroma from the Tin or in the Pipe. However, it is clean and smooth to the last ember. It has some salt taste and some sweetness. The most realistic description I can provide for this tasty smoke is: “The flavor reminds me of the butter from the love area of the woman that got away.”

PIPE AND PACKING: Tilbury is better in a Meerschaum Pipe. I found plain Virginia and also English blends do better in a true Meerschaum Pipe of medium to large size (Group C bowl). Save the Briar for the candy tobaccos.

Esotarica brand has a great shelf life because it is a bit wet from the Tin. Let dry for about ten minutes before packing in the Pipe. With a little time in the fresh air it is easy packing and will remain lit without effort.

BITE AND NICOTINE: Smoked “normally” in a good pipe Tilbury does not have a bite. However, I found this tobacco to be so good that I have a tendency to draw harder to suck it to the Tung.

As for the nicotine content, I do not find Tilbury to be stronger than plain blending Virginia. Unlike Cavendish or sugared blends, I do not have a desire for a Cigarette after a nice bowel of this lovable branded blend.

COMPARED TO MARGATE: Tilbury has no LATAKIA. I find the aroma is better. The first 50 puffs are better than Margate. Something in Margate needs to burn off before it gets sweet. Tilbury is good from the beginning to the end. Tilbury does not have the spice twang of Margate. Tilbury adds more of that salty sweetness.

Try this Brand in my favorite blend: I invite you to try a blending that includes this brand. My favorite late day PM mixture was developed after years of play. Full English lovers may truly enjoy the creamy sweet sensations with a Nicotine level that will satisfy that Cigarette craving. Blend only the listed Brands as substitution do not provide the same fantastic result. Hope you enjoy.

Rev. Ballard's PM Blend of Brands –English Medium-Full Strength, Cool Burning, No Bite, Sweet

2oz- Esoterica TILBURY, 1oz-(2oz Sweeter)McClelland Bulk BLENDING LATAKIA, 2oz- McClelland Bulk BLENDED TURKISH RIBBON, 2oz- McClelland Bulk 5100 RED CAKE, - DEER TONGUE. (Optional,-Sparingly = A few granules top loaded in the pipe or, one half teaspoon ground powder added to 1 pound tobacco)

The addition of a VERY SPARING amount of Deer Tung is optional. Deer Tung in this mixture adds a feeling of freshness and will provide a great aroma for the girls.

HINT:

Check your Pipe for leaks. Puffing air can screw up any great tobacco. Cover the bowl with your hand to seal and blow in the mouthpiece. If it leaks, sell it to the next sucker…

To please the crowd try adding a pinch of DEER TONGUE. “TOP OFF THE BOWL”. Most people enjoy the aroma. Some smokers enjoy the flavor. But, I just “top off”, add this at the top of the bowl before lighting. By topping off with Deer Tung the room fills with the aroma. Once it burns off you can enjoy the rest without public objections.

POSITION: A Pipe smoker of many years. No tobacco sales or relations.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Sweetbriar (14)	2010-12-16		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

very good to have on hand . the taste is great. i can smoke this all day.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2010-12-04		Medium	None Detected	Mild	Pleasant

I was able to get a few bowls full of a 10 year old tin of this blend, and I was really excited to try it. When the tin was opened and after letting it breath for a couple hours, I noticed the what would become a reoccurring theme, MILD. The blend had some of the characteristic earthy Virginia flavors, but nothing that really stood out. I did taste some lemon flavors and some grass flavors. The burly did impart the slightest nuttiness. There was a touch of sweetness that only came out when smoked in a Meerschaum. The strength was typical of a Virginian but nothing to write home about. I wish I could give this a positive review, but to be honest, it was nothing too special.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2010-09-19		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild	Pleasant

Tasty and very understated. Lovely. Unremarkable. Not in a bad way.

EDIT: Upping this one to 3 stars. A year of age on my tin has served it well, and the "unremarkable" flavors I noted in my first review grow more pronounced and interesting in the second half of the smoke. What begins as a clean, almost ethereal tobacco flavor develops into a fine medium-bodied Virgina finish.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Tripjoker (65)	2010-03-02		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

This is a quality tobacco blend that has alot going for it. Good burn qualities, beautiful leaf, nice taste with a reasonable smoke volume, and nuance if sipped slowly. No bite. A toasty sweetness that floats in and out. Overall very pleasant with enough strength to satisfy most pipers.

The problem is, that same glowing review can be given ( and has been by me ) to any number of other like blends. It doesn't really have anything wrong with it, it just doesn't have any special qualities that cannot be found in any number of others. Therefore, 3 stars.

If this is a tobacco that you especially like, it will age well. Buy pounds and cellar. If you haven't tried it, by all means do, just don't be suprised to think, 'I seem to find this familiar'.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2009-06-19		Strong	None Detected	Very Full	Pleasant

Wow! Where did this baccy come from? In a flash it goes from untried, ignored, and un-noticed to comfortably residing in my top 10.

This is an elegant tobacco that lives up to every one of the 4 stars that I give it. In the tin, Tilbury is a bit moist for me so I dried it for about 5 minutes. It dried very fast which is an indication that there is no PG in this blend.

The cut is a bit stringy but loading my pipe was no problem using the "antigravitational" method (look on youtube for this excellent method).

At the match, your senses are inundated with pure fermented tobacco goodness. Tilbury is also no one hit wonder. The flavors move around a bit making for a very entertaining smoke. As with most Va. dominated blends, the flavors concentrate as you smoke down the bowl. The last third of the bowl is pure nirvana. While Tilbury is not topped, I get the flavor sensations of buttered toast sprinkled with sugar and a bit of salt, maple syrup, tres leches, and hints of warm spices. On top of all of this is a creamy smoothness that is just wonderful. There is little to no tang in this blend, but frankly, it does not need it. This baccy is all about a creamy sweet and soft mouth feel. Sublime

Bite? None at all. Nicotine?...the nicotine is robust. No doubt about it. A medium to small bowl size is recommended. It is a bit stronger in nicotine than FVF but not quite as strong as 1792. Just smoke it in a smaller pipe or only fill your pipe up half way and you will be fine. As with most things in life, DOSAGE is everything.

Bottom line: This is a wonderful tobacco that is not to be missed by any pipe smoker. Nobody does Va./burley mixes better than Esoterica (J.F. Germain), and Tibury is an excellent example of this genre done to perfection. Bravo!

Tobaccoreviews rating: 4 stars

Personal rating: 9.0 out of 10

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Budman (25)	2009-05-23		Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

This is another one of those blends where you ask yourself "why did I wait so long to try it"? Tilbury is a clean,easy smoking truly refined blend. The tin has that grassy hay type smell so typical of good Virginia blends.

The cut was more ribbon than broken flake which,IMO makes for less hassle in loading and lighting. Although somewhat moist Tilbury can be smoked with little drying.

It is very difficult to get this to hot and provoke any type of bite, which tells me some type of stoving may have been used to remove any rough edges. I cannot detect any topping or casings just the gentle sweetness of the blended Virginias.

Tilbury burns well and leaves a gray white ash. If you are looking for a great Virginia this is it.

Highly recommended!

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	tabaco (112)	2008-02-09		Strong	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant

Well I must confess that for the most part I am not a huge fan of Virginia's. I am however, a Latakia devotee. I found this tobacco to be surprisingly full. I think the burley helps round it out, and it did have some nice citrus and floral notes in the taste. I packs very well and burns effortlessly. It does have a fair nicotine kick, but not like a mule more akin to a goat.

I could see myself firing this one up as a change of pace from my usual Latakia regimen. Overall it was consistent from the first match until the finish. Very well blended and another first-rate winner from Esoterica. Peaceable puffing.

- Tabaco

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2006-12-22		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Were it not for Stonhaven, Tilbury would be in my top tier rotation. But alas, there is Stonehaven to which it must be compared. And therein lies the rub. While Tilbury is much easier to pack and light, Stonehaven excels where it counts most: richer, creamier flavor, greater resistance to bite, and longer and cooler smoking. Stonehaven, IMO also works better with DGT.

Stonehaven can yield a good smoke right out of the tin (although I find it a bit to moist). Smoke Tilbury out of the tin and be prepared for a scorched tongue.

If you can't tolerate working with Stonehaven, do give Tilbury a try. But if you don't mind a little rubbing out, don't pass up trying Stonehaven. It may be one of the best tobaccos available today.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2006-08-20		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Full	Tolerable

This has been compared to Stonehaven a few times here, and I can see why. Except for pressing and stoving, I can really taste the similarities. I do think Tilbury is better though. A full star better. It is spicy, not like perique(since there is none) but more like a dark fired kind of- Gawith Hoggarth Birdseye sort of spice. This is a pretty smooth smoke, though it can get hot because it is a thin ribbon.

Nicotine slaps me a little in Tilbury, and that I like. Oh yeah, almost forgot. Because of, or, in spite of it's cut, this blend is forgiving of a sloppy bowl packing. This is similar in many ways (minus perique) to Dorchester, my other Esoterica favorite.

let there be smoke!

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	UncleGar (110)	2005-07-01		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

I hadn't smoked this in six months when I read the previous reviewers make reference to Stonehaven, a favorite of mine. I tried it again and was surprised to also find similarities, though Stonehaven is more intense to me and has additional flavors.

This tastes like a more concentrated version of GLP's Montgomery, a blend I also highly enjoyed; its only fault was slow flavor building. Good interplay of burley and VA, no bitterness and no bite. Slightly sweet in a molasses kind of way and burns well, forming a particularly light ash. Ignore the nicotine hype, but smoking after eating is recommended (it upsets my tumtum otherwise). It is on the stronger side of medium, and my medium is considered wimpy by he-men for whom nicotine tolerance is a matter of pride.

I don't know why this got put away in the 'someday' drawer. It is some fine smoking weed. It was a nice surprise to find four tins there. Possibly it improves having been open for six months, as many tobaccos do (to me, anyway). Certainly recommended to VA smokers who tolerate burley.

Update 7/05: Just checked to make sure I gave it four stars. A cob, a cob. This is just heaven in a cob. Ran out of stars, so I'll have to add a +.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Jakob Kiilerich (120)	2005-05-06		Mild	Extremely Mild	Mild	Pleasant

Tilbury is indeed a strange blend.. The tin aroma has absolutely nothing to do with the aroma of the tobacco when lit. When I popped the tin i thought that I was in for a real treat. It smelled like pure Virginia; almost like Red Four Squares. But alas! When lit, it reminded me too much of cigarettes. The Oriental leaf makes it fast burning and flat. There is also some very subtle and dusty notes, which I find nauseating somehow.

Potent? I think not. I couldn't feel the nic-punch and after a bowl I was left with a cloying layer of bad taste in my mouth.

The quality of the leaf, though, is as always with Esoterica/Germain's, outstanding.. That's just not enough for me.. Back to good 'ole St. Bruno

Jakob Kiilerich, Denmark

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	RCUSElder (244)	2005-02-11		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium to Full	Strong

02-11-2005 Ready Rubbed Stonehaven anyone?

Appearance and Tin Aroma: Matured Va, some fortified hay notes. The leaf is mostly light brown to medium brown.

Packing and Lighting: The ribbons pack easily, although I prefer to let the tin breath with the lid off for a day before smoking the contents. Lit after 2-3 lights.

Initial Flavor: Delicious! I suspect that this is Stonehaven before the pressing and further stoving process.

Mid-Bowl: the strength and richness is definitely there, but in a refined way. The flavor does remind one of a fine cigar.

Bottom of Bowl: Yes, this does build up strength and richness, but before you know it, you are done. This is a one bowl a dayblend max for me.

Overall: When I want a fine stoved VA, I am hard pressed to decide between this and Stonehaven. Both are delicious! I suppose the analogy would be thus: Tilbury is a fine Godiva Semi-sweet Chocolate and Stonehaven is a fine Godiva dark chocolate. Both are delicious, but both are distinct. Regardless, I find this blend to be a occaisonal special treat smoke due to its richness. Lastly, I usually prefer this in a group 3 or smaller pipe.

Rating: 5 out of 5 points

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Spike (296)	2004-11-13		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

This is one of the best Virginia blends ever! I really couldn't taste the Burley as a separate component, just a certain richness that most solo Virginias often lack. This could be my all-day smoke if it weren't rather expensive. Ah well you can't take it with you! Give me another pipefull!

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2004-11-07		Medium	None Detected	Full	Very Pleasant

Here's another marvelous, all-natural blend from Esoterica. Opening the tin conjures up some very rustic scents: dry leaves in autumn, bales of straw, and so on. Tilbury is a tasty mixture that can be enjoyed any time of the day. It smokes cool and mild all the way to the heel.

While I can't confirm my suspicions, the more I smoke Tilbury, the more I feel that it (or a slight variation thereof) may be the building blocks for Stonehaven. Regardless, Tilbury is a great blend. However, I disgaree with the claim of extreme potency.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	pxi106 (18)	2004-05-20		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

Virginia is my favorite tobacco type. All that is most perfect about virginias can be found in a tin of Tilbury: the sweetness, the floral notes, the fruitiness, crispness are all present. Not only are they all present, but they come together in harmony and seem to play off each other right to the bottom of the bowl.

Why then do I only smoke this on occasion? Because the stuff is just too good for me, and I don't deserve to smoke it all day. **Update Unfortunately, the more I smoked this the less I like it. It's still a top notch tobacco, but my tastes have moved on.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2004-02-15		Strong	None Detected	Full	Strong

This is the Lay's Potato Chips of Virginia pipe tobacco. Just one bowl is not enough. Tilbury is rich, deep and mouthwatering. If tobacco could be drunk, Tilbury would be a famous cocktail.

I do not know what I would have to do to get this to hurt my mouth. It is so cool, clean and fresh. How McClelland and Germain press and stove Virginia leaf to such opposite effect is beyond me.

There is no vinegar tang or bite in Tilbury. I like the tin aroma and just handling this tobacco. An easier tobacco to pack does not exist. It seems to work better for me packed a bit dense.

One charring light and an initial light is all it takes to get through most of the bowl. It burns to a grey-white ash and leaves any of my pipes clean and dry for the most part.

If you want light and bright, try Dorchester or Royal Jersey Perique. If you like deep chocolate truffle flavors and nuttiness with no cost to your palate, try Tilbury.

Tilbury is so strong that it moves gracefully, without effort. Make sure that you respect it and eat first. The burley can pack a whallop on an empty stomach.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2003-10-29		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Esoterica has a unique blending process and there is a taste that seems to be common to all their blend that I've tried. I don't think it's a topping but rather something in their process. When I first tried Tilbury I was a little underwhelmed and found that it didn't have the oomph of a comparable GL Pease Virginia. I didn't disklike it but put it aside for a while. As time went on I would smoke a bowl occasionally, and found that it grew on me to the point that it became a favorite change of pace tobacco. I wouldn't class this as a favorite but recommend it to VA lovers who are looking for something a little different than you standard VA blend.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Pounder 5000 (178)	2003-10-28		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable

This certainly is a unique tobacco. It fits in a niche all by itself. It is obviously made with high quality as all of Esoterica's blends are. The flavor is unlike that of any other VA/Burley I have ever tried. It has a very musty taste that reminds me of old books, but in a good way. There is definitely a touch of cigar leaf here, perhaps some Conneticut shade leaf wrapper, ala' Dunhill Blue Label. This only makes the blend that much more interesting and distinguished. I can pick up on lots of complexity and very little heat which is a big plus. This blend does dry my mouth out quite a bit and I need to have something on hand to drink. Coffee will wash all of the flavors out, and thus a nice light ale or glass of cool water is a better choice. This is one I will enjoy on special ocassions.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2003-09-11		Very Mild	None Detected	Very Mild	Pleasant

(This is without letting the tobacco dry out over night) You'll lose your tounge trying to find the flavour in this tasteless ultra bland Virginia.I wish they would have made this into a flake,maybe it would have had at least something to give. The leaf is all the same color, light brown. It comes saoking wet, and I'll never purchase it again. Mark Twain said: "The surest way to do something is to say you'll never do it". (Update) This is fine Virginia once you let it dry out.The flavour is light and naturaly sweet and just right.I had no bite, and the leaves burned evenly all the way down the bowl, with only a couple relights.This could be a good all day smoke, in that the taste is not overwhelming and not to tangy. Tilburry is super fine Virginia.Highly recomended, and I'm sorry I ever spoke unkindly of it.Wonderful Tobacco.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	JohnnyFlake (17)	2003-05-11		Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

(5/10/03) The aroma is kind of musty and sweet, with hints of figs and dates. it's fairly dry tobacco right out of the tin. There is Burley in this blend but there are no hints of it in the aroma. The aroma is pure high quality Virginia. This tobacco packs easily and fires up easily. I like to smoke this in a large size bowl. The first third of the bowl offers a tangy and at the same time, semi-sweet flavor profile. This is obviously high quality stuff. The second third picks up a little spiciness but the overall flavor profile is pure Virginia, just delicious. The last third is slightly richer and spicier than the first and even the second but only slightly, however, it's in the final third of the bowl that you begin to feel the nicotine strength, and this blend offers a fair amount! Also, this is a blend that does not bite easily. I am an aggressive smoker and have never had a problem with this blend. Another great Virginia Blend, I love it and will always have some on hand!

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2003-02-06		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

A total home run in my book, a huge dinger. What Penzance is to English, Tilbury is to Virginia. The smoothness is just incredible. The piquant crackling toasty sweetness is there in spades and improves down the bowl. Puff as hard as you like as this blend smokes cool and clean to a fine gray ash. Packs great, stays lit, and tastes phenomenal. Highly recommended to Virginia lovers--but any one with a nose for fine weed would immediately recognize the superb quality in this tin. I'll be cellaring several. Oh, and BTW, this stuff will set you right nicotine-wise, no worries there! A definite must!

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2001-02-25		Medium	None Detected	Full	Tolerable to Strong

Here's one that's been in my cabinet for quite a while. This is another offbeat tobacco for me. It's a sweet and clear tobacco, with an odd flavoring that's as hard to describe as that of Oasis. I think Oasis is a superior tobacco, but Tilbury is very likable, and burns very cool and smooth indeed. It tastes a little weird from my latakia-soaked briars, but I've found that it delivers a nicely clear and crisp taste in a meerschaum. It's another blend of different Virginias and a little Burley. It's too different for me to smoke night after night, and thus will likely remain a "change of pace" tobacco, only being refilled when I happen upon it, but I'd certainly recommend it to any curious soul or Virginia fan.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	REO (12)	2023-01-02		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Unnoticeable

I am not fond of burley and find most of them to smoke dry and not much taste. I am very fond of Virginias and VAPERS. I do not chase blends but have a good B&M that gets regular drops. Tilbury had notes of cinnamon and a good complement of Virginia. Burned clean and was quite nice.

Pipe Used: Bings Favorite

Age When Smoked: 1 year

Purchased From: local B&M

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2013-08-02		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

This tobacco has an odd sweetness to it, not sure if cased or natural process, but to me it tastes like a sweet dark wine. Other notes are woody and caramelized sugar. This just has an peculiar taste and aroma that is hard for me to get by, not very fond of this. This is the first Esoterica blend which I don't favor. Though the flavor profile is weird, the smoking characteristics are quite good, burns well, nice smoke volume, too bad about the taste.

Smoke in peace, brothers and sisters of the leaf.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2011-12-13		Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

I have mixed feelings for Tilbury. The tin aroma is very similar to Three Nuns (it took me a while to identify it, so definitively a one of a kind aroma. The cut is a long, almost shag cut and most of the leaf is pale brown with some medium and spare dark broken flakes. I do not really see this one a a ready rubbed version of Stonehaven, they come as different to me in flavour. It sure smokes well but because of the high content of pale brown leaf, it tends to bite my tongue, which is really a pipty. It certainly has a nice taste which confirms I am dealing with matured VAs. It is not full of complexity but I can only recommend you try it.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2010-12-27		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

I was first introduced to this fine blend this past Summer by a wise Tobacconist. I was new to pipe smoking and coming from topped tobaccos when he patiently recommended this blend. Having been smoking sugary, scented bowls before then this tobacco at first took me aback: where were all of the huge, overblown flavors I was used to? What was going on here was far more subtle, but still there was enough there to intrigue me. So I gave it a few bowls and found out what a really pure tobacco taste could be - the sweetness that came from Virginias themselves and not from a topping. Having put it aside for some months in favor of some excellent Va-Pers from the same blender I just came back to it this morning. It is great. Not only am I now able to fully appreciate the glory of the Virginias, but I can now detect the presence of the bit of burly that's been incorporated and the nutty depth they give to the blend. I could smoke this all day if I had the chance.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2010-11-24		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Full	Pleasant

This blend comes in a nice copper colored tin with a white label affixed to the front; the font is fancy on the tin label and very appealing to my eye. Upon opening I was greeted with a sweet, fig-like aroma...very pungent. The cut is that of long ribbons and after about an hour was at the perfect humidification for packing and smoking. This blend lit very well and produced a good volume of smoke.

The taste and aroma was heavenly. The Virginias were smooth but had a wonderful strength to them. There was a creamy nuttiness due to the burlies and I found this blend to be very satisfying. There was minimal tongue bite at first due to my excitement but things cooled down as I slowed down a bit. This is now one of my favorite blends and I look forward to trying it's cousin Stonehaven soon.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2010-04-22		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant

something very round, fine, delicate and definitely different.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2010-02-28		Extremely Strong	Very Strong	Overwhelming	Tolerable

Maybe I got a bad batch of this stuff because it almost blew my head off. Two days after smoking it my tongue still burns. I tried cutting it 50/50 with Prince Albert and it is still painful. I smoke for enjoyment, not to prove how much pain I can take.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2009-08-11		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

A very natural, pure, true tobacco taste.

It needs to be dried for a full pleasant smoke and for an easier burn. I used Pipestud's method to chop it a bit and it worked great. Packed and lit easy. The flavor does not offer surprizes, it smokes in just one way and it is the great natural virginia taste and sweetness in which the burley's gentle sourness is added. In this way it has a pleasant smoke in which the strength increases gradually. The bowl finishes without the strength begins to overwhelm. Suitable for me for daily, any hour consumption. It can really cause a dizziness!

I am sorry that I didn't smoke it till now. I'll try to have more tins in my stock ready for any moment.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2009-08-03		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild	Pleasant

This is great, non aromatic blend for virgina burley mix...The tin is ok...It needs to be dry for me...Then start to packing its very easy and pleasure...No toung bite... Nicotine level is not high...

When i start to smoke, virginia taste is very strong...I like it...I smoke half bowl like that...Than suddenly virginia goes and sweet burley comes...What a taste, its one word...GREAT...You want to smoke all day... Its 3,5 to 4

PS : Thanx to pipestud... PS2 : Dont smoke with Itallian Pipes :)

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2009-06-16		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant

I certainly agree with some of the writers here. Why did I wait so long to smoke this weed. Mine was in an 8oz baggy. I was surprise some people say that theirs needed to be dried out. Mine was perfect. This to me is a very nice Robust Flavor. No bite but although you need to puff this slowly not beacuse of the bite but you will get some kind of a nicotine rush. No flavor detected just all tobacco. Reminds me of what an Old School Tobacco is. I have smoked stonehaven which is also great but Prefer Tillbury.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2009-04-04		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant

Virginia lovers you NEED TO TRY THIS!! Sweet yet refreshing at the same time. I would almost say it's like having a glass of cool lemonade on a hot day. This is a very smooth blend that hints at a nutty taste from the burley, and the sweet playful taste of the Virginias. An excellent combination!! If you like a little bit more "sour" taste then you MUST try Special Latakia Flake by JG Germain. It's the counterpart to this blend.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2009-03-23		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant

I bought an 8oz bag of this at the local B & M. A friend of mine works there and he said the bag is from 2003, so it had some age on it. When I opened the bag I noticed the smell of Figs/Chocolate, inhabited this fine ribbon cut smoke. This blend smokes fantastic for me, maybe a little fast for some, but it burns to a fine white ash with few relights. The flavor which is high quality VA, is apparent throughout with a few undertones of burley. Never been bitten by this yet. This blend is easily inhailed if you choose to do so. From my experience this is a top notch blend that has earned its keep in my rotation.

Note: My review was based on an 8oz bag with 5 years of age on it.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2009-03-01		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium to Full	Strong

Slim broken brown and chocolate ribbons tossed with a bit of chopped tan leaf. At one time this blend may have been a broad-cut, but the current preparation (for Butera) is anything but. The fine cut and overall dull appearance of the mixture is not initially all that attractive, but the bits of Burley interspersed throughout an undistinguished mélange of broken ribbons foreshadows what, in the bowl, turns out to be a rather noticeable nicotine punch ? certainly one of the most interesting feature of an otherwise rather humdrum blend.

Tin nose of dried figs, mushrooms, and earth with a piquant Burley top note. Quite moist in the tin, the mixture retains its moisture long after opening and thus requires a bit of dry time prior to packing. Properly dried, Tilbury packs and burns easily, if not a bit quickly due to its rather fine cut.

On the full sided of medium bodied, in the bowl Tilbury presents a solid core of semi-sweet matured and stoved Virginias encased by on again, off again, notes of toasted nuts and earthy spice. Tongue bite is rarely an issue, although the Burley makes it presence known by way of a notable nicotine punch which seems to assert itself most strongly towards the end of the bowl. The finish is short and crisp, if not a bit flat at times.

Overall, Tilbury is what it is. Given the preponderance of excellent Virginia-Burley blends currently available (of which a number of C&D offerings come to mind), in this reviewer?s opinion there is little need to settle on this admittedly good, but certainly far from excellent, example of the genre.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2009-02-24		Strong	Medium to Strong	Full	Pleasant

Tilbury, well I liked this blend. Again it smelled like a fine wine perhaps a Merlot out of the tin. The taste was very strong, it also seemed high in nicoten even though I am also a cigarette smoker this could easily replace a cig. Again it seems to be a slow smoker it gets really juicy when smoked fast. It is really nice in the winter time. I never smoked this one outside. However I did have to fight with my wife to smoke this. Not because of the room note but because she liked it herself. I got maybe three bowls out of the entire tin, she smoked the rest down in like three days. She only gave it an 8 of 10 stars. My personal Notes have it at a 8.9 I guess because I didn't get to smoke much of it and that I liked Pembroke better.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2009-02-17		Strong	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

I think Im would have liked this more if it were not so potent. A very good natural tobacco taste but a NICOTINE WALLOP! Too much for me. I can not pan this though. If you can take 1792 flake you will be good with this.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2009-01-07		Strong	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant

I popped open an older tin of Tilbury before Butera's name was on the label. The tin aroma was a wonderful pungeant straight tobacco smell and age had done a wonderful job on this tobacco. Almost a greasy look to the fine cut ribbon. It packs easily and burns very nice. Might need just a little drying out before packing. The flavor is a rich, creamy pure tobacco flavor. It is a very nice change of pace Virginia tobacco. I will put some away for the future.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2008-11-26		Strong	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Tolerable

Recently purchased some of this in bulk and have been enjoying it over the past few weeks. It burns nicely and VERY cool - no tongue bite with this one.

If you like VA's this is nice stuff, but be aware that its flavor does have that distinct chocolate/nutty flavor of burley in it. In fact, I would almost say that this blend tastes more like a burley with VA than the other way around. Paired with a coffee/espresso drink this blend could keep you up all night since it is a pretty strong blend in terms of nicotine - I can only finish half the bowl in one session (but I am a lightweight in this dept). I have never gotten dizzy though - I think that's just a marketing ploy on the part of Esoterica!

Too strong to be a regular thing for me but a good alternative to a fine (and usually expensive) cigar if you want that level of flavor/nicotine strength.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2008-11-14		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Full	Tolerable

This is vaguely translatable undiluted va/burley which smells naturally sweet and at first light taste sweet, however there is a secondary development which is cosmic and leaves me feeling satisfied.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2008-04-09		Very Strong	None Detected	Full	Tolerable

Tilbury is a great blend, just wouldn't smoke a whole bowl too fast if you know what I mean. No, it depends what kind of mood you're in, and I've never gotten dizzy on Tilbury, even when I basically sucked it down. And that's easy to do, because of the almost shag cut of this product. Pull too hard, and you're down at the bottom of the bowl holding a dust bunny in a cotton patch that spins too fast. The burley must be a strong one I'm guessing because there seems to be equal presence between those and the virginias. Like others, the first time I smoked this something didn't compute. Started to make sense though after a while. I haven't tried Stonehaven and I will definitely not buy from the supplier I bought this from as he was such a jerk. Just because I caught him around opening time, 11 a.m. (get yr coffee already, jackwagon). But anyway... shouldn't mention names I guess...

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2007-10-06		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant

The tin states this is a broad-cut tobacco, but I would classify it as ribbon cut. It is high quality tobacco, with mixture of primarily light colored virginias.....a few dark flakes mixed in. The tin aroma is very mild, pure tobacco leaf aroma. It packs very easily and only takes one false light to get it going. Absolutely no artifical flavor here; just pure tobacco. Surprisingly, the main flavor I get throughout the smoke is the burley....waxing/waning during the entire bowl. To be mostly virginia, it sure brings out the burley flavor! I smoked Wessex burley slice and it had less burley flavor than Tilbury.

The nicotine really kicks in during the bottom 1/3 of the bowl, so it satisfies on that level also. Room note is pleasing as well.

All in all, this is an excellent tobacco; I would give it a strong 3-stars.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2007-03-09		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable

I pretty much agree with tonyg but I think he?s a bit too hard on Tilbury. Sure, it?s Stonehaven Lite, but on its own terms it?s pretty good.

On opening the tin you get a medium brown leaf with a distinct ketchup smell. The smoke is light and sweet, with midrange body and a slight tang. It?s pretty constant down the bowl, though the sugars don?t really kick in until the second third. It burns to a white ash without a bit of bite. As you?d expect with Esoterica there are complex flavors under the straightforward Virginias, but they?re fainter here owing to the general lightness of the blend. A good summertime smoke, nice for when you?re concentrating on something else ? it?ll surprise you occasionally without being a distraction. None of the depths of Stonehaven but, all in all, a superior blend in the medium to light range.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2005-07-23		Mild	None Detected	Extremely Mild (Flat)	Tolerable

Tilbury has a very pronounced tin aroma and is easy to pack and manage. The smoke is cool and dry and the flavor is sweet, a bit too closely resembling cigar smoke for my tastes. I initially enjoyed this leaf but the more I got to know it the less I enjoyed it. For the pipesmoker who enjoys to smoke cigar leaf in their pipes, this is it.

I have recently sampled another bowl of this tobacco not having smoked a bowl of it since near Christmas 2004. It left me with the same dark rich flavor that I enjoyed at first, but also there was a cigar undertone that left me nausious.

Don't let that stop you from sampeling this blend. You may like it and that means less for me and more for you!

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2005-05-21		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

This one is easy. It's Stonehaven before pressing. If you like Stonehaven but don't want to have to rub it out this will give you that option.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2005-02-05		Mild	Mild	Mild	Pleasant

A fragrant, well-balanced, bite-free tobacco. The Virginia and burley work beautifully together here. This is truly wonderful stuff, and were it more available in my area, I would make it an every day companion. As it is, however, I'm always content to pack a pipe with Tilbury.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2004-09-10		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable

While VA blends are far from the first sort of mixture I reach for first, this is a real winner. Like all Esoterica it is extremely smooth and very refined. It has a silky, candy like quality but is not unnaturally sweet. Plenty of layers of natural flavor which range from a bit spicy to straightforward tobacco. It reminds me quite a bit of the base of most lakeland flakes, without the excess of a topping. I agree that it is definitely an evening smoke - at least for me.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2003-12-05		Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

I have been eyeing this tobacco for quite awhile, although not much for the English Blends but this one caught my attention. "A Broad-cut Extra Mature Virginia." I do enjoy a matured Virginia Blend as I do smoke Dunhill Three Year Matured, if Esoterica Tobacciana is as good as the Dunhill, it will remain on my very long list of One Of My Favorites.

I believe everything that has been said has been noted, Good, Bad or Indifferent personally I like this tobacco and that is what really matters. This may be potent and may cause dizziness and maybe not for the pipe smoker who is looking for a Very Mild to Mild tobacco although, it is very good tasting tobacco, maybe just a bit more prominent than Three Year Matured.

SFC

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