Esoterica Tobacciana Tilbury

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.

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

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

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!

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

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!

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 +.

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!

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.