Being a member on this forum and on another, there's talk from time to time regarding "out of stock" issues with Penzance and Stonehaven, and possibly other blends. I was wondering what the deal was with this outstanding blend. Is there a production issue with the manufacturer? Is the manufacturer having a hard time with locating quality ingredients for their blends? May the manufacturer is having personnel issues?

I decided to pose the question to blender Russ Ouellette with Pipes and Cigars and see what he could tell me about this. I received a return email from Russ, who also gave me permission to reprint it here:

"The problem lies with the actual manufacturer of Esoterica (and Balkan Sobranie), J.F. Germain. They’re a smallish British company, and they use older equipment and have limited staffing. Beside the aforementioned brands, they make tobacco for Smoker’s Haven and they have a full line of blends under their own name. The obvious answer to the problem would be to add staff and to buy more equipment, but they won’t do that because they feel that the quality of their products would suffer. They seem to be doing better, but because some of these blends fall into the “unobtainium” category, there’s a buying frenzy whenever it lands. If they continue to step up production a bit, and the folks who buy large quantities for their cellars finally feel that they have enough, supply will begin to catch up with demand. I hope this was helpful. By all means, feel free to share this information..."



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I've managed to source some of their other blends. I imagine there is some Penzance tucked away in little B&M's here and there.
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...and I will be checking in to a couple of B&M' this coming week to see if they have it stashed away too:-)
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Me too!
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So are they any good, or all hype?
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I've only tried the Penzance, but I love it! :-)
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Stonehaven is a great smoke. Not that it's the #1 baccy out there considering our fortune of having so many to choose from, still very tasty in my book.
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Russ is a fantastic person in the pipe tobacco world and goes well above his call of duty with P&C with what he does for the company/brand. He has even helped me with creating my own blend :-)

For what "I" smoke out of the Esoterica blends, I like And So To Bed a bit more than Penzance and keep both stocked in my cellar.

As for where to find the Esoterica blends, IMHO your best bet to find them is go to your favorite B&M and talk with them about getting on a waiting list. Best I can tell the Esoterica blends are more of an internet sensation. 4noggins came up with a lot several months back and when asked on a forum, the reply was that they had a retail B&M friend who couldn't move the stuff so they (4noggins) took it off their hands for resale.
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Penzance is among my favorite Latakia blends. Suuuuper sweet and not super heavy in the Latakia. Dorchester is one of my favorite VaPers, very interesting profile I can only describe as "rustic." On the other hand, Tillbury is one of the few tins I smoked a couple bowls of and gave to a friend in the hopes they would enjoy it more. Burnt the crap outta my tongue.
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Believe I located a few Esoterica offerings. Try these guys. Very easy to deal with and most helpful. Think they have several Esotericas in tins and Stonehaven in the bag. Reply and let us know how this goes if you order. Curious what everyone finds. Seems Esoterica is that mythical stuff legends are made of! :-)
Matt Latham
CIGAR! CIGAR!
500-B N. Congress Avenue
Evansville, IN 47715
Phone: (812) 401-1202
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I just pulled the trigger on 8oz of Margate at http://thepipeguys.com/

:-)

I liked the St. Ives I got recently. So much so that I'm just going to buy Esoterica in the bags. Buy a tin, like it and it's out of stock. Buy a bag, don't like it and it's still easy to find a home for it.
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Couple here:

https://www.4noggins.com/esoterica-pipe-tobacco.aspx

Selling fast!
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