Over hyped and out of reach.

shanelktown · Mar 18, 2015

Those hard to reach blends. Sometimes I feel as though they are simply fictitious and never existed. That being said the hard to find blends give me what they are and a comparable blend that is easily obtained. I already know the esoterica blends as well as butera kingfisher and pelican.

mcitinner1 · Mar 18, 2015

What is your point? Your post is difficult to understand.

edgreen · Mar 18, 2015

You mean like Balkan Sobranie and H &H White Knight?

shanelktown · Mar 18, 2015

Basically blends that are out of stock or limited supply what are comparable blends that are readily available.

shanelktown · Mar 18, 2015

And yes Balkan sobranie and h h white knight fit the bill.

peteguy · Mar 18, 2015

A few years ago, say 2010 or 2011 there was a shortage of FVF. Everyone was up in arms. I believe today you can pretty much buy however much you want. Maybe these other manufacturers will come around as well.
If the blend has been discontinued I can't help you there.

xrundog · Mar 18, 2015

Well, Bracken Flake is gone. There is nothing remotely like it.

lochinvar · Mar 18, 2015

Most of the interminable cries of "I'll never even get a bowl" concerns any tobacco associated with JF Germain, especially the Esoterica line. The problem is, there are no real substitutes for them, they have a house style all their own. I really like King Charles, and it is akin to Gawith Skiff or Dunhill EMP as they are light Englishes, but they aren't really a substitute because they don't have the Germain house taste.
This is not likely to change for the better. Germains is an anachronistic, creaky, cranky old company. It has a level of quality it is dedicated to, and will not sacrifice quality for quantity. It has a limited (and most likely aged) workforce, and probably not a lot of people beating down the door to work there. Also, the real supply problem is people snapping up anything that says Germain or Esoterica 20 tins at a time. It dries up supply, drives up the mystique, and when the novice smoker finally finds a supply......he buys about 20 tins.....and on, and on, and on.

mso489 · Mar 18, 2015

It's easy to be beguiled by the siren song of something that doesn't seem to be attainable. Partly that's good, if you eventually get the coveted item and can revel in it, or alternately realize that it isn't all it was cracked up to be. I'm enough of a romantic to be vulnerable to be pinned by longings for the hard-to-get, or impossible to get. However, I would pose to you another perplexing existential predicament we all face. There are enough truly extraordinary and continuously available blends available right now and into the smoking future that even if you smoke a pipe like jiminks (apparently continuously!) you'll never catch up with them all. Rather than waste your energies pining for what isn't being sold, and understanding that some of those brands will come around so you can own six or eight tins if you want them, begin nibbling away at samples of the incredible leaf that you can order right now and receive in a few days, sometimes at discount prices. Zounds. Amazing.

menuhin · Mar 18, 2015

To OP: anything totally out of reach can be easily over-hyped.
I just looked up JF Germain's company website. It's written:

... 1820 is the earliest date for which records of the Company's activities still exist.

The founder, whose portrait hangs on the wall of the present Boardroom and is shown in the Company logo was Thomas Aubin, his nephew, Philip Germain, joined him in the business upon leaving school and it was from Philip's son, John Francis and his son John Philip, that the Company took its present name during the 1920s...

How does it feel like to blend tobacco in a really remote island, super close to France than England?

I like their Flake products but they are not distributing the Esoterica line to where I'm located.

hiplainsdrifter · Mar 18, 2015

Aylesbury Luxury Flake is really hard to find right now. It is the best VA flake I have tried, so no real comparison.

settersbrace · Mar 18, 2015

Two words; Pipe Club.
These gatherings will at the very least get you onto to someone who might have a stash of whatever you might be seeking out. Then again, you might get the surprise of your life when someone hands you a freshly popped tin of brand x and says, "have some". I've seen it happen dozens of times.

settersbrace · Mar 18, 2015

I will also add the large e-tailer who can move an entire shipment of Esoteric product in hours has the advantage when it comes to that little blenders choice of who's order to fill. They only can tin so much with so little and they just don't care. When it's gone, it's gone. Everyone gets a Holiday and off we go!
I'd advise anyone who's losing sleep over getting these boutique blends to just stay patient, this too shall pass.
Some other obscure flake or crumble cake will become the obsession of those that are obsessed by such things. In the meantime, enjoy what you can get and can afford because there are many, many great blends out there just waiting for you to discover them. Recently I popped a 8 year old tin of Fox's Dorisco and was absolutely floored by how good it is. I've passed over those old tins for as long as they've been on the shelf. So, you see, there's no point to stressing over what you can't get.

beastkhk · Mar 18, 2015

I have had too many times where I have longed for coveted items to find when I get them the message simply reads remember to drink your ovaltine.
I have tins of blends that I have not yet tried and refuse to open because I recently read about them and need the hype in my mind to die down so I can get fair picture as to if they are any good.
I will stick to what is regularly available. If my regular blend happens to be out I use it as an excuse to branch out and try a different one. Too many people get fixated on these "trophy" blends because they read about them on forums or review sites. Just because a blend hasn't been mentioned or had a review done yet doesn't mean it isn't good.

shanelktown · Mar 18, 2015

Yeah couldn't agree more I think blends get the hype and when you smoke it that balloon gets deflated pretty easily. I really agree about blends out there that haven't had the reviews and discussed on forums being very good blends. I guess that's another thing that makes this hobby so much fun the constant discovery of new blends. Also Jeff I should most likely be in the shop Friday. So Mightest well get some of that c and d pirate kake ready.

settersbrace · Mar 18, 2015

Lol, hopefully there's some left! Que, insidious laughter!

beastkhk · Mar 18, 2015

Oddly enough I was prepping an order and saw that bulk Pirate kake was back ordered at P and C

shanelktown · Mar 18, 2015

Ha I did see that oh well smoking pipes and tobacco pipes has tins available. I also saw Peter heinrichs dark strong was out at p and c but luckily smokingpipes had some.

judcole · Mar 19, 2015

Balkan Sobranie and H &H White Knight

Sobranie has changed so much over the years; it is nothing like what I smoked in college. WK is much closer to that blend. It's not really an alternative to the current blend as it is homage to the blend of the early 1970s, much like Black House and Blue Balkan are to the BS 759 of yore.

brass · Mar 19, 2015

Thanks to the generosity of a couple of members, I've had the opportunity to try samples of both Penzance and Stonehaven. Both blends were as good as any I've smoked. On the other hand, I've smoked many, many blends that were as good as either.
While there are no substitutes for Penzance or Stonehaven, there are blends that belong to the same family that are similar, simply because they do belong to the same genre. Penzance is a nice English flake with subdued Latakia. GLP Quite Nights doesn't taste exactly the same but it does belong to the same family. Some will like QN better and would argue that there is no substitute for the GLP blend. I probably would prefer Penzance but honestly, if it weren't for the mystique, I'm not sure if I would rate the Esoterica product higher.
The Esoterica blends are not worth $125 for 8 oz pouches it fetches on eBay. Maybe the bragging rights are to some and some might even argue that Penzance and Stonehaven are better than anything else available. But that would be non-sense on two points. 1. Taste is subjective. 2. Even if Penzance were incrementally, objectively better than, say QN, there is NO WAY it is 3 times better.
I do understand paying a premium to satisfy one's curiosity. 8)

Over hyped and out of reach.

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