Penzance, Succintly

The newer stuff is heavy Latakia, aroma ismleathery salty and woodsy. Taste is that of heavy Latakia.
Aged stuff is delectable. Much better than fresh. The Latakia is mellowed a bit and there is a lovely sweetness. I much prefer the aged stuff. That's all I got.

Penzance is my all-time favorite blend. For me, it has a three-phase life cycle.
When fresh, with less than a year in the tin, it is a medium-weight latakia blend in which the Virginias and unsweetened black cavendish provide a noticeably smooth underpinning and the orientals have a unique zing. The orientals in fresh Penzance are unlike any others, and they make the blend absolutely fantastic.
Once Penzance begins to age -- say, 1-5 or so years -- the orientals fade dramatically and the blend becomes, for me, a fairly standard, latakia-forward English.
With about 8-10 years in the tin, however, the latakia mellows and the blend transforms into a rich and mellow smoke that is perfectly balanced and entrancing. The zing is gone forever, but the maturity of the remaining tobaccos makes up for it.
I much prefer the fresh version. But since that is incredibly hard to come by these days, it really pays to hold off smoking it until it has significant age on it. For me, that's a minimum of 7 years...but longer is better.

Penzance is a light to medium bodied English with what I would describe as a good balance. There is a taste that, to me at least, is somewhat oolong tea like that can seem almost musty in a way but not a bad way. It also possesses what I would call the Germain signature flavor wherein all Germain blends have a certain similarity, Dunhill is also is like this in my opinion. While you can taste the constituents at various times and admire them for what they are, there is some great interplay between the constituents that is harder to describe and can hit your tongue differently as you smoke. The last part is, for me, what sets it apart and makes it irreplaceable. Others may disagree and I do not wish to infer that I possess a more refined palate, only that this is what makes the blend in my eyes. At the end of the day though, don't expect something outside a well balanced medium English because that is what it is.

I can certainly confirm that Penzance ages very gracefully. I was lucky enough to try a few bowls of some very old Penzance (late 80s/early 90s) that Allan on the forum here had. It was incredibly smooth and simply delicious. I am not a latakia maven though, and to be truthful I tend to prefer aged english blends with at least 10 years on them because I enjoy smoking those blends much more when the latakia fades a bit and the VAs move into the foregorund.

Penzance is a strange yet exotic bird. When I first tried this about 6 years ago the sample had 3 years age on it and it was very good. This came as nice soft krumble kake and fills the bowl easily, everything seemed very balanced through out the bowl. At certain times the Orientals and the VAs would shuffle to the fore and it was quite a treat. Later, about a year ago I had an 8oz bag and there was something different, it tasted immature or perhaps just different due to tobaccos changing over time and the use of different crops. It tasted more of the latakia and also some peculiar flavor which tasted sort of chemical-like, or perhaps that was some of the tobacco which was still young. Still flavorful, full bodied and yielded a good amount of smoke. I hope you get a chance to try it and see for yourself and as has been said, a good medium English.

If you've yet to try it, PM me your address and I'll send you some to sample. I don't have much left but I doubt I'll get around to smoking it because I prefer MANY other English style blends. You'll at least get a chance to see what the "fuss" is all about.
I find GLP's - Quiet Nights a better offering, mostly because it's much easier to source.