Where might one locate Esoterica tobacco on-line?
Esoterica Tobacco
- Thread starter MRW
- Start date
You won't be able to. If you sign up for a one-time alert for when this drop at SPc, and check your email diligently, every few minutes for about three months, you might get lucky.
If you are willing to do a little detective work, many of the B&M stores that don't have a popular online presence might have some. You can use use this page - Retailer Directory - https://pipesmagazine.com/retailer-directory/ - and look up their phone numbers and give them a call. This is how most of us get it, since not everyone checks their emails every few minutes.
If you are willing to do a little detective work, many of the B&M stores that don't have a popular online presence might have some. You can use use this page - Retailer Directory - https://pipesmagazine.com/retailer-directory/ - and look up their phone numbers and give them a call. This is how most of us get it, since not everyone checks their emails every few minutes.
You’d have better luck with B&Ms that don’t list their stock on line. It forces you to make some ? calls, but it also very much increases your chances of grabbing gold. Once you been able to buy the stuff, put them at the top of the list and buy stuff occasionally throughout the yr that is not Esoterica related. It’ll make a difference & it helps support the B&Ms. Also, get on the email notification lists at all the usual suspects. That way when your # comes up ( in a yr or 2?) you can grab it that way. This is what I’ve done in the past along with internal contacts & deals with other pipers. 
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I've never purchased it online, only at my local B&M.
The internet release is sporadic, the stock is limited and the customers plenty. Kinda like crab season in the Bering. Good luck.
The internet release is sporadic, the stock is limited and the customers plenty. Kinda like crab season in the Bering. Good luck.
It may be worth noting that the parent company JF Germain is no longer interested in selling their tobaccos to the West. Its all going to Asia, just like Algerian briar.
Where did you get this information?
You might be able to find Esoterica online at all of the stores with an online presence, but you will need to be psychic and be ready to jump on it within 30 seconds of the announcement that it's in, assuming the online seller sends out an announcement. You can get on mailing lists with some online sellers, and a couple of years later, when they get to your place in the queue, they'll send you a notice and you will have to be psychic and ready to go within 30 seconds or it will sell to someone else. The only exception to this, of which I'm aware, is Iwan Ries. After your years of waiting in the queue they will send you a notice that your request is in. They will actually hold your order and give you three days to buy it before releasing it to someone else. THAT'S a class act.
The other way to get some online is to make friends with the staff at the store. Get to know them. Maybe swap some tobacco along the way. Then, when the shipment drops, you get an advanced call, get what you want, and be done before the general announcement is out and the feeding frenzy takes place. If you're not unwilling to spend between 4 and 8 times retail, you can find Esoterica at a resale site like pipestud.com or 4noggins. Again, be prepared to jump on it within 30 seconds or someone else will.
Your best bet is to buy from a B&M. Yes, you'll pay a little more, though not as much as you think because all but a few online stores have jacked up their prices. If you become a regular customer with a B&M and establish a relationship, maybe swap some tobacco, or send the staff and gift or two, you'll get what you want while others get the shaft. Or, you can do what a few do, which is to make an arrangement with a B&M to buy their entire shipment in one fell swoop, take what they want, and sell the remainder off to Chinese brokers for shipment overseas. A few B&M's do the same thing, just sell their entire shipment to brokers.
The frenzy for Esoterica, kind of like most political ideology, constitutes evidence against the existence of intelligent life on Earth.
My understanding is that several B&M retailers are willing to trade Esoterica for Rolex. A stainless steel Daytona should be worth several large bags of Stonehaven these days.
I can get Esoterica at every drop if I was still in the game. I’d just break out da “rolodex” and ? down the list of contacts. Rarely, would I have had to call more than 5 or 6 before the connect was found. Now, I’ll occasionally snag a bag of Dorchester or Dunbar just to keep me on track for Armageddon. No big acquisitions though. Got to make those contacts and put in da work. No easier way that found gets it done. But, sometimes it comes to you. I knew a guy once that gifted a bag or tin of every esoterica/Germain’s blend in existence to a fella cause he was awesome and never had any before. That fella got ?ed! ?️
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I don't know what things are like in the US, and my only comparative to Esoterica is Germain's (same company, but there UK offerings).
They are excellent tobaccos, and I try and pick a bit up when it comes available. However, they are not so good that they are worth all the hassle you will probably have to go through to get them.
They are excellent tobaccos, and I try and pick a bit up when it comes available. However, they are not so good that they are worth all the hassle you will probably have to go through to get them.
The hunt is part of the fun with Esoterica/Germain’s in the ??. If ya don’t like mining , do bother going after the gold. ?
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Ok, Esoterica is still available in the U.S., albeit rarely and in limited quantities. But Germains seems to have disappeared completely. On the other hand, I'm not sure its entirely accurate to say that Germains is the UK offering and Esoterica the export offering.
Germain's blends Esoterica exclusively for Arango in the US. It says so right on the tin/bag. Germains is sold both in the UK and elsewhere.
Arango has been the exclusive importer for Germain’s Esoterica for years. Common knowledge in many pipe circles. Hey, but I find new shit out everyday so.?
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It used to say Blended Exclusively for Esoterica . . ., then Blended Exclusively for Butera . . ., and now Blended Exclusively for Arango . . .
A little history lesson on the Esoterica line is in order.
In the late '80's, Steve Richman, proprietor of the Piedmont Tobacconist in Oakland, California, approached Germain's with the idea of creating an exclusive line of tobaccos for him, similar to what Germain's was making for Smokers Haven. The result was the Esoterica brand, made up from revised versions of some of Germain's catalog blends. LIke many blenders, Germains has always made blends to order under different private labels and those catalog blends are the origin blends for the Esoterica line up. Germain's also outsources a small portion of its output to Planta.
The Esoterica contract calls for exclusively US distribution, first to Richman, later to Butera, and lastly to Arango. Where it sells in other parts of the world, Esoterica blends arrive through a backdoor of private sales.