First Esterval’s Purchase

[mtwaller]

Title says it all... I spent a fair amount of money, hoping it wasn’t a waste. Order is as follows:

(2) 100g HU Director’s Cut
(2) 100g HU Brullende Leeuw
(2) 50g HU Dockworker Flake
(5) 50g HU Cherry Saronno

By my math, each 50g averages out to $13.30 ish, shipping and whatnot included... Not terrible! Can’t wait for these to arrive in 2 months or forever.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

If you would have bought more to amortize the shipping cost, the cost per 50 gr would have been significantly less. I think the first 2 KG or so is around $45 for shipping, doesn't matter whether it is 250 gr or 2 KG I don't know about the second and fourth but Director's Cut and Dockworker are excellent tobaccos.

 

[mtwaller]

Yeah shipping was pretty steep, but I knew that going into it. If I like some or all of these I’ll do another big stock up later in the year and get more bang for my buck as far as shipping goes.

 

[3rdguy]

HU has some “aged” blends coming out sometime soon...could be interesting.

 

[kwg116]

All the blends you ordered are excellent. The waiting is the hardest part, but it’s such an exiting day when they arrive. I hope you enjoy them.

 

[pappymac]

I placed my first order with Esterval's on May 29 and am still waiting on it. Tracking seems to be hung-up as it was processed through June 9th and nothing since then. But it's only been three weeks and I was told to expect it to take four to five weeks.

 

[mtwaller]

@pappymac ive heard it takes foreverrrr to arrive, but arrive it does.

 

[mtwaller]

@kwg116 im particularly hopeful regarding the jerry saronno, hence my order of 5 tins without having ever tasted it. I am a big fan of in your face cherry flavor, and I love almond/amaretto. I’m assuming you’ve smoked it, does it live up to the hype I’ve heard of it being one of the premier cherry blends of all time?

 

[kwg116]

@kwg116 im particularly hopeful regarding the jerry saronno, hence my order of 5 tins without having ever tasted it. I am a big fan of in your face cherry flavor, and I love almond/amaretto. I’m assuming you’ve smoked it, does it live up to the hype I’ve heard of it being one of the premier cherry blends of all time?

I think it does. A good friend sent me a very generous sample because he knows my distaste for Cherry blends. It was more of a joke between us. But I smoked the entire sample in a few days and added four tins to my order. Smoked cool and has a medium natural cherry flavor that doesn’t taste like a chemical spray. I hope you enjoy it ?.

 

[paulfg]

I placed my first order with Esterval's on May 29 and am still waiting on it. Tracking seems to be hung-up as it was processed through June 9th and nothing since then. But it's only been three weeks and I was told to expect it to take four to five weeks.

i think a lot of the post is going via boat due to lack of flights.
i read somewhere that it takes 3 weeks to cross and then you have unloading and import to deal with.
I have parcels that left Greece on 21st May and arrived at Chicago on about 10th june still not updated or delivered

As stated they will arrive eventually

 

[creole]

Every Estervals order I have made has taken about a month to deliver to me in Lafayette, Louisiana. Its always been well worth the wait.

 

[pappymac]

i think a lot of the post is going via boat due to lack of flights.
i read somewhere that it takes 3 weeks to cross and then you have unloading and import to deal with.
I have parcels that left Greece on 21st May and arrived at Chicago on about 10th june still not updated or delivered

As stated they will arrive eventually

During WWII the convoys would make the run from New York to England in approximately 10 days and that's with all the zig-zagging they did in an attempt to avoid the U-Boats. The convoys could only steam as fast as the slowest ship and sometimes that was only about 10 or 12 knots per hour.

Modern containerships have an average cruising speed of around 24 knots per hour or 576 nautical miles per day and barring bad weather, can make the crossing in about 7 days.

But you do have a point. I was thinking everything was being ship by air cargo.

 

[karam]

@kwg116 im particularly hopeful regarding the jerry saronno, hence my order of 5 tins without having ever tasted it. I am a big fan of in your face cherry flavor, and I love almond/amaretto. I’m assuming you’ve smoked it, does it live up to the hype I’ve heard of it being one of the premier cherry blends of all time?

It's very good, I wouldn't say it is very in your face though, the cherry is certainly there and diminishes as the bowl develops to give way to the tobacco. Overall I went through the tin really fast. I wrote a review here.

 

[mtwaller]

@karam thanks for the link to the review! I’m stoked to try it out.

 

[mso489]

As long as they actually arrive, the wait may be a treat in itself, like the old cooking adage, hunger is the best sauce.

 

[PipesRock]

I placed my first order with Esterval's on May 29 and am still waiting on it. Tracking seems to be hung-up as it was processed through June 9th and nothing since then. But it's only been three weeks and I was told to expect it to take four to five weeks.

Great stuff. My Estervals order was placed April 11, showed ship status on the site April 14/15 then when checking got one or two DHL updates then nothing for 3+ weeks. BUT it was delivered A-OK to FL on May 23rd. Of course that order spawned some serious tobacco love and I now have another order placed yesterday for: many more tins of Louisiana Broken Flake, 450g of Capstan Original Navy Flake, and a couple more Fayyum and Old Fredder's tins.

 

[guylesss]

It is a wait: my order arrived 10 June after 33 days in actual transit to New York (with very sporadic scanning--DHL/USPS, same $45 fee).

About 12 days within Germany before it was processed at Frankfurt airport. Then nothing for 3 weeks until it turned up at Newark airport (not JFK). Then two more weeks of dead silence before voilà, it was here (without being scanned prior to delivery). Given how confusing customs rules are--both within the EU and here, I was worried it had been seized. Although one very good thing about Estervals is they automatically deduct VAT.

 

[paulfg]

i think a lot of the post is going via boat due to lack of flights.
i read somewhere that it takes 3 weeks to cross and then you have unloading and import to deal with.
I have parcels that left Greece on 21st May and arrived at Chicago on about 10th june still not updated or delivered

As stated they will arrive eventually

heres where I read it

USPS ships mail by sea as airfreight crunch continues

This is not the first time the Postal Service has made such a move due to the COVID-19 outbreak, a USPS spokesperson told Supply Chain Dive.

www.supplychaindive.com

 

[mordy18]

My order was placed june 3. Been sitting in the DHL parcel center in germany since then with no further update. Sounds like i have some additional waiting to do.

 

[guylesss]

My order was placed june 3. Been sitting in the DHL parcel center in germany since then with no further update. Sounds like i have some additional waiting to do.

It may be some consolation to know that Germany seems to be doing consistently better with parcels bound for the US (slow but certain), than the UK--overdue, missing or lost--who knows? In addition to a 1926 Dunhill bent that's not been scanned since taken to a rural post office (19 days ago), I have book orders (not Amazon) dating back to April that have not arrived.