Score!!!!!

[alaskanpiper]

Timing is everything, as they say, and today I am a lucky man!
I had a few extra minutes to kill after lunch before returning to the office today so I stopped by one of our local B&M shops just to say hi and see what was happening around the shop. I happened to follow the mailman in the front door. Turns out he happened to be delivering something rather special today, and I nabbed myself 4oz of each, fresh out of those beautiful golden bags.....

Super excited to try them! Gonna be hard to wait until the weekend.....

 

[npod]

Great score. You got the good stuff! And the Gods were watching out for you today.

 

[cigrmaster]

Nice score. I hope you enjoy the both of them.

 

[scloyd]

Good for you! :clap:

 

[cossackjack]

Great score. Both are high on my favorites list. Perhaps Stonehaven more so.

The last of a June 2014 jar of Stonehaven is now in a Big Ben blasted-finish Pipo for tonight’s smoke. Deep VA raisins & figs with lighter Burley nutty-cocoa aromas.
They both age nicely. Enjoy them.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Enjoy!
Be warned that Esotericas generally are shipped very moist.

 

[redglow]

Congratulations!

 

[woodsroad]

Are you actually going to smoke those? I was under the impression that most people who buy Esoterica just feverishly stash it away, like squirrels waiting for winter.

 

[alaskanpiper]

Hahaha, yes, I believe smoking is the suggested method. If I were a ticker/sales dude I would have bought the entire bags. I do intend to cellar some for a while though.

 

[hauntedmyst]

So when you light the Penzance, be careful. It will seem like you slipped into a trance and then you start hearing something beautiful and look around but can't see it. That's just angels singing.

 

[alaskanpiper]

Hahaha. Im expecting to be underwhelmed, given the hype train that surrounds it. Trying my best to go in with an open and uninfluenced mind....and palate, haha. I wouldnt mind a few singing angels though, should they appear

 

[derhammer]

Nice haul!

 

[jttnk]

Whatever Germain and Son does to tobacco it’s great. I even like the oft overlooked. Royal Jersey Virginia/ Cavendish and Royal Jersey Latakia (purple tin). Got my first two tins of Margate and ASTB. Had a bowl of ASTB with coffee on Father’s Day, it was good stuff!
Hope you enjoy yours.

 

[mso489]

Impressive. You and your tobacconist must be living right.

 

[sablebrush52]

Dry your Stonehaven well or it will taste of nothing. Stonehaven is a fickle PITA, giving a fabulous smoke followed by a thoroughly dead one. It seems to have a narrow moisture range where everything in the blend just POPS. Too moist or too dry and it goes dull. When the stars align it's one of the better smokes and when they don't align, It's utter crap.

I've been given a couple of bags of the stuff by guys fed up with it, and I remember one guy who was so mad at it that he decided to "punish" (his expression) the tobacco by leaving it on the dashboard of his car, exposed to light and heat.

For no good reason, passions run high about these blends.

 

[mso489]

If I try too hard on these scarce blends, I feel like the tobacco is smoking me. Big points from me for supply and distribution because it shows respect to the customer base.

 

[alaskanpiper]

If I try too hard on these scarce blends, I feel like the tobacco is smoking me. Big points from me for supply and distribution because it shows respect to the customer base.

I have an MS in Psychology, and I have always wondered about the psychology of taste, and how rarity impacts people's impressions when it comes to taste. Being a part of the beer geek community for so long, there is not doubt that rarity often ends up generating higher ratings that it should in the general population, but for some I think it undoubtedly results in a negative shift, due to either heightened expectations or just pure spite for the lack of availability. I'm sure with tobacco blends it is the same. I always dreamed of actually gathering empirical data on this. It would be a pretty easy experiment to set up. Oh to be in school again. Maybe I need a doctorate....

 

[hauntedmyst]

Hahaha. Im expecting to be underwhelmed, given the hype train that surrounds it.

That is for the best. It's my favorite tobacco but I won't go out of my way for it. It makes me try other blends that I otherwise would have skipped like Park Lane's Knightsbridge which is similar but has it's own uniqueness.

 

[danimalia]

Nice! I had the same thing happen to me. I've never had Penzance, and as much as I wanted to try it, I was growing resentful of the whole thing, and decided I didn't really care anyway. Tuesday, I dropped into a local B&M on the lookout for a couple of GLP blends. As I walked in, I noticed those gold bags. Well, shit, that's cool, but I'm sure none are Penzance. There is, in fact, one bag of Penzance among a few bags of Margate and Pembroke. I look at the price tag. $53.95. Jesus. Open my wallet. Count $42. Shit. I don't have any extra money until payday. I stick around for a few minutes hoping another pipe smoker stops by and might be willing to split the bag with me. Nobody shows up. I buy a tin of Kensington (great smoke) and head home. Fast forward until this afternoon. I get paid. I head over to the B&M sure it will be gone. But it's still there, and this time I have the money! The tobacconist said someone had come in earlier and hemmed and hawed about it, before deciding not to buy. Maybe I better buy a lottery ticket :D
Alaskan: I haven't tried mine yet either. Let me know what you think when you fire one up!

 

[alaskanpiper]

Alaskan: I haven't tried mine yet either. Let me know what you think when you fire one up!

Your story is almost identical to mine. Started to write it off as ebay prices were through the roof and any drops on websites last all of 10 seconds, then poof! It drops in my lap. That's crazy that it stuck around for you to come back! I'm probably going to give mine a shot this weekend. I'll let you know what I think. I was going to load it up for fishnbanjo's memorial smoke last night on the keep it smokey thread, but I didn't have time for drying so I smoked some dunbar instead.