What's Wrong With Me (I Don't Like Esoterica)
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My understanding from Steve was that the SH Krumble Kake recipe was not available to him. While the SH blend was "dormant" SH was not dead and Germain still felt they had an obligation to them, particularly in that Joe Zieve at SH had detailed involvement in developing the recipe, either as originally produced or when he switched production to Germain from Sobranie. That is, as I said, the only specific blend that we ever had a conversation about this particular issue, but Joe Zieve perhaps had some proprietary rights to some of the other recipes that remained SH property.
An interesting note, at an Indiana Briar Friars show in the early 80's a gentleman came up to my table and offered two sleeves of Krumble Kake- 5 tins each. He had been a weekend employee of SH and claimed that the tins came from Joe's basement where they had been stored because they were from the first shipment of the Germain version, which at least some customers didn't like because it contained too much Latakia. I took the deal for $100, walked across the room and sold one sleeve to John Loring and got my money out of it, and smoked every shred of the rest. It had aged beautifully.
An interesting note, at an Indiana Briar Friars show in the early 80's a gentleman came up to my table and offered two sleeves of Krumble Kake- 5 tins each. He had been a weekend employee of SH and claimed that the tins came from Joe's basement where they had been stored because they were from the first shipment of the Germain version, which at least some customers didn't like because it contained too much Latakia. I took the deal for $100, walked across the room and sold one sleeve to John Loring and got my money out of it, and smoked every shred of the rest. It had aged beautifully.
Well, who knows? I wasn't there, neither were you. I'm just relaying Greg's memories on the topic.
I Live about 20 minutes away from the Piedmont tobacconist and I stop in occasionally and Share a smoke with Steve. From our conversations what was written above is correct, the recipes existed however Steve tweaked some of them , not all of them, a little bit here and there. On my last trip over in December he gave me an original Esoterica tobacco pamphlet with all the blends and descriptions in it. It’s a pretty darn cool keepsake; Steve is a heck of a nice guy.
One of the neat stories he has told me was regarding the verbiage on the front of the Astb tins. (Go read the tin if you have one) He was referring to his own golden retriever, long passed now but he has two Golden’s currently that are in the shop with him every day. Also how the title “And so to Bed” is a tip of the hat to a favorite author of his, Samuel Pepys.
I do find it a little funny that he no longer sells the Esoterica line of tobaccos in his store... they mostly focus on cigars and bulk tobacco. Cigars being his bread and butter I think.
One of the neat stories he has told me was regarding the verbiage on the front of the Astb tins. (Go read the tin if you have one) He was referring to his own golden retriever, long passed now but he has two Golden’s currently that are in the shop with him every day. Also how the title “And so to Bed” is a tip of the hat to a favorite author of his, Samuel Pepys.
I do find it a little funny that he no longer sells the Esoterica line of tobaccos in his store... they mostly focus on cigars and bulk tobacco. Cigars being his bread and butter I think.
Glad to hear Steve is doing well. A fine man. What does he think of the mania over these blends? And ASTB is the only one I would really miss if ET disappeared. Steve brought samples of most if not all of the line to a pipe show from the first shipment, bags only as I recall, and it stood out to me then as something quite different from anything else out there, as it still does. I only have a pound jarred, I think I need to add some more.
From what I can tell, he is rather unaware of the reality regarding Esoterica demand and craziness. He hasn’t really asked and I haven’t brought it up. I did however bring him a tin of current Penzance as well ias Astb and shared a smoke. He is a good conversationalist!
Just thought I'd throw my 2 pennies in here - I am also not a fan of Esoterica blends, but I openly admit that it's mostly my fault. In my experience, I've found that Esoterica and Germain's blends tend to have a really narrow "goldilocks zone" of ideal humidity and burn temp to get the best flavor. I've tried Penzance, Stonehaven, Dorchester, ASTB, Germain's Special Latakia Flake, and Balkan Sobranie. I have had amazing, rich, and nuanced smokes from all of them, but also a fair number of bowls that were frustrating, tasteless, and I just wanted to dump. Of the blends, Penzance and Stonehaven(particularly Stonehaven) seem to be the most temperamental to various smoking variables. Call me impatient..tell me I have bad technique.. Despite knowing what rich complexity I can extract from Stonehaven if the stars align, the relative humidity is perfect, the chamber diameter is just right, and can manage to sip infinitesimally slow - I guess I'd rather have less complex full flavor that is easily and consistently repeatable.
I think of Esoterica blends like I do a fine exotic sports car - when everything is running just right, it is an amazing experience. When you stop pampering the garage queen for even a moment, it will leave you stranded on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.
I think of Esoterica blends like I do a fine exotic sports car - when everything is running just right, it is an amazing experience. When you stop pampering the garage queen for even a moment, it will leave you stranded on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.
BINGO! All tobaccos have a moisture range where they offer up better flavor, but Germain's seem to me, especially Stonehaven, to require a very tight tolerance where moisture is concerned, if you're going to get what these blends can deliver. Otherwise they perform like "pretty good" to "WTF??".
I get the lat, too, but to me it's like an apricot-English aro.
That's the flavoring in ASTB according to the link you posted.
I agree when it comes to the few bowls of Stonehaven and Tilbury I've tried, and Penzance. But the ribbon cut blends - like Margate and Pembroke - are easy and consistently good.
Then suddenly Esoterica appears. And guess what....an Ale, a cognac, a sliced
cake and a great English appeared on the scene.
Our Best Blend = Margate
Cognac = Pembroke
20th Anniversary = ...And so to bed
Krumble Kake = Penzance
Still don't see it.
According to my jaded palate, I find that the "ale" flavouring in And So To Bed is much like SH 20th Anniversary Mixture.
SH Cognac Mixture is a lot like Pembroke, while Krumble Kake was supposedly like Balkan Sobranie white label,in compressed form.
Pembroke is supposedly Margate, sans the cognac topping. SH Exotique is in a class all it's own, along with the
IN-B-TWEEN Mixture, imo.
I can't verify it, but I have heard or read somewhere that SH Our Best Blend was a take on BS 759.
Tastes are very subjective, but I have a bit of each of these blends in the cellar. May be time to dig a few out to sample.
On a side note, I traded a guy for a very old 8oz bag of Margate once. Can't recall the date on the bag but it was one of the old white bags with not much on it but the name and number of the blend. The moisture level was perfect but it hadn't aged well at all. Tasted nothing like Margate. The Latakia was completely gone.
SH Cognac Mixture is a lot like Pembroke, while Krumble Kake was supposedly like Balkan Sobranie white label,in compressed form.
Pembroke is supposedly Margate, sans the cognac topping. SH Exotique is in a class all it's own, along with the
IN-B-TWEEN Mixture, imo.
I can't verify it, but I have heard or read somewhere that SH Our Best Blend was a take on BS 759.
Tastes are very subjective, but I have a bit of each of these blends in the cellar. May be time to dig a few out to sample.
On a side note, I traded a guy for a very old 8oz bag of Margate once. Can't recall the date on the bag but it was one of the old white bags with not much on it but the name and number of the blend. The moisture level was perfect but it hadn't aged well at all. Tasted nothing like Margate. The Latakia was completely gone.
Just a note for those sampling any of the Esotericas that I have tried, (Margate, Penzance, Pembroke, Tillbury), they all come in very moist. For me, unsmokably wet. (Over 90% RH @70º)
@jpmcwjr, I agree for the most part, 100% for the bags. Every now and then I find a tin that has been around a while and seems to be better.
OBB = Balkan Sobranie = (Margate)
Exotique = Balkan Sobranie 759 = (There is no current blend for this in the Esoterica line).
Just something I heard, can't remember where so I have no proof to back it up but it makes sense to me.
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