Penzance

[KevinP]

I just smoked my first bowl, thanks to the kindness of a NY pipe smoker. Count me in the fan club. Just enough latakia to make it interesting. I wouldn't describe it as a "lat bomb" at all. My sample came rubbed, maybe that was the difference?

I agree with this. I tried for the first time a while back and quite liked it, but I don't get the 'lat bomb' label at all. I found it mid strength and very balanced.

 

[operaguy2570]

In a large diameter bowl, smoked slowly with a very small combustion zone this blend is one of the sweetest tasting modern latakia blends I know. Smoking in smallish bowl geometry and overheating the tobacco upon lighting seems to bring the latakia forward and repress the flavor of everything else going on in the blend. We should always remember the importance of bowl geometry and the thermodynamics involved to coax the maximum flavor from the tobacco with a minimum amount of heat.

 

[Anthony]

It sincerely saddens my heart to see that Penzance is getting hard to find. I went through at least four pounds of it while overseas.

Let me tell you, there wasn't a feeling in the world like sitting on top of one of Saddam Hussein's palaces kicked back in a chair at midnight watching the little flashes of explosions in the distance while smoking a bowl of Penzance. To me that is the equivalent of seeing unicorns and pissing champagne.

Since the other day when I saw here and on the e-tailers how hard Penzance is to find... I managed to come across a tin of the stuff left over from a couple deployments ago (2008-2009). It's pretty near close to bone dry, but I'm going to try to take it for a run to see if it's salvageable.

Next paycheck is going to go to whatever tins/bags of the blend I can find.

Oh, and @operaguy 2570, agreed and agreed. I've tried it in a number of bowls, but larger has always proved for a more intricate smoke.

 

[smokey422]

It's been a long time since I smoked any Penzance but I enjoyed it a lot and gave it a good review on tobaccoreviews.com. I agree it's not a Lat bomb at all, when I think Lat bomb I think of Pirate Kake and Old Ironsides. There are just so many great English blends on the market right now that I can't say that I'm missing Penzance a lot.

Smokey

 

[williamcharles]

My first, and so far only, tin of Penzance was given to me as a 60th b'day present. I loved Bengal Slices and am happy to find, now and then, something that comes close along with Lancers Slices. NOT that I'm comparing!

 

[old_salt]

At the risk of sounding like a broken record " I post the same recommendation in almost every Penzance thread"

Try Captain Earle's Mystic Blend!
it's not just a lat bomb, all of the nuances of Penance come through

contains;
Cavendish
Virginia
Latakia
Perique
Oriental
Turkish

while not an exact clone, when smoked slowly & thoughtfully you will
catch glimpses that make you swear it was the real stuff.