If you air it out, the bite disappears. Not so heavy, incredibly smooth tobacco, giving a gentle sweetness and a dry, salty smoking that reminds me of Syrian Latakia. If you have a chance to try some, by all means, do it. For some reason, this seems to be listed twice here, so this review is the same as the Sobranie of London entry. I rarely smoke now. Taste is medium and consistent, with notes of smoky, very bitter wood, floral, toasted bread, leather, musty herbal vegetation, incense, dry earth, acidic/spicy, citrus peel/zest, a mildly sweet stewed tangy fruit background note, and a very peppery retro. In my honest opinion J.F. You could taste the latakia and orientals, but they were not ove rstated. In my typically college age bulletproof life of 35+ years ago, I remember buying the weird knife top tin of this spectacular baccy in Peterson's on 42nd St in NYC. The unequalled art of original TBS and 759 is the most perfect ever marriage of the very best Latakia with the very best Orientals in a bed of robust Virginia, delivering an overwhelming palette of aromas. Whatever it was, I spent several years following this up by trying to find another "balkan". The virginias are present and provide their own standard notes for the first half of the bowl, but as the smoke strengthens they fall deeper into the background and the smoky, spicy flavors take over. The quality is very high in the Orientals are the star of the show in this blend. That's about all I can say. This blend consists of dark brown and black ribbons in the pouch along with a few flecks of tan. Give it some time to age, and it's easily one of the best Balkans on the market. Master blender Russ Ouellette was the hands-down winner, and this is his championship mixture: Black House, comprising a variety of tobacco for a complex English blend. The female nose is especially not fond of its room note. , Dont Buy It If You Arent GoingTo Smoke It, When can we have the goods? It was new and perfect one ! What I wanted to do is to see if this tobacco lived up to my memory of it. Not sure what to say but it nothing like the original and there are FAR better quality pipe blends than this. Well, not a real review, just sharing my story. Moreover, I find the Yenidje and other Orientals to be more pronounced and complex than in Peases Caravan. It does have an interesting history. |Home Yes, the contents were a bit moist and could do with a couple of days' drying, and were springy thanks to the ribbon cut. It is however, most complex and rich tasting, with a very unique nasal almost heady quality which I really enjoy; different than nicotine. Milan Pipe Tobacco This is probably the best English/Balkan type tobacco I ever had and I can only wonder if I will ever smoke it again. Great stuff and ill be stocking up. During the pursuit of perfection, excellence was achieved. Unfortunately, by now the cigarette industry had turned its unblinking eye upon turkish tobacco, consuming all there was. Middleton Pipe Tobacco No pipecleaner needed during the smoke. As for flavorits ok. That and its uncompromising flavour do not augur success with the masses. I would like to start out by saying that i am extremely annoyed by the two main ways this blend seems to be reviewed.. on the one hand, there is the reactionary camp who compare their current experience to the echoes of memories of long lost years.. then there is a progressive camp that seems all too willing to embrace and wax poetic on something they have recently discovered. Initial Flavor: Pungently sweet! Well, it was far less strong than I expect, and regarding the taste/body who knew anything about that? The Latakia is signific antly more dry than the virginias and orientals, and perhaps because of that the mixture is not well blended. I just received 50 more grams of it in today's mail. They all have a little bit of the same taste, something typical Dunhill. Before production ended, Balkan Sobranie suffered from a dumbed down recipe and its quality plummeted. Unfortunately, there was no Original Mixture. all of which I'll reach for before the new Balkan Sobranie. Everything about this blend is perfectly balanced. Trusted SSL Protection, **All orders over the limit of one or more than one order in a 24 hour period will automatically be refunded.**. I remember the room note. Is this a masterpiece Absolutely. Borkum Riff Pipe Tobacco During the Second World War Joe was stationed in England, where he visited Balkan Sobranie and made a deal with them to sell Balkan canned by them in London and labelled as Best, exclusively. Despite all of my gripes with the blend I thoroughly enjoy the flavor, and imagine it will become significantly better with age and added complexity. Last year a friend picked up some pouches from Japan: the tobacco was good, but a pale shadow of its glorious former self. It remains extremely consistent throughout the bowl and I frequently smoke it to the bottom without realizing it at all. 400 (closer, but not close enough). It's different, actually, in its deepness, due to different oriental leaves and the different proportions of the components. That was at the age of 15 behind the cycle sheds at Grammar school. It is a brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured. This BSOM makes you reach for that elusive flavor with each draw. It reminds me of two blends sort of: Pease's Charing Cross and Bohemian Scandal. 10 it became kind of the Holy Grail of the pipe tobaccos. It lights well, and burns fairly slowly as is typical for latakia/oriental blends. It was cheaper, and it had the stronger flavor I liked without being Galoises(sp?). Nope. but still smooth. So I'm writing what I think I recall here. . In all other respects, the tobacco is identical. Good English, definitely nowhere near the top. It has been almost 50 years since I last smoked the Sobranie Original Mixture in a pipe and yet I can remember it's taste and aroma as clearly as if it were yesterday. Please for the life of Pete, tell me where once again I may get this fine tobacco that I have been without now since the 1990's. Nic-hit was felt in the mouth and throat but nowhere else. With so many good tobaccos on the market today I'm very happy with the selection I have, to be great It has to be in production once and awhile. What else can I say about this blend that hasn?t already been said? I like this blend, holp it will be steady supplied. To my suprise I received some 5g sample pouoches, some old stuff of no significant meaning, 2 tins of Dunhill 965 murray's and a 50g pouch of Balkan Sobranie. Trough the bowl the mixture burned well, did not have to relight my pipe at all except after some tamping which was necessary after some half bowl was gone to ashes. Nice english, occasionally a hint of soap on the lat. Try a Sutliff match blend, Balkan Sasieni are better than this. We apologize, but this item is temporarily out of stock. I was lucky enough to snag a couple of tins when the past shipment arrived. This is probably the most famous Balkan blend ever. It was very simalar to the Original Mixture only much fresher and fuller in taste than those acient Tins you will find on ebay. . I'm going to miss this. I get my email notification go straight there to order & poof gone! Many other blends have the same problem. The taste is medium. Esoterica Pipe Tobacco Hence the new blends simply could never be the same. Packaging: Tin I am basing this review on only two bowls, as I intend to keep the rest of what I have and make it last as long as I can. It's taste was definitely much better than it's smell, full-bodied and smoky, and the room note was not too aggressive, there's somewhat of a "tang" to it, but you could easily smoke it unnoticed in a group of cigarette smokers. If you receive this confirmation repeatedly, you will need to enable cookies so that your response can be saved. Almost as if someone had tossed some diamond dust into the tin and shook it up. I've never had any version other than Germain's entry and again it's "Junk"! While he had Baby's Bottom, Three Nuns, various Dunhill blends and many others, along with a logically progressing series of tinned, Lane-blended American tobaccos exclusive to the store, the main event was a complete line of English tobaccos based on Balkan/Best. We used words like ?ephemeral? It was an occasional treat, like the driest gin. This one is smooth and bold with good sourness from the orientals and slight smoke from the Latakia. July 01, 2020. My 5 star rating is based on the original blend but I have never tried this newer iteration. I'm impressed by the quality vs. price. I kept the tin unsmoked for quite long time, just opening it and smelling that wonderful aroma. Also they have men in service that formerly worked for the House Sobranie. Not sure what to make of this. Perhaps all of the above. Old tins these days are just too mellow - although still MARVELOUS! After using the paper towel method and transferring the whole thing into a jar, I waited for a few days so that the tobacco flavors settle. The virginias appear to be aged nicely. The incense like aroma and fantastic taste is hard to describe and must be experienced at least once. I must say I am very disappointed. RM BXP2A6 - Advertisement for Balkan Sobranie cigarettes used in magazine circa 1927. IF you can obtain it. I am puzzled about availability. 2023 TobaccoPipes.com A wonderful combination of light body, full flavor and tobacco "goodness". I remember coming home with a can of Balkan Sobranie. This tin, my tin, had more or less 30 years, and was perfectly conserved, yesterday a smoked the last bowl during all the time I used a Savinelli King Cross, This is a small pipe, burns a 20 minutes, but a did a 40 minutes for enjoy each portion of this tobacco. I wonder if Balksn Sobranie Smoking Mixture will ever re-emerge in the US of A as Dunhill has recently. Under no circumstances did it live up to everything I have heard and read all this time, unless it is not the same blend any more. The smell of the tobacco was very moist and incredible, unlike any other brand save for a few English blends that I had experienced. The outstanding characteristic of this blend, to me, is the complexity and changing nature through the course of the bowl. Most of what you can buy in auctions today is dry to varying degrees, but I'll instantly transfer it to a Mason jar, wet a paper towel with distilled water, lay it over the top, seal the jar, and let it slowly rehydrate. I bought some in the spring from Boswells in Chambersburg, PA. Balkan Sasieni, while good, is not close to the original. I smoke this in a group 5 straight billiard and it is quite nice with hot tea, coffee, or in the evening with a fine single malt scotch. I cannot add anything significant to your eloquence. 4-5 lights to start and it would go out ocasionally. During the pursuit of perfection, excellence was achieved. The high quality of the tobacco in Balkan might have been just as important as the types of tobacco in it. I suppose a classic chapter in pipe-smoking is now closed, although I am sure that lovers of this blend in its heyday would envy us our personal acquaintance with people like, say, G.L.