Favorite Balkan Blends?

SERENTIL

Putting aside the debate on what is or isn't considered a Balkan Blend, please let me know what your favorite(s) Balkan Blends are and why. 

motie2

Balkan Sobranie. Back in the day I smoke it (and Cope's Escudo, a VaPer) exclusively. If the Balkan Sobranie was available today, I'd probably go back to it. (And SWMBO would kill me.) 

I tried Hearth & Home Marquee BlackHouse and it just didn't cut it, at least for me.....

PappyJoe

So far, Pike's Place but I have several more "Balkan Blends" I'm trying to decide on.

Unfortunately Pike's Place is off the market.

motie2

Has anyone tried "Balkan Blue"?

motie2

Don't know where to post this, but I've found two very informative articles about the English/Latakia/Balkan/Oriental controversy:

http://pipesmagazine.com/python/pipe-tobacco/english-blends-and-latakia-blends-one-in-the-same/

http://pipesmagazine.com/python/pipe-tobacco/the-mystery-of-balkan-blends/

The author suggests the following:

<< .... here is a list of simplified terms that I use and how I define them:

• English Blend – Blends that are made in the UK.


• American Blend – Blends that are made in the U.S.A.


• Latakia & Balkan Blends – Blends that contain a noticeable amount of Latakia. 


• Oriental Blend – Blends that contain a large amount of Oriental tobaccos.


• Virginia/Perique Blend (VaPer) – Blends that contain Virginia tobaccos and Perique.


• Virginia/Oriental Blend – Blends that contain a larger portion of Virginia than Oriental.


• Aromatic Blend – Blends that contain added flavorings that are not natural to the tobacco. >>

motie2

To the above articles, please add this one, by By G. L. Pease

http://pipesmagazine.com/blog/out-of-the-ashes/what-is-a-balkan-blend/

SERENTIL

Good articles motie.  I'd read the first two previously.

judandhispipe

@motie: Black House is intended to replicate Balkan Sobranie 759, as is Balkan Blue. I have smoked both; I prefer Balkan Blue.
Hearth & Home's White Knight is intended to replicate the old Sobranie Original Smoking Mixture - Sobranie White, not Sobranie Black - 759. I think it's pretty darned close. I smoked a fair amount of that lovely stuff, back in the early 1970s.
I also enjoy Balkan Sasieni.
I've got a post around here somewhere discussing all of that.

motie2

Thank you for the information, @judandhispipe. I knew about the relationship of Black House to BS759. I did not know about the relationship between BS(White) and White Knight. That did not come across in reviews I read. Your comments are very helpful. I adored BS(White) back in the day, before my decades of pipe hiatus. Yeah, that and Cope's Escudo (a VaPer). The two were almost all I smoked back then.

Woodsman

Balkan Sasieni has always been a favorite of mine, I used to order 5 tins at a time when on sale, I've only managed to Cellar less than 10% of them.

judandhispipe

I haven't cracked a tin of Sasieni in a while - I will have to do so before long. I had smoked a lot of it before I discovered WK, and then my consumption fell off/ It's time for another tin.

SERENTIL

Sasieni has been in my Wish List for quite some time.  I think its time to move it to the Cart.

motie2

If any of you have tried both, what are the essential differences between Balkan Sobraine (or, I guess, White Knight) and Balkan Sasieni? 

Thank you.

Woodsman

I prefer Balkan Sasieni to White Knight. WK seems slightly stronger with less richness to BS. I Prefer McClelland 5110 to either. I don't think the White Knight matches what others say Balkan Sobranie was like.

motie2

I smoked Balkan Sobranie 50 years ago, back when it was readily available. I tried BlackHouse last summer when I took up the pipe again, because I didn't understand what Russ was trying to do vis-a-vis Balkan match blends. Someday, I'll try White Knight, but for now I'm sticking with my Sutliff blends; ones that are at the far other end of the pipe tobacco spectrum from Balkan/Englisg/Oriental blends.

motie2

<<English>>

motie2

SERENTIL

That's pretty cool!  I love the vintage classic tobacco and pipe adverts.