Balkan taste??

Subject: Re: Balkan taste?? Thu Jan 03, 2008 9:14 pm

Minority maybe,Bob-but certainly not all alone in liking SotE;I too cellar,at present around 10 pounds in 8 oz cans.SotE is my "Go To" blend,and I enjoy it in large bowled pipes.
I favor Balkans in the wintertime,Odyssey,Charing Cross,Abingdon,and I like English blends also.I have Pirate Cake,but am not too fond of it anymore,will probably trade it off soon.
One of the beautiful things about this is the ability to enjoy tobacco in so many different tastes and textures.As I said,I prefer Balkans,but I also cellar what I consider to be large amounts of Va/Per blends(PSLNF,Elizabethan Mixture,2015,and 6 oz of Pebblecut that I am going to smoke in 10 years....)and I have several styles of Virginia Blends....
If you decide you don't like Balkans,so be it,Davey.Maybe try a different blend,or wait a few years and try again,or best of all-smoke that which you enjoy!
Someday I may try a Burley blend again.... Wink

Tony

Subject: Re: Balkan taste?? Thu Jan 03, 2008 9:34 pm

SOTE is a fine tobacco, ranks number two in my 'best of C&D' list. Pirate Cake is the only blend that whacks me like that. Its crazy I can smoke Old Ironsides and Penzance as allday smokes but PirateCake destroys my Palete

Subject: Re: Balkan taste?? Fri Jan 04, 2008 2:18 am

great info guys, thanks.
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Subject: Re: Balkan taste?? Fri Jan 04, 2008 1:51 pm

Puros,
I'm with you on the Pirate Kake, after a half bowl, I can't taste anything
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Subject: Re: Balkan taste?? Sat Jan 05, 2008 8:19 pm

Greetings Davey,

Please allow me to muddy the waters.

Carlos said it best, I think, that there is no "clear line" as to what is an English or a Balkan ... and I'll add, even an "Oriental." (You may wish to stop reading here, and I wouldn't blame you).

I used to think and say, well, I know Balkan when I smoke it. But then, own understanding of Balkan.

It seems that over the past 8-10 years that I've been reading, studying and learning about tobacco, Balkan has seemed to imply a significant contribution of oriental leaf, along with virginia and latakia. This contrasted with "English" which seems to me to mean a latakia blend which may have some orientals as a spice, or not, but the orientals don't share center stage with latakia nor does it dominate a blend.

A brief aside - I recall some debate once about "English" not necessarily meaning a latakia blend, which I think is not the current commonly used meaning of the term "English" blend.

I've muddied the waters in the past by discussing "Balkan Light" blends by which I meant oriental dominated blends with only light to medium contributions of latakia. And I've probably made it worse by including oriental blends with no latakia in my "Balkan Light" category. And to make matters more difficult, there are debates about some blends as to if they contain any latakia or not (this is documented for a number of blends on tobaccoreviews.com and other online pipe forums).

I would now, I think, classify Campanile an "oriental" not a Balkan "light" (does it have latakia? I am not certain, but I think not). Although it tastes very similar to Dunhill's Early Morning Pipe (which I think has latakia in it, although there are a few who have said it doesn't).

So, what? ... well I think many do use "Balkan" to mean an english blend with latakia where orientals are rather noticeable. So we could probably agree with some decent inter-rater reliability as to how to classify some blends as being Balkan. I mean, Nightcap would be an English, right? Oh, wait, maybe not according to two different opinions just in this thread.

So, maybe we should just go with what the blender calls a blend. Like Balkan Sobranie. Balkan Sasieni and SG's Balkan Flake, right? Hmmmm, well, that can't be right, can it? Balkan Flake is a Balkan??? I'm so confused.

Well, Greg Pease makes the best - what I would call - Balkan blends. My favorites are Abington and Ashbury. Hmmm, certainly there are similarities but some distinct differences. OK, maybe Abington is a "full" Balkan and Ashbury is a "Balkan Light" but based on what? Again, I would mean the amount of latakia in the blend.

Now, another aside - what is Lombard (other than an excellent blend), and English? A balkan (certainly I wouldn't think this). OK, what about Laurel Heights (apologies to Mr. Pease if you are reading this, don't mean to bring up an old subject which may have some negative valence for you)? Is LH an English?? OK, I've hijacked my own thread for the second time. Let's cut to the chase, finally, right?

OK, I've spent time reviewing this topic over the past few days and I'll defer to master blender, especially of Balkan blends, Mr. Greg Pease ... Greg??

The following is from this link - http://www.glpease.com/FAQ.html - which I have copied from his site here for your convenience.

"There's been some discussion of late about what a “Balkan Blend” is, and after some poking about in old ephemera - tobacconists' catalogues, old magazines and so on - I'm beginning to believe that the term is meaningless. Generally, people seem to apply it to an English mixture with a greater presence of oriental tobaccos, but this isn't really a fair cop. I suspect the term was probably originally used to describe a blend that is similar to the now venerated Balkan Sobranie. What's interesting is that this particular blend was dominated by virginias and Latakia, with only delicate sprinklings of oriental leaf, which is quite at odds with the current colloquial usage.

Probably better just to think of the two terms as being interchangeable, if we use them at all, since any definitions we create will be similarly aribtrary."

OK, so if the master says the term may be meaningless or arbitrary, I guess I may be arbitrary, too. So, I'll stick with my understanding of Balkan, I guess.

As for Balkan blends I would recommend these

GLPease Ashbury and Abington.
Dunhill's Durbar and EMP (at least the Murray's version, I've not had the Orlick yet).

Sorry, Davey. Hopefully you will find some "Balkan" or oriental blends that you like.

Oh, as far as oriental blends go, this is a great time for pipe smoking, with recent blends from McClellands (the Grand oriental series) and some of their older blends - No. 14 and No. 24. Also, try GLPease's Embarcadero. I'll throw in Samuel Gawith's Sam's Flake also. And I strongly recommend Fox's Campanile.

And, if you can get them, Ferndown's Red and Orange, and perhaps their Black and Tan as well.

good luck, if you have persevered through this rambling post.

TC

Subject: Re: Balkan taste?? Sat Jan 05, 2008 8:21 pm

Sorry folks, I hit submit when I meant to hit review. Well, the deed is done, the dye is cast. I ask for your tolerance for my poor writing in the previous post. I'll let it go, now.

TC

Subject: Re: Balkan taste?? Sat Jan 05, 2008 8:27 pm

Well done Tom! You gave your own findings and feelings in a well thought out manner, and since this is such a grey area, would be hard to argue against anything you said. I think that the only way we could get a consensus would be to get several blenders and manufacturers to tell us specifically what they do put in a balkan that is different from what they put in an english that gets the term Balkan put on the tin.
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Subject: Re: Balkan taste?? Sat Jan 05, 2008 8:52 pm

PD,

First, you are too kind, but thank you for your encouraging words.

Second, I think your suggestion would be optimal, but I suspect that will never happen. Perhaps it will just be what the current usage of the term happens to be, like what happens with dictionaries. meanings of words change over time.

TC

Subject: Re: Balkan taste?? Mon Jan 07, 2008 5:15 pm

Tom,

great stuff here. The 3rd time I am reasding it now. I do have a tin oh yenjde highlander I am getting ready to open and try. I'll post when I bet to saomple a few bowls.
I am just wondering what it WAS that my palette balked at. What aspect of the Oriental? I do seem to like latakia ( English Stout as a light blend, and Zdunhll Nitecap as fuller. I also enjoyed Odyssey). maybe I do not care for Oriental leaves??

that settles it: i am opening the tin of Highlander tonight! (cracking it open as we I type...almost).
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Subject: Re: Balkan taste?? Mon Jan 07, 2008 6:34 pm

Tom,thanks for the post!
Tony