My Final Balkan English Blend

[RSteve]

I even confused myself in a prior thread, so, hopefully this clears up the kerfuffle.
Now, I am done making changes. I've smoked three bowls and, in all honesty, for my taste, I think I've hit the mark. I don't know that I'll ever want to smoke anything else. Yes, the blend is only 47% latakia. Please note that in another thread the list of component blending tobacco has Sutliff Red Virginia listed twice. It was a mistake I made while doing a copy and paste. The correct list is in the next post.

 

[RSteve]

Peter Stokkebye 310 Black Latakia 16 oz.
Blending - Perique 3 oz.
Blending - TS24 Blended Turkish Ribbon 3 oz.
Sutliff Stoved Black Virginia 507-S 3 oz.
Sutliff Matured Red Virginia 515 RC-1 3 oz.
Sutliff unflavored Black Cavendish 5 oz.

1 one custom roll habano laguito #6
1 A. Flores Serie Privada Desflorado
1 A. Flores AFR-75 San Andres maduro

All cigars are toro size.

 

[RSteve]

After checking the major internet vendors for the components of this blend, only Pipesandcigars.com came close to having everything in stock, so I ordered the components for another 2 lb. batch. It appears that the major vendors are reducing inventories of "blending" tobaccos. I'm guessing that with the plethora of blends available, the demand for individual component tobaccos for DIY blenders may be too small to take up inventory space.

 

[Mikem]

Sounds like a really good mix/blend.

 

[RSteve]

Yesterday, I blended and pressed a 4.5 lb. batch.

 

[Timbo]

Sounds delicious, let us know how it goes once it's had a chance to meld.

 

[RSteve]

In my older age, I think I may be turning chicken s**t. Yesterday, I looked to see if all the component tobaccos were available to make up another batch. I already have several lbs., but asked myself, "What if the component tobaccos are never available again?" Based on what I saw, some substitutions may already be necessary.

 

[RSteve]

I couldn't resist doing some tweaking, a couple by necessity.

Peter Stokkebye 310 Black Latakia 16 oz
Blending - Perique 3 oz.
Sutliff Stoved Black Virginia 507-S 4 oz
Sutliff Matured Red Virginia 515 RC-1 3 oz
Peter Stokkebye 201 Black Cavendish 3 oz
Peter Stokkebye 313 Oriental 3 oz.
Peter Stokkebye 314 Dark Fired 1 oz.

 

[RSteve]

I couldn't resist doing some tweaking, a couple by necessity.

Peter Stokkebye 310 Black Latakia 16 oz
Blending - Perique 3 oz.
Sutliff Stoved Black Virginia 507-S 4 oz
Sutliff Matured Red Virginia 515 RC-1 3 oz
Peter Stokkebye 201 Black Cavendish 3 oz
Peter Stokkebye 313 Oriental 3 oz.
Peter Stokkebye 314 Dark Fired 1 oz.

The tobacco arrived about an hour ago.
I added:
1 one custom roll habano laguito #6
1 A. Flores Serie Privada Desflorado.
1 A. Flores AFR-75 San Andres maduro
1 Graycliff Golden Connecticut

The aroma of the mixture is divine. I'll smoke a bowl later, but I fear I'll enjoy it too much and decide not to press and can it for smoking several months from now.

 

[RSteve]

I couldn't resist making up another batch using the recently purchased whole leaf Latakia.

Cornell & Diehl Granulated Perique 2 oz.

​

Cornell & Diehl Izmir Turkish 2 oz.

​

Sutliff 507-S Stoved Virginia 2 oz.

​

Sutliff 515 RC-1 Red Virginia 2 oz.

​

Sutliff B20 Black Cavendish 3 oz. Assorted Cigar leaf 3 oz. Whole leaf Latakia 14 oz.

 

[RSteve]

I'm not sure what to think....After smoking a few test bowls, I think the above blend is too latakia dominant. I'm certain that it's the whole leaf latakia. But, I think it's too soon to make a judgment. It's been packed away.

To smoke right away, I ordered this:

Item Description	Item #	Qty	B/O	Ship	Price	Total
Blending - Perique	BGO-TB-1000	4 oz	0	4
Sutliff Stoved Black Virginia 507-S	AE2-TB-1000	4 oz	0	4
Sutliff Matured Red Virginia 515 RC-1	AE1-TB-1000	4 oz	0	4
Sutliff Black Cavendish	AAT-TB-1000	4 oz	0	4
Peter Stokkebye 310 Black Latakia	PFX-TP-1000	16 oz	0	15+1
Blending - Izmir Ribbon Cut	BGK-TB-1000	2 oz	0	2
Blending - Turkish Ribbon Cut	BG6-TB-1000	2 oz	0	2

Blending cigar leaf................................................................................................................2 oz

 

[RSteve]

To smoke right away, I ordered as posted above, and after many trials, I think I may have hit my sweet spot.

At least I hope so.

 

[RSteve]

To smoke right away, I ordered what I posted last Thursday at 8:32 PM

It's slated to arrive tomorrow (Wednesday) and I'm hoping the effort was worthwhile.
Truthfully, if I were to post all the failures I've had over many years of attempting to reach my holey grail of English blends, I think that I, along with many others, would get a good laugh.
As I looked through the containers of failures, I realize that most of my failures included too much burley and did not include any or enough stoved Virginia or unflavored black cavendish.

 

[RSteve]

Here we go again. I admit I'm running scared. This is the first time in weeks I've been able to assemble this because some of the components were not previously available. I think this situation will continue. Pipesandcigars.com says they only have two pounds of latakia remaining and looking at other retailers, it appears that it's getting very scarce.

Cart Items	Item #	In Stock	Running total
Blending - Perique	BGO-TB-1000	3 oz. 7.5%	7.5%
Sutliff Stoved Black Virginia 507-S	AE2-TB-1000	5 oz. 12.5%	20%
Sutliff Matured Red Virginia 515 RC-1	AE1-TB-1000	5 oz. 12.5%	32.5%
Sutliff Black Cavendish	AAT-TB-1000	5 oz. 12.5%	45%
Peter Stokkebye 310 Black Latakia	PFX-TP-1000	16 oz. 40% only 32 oz left	85%
Blending - Izmir Ribbon Cut	BGK-TB-1000	2 oz. 5%	90%
Blending - Turkish Ribbon Cut	BG6-TB-1000	2 oz. 5%	95%
Blending - Smyrna	BGU-TB-1000	2 oz. 5%	100%

I am debating with myself on whether to add cigar leaf.
Total cost with free shipping was $108.00/ 40 ounces/$2.70 oz. which I think, compared to most tinned prices, is pretty inexpensive. You may notice that the percentage of orientals is a bit higher in this blend than in my prior blends. I was seeking something a little different; change of pace.
WoW! Already shipped, expected by next Monday.
This is primarily made up of Sutliff tobacco. Virtually all, if not all of P & C's Blending tobacco is from Sutliff. I use P.S. 310 latakia because it's available and fairly inexpensive.

 

[RSteve]

I am debating with myself on whether to add cigar leaf.

I won the debate. In recent blends, I've used cigar leaf from a variety of cigars. This blend will only get leaf from maduro and oscuro cigars; no Cuban...................Or before adding cigar leaf, I may split the blend into two with only Cuban cigar leaf in one and maduro/oscuro in the other.

 

[ftrplt]

Ahem...FYI, perhaps a personage of your seniority/age might want to reconsider using "final" when describing/naming a thread/topic!!!! LOL!!! FTRPLT

 

[RSteve]

It may be the last time I can acquire all the component tobaccos I need and as such its:

 

[RSteve]

Till the next final.

 

[ftrplt]

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!! Good one!!!

 

[RSteve]

Just as I feared/expected Pipesandcigars.com is out of stock for Peter Stokkebye 310 Black Latakia. ($30.00 lb.)
See:https://www.pipesandcigars.com/p/peter-stokkebye-310-black-latakia-pipe-tobacco/1480420/
It looks like they're not planning on restocking.
"This item is no longer available for purchase."
Sure seems final to me.


Tobaccopipes.com has Sutliff TS18 Latakia for $50.63 lb(link).