balkan sobraine from pipes and cigars

[driftinmark]

found this article , lots of good stuff here....once saw a recipe and it talked about using 40 - 50 % latakia in the blend, ouch.....also made mention of the switch from syrian latakia to cypress latakia.....

http://pipesmagazine.com/blog/pipe-tobacco-reviews/balkan-sobranie-re-release-review-and-throwdown/


http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2012/01/balkan-sobranie-article-by-g-l-pease.html

http://pipesmagazine.com/blog/out-of-the-ashes/balkan-sobriety/#more-5519

enjoy!!!

 

[Steve2md]

Great articles! good to see others interested in pipes as well!

 

[deluxestogie]

The last Balkan Sobranie White that I smoked (from a treasured 1/2 pound can, maybe 10 years ago), had, I would guess, 30-35% Latakia. The Yenidje was definitely less than 20%. There was no burley taste, but definite bright Virginia.

Bob

 

[SmokeStack]

I have over the years purchased Balkan Sobranie White from all decades. I was even crazy enough to spend $700 on two 2 oz cutter top tins from the '60s. I have a few cans from the '70s and round tins from the early '80s. I have also purchased a case of Gallaher's pouch addition (from a tobacconist in South Africa) and a few months back I stock piled several tins of J. F. Germain's new version. I have enjoyed them all. And yes i suffer a bit from TAD.

However, recently i came to the conclusion that Balkan Sobranie White or 759 are not the Holy Grails of Balkan blends. Although BSW is a fantastic blend, there are many blends out there that are just as good if not better - Margate and Penzance from Esoterica come to mind. I have always had trouble interpreting reviews as they seem to be subjective. In the pipesmagazine.com comparison of BSW with GLPease's Meridian, the use of descriptors is essentially the same (but maybe at different times as the bowl is smoked). The only way to make such an assessment is to smoke the tobacco blend.

BSW is a great tobacco blend, but if I were stranded on a deserted island with only one blend to smoke, I would choose Margate hands down.

Despite my reservations with pipe tobacco reviews, I still manage to read them. I tend to pay particular attention to the tobaccos used in the blend more than anything else. Thanks driftingmark for the links.

Marco