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Balkan Sobranie facsimile

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FmGrowit

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Does anyone have a recipe? Is this a good candidate for a contest to see who can recreate this Classic Pipe tobacco blend? I have some of the original Balkan to compare against new blends, so we can do a contest like the one JitterBugDude is doing.

Thoughts.
 

Jitterbugdude

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I have a copy of the original mixing cards for Balkan Sobranie. I'll post them later when I get home. The recipe changed quite often though. I think GL Pease did an article about Balkan Sobranie and had copies of the mixing cards in the article. A google search might find them.
 

jojjas

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That would be great fun and also a dream to achieve but ,there is some questoins to be answered .
What kind of latakia does it contain , syrian or cyprian , and the 4 oz tin states that are yenidje in the blend as well , and i have been searching for yenidje leafs for somtime now ,and so far no luck
It maybe an rumor but i read some where that B.S contain 9 different sort of virginia tobaccos , can that even be possible:confused:
But heck yeah , i`m in for it , what is there to lose
Mikael
 

deluxestogie

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According to Constantanides, the town of Yenidje was destroyed by a massive flood in the mid 1800s. Its tobacco growers moved up the valley to the mountain slope town of Xanthi, and continued their growing. At the time of his writing, no high quality leaf was grown in the original Yenidje area. He states that all leaf sold commercially as "Yenidje" at that time (~1910) was Xanthi Yaka.

On this forum and elsewhere, there have been a number of debates about whether "Yenidje" (also sometimes spelled Yeniçe) is the same or a different seed variety from Xanthi Yaka.

The oldest Balkan Sobranie Smoking Mixture (BS White) that I recall was purchased by me in 1971. It contained lots of Latakia (50%+), which was almost certainly Syrian. Over the next couple of decades, with the decreasing availability of Syrian Latakia, my guess is that they migrated to Cyprian Latakia. Also, according to Pease, the specific Turkish varietals changed.

The greatest problem with a contest is deciding which of the many faces of BS White should be used for comparison. If we just say that Don's current can of "old" BS White will be the standard of comparison, likely no one else on the forum (including me) will have any idea what it is.

But, I think it's a great blending challenge to make a mild, smooth and rich "Macedonian" style English pipe blend.

Virginias
Orientals
Latakia
?Perique?

Bob
 

deluxestogie

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Memory Lane

I believe (can't really recall for certain) that I bought this can of Balkan Sobranie Smoking Mixture in the mid to late 1980s, but it could have been a little earlier or a little later.

The container itself was closed with a large pop-top lid, and included a plastic cap. Both of these were later modifications. The earliest cans I remember (1971) were entirely of metal, including a metal cap that had an attached can opener point that could be slid from the extreme margin of the cap to a position perfect for rotating the lid to cut the soft metal top of the can.

Garden20140529_1190_BalkanSobranieFront_500.jpg

Balkan Sobranie 200g can, front.

Garden20140529_1191_BalkanSobranieBack_500.jpg

Balkan Sobranie 200g can, back.

The barcode on the side of the can appeared some time in the 1980, when merchants began to computerize their point of sale systems.

Garden20140529_1192_BalkanSobranieBarcode_500.jpg

Balkan Sobranie 200g can, barcode on side.

Garden20140529_1193_BalkanSobranieDust_500.jpg

All that's left of this relic blend is dust, mostly Latakia fines.

Even though the can label is old enough to have liver spots, the barcode is a giveaway that it's not the earliest of blends.

I recall a heavy Latakia taste and aroma, but definite portions of red and lemon-colored shred.

Bob
 

jojjas

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It was more than 30 years ago that i smoked a few bowls with BS so i cant say how it realy taste , memory is not what it should be.

I have half of a tin left from the from the new BS by JFG , and i am still continue to determent what it is blended of and how it is processed
And a close look in the tin i have, there are something that i should describe as brown cavendish in it , i could be wrong buuuuuut ,i am quite sure that is what i am detecting .

It surely does contains a substantial amount of latakia , the G L Pease article says that it was 35-50 % .

But what about the virginias and orientals then , what kind and amount should it be , suggestion anybody ?


So cooking it down to a few words ,
Definitely
30-50% latakia
Virginia amount % , sort of ? , process method ?
Oriental amount % ,sort of ?

maybe
Brown cavendish ?
Perique ?

Objection or suggestions any one
Mikael
 

FmGrowit

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All of the different containers I've read made reference to "mature Virginia" "Aged Ripe Virginia" etc. This would most definitely be the Red Virginia.

I'll see if I can get even a sample of Yenidji, Yeniçe and/or Xanthi Yaka.
 

deluxestogie

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I would agree that it's the red Virginia. It's a dead ringer for the Virginia portion of the older BS White.

I am confident that the older BS White contained no Cavendish. Lord know what they put into the newer ones, but they no longer even resemble the earlier versions.

I have notions of the ingredients and the relative proportions, but it wouldn't be much of a competition if I revealed them.

Bob
 

FmGrowit

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I'll try to bring all of the critical components together then send out kits to several pipe smokers to blend a BS facsimile.

Since JBD has already done one of these, I'll probably just assign him the duty to run the testing :)
 

smokinghole

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I'd be interested in some of this different oriental leafs you listed to make myself a nice latakia flake in the inspiration of Penzance. Only I want to cut the tounge drying charcoal mouth that Penzance can sometimes give me. I just keep putting off buying a bunch of leave from the site to do it up.
 

Desertpipe

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Matching old blends is a favorite past-time, and is the basis for a number of the blends that have come to market in the past several years. Fred Hanna's Wilderness and Legends are two, as well as a number from the different blenders at PipesandCigars, McCellend's, and C&D. One of the things that makes it difficult, and I think it was Greg Pease that pointed this out, is that any currently stored samples of the old blends are aged, and probably have only a small resemblance to the original blend fresh.
 

Jitterbugdude

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We'll probably never be able to mimic Balkan Sobranie because no one can come close to knowing what the original formula was and there are not enough of us that have tried the original. We do, however have the formula for Three Nuns ( thanks to jojjas). That would probably are more realistic experiment. The best we could do with a Balkan Sobrabie wanna-be is to come up with an English Blend that we all like. Don could then stock the appropriate leaf, maybe as a kit for people to make their own. Also, don't rule out that people and clubs in the past have come up with such goods blends that they have their own private label. Seattle Pipe club, CORPS and at least one of the C&D blends comes to mind. A pipe tobacco massed produced called "Balkan FTT"?
 

deluxestogie

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How much interest would I have in striving for Three Nuns? Nun.

Baby's Bottom? More interesting.

John Cotton No. 1 & 2? Even better.

But aiming for BS White is an epic quest. Worse case is that we end up with a lot of interesting Latakia blends.

Bob
 

FmGrowit

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OK, here's what I suggest.

I'll send a half ounce or so of some 1980's BS to each member would has posted in this thread to date. I'll also send Some Latakia and Virginia Red.

We'll have to wait to see what reply I get for the other Turkish types

What else do I need to send out to get started?
 
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