Balkan Sasieni
-
Kevin Godbee - Sep 12, 2018
- 5 min read
Kyle Weiss
I’m not a huge fan of summer. It’s my least favorite of the seasons, especially toward the end. People are generally overexcited, looking forward to beaches, tanning, outdoor concerts, camping and swimming. These things are just fine, until throngs of people all have the same idea and turn pleasant days into madness. I never understood the appeal of people cramming like sardines into one location, all the while stressing over how and when to do it, to achieve some sort of relaxation. Summer evenings are great, albeit a bit too hot even after we dip into the rotating shadow from singeing inferno-ball that irradiates the planet. Nah, I’m an autumn guy. Harvests, bounty, cooler temperatures, crisp mornings, ice that doesn’t melt quickly, earlier evenings,–that’s my scene. Fishing, long-sleeve shirts and beverages that steam into the air. Everything seems to slow down from panicking for fun to taking a break.
Latakia is one of the things I really enjoy jumping into when these seasonal chapters flip from one to the other. This fall, I’m getting to know a tobacco that I’ve dabbled with off and on for some time, Balkan Sasieni. It’s been a while since someone around these parts published any notes regarding this often underappreciated mixture. There’s always going to be bellyaching about what it was, or what might have been better than it yesteryear. I’m going to focus on what it is, a now-Scandinavian Tobacco Group made product, a particular tin of tobacco in the Balkan style, available at a retailer near you.
The tin’s reverse reads:
“Original formula Balkan smoking mixture was created in London at the beginning of the [20th] century by the master of Tobacco Blenders who first combined the aromatic pleasures of the choicest of Macedonia and Latakia leaf with the richness of Old Virginia to give the pipe smoker an unrivalled smoking pleasure.”
Which master, I’m not sure. Where in Macedonia this leaf was originally procured I’m not sure either. At this point, I’m rebooting into a carpe diem mode with as little drama as possible. In the tin as one might guess it’s undeniably smoky–but not overwhelming. Refreshingly so, I might add, almost like offshore breezes with a beach fire nearby. It has a basic but woodsy scent that could be one of one hundred other tobaccos similar to it out there.
Packing and lighting are easy, as STG’s method of making ribbons ensures nearly any packing method can get you smoking without a hitch. This was also in welcome to the spirit and mindset I’m cultivating this month. The dryness is perfect, and if not. spend a little more time lighting it slowly rather than torching the bowlful wantonly. In the first quarter of the smoke you can expect it to be gentle, without being mute. Likely one of the least spicy of this genre, but it charms just right and thankfully without being a yawn. A lot of Balkan smokes can be a little rough on the tongue if not approached carefully, but Balkan Sasieni seems to be a little more forgiving. There’s a butteriness to the smoke that carries a hint of sawed-wood as a background note that I look forward to. The Latakia is in polite amounts, and never shouts louder than the other tobaccos in the crowd, which I believe leans more Virginia-heavy than Oriental.
Halfway through, if you have a newer tin, a little grassiness may be found, and the Latakia may be a little more pronounced. Left in the tin to gain some age, even just a couple of years, the sharpness gets smoothed out to an even flavor, although it isn’t a dramatic shift. As is, it’s slightly meaty, like a good jerky, with a touch of black pepper. The savory taste is honest without being brash, it’s not sweet in the slightest, leaning almost sage and pine-like. Setting down the pipe and forgetting about it to attend to things and revisiting it a little while later can give some enjoyment, although if you’re already raking leaves or drawing out plans to build a terrifying spectre to make the kids crap themselves in a month or so, leaving it in your jaw to smolder while doing chores isn’t a bad way to go, either.
The last quarter to the end of the bowl ramps up a little more of the black pepper and herbaceous woodiness, but as from the first light, the flavors never overwhelm. The Latakia gracefully bows out and then you’re finished. It’s pretty straightforward. Before that moment, if you please, pour yourself a gin-type drink to go with it, as the pairing is damned nice. If you’re not a drinker, black coffee is my choice of morning companions, and it happily goes along for a good smoke, too. Nicotine is moderate, puffing speed is tolerated no matter what happens (so long as packing is reasonable), and choice of pipe seems not to matter too much. I do find wider-chambered pipes, uncommon in my collection, do open up and thicken flavors a little more. But who cares? It’s fall. Do what you want and enjoy it.
Balkan Sasieni is not a stand-out smoke, but it is a stand-up one. This time of year, basking in the lack of pressure of the waning summer, and by my overall poise this month, my goals are clear. I simply want to smoke. I’ll leave any reference and sentiment to compare the Balkan genres, former makers and products to the denizens of scholarly experts. This isn’t a history lesson or woe for times of yore, it’s a day-in-the-life-of. With this particular tobacco, most importantly, I don’t find it trying to be anything it isn’t, and this is what caused me to pick it up for a re-visit this September. There’s no pressure from it. It’s not expensive, it’s easy to smoke and not hard to find. If you’re like me and tend to put the Virginias in hibernation during the cooler months in favor of a smokier taste, it’s a good way to take a breather and get reacquainted with a great time of year.
Written by Kevin Godbee
2 Responses
Smokingpipes.com Updates
18 Fresh AKB Meerschaum Pipes |
108 Fresh Peterson Pipes |
3 Fresh Il Cerchio Pipes |
24 Fresh Rossi Pipes |
12 Fresh Nørding Pipes |
Recent Posts
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 641. Our featured interview tonight is with Jeremy Reeves. Jeremy is the Head Blender at Cornell & Diehl and is featured in our recurring series, “Ask the Tobacco Blender”. However, tonight he will be the interviewee as we learn about how he became a pipe smoker and collector, when he got his first pipe and how he progressed from there. At the top of the show, Brian will have a review of the rare German tobacco blend, Tumblin’ Dice.
I remember the first time I heard someone else say it. “How many pipes do I need? Just one more.” It’s glib, sure, a bit of a joke, but it also rings a bell of truth, at least to me. I certainly have “enough” pipes, but pipes are seductive little things. Just when we think we’re all set, we have enough, another will come along that tempts us beyond any sense of reason. I suppose it’s the same way with any sort of collecting. There’s always another white whale we’re in pursuit of. When we finally track that one down, though, another will almost inevitably breach the surface, taking its place as the new object of our desire, enticing us to change course and set sail once again. But, there’s a potential problem with having a lot of pipes. Maybe. The more pipes we may have, the harder it can be to keep them in rotation. It makes sense. We tend to gravitate towards our current faves, the ones that most appeal to us for whatever reason, and sometimes, maybe they stay in rotation longer than they really should. The side-effect of this, of course, is that another favored pipe might end up too-long forgotten. That’s exactly what happened recently. Exhibit A: The Castello pictured is one that has been long overlooked. It’s a Trademark shape #55. It’s a really nice example of the shape. The red pearlized stem is beautifully done. The wood isn’t really anything special to look at, but it’s evenly covered, without any bald spots. When I look at it, I wonder why it wasn’t done in the more typical dark ruby-red finish that adorns most Trademarks. I’ve seen a great deal of variation amongst the grade over the years, including one really nice bent-bulldog that left the factory with a brown sandblasted finish. (For those who don’t know, Trademark has long been the lowest Castello smooth grade, usually finished in a dark red.) Was this a stamping/grading error, or is there just more leeway in the grade than we’ve come to expect? I might never know. This example is from the early 1970s, maybe even the late 1960s, identified by the upper case Ks in the grade designation. (On Sea Rock and Old Antiquari pipes, the Ks reflect the size, while with the smooth finishes, Trademark, Castello and Collection, the Ks represent the relative grade.) It has been living in a different rack than the one housing the majority of my #55s. I don’t recall why I put it there, but as many of us can relate to, rack space is often at a premium. I stumbled upon it while looking for something completely different. “Oh, you? Why are you there? I remember you smoke pretty well.” Yeah, I sometimes talk to my pipes – one of many quirks, I suppose. I won’t begin to worry until they start talking back. I grabbed it from the rack, dusted it off, and decided to give it a fill with a bowl of a slightly aged VA/perique blend, Telegraph Hill, from 2018. What a delightful smoke! At five years, the tobacco is expressing a lot of the complexities of aged Virginias and the perique adds a delightful fruitiness. When young, the composition is a bit brighter, maybe a little spicier, but time has polished any edges, and amplified the sweeter notes. Like the pipe, I’d forgotten about this blend for quite a while, but one evening in March, after chatting with my good friend Nate, who is quite a fan of it, I decided it might be time to revisit it. I got a couple of fresh ones, and excavated a couple older tins from the library. I normally reach for Fillmore when I want a VA/perique thing because of its boldness and depth, but in revisiting this one, I’m finding something soothing and comfortable about it that I’ve really been enjoying, both young and aged. Sticking with the theme of the forgotten, and as a perhaps interesting tidbit to the photographically inclined, I shot the pictures for this month’s column with my old Nikkor-O 35mm/2.0 mounted on my trusty Nikon Df. The last time I used this lens, it was adapted to one of my Fujifilm bodies, and I didn’t care much for the results, so I put it away and pretty much forgot about it. But, I’ve recently been exploring some of my old kit, deciding what to keep, what to pass along, and this one once again came to my attention, kind of like that old Castello. On the Df, there’s something about its vintage rendering that I find truly appealing. Another forgotten treasure, and just like with that old pipe, it seems that, at least today, everything old is new again. If your collection is on the large side, are there pipes or tobaccos that you’ve all but forgotten, only to come back to them one day to find yourself wondering why? Maybe it’s just another fun dimension to this endlessly fascinating journey.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 640. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Ben Rapaport. Ben has been known internationally as an avid pipe smoker, antique pipe collector, and book author. His first book on pipes was published in 1972, and his latest book – his 10th – is out now in very limited quantities. The distribution has already sold out, but you can still get a copy of “The Wide World of Wood Tobacco Pipes. Two Centuries of Craftsmanship and Creativity” by contacting him directly at ben70gray@gmail.com. At the top of the show we’ll be turning the tables on our recurring Ask the Pipemaker segment. This time, Jeff Gracik will ask the questions, which Brian will answer as a pipe collector, and you can give your answers too.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 639. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Per Billhäll. Per is the owner of Scandinavian Pipes, which is an online retailer of high grade pipes. He started smoking pipes in the 1960s. His first high grade pipe was made by Hans “Former” Nielsen, who is one of the living legends from Denmark. That led to Per becoming a huge pipe and tobacco collector, and show attendee where he became well known. Along with pipe book author Jan Andersson, they started The Pipe Club of Sweden in 1991. Then in 1999, Per started “Scan Pipes”. He is now one of the pipe retailing legends from Sweden. At the top of the show Brian will talk about holiday blends, and other special pipe tobacco blends.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 638. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Fae “The Sassy Pipe Lady” Simmons. Fae is the owner of Tobacco Treasures, which sells new, vintage, & estate pipes, and smoking accessories on Etsy. She has been in business since 2017, and has been surrounded by pipes and tobacco most of her life. Her father and his brother smoked pipes, and so does Fae. Her husband is also a retired tobacconist that worked all over the industry from coast to coast for several different companies in the industry. She has a great story of how her business got started with a great inventory of unsmoked vintage pipes. At the top of the show we will have an Ask the Tobacco Blender segment with Jeremy Reeves. Jeremy is the Head Blender at Cornell & Diehl, which is one of the most popular boutique pipe tobacco companies in the USA.
Ok, so it’s that time of year, as we all know. Family feasts, houses, yards, and big trees festooned with lights and dangling ornaments, just high enough to keep the cats from reaching a paw into the greenery. It’s also the time of year when your pipe-smoking-significant other makes vast hints about a new pipe. That’s to be expected since he or she was a good boy or girl during the year. Yes, ladies smoke pipes, too. Oh, you want an example? Okay, try Actress Greta Garbo, Millicent Fenwick, Mary Frith, and my late grandmother (who died when she was 93) dipped snuff and smoked a cob occasionally. So now that we have settled that the gentler side of life will puff a pipe too, let’s move on to the upcoming biggest holiday of all. Of course, that huge event is brought to us by the hefty fellow in a red suit, puffing his pipe all the way in a sled filled with presents, being led by a reindeer with a red nose. Or some such. That’s Santa Claus, of course. Becoming a bit more serious, Christmas is such a wonderful time for families and friends. It’s also quite special for pipe puffers. For many of us, this brings up a nostalgic look back to our pipe-smoking or cigar-smoking friends who have died during the current year. A great journalist pal whom I often joined in a local brick-and-mortar pipe and cigar shop. I puffed my pipe, and occasional cigar, as he enjoyed a cigar. He died in October and will be missed. On the happier side of things, Christmas is also a time when mind workers of the world renew their collections with fresh additions. Pundit included. A French passion has overtaken Pundit, from reading more Albert Camus, a heavy cigarette smoker, as were many French intellectuals of a certain time. Instead of cigarettes many of us prefer the more relaxed enjoyment of pipes for that “calm and objective judgment” in the comings and goings of the world. This brings me to French pipes. While visiting France once in the long ago, I happened by a “Tabac” shop in Paris, Tabac Des Vosges. I purchased a beauty of a Chacom bent. I also later bought a Ropp made from ancient briar. To learn more about the dawn of briar pipes and beginnings, take a peek at a well-done piece by Davin Hylton in Pipe Line on April 12, 2023, on Saint-Claude, France, the birthplace of briar. Also in the long back when, on a cold Christmas afternoon, Pundit wandered into an Atlanta bricks and mortar pipe shop to look around. There, resting in an enclosed glass counter was an exquisite Comoy. An older gent, smoking a beautiful bent, asked me if I wanted to look at that pipe. It had a $100 price tag. A college student working for a grocery store chain to help with college tuition at the time, Pundit didn’t have one hundred cents, let alone a C note! I declined and found a $5 basket pipe. A Christmas tradition had just begun. Since that early time, Pundit has made it a holiday ritual to either reward himself, or a special friend, with pipe or tobacco. A Claudio Cavicchi would be nice. Just sayin.’ And now for a couple of December-born Pipe Smokers of the Past: Joseph Rudyard Kipling was born on Dec. 30, 1865, and died on Jan. 18, 1936. I always prefer to believe the best of everybody; it saves so much trouble—Rudyard Kipling. Martin Van Buren, born Dec. 5, 1782, and died July 24, 1862, U.S. President, 1837-1841 As to the presidency, the two happiest days of my life were those of my entrance upon the office and my surrender of it—Martin Van Buren. And one more note to recall a deceased World War II veteran who loved William Somerset Maugham, the author. Maugham, a pipe smoker, was born in Paris, France, on Jan. 25, 1874, and died on Dec. 16, 1965. One cool afternoon as the veteran and I talked while sitting in his backyard patio, he looked off into the distance as if studying something. Nothing in particular. Just looking. He turned to me and said if I wanted to learn about life, “read Somerset Maugham.” I did. It wasn’t until late in life that I discovered how easy it is to say, ‘I don’t know’ –W. Somerset Maugham And now a Parting Shot: Any day with an old friend with pipes and tobacco is a good day.
I have smoked a fair amount of this, over the years – as a matter of fact, I have a tin open right now. I smoked a lot more of it before White Knight came out.
Good shout on this one, Kyle. I remember purchasing a tin of this at the Reno TinderBox many years back. I believe it was the first Balkan, and likely the first blend with Latakia at all, that I had ever put a match to. It’s always held a special place of honor to me for that reason. I agree completely: This blend is “not a stand-out smoke, but it is a stand-up one.” Always a pleasure to read your thoughts – Cheers.