Sutliff's Balkan Luxury Blend 759

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settersbrace

Lifer
Mar 20, 2014
1,565
5
First off let me say that the review of this blend by jiminks was and is the gold standard in reviewing this new to me blend and what follows is simply my impression of close to a weeks worth of taste testing.
Sutliff is new to me, I've never tried any of their blends prior to being gifted this tin as well as a yet to be opened tin of Westminster that came with an estate pipe I bought from Shantiques.
Tin note: I press my nose to all tins when I pop them to capture that essence of the sealed tobacco. This blend gave me a mild hint of ketchup and sweetness but nothing unusual, nothing that I wouldn't expect from a Balkan/ English blend and that includes the smokey aroma of Latakia and the vinegar like Perique?
Visual notes: I observed mostly what looks to be a truncated ribbon cut with light to dark shades of brown and healthy dose of black. I'm assuming its a combination of Latakia and black Cavendish which the blend carries according to the tin description.
The fun part!: I had recently gone through my quarterly ritual of thoroughly scrubbing my pipes so I had 3 clean and fresh briars that I have dedicated to this type of blend. All in all I am really quite impressed with LBB 759, in fact it's one of the best Balkans I've smoked to date. It's a Lat forward smoke to be sure but not so much so that the sweet Orientals and Cavendish shine through and balance it into a creamy, mouth filling smoke. Jim mentions a hint of Vanilla in his review, I'm not picking it up at all. I typically smoke a Balkan once, maybe twice a day and this one could easily become an all day smoke for me because it has yet to go flat or leave me wishing for something else. This is a very forgiving tobacco blend and I purposely chugged on this tobacco in one of MM cobs over the weekend just to see if it would bite and happily, it did not.
Room note: moderate to mild, my official room note detector did not comment that it "stinks" any better or worse than any other tobacco I stuff in my pipes
Conclusion: Sutliff has hit a huge home run with 759 and even though it's part of their Private Stock line, it's priced very reasonably for 1-1/2 ounce tin. If you are looking to get into A good Balkan blend or just want to mix it up a bit, I highly recommend Balkan Luxury Blend 759. I can't wait to try Westminster!

 

pipejunky

Starting to Get Obsessed
Feb 16, 2014
210
2
You make 759 interesting, I'll have to give it a go! There No5 right now is doing alright by me

 

JimInks

Sultan of Smoke
Aug 31, 2012
60,863
554,097
Thanks for the kind words about my review, Settersbrace. LB 957 is an underrated blend, and is Sutliff blender Carl McCallister's recreation of Balkan Sobranie 759. Btw, Westminster basically a recreation of Dunhill London Mixture, only a little smoother. I'll be curious to hear what you think of it.

 

settersbrace

Lifer
Mar 20, 2014
1,565
5
957-759? I think they did that on purpose to screw with our heads.
Jim, it's wonderful that Surliff payed tribute to what seems to me, the cornerstone of Balkan tobacco. If BS 759 was sweet and creamy as is this LB 957 then Sutliff did a great job in their attempt at re-creation or should I say tribute to a legendary smoke. Great times these are!
The # 5 is on my to-do list as well. Sounds like another winner.

 

lordnoble

Lifer
Jul 13, 2010
2,677
14
Sutliffe Luxury Balkan 957 was part of the 2011 Balkan Sobranie Throwdown H&H Black House won the contest with McClelland's Blue Mountain winning the People's Choice.
Having tried all 3, the LB 957 is clearly not as good as the other two, IMO, BUT! That is no slight or insult. It is a fantastic blend in its own right and it fills a niche within Balkan blends.
HERE are the Google results for this site that pertain to the Throwdown.
-Jason

 

escioe

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 31, 2013
702
4
Westminster basically a recreation of Dunhill London Mixture, only a little smoother. I'll be curious to hear what you think of it.
So they stole both the idea and the name from Greg Pease?

 

JimInks

Sultan of Smoke
Aug 31, 2012
60,863
554,097
Apparently, Pease's blend was first by a year, but "stealing" is a harsh term to use. If Pease hasn't complained by now, I don't consider it to be a big deal. Btw, there's also an Orlik English blend with the same name, and that's been around since at least the 1990s. http://www.tobaccoreviews.com/blend/5754/orlik-tobacco-company-a-s-westminster#review56586 In the past, I had seen a couple of B&M's sell an English by that name, so it's hardly an original name.

 
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