If You Want a Modern-Day Balkan Sobranie...
(10 posts)
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... then you need to try McClelland's Grand Orientals: Yenidje Highlander. This is the only entry in the Grand Orientals series that features latakia. . . and it's doing it in a blend highlighting the specific oriental varietal that made Balkan Sobranie so enjoyable in its heyday.
I think this is an amazing blend -- and I've already got 45 tins cellared -- but I've been shocked by how little attention it gets, especially when there's always so much to-do when someone comes out with anything the least bit influenced by Balkan Sobranie. Maybe it's because McClelland wasn't attempting to replicate that blend. Maybe it's because YH gets lost in the Grand Orientals series. I don't know the reason. I just know this: If you like Balkan blends and you want to get a sense of what the original Sobranie tasted like, I do not think you will be disappointed by Yenidje Highlander.
And, no, I'm not a shill for McClelland. I just think this is a terrific -- and grossly overlooked -- blend.
Bob
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I like saying "Yenidje"! 
I have an old tin of this I bought when the Grand Oriental Series first hit the market. I think it's time to dive in!
I find myself sitting idly on the line dividing past and future,
as if I could kill time without injuring eternity. -- Thoreau
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Oh wow thanks for the heads-up that sounds right up my ally!
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I'll have to give it a shot .
"A pipe is the fountain of contemplation, the source of pleasure, the companion of the wise; and the man who smokes, thinks like a philosopher and acts like a Samaritan."
-Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
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All the McClelland Grand Orientals are very good and expertly blended, but I agree with Bob -- Yenidje Highlander is probably as close to the original Balkan Sorbranie as we can find available today.
I'v enjoyed some of the other Grand Orientals and those, to me, concentrate more on featuring a specific oriental leaf and using McClelland's considerable blending skills to meld that leaf with what are, arguably, the best damn virginia tobaccos in the world.
These blends are what prompted me to create my own Va/Izmir blend.
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Any input on McClelland Oriental Tin - Mixture No. 14? This has been in my basket and now also Highland. Anyone try both? Differences?
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The big fuss lately has been about the blends that were created recently to try to replicate 759 (Black), not Original (White).
I'll have to see if I can get a tin on my next order. Thanks for the tip.
Thought in the early morning, solace in time of woes,
Peace in the hush of the twilight, balm ere my eyelids close
Rudyard Kipling
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Jud wrote:
The big fuss lately has been about the blends that were created recently to try to replicate 759 (Black), not Original (White).[i]
I actually wasn't referring to that "throwdown" in my OP.
You don't have to read between the lines too closely to see that a number of blenders allude to the original Sobranie when describing at least one of their mixtures. GLPease did it subtly with Bohemian Scandal, which even referenced the initials of Balkan Sobranie. But Balkan Sasieni does it with its close-to-trademark-infringement tin art. LJ Peretti did it with a blend they no longer produce. Balkan Sobranie was something of a milestone in tobacco blending, and a lot of companies have attempted to recreate it -- or, at least, recreate its success. I was pointing out in my OP that McClelland kind of got there -- or close to there -- without expressly attempting to replicate it; they just happened to use the same ingredients (particularly, the same oriental varietal) and ended up getting very very close.
Bob
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Given that many of the varietal leaves, not only Orientals but also particular Virginias, are either not the same as they were OR just not available anymore, and that the blending protocol may not be 'do-able', there probably isn't anything that can exactly duplicate Balkan Sobranie. Old tins in the seventies were entirely different than young tins in the eighties. And everyone's nose-memory is different too. So the best that can be achieved is a near-reproduction of the experience for each individual, which necessarily will differ from person to person.
That said, there are many fine tobaccos out there that are far better than adequate replacements.
Actually, some of the Balkan Sobranie from the mid-eighties was hardly smokable. Especially compared to the aged stash I bought at the local tobacconist in the seventies, when I was the only customer diminishing his overstock.
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Any input on McClelland Oriental Tin - Mixture No. 14? This has been in my basket and now also Highland. Anyone try both? Differences?
I haven't tried the #14, but did sample the Highlander. As noted, I'm more a fan of those without latakia, not to take anything away from how good that bowl of Highlander was.
TBH, if the various leaves in these two, or any of the McClelland oriental blends are in your zone, you really can't go wrong with popping a tin.
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