Balkan Sasieni
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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
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Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 634! Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Warren Ertle. Warren is an extremely accomplished musician with a PhD in music. He started early as a percussionist in sixth grade. Later his grandmother got him a cheap Casio keyboard which he taught himself to play. He started playing in blues bands in high school, and has been a pianist with jazz big bands for years. Even though he was already a professional musician, he took his first real piano lesson when he enrolled in college with his studies in classical music. He is of course a pipe smoker. 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.
Soon now, supposedly, our neighborhoods will shift from grinning pumpkins, skeletons in various assortments, and zombies dashing about to pretty reindeer, angels, and flashing lights illuminating homes with sparkling stars and laughing, scurrying Santas. But, lest we forget, there is the turkey season, fancy pie aromas wafting from kitchens, and a national pardon of a big Tom Turkey. Remember, now, that only one of these holiday personalities is a pipe smoker. And that is the hefty, bearded fellow in a bright red suit sitting in a sleigh with a herd of deer hitched up and ready to streak across the globe, bringing tidings of joy and many presents. Ok, the scene is set for the next couple of months, right? So, before we get too far off the beaten path, let’s just take a deep breath of fresh autumn air, shall we? Ahh. That’s better, isn’t it? What’s got the Pundit in a snit is not all the Halloween spooks who came a-jostling for candy. Or the wild turkeys gobbling in the backwoods or all the fuss and feathers over the big one—Christmas. No, it is that we might need to take note of all the little things that mean so much to us. Like a good sunrise (seriously, Pundit has not gone all Pollyanna.) Mayhaps we need to appreciate more of what we have than what we have not. Or something like that. Like, a good pipe in the morning with coffee as the dawn brings us coolish weather now that we have flipped the calendar to autumn. But it also brings beautiful leaves that have become a spectacle of technicolor in the wind. It is the little things. The rereading of an enjoyable book and finding something you did not see or learn in the first go-round. Or a stunning phrase you commit to memory with the re-read, while smoking that favorite pipe. And you notice a superior puff that just seems to be different. It’s in the air and the seasons of meaningful little things. It’s aromatic! 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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.