On Thu, 21 Feb 2002 18:16:04 -0800, Craig Miller wrote
(in message ):
> A question for any of you that have the original Balkan Sobranie on hand.
> Many blends advertise that they are just like Balkan Sobranie of old. Since
> it has been years since I had some, have you ever found something that comes
> close?
I've been a Balkan Sobranie fan almost since I started smoking a pipe. In
it's best vintages, the stuff was amazing, and in its worst, it was still
damn good. Sadly, several years ago, the recipe changed, and the Balkan
Sobranie of today is not equal to that of yesterday.
A few years back, I participated in a blind taste test between the Balkan
Sobranie that was available then, and Balkan Sasieni. I had no clue which
was which when I started the test. Dedicated piper that I am, I smoked
both tobaccos in several different pipes, taking detailed notes, and
finally, penning my reviews. It turned out that Balkan Sasieni was the
winner, to my tastes. Though not quite the same as the old Sobranie, it
was much truer to the original than the newer Sobranie.
There's nothing made today that could be considered identical, or even
very close to the Sobranie of olde. But, the waters get muddy here. What
vintage do you want to reproduce? As I said, I started smoking the stuff
in about 1980, and have had many tins that date as far back as the early
1960s. Always willing to dip a toe into the waters of controversy, I'll
state categorically, again, that the tobacco went through many changes
over the years. While all of them were good, some were gooder than
others. So, when I think about Balkan Sobranie, I think about a family of
tobaccos, all similar, but different.
Then, there are the subtle and the not-so-subtle effects of all that age.
If you have tins (real tins) of Balkan Sobranie, you're smoking old
tobacco. There's simply no way to compare anything modern with something
that's been aged even a few years.
There are some very nice tobaccos being produced today, and some of these
will age gracefully into greatness, with any luck. I feel quite fortunate
to have a few tins of old Sobranie put away, and further fortunate to be
able to add new things to the cellar that may become tomorrow's classics.
But, I do miss some of the classics.
-glp
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.smokers.pipes/ldl9FJV9LYA/6FhdEmL0N8sJ