Calling Out All Balkan Fans
- Thread starter Goggy302
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I heard about that Blend. I heard it's awesome it's a shame it's discounted and I probably never get to try it. But you'll right Balkan is a fancy word for English. Latakia is from smoke and cured Orientals. But for me when I smoked Balkans I taste more Orientals up front then latakia as for English blends i smoke latakia is more forward for me
If there is any more inconsistently used term than "Balkan" in the pipe tobacco world, I don't know what it is. Of course, the fact that is simply a marketing term without an accepted definition might have something to do with it.
Oriental forward Balkan-style blends I enjoy:
Dunhill Durbar (discontinued, but my favorite)
Balkan Sasieni (same as Supreme but less latakia and Izmer)
H&H White Knight
Rattray's Red Raparee
Presbyterian Mixture
GLP Charing Cross
SG Squadron Leader
C&D Star of the East Gold
C&D Rajah's Court
GH #25 Mixture (exmoor hunt)
BSOSM Match (bulk-grade Whiteknight)
I would include Margate, as the orientals do dominate, and in a round about way it was based on Sobranie white. It seems more "balkan" to me in flavor than Penzance, but they both straddle the line with their sweetness and full body.
Dunhill Durbar (discontinued, but my favorite)
Balkan Sasieni (same as Supreme but less latakia and Izmer)
H&H White Knight
Rattray's Red Raparee
Presbyterian Mixture
GLP Charing Cross
SG Squadron Leader
C&D Star of the East Gold
C&D Rajah's Court
GH #25 Mixture (exmoor hunt)
BSOSM Match (bulk-grade Whiteknight)
I would include Margate, as the orientals do dominate, and in a round about way it was based on Sobranie white. It seems more "balkan" to me in flavor than Penzance, but they both straddle the line with their sweetness and full body.
I mean, "Scottish" might have it beat, but just barely.If there is any more inconsistently used term than "Balkan" in the pipe tobacco world, I don't know what it is. Of course, the fact that is simply a marketing term without an accepted definition might have something to do with it.
Peretti's Tashkent, Oriental 40
H&H Whiteknight
Balkan Sasieni
GLP Odyssey
Exotique
McClelland Balkan Blue **no longer available
H&H Whiteknight
Balkan Sasieni
GLP Odyssey
Exotique
McClelland Balkan Blue **no longer available
Have you tried McConnell Oriental Square? It’s K&K’s version.
3 of my favorites.
Also Butera Pelican - hard to find but delicious.
I also like MacBaren HH Balkan Blend.
I have not, but would like to. Last time I was looking it was out of stock so I went with Rajahs Court and Charing Cross (both reported to be good substitutes) instead. K&K are in my top 3 favorite manufacturers, so I bet it's really good... would be quite surprised if it's anything like Durbar, but curious as to if it's similar at all to Red Raparee or another oriental forward blend they already produce, as I think many of the their dunny clones are rebadged existing blends. Didn't they change the name to something weird when they switched to yellow labels on the dunhill clones?
I'm wrong, they changed TO Oriental Square FROM Durbar Square???
Exotique from Smokers Haven (Premal Chheda) is fabulous if hard to obtain.
Yeah I found an old thread where they talked about the “original” names. I hadn’t know the previous names so when I came to the list in nearly fell over laughing.
Is it possible to define a Balkan compared an English?
Lots of the blends mentioned I thought were English blends rather than Balkan blends.....
Or Balkan a sub-genre? Or just an English with more Orientals? I'm getting into a question spiral.....
Should I just not worry about it and smoke them whatever they are?
Yours in confusion
Lots of the blends mentioned I thought were English blends rather than Balkan blends.....
Or Balkan a sub-genre? Or just an English with more Orientals? I'm getting into a question spiral.....
Should I just not worry about it and smoke them whatever they are?
Yours in confusion
Exactly. The definitions of Balkan and English vary but typically Balkans are oriental forward containing some Latakia. The amount of Latakia will vary. English is a generic word for Latakia blends so is really broad.
Can't believe no one mentioned 965 and Charing Cross yet.
I said Charing Cross, but didn't mention 965 because someone will argue it's a "Scottish" blend...
Balkan is a sub genre of the English category that logically would contain more Balkan grown tobaccos. It's currently understood to mean modeled after Sobranie's famous Balkan blends, which popularized the term, but existed as a descriptor before Sobranie. Many assume it means oriental forward, but some blenders don't include any Balkan region tobaccos at all, which adds to the confusion.
The thing people forget is that Sobranie was an English company with Balkan heritage, so Balkan blends are by default English blends, and many popular English blends used Balkan grown tobaccos as well, both before and after the rise of the House of Sobranie.
Same thing with Scottish blends. Many say Scottish blends are just English blends that include unflavored Virginia Cavendish... what is Va Cavendish? Pressed and steamed Va. So this makes makes 965 Scottish? This would make Margate, Penzance, Balkan Supreme, Old Dublin, all the Frogs and many more quintessential Englishes technically Scottish... anything containing broken flake of the hot pressed variety.
So I avoid headaches by defining Balkan Mixture as an English with lots of Balkan tobaccos, a Scottish Mixture as an English with a sweet bready or coco character and kitchen-sink cuts&components, and English as all of the above and everything in between.
Balkan is a sub genre of the English category that logically would contain more Balkan grown tobaccos. It's currently understood to mean modeled after Sobranie's famous Balkan blends, which popularized the term, but existed as a descriptor before Sobranie. Many assume it means oriental forward, but some blenders don't include any Balkan region tobaccos at all, which adds to the confusion.
The thing people forget is that Sobranie was an English company with Balkan heritage, so Balkan blends are by default English blends, and many popular English blends used Balkan grown tobaccos as well, both before and after the rise of the House of Sobranie.
Same thing with Scottish blends. Many say Scottish blends are just English blends that include unflavored Virginia Cavendish... what is Va Cavendish? Pressed and steamed Va. So this makes makes 965 Scottish? This would make Margate, Penzance, Balkan Supreme, Old Dublin, all the Frogs and many more quintessential Englishes technically Scottish... anything containing broken flake of the hot pressed variety.
So I avoid headaches by defining Balkan Mixture as an English with lots of Balkan tobaccos, a Scottish Mixture as an English with a sweet bready or coco character and kitchen-sink cuts&components, and English as all of the above and everything in between.
I just go with more simple definition. More Latakia forward, English. More Oriental, Balkan. More sweetness, Scottish. I think it would be even more logical to call them all English and give their characteristics.
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