English and Balkan

[andya27]

I have several English blends (Dunhill 965, London Mixture, Gaslight). I've read some very good reviews of Brebbia Balkan. How does a Balkan differ from an English?
Thanks!

 

[settersbrace]

Oh Boy! Here we go again.
( not being smart allecky, it's just that this topic comes up often and gets a wide variety of opinions)
Sit back and enjoy the ride.

 

[sablebrush52]

It's a matter of balance. Balkan blends employ a larger percentage of oriental leaf such as Macedonian, Turkish, Yenidje, etc. in the blend than do "traditional" English blends. The Latakia content is less dominant. The result is a different flavor profile, not completely unrelated to English blends, but different enough to be distinctive.

 

[pruss]

This was a nice piece posted by Kashmir last year. I like the consideration that English and Balkan are too macro in how they categorize tobaccos.
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/tobacco-touchstones
That having been said, I'm with Jesse if we need to draw broad lines in the sand.
-- Pat

 

[ravkesef]

I'm with everybody here, but as a quick rule of thumb, i've always felt that if the blend was Latakia forward, it would be classified as an English and if the Latakia was either lacking entirely, or somewhere in the background, then the Balkan label would be most descriptive.

 

[andya27]

Thanks - I never do like opening up a can of worms, but I have found the search feature a bit finicky here and never find what I'm looking for.
I think the examples you have provided make sense. Latakia forward is more English, Orientals is more Balkan.
I have a Balkan on the way. We'll see if I can find a difference.

 

[pruss]

but I have found the search feature a bit finicky here and never find what I'm looking for.

I skip the forums search function altogether, and do a google search for what I'm looking for with pipesmagazine as a keyword. You'd be amazed at the kinds of threads waiting for a necrobump.
-- Pat

 

[easygoer]

I believe it was Greg Pease that said that the term Balkan Blend came to being used in the 80's or 90's based on the blend Balkan Sobranie.
Pat's correct google search seems to work the best. Here is a couple of good articles.
http://pipesmagazine.com/python/pipe-tobacco/the-mystery-of-balkan-blends/
http://pipesmagazine.com/python/pipe-news/english-blends-and-latakia-blends-one-in-the-same/

 

[blendtobac]

I don't use the terms English or Balkan anymore, personally. The original meaning of "English" was a pipe tobacco that wasn't noticeably flavored, but today it's devolved into referring to a Latakia-forward blend with Virginia being the secondary note. Balkan is a relatively young term (referencing Balkan Sobranie), and indicates that it's a Latakia-forward blend with Orientals/Turkish as the secondary note. Neither English nor Balkan are accurate descriptors. I believe that Greg Pease came up with "Latakia blend, Orientals-forward" and "Latakia blend, Virginias-forward", which makes much more sense.
Russ

 

[mso489]

I think Perique would pretty much disqualify a blend as a proper Balkan. Maybe lack of Orientals

would too. Other than those, it's a pretty blurry term, not so helpful.

 

[settersbrace]

I'm with Russ on the descriptive terminology of today's smoking mixtures. The whole "English" thing leaves way too much gray shading in describing pipe tobacco.

 

[judcole]

Russ has it down, of course. It's really more of a marketing thing.

 

[ghost]

I skip the forums search function altogether, and do a google search for what I'm looking for with pipesmagazine as a keyword. You'd be amazed at the kinds of threads waiting for a necrobump.

Or if you have a gmail account and are on 2 hours sleep thanks to a painful groin pull, you can create your own custom Google search specifically for this Forum. This is working awesomely for me right now, can someone else try it to test it out? It should be a public URL..
https://www.google.com/cse/publicurl?cx=015928064115512826419:w6p75_tdjd0

 

[wilson]

Matt, your custom Google Search for the forum is very cool. Thanks!

 

[lochinvar]

This is just an observation, I don't really care which terminology people use, but I find it kind of curious that people dismiss English and Balkan as recent marketing terms, and then latch on to an even newer marketing term. I know that in the halcyon days of pipe yore the term Balkan was not used, but neither was "Latakia blend" to my knowledge, only actual blend names.

Neither the English et all nor Latakia Blend terminology bothers me, as it is all a shorthand that helps the consumer quickly identify the blends they are looking for, rather than having to ferret out, either by pouring over company literature or finding some other smoker who is familiar with various brands, what a blend has in it. It does strike me that asking for a recommendation for a good "Latakia blend, oriental forward on a substrate of Virginia" is a good deal more complicated than simply asking for a good "Balkan."

 

[hippiebrian]

I'll generally just check the ingredients in the blend. If it contains virginia and perique with no latakia, I'll give it a go. I don't care if they call it an English, Balkan, or Horse Manure blend.

 

[philobeddoe]

Hippiebrian, there actually is a pipe tobacco named Merde de Cheval. But you won't find it in my pipe cabinet!

 

[ruscho]

All I know, is that I dig them both...SG Balkan flake is a helluva smoke...advertised as "deliciously cool", I agree.

SG Balkan Flake is neither Balkan nor English, but aromatic.
I have to disagree with Russ here. Most "English" blend smokers have the unwritten agreement that Balkan/Oriental is a non-aro blend with Oriental tobacco forward, while "English" will be Latakia forward blend. I don't find this neither confusing nor complicated.
Now, whether the description is actually based on the type of tobacco or just on the Sobranie - I find it irrelevant. Much like Virginia tobacco being grown in North Carolina first
Let's stop making it more complicated than it needs to be.

 

[conlejm]

Are you talking about the same SG Balkan Flake? I understood it to be 70% pressed Va, 30% Latakia, with no flavoring. Doesn't seem like a Balkan, but it doesn't seem to be an aromatic either.

 

[ruscho]

Are you talking about the same SG Balkan Flake? I understood it to be 70% pressed Va, 30% Latakia, with no flavoring. Doesn't seem like a Balkan, but it doesn't seem to be an aromatic either.

It's EXTREMELY aromatic, although not in a vanilla-topping way. He puts some kind of "medicinal" taste on it, no one knows what it is exactly, but it's not just Va and Lat. I do smoke it on occasion, but it's a topped tobacco regardless. You have to try it to understand that flavor.