Favorite Balkan/English And Why?

[anthonyrosenthal74]

One of the things I've (many of us) learned over the years is when a favorite blend is discontinued, it can be quite difficult to find one that touches on that "wow" factor that made you fall in love with that blend. For me, three blends especially come to mind. Hearth And Home Black House, and McClelland Blue Mountain/Balkan Blue, and Mac Baren Vintage Syrian. I have all three, but I try not to touch them, and try to keep them as special occasion smokes. Once it's all gone, it's gone for good.

The problem for me is finding blends still in production that at least come close to these fantastic mixtures. In the case of Blue Mountain, that will never happen due to McClelland's special magic. In the case of Mac Baren Vintage Syrian, the answer is very obvious in just the name of the blend.

My latest blend to try was G.L. Pease Blackpoint which so far isn't coming close either. Mind you, it's not a bad blend, and it smokes nice. But it doesn't have that special something. I'm not giving up on it though. It's a freshly opened tin. I'll revisit it in a few days.

So all that being said, I come you all with hat in hand, all you lovers of Balkan/English blends, help me find another great one. What is your favorite? Why is it your favorite?

 

[BingBong]

SG Skiff Mixture, an oriental foward English.

 

[Jacob74]

My favorite straight up Balkan is Mac Baren HH Balkan, I find that the balance between sweet, sour, and incense is just where I like it. If I feel more Virginia forward, I really like SPC Mississippi River, it's more sweet and sour and less incense.
as far as English's go, my all time favorite it Pembroke. I think the booze topping takes the already kick ass Margate over the top.
Edit: I also really like skiff mixture and squadron leader, thanks for reminding me @BingBong !

 

[SBC]

The two best that I ever had were some 1996 (Old Bond St. location) Balkan Sobranie 759, and some 2017 Smokers’ Haven Our Best Blend. RIP. My favorite still produced might be Penzance; but, we may as well treat it as though it were discontinued.

Some of the more highly rated balkans, I do not prefer. For instance White Knight seems too leathery to me (as distinct from other latakia flavors), and Meridian is ridiculously drying.

Far better to me, of the available Englishes/Balkans, would be Magnum Opus (now just Magnum, I guess?).
And just last week I tried Ahab’s Comfort (thanks to @oatsmiller), and it's easily on par with that.

Possibly even better are a couple of Peretti offerings: Omega and Royal Blend.
(The former features to me a musty pages note, while the latter foregrounds a medicinal note from the yenidje).

I also appreciate sweetened Englishes. I used to like the Frog Morton series, and also JFH’s Shortcut to Mushrooms.
A very good currently available one is Boswell’s Northwoods (my family raves about the room note from this one)

I’ve also mixed up something that I call “The Floating Log’s Cellar” (named for Tolkien’s Inn at Frogmorton), an attempted imitation of FMC, which is 50% Bourbon Barrel Aged Plum Pudding, 20% Northwoods, 15% Whiskey Biscuit Gravy, and 15% Shepherd’s Pie.

 

[Sig]

I'm a fan of all you mentioned.
I have a couple pounds of Vintage Syrian that I plan on tapping into this summer.
My current favorite Latakia based blend is C&D Star of the East.
It contains 50% Latakia, but don't let that scare you, it's other components come through great.
So much so that a LOT of pipers doubt it's 50% Latakia. But many, many times Craig and Jeremy have sworn and promised it does.
I also like GLP Abingdon and Meridian......but SOTE is the one that closest reminds me of old school Lat "bombs".
And, it's cheap and available.
I believe it's one of their best sellers.
If you've tried it.....ignore this post.

 

[VDL_Piper]

My favorite straight up Balkan is Mac Baren HH Balkan, I find that the balance between sweet, sour, and incense is just where I like it.

Have to agree with Jacob here plus I get the delicious buttery orientals which add to the mouth feel as well, plumes of smoke too.

 

[SBC]

Pembroke

Ah, I'd forgotten about Pembroke. That sure is a good one, too.

 

[Servant King]

As is often the case when I am tasked with picking favorites, I can only narrow it down to a top 3:

Bronze: Peterson EMP
Silver: Ashton Artisan's Blend
Gold: Sutliff Balkan Sobranie Original Mix Match

Blessedly, the middle one is still in production, and pretty cheap, so have at it!

 

[mingc]

I'm with Sig. The older Peases seem to have fallen away from forum attention but Odyssey, Abingdon, and Charing Cross are reminiscent of Black House and Blue Mountain, both of which are attempts to match 759. Those Peases are all excellent. So is C&D Star of the East.

To me, Vintage Syrian is characterized by its use of DFK and by its soft Syrian latakia. I can't think of a similar blend but I'd start by looking at latakia mixtures with DFK.

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

My favorite straight up Balkan is Mac Baren HH Balkan, I find that the balance between sweet, sour, and incense is just where I like it. If I feel more Virginia forward, I really like SPC Mississippi River, it's more sweet and sour and less incense.
as far as English's go, my all time favorite it Pembroke. I think the booze topping takes the already kick ass Margate over the top.
Edit: I also really like skiff mixture and squadron leader, thanks for reminding me @BingBong !

Pembroke has long sounded like something I should try, but now I just pretend Esoterica doesn't really exist lol!

 

[Jacob74]

Yes, I've been carefully hoarding my last 8oz bag and one tin!

 

[warren99]

Sadly, most of the best ones are out of production. I like the following ones in current production—can’t say I have one favorite though: HU Balkan Passion, Balkan Supreme (unfortunately going by the wayside soon if not already), Balkan Sasieni, Bill Bailey’s Balkan Blend and Esoterica Penzance (if you can find it).

 

[mingc]

Balkan Supreme (unfortunately going by the wayside soon if not already)

Why would Balkan Supreme be going away?

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

Sadly, most of the best ones are out of production. I like the following ones in current production—can’t say I have one favorite though: HU Balkan Passion, Balkan Supreme (unfortunately going by the wayside soon if not already), Balkan Sasieni, Bill Bailey’s Balkan Blend and Esoterica Penzance (if you can find it).

Lol I won't even attempt to find Penzance. More likely to find a leprechaun riding a unicorn.

 

[filmguerilla]

GL Pease is top tier for Balkan blends for me. The three in his classic collection, Abingdon, Charing Cross, and Kensington, are all fantastic. Gaslight also tastes very Balkan to me. I bought a pound each of the Sutliff Balkan S Original and 957 when I heard White Knight/Black House was going away, and still have quite a lot of Balkan Sasieni. I MAY still have one tin of McClelland Balkan Blue in my cellar, but not completely sure. But, yeah, I love Balkan blends.

 

[warren99]

GL Pease is top tier for Balkan blends for me. The three in his classic collection, Abingdon, Charing Cross, and Kensington, are all fantastic. Gaslight also tastes very Balkan to me. I bought a pound each of the Sutliff Balkan S Original and 957 when I heard White Knight/Black House was going away, and still have quite a lot of Balkan Sasieni. I MAY still have one tin of McClelland Balkan Blue in my cellar, but not completely sure. But, yeah, I love Balkan blends

Greg definitely makes top tier blends, Abington and Charing Cross being among my favorite English blends, along with Samarra. Unfortunately, after all the Syrian Latakia went up in smoke a few years back, it resulted in the demise of Raven’s Wing—his magnum opus IMHO.

 

[shanez]

As good as Penzance is I probably like Squadron Leader just as much.

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

Thanks for the replies so far everyone. I'm building up a wishlist of blends I've not tried before for my next order.

 

[9mmpuffer]

Black House is one of my favorites. Also Wilderness.

 

[Sigmund]

When I want an intesnse smoke I really enjoy GLP Quiet Nights. It can be very deep and insense like (in a good way).

I personally am only warming up to orientals. Presse Canoe lat 40 is pretty nice. Very different.