H&H Black House vs. McC Blue Mountain

[petes03]

For those of you that have had both of these, do you notice a difference? I know I do! Both of these blends were created to emulate a certain blend of old, whose name escapes me. I know that it would be damn near impossible for two different blenders, at two different companies, to come up with identical blends. These two are completely different, to my tastes anyway. That being said, I absolutely LOVE both blends! I just want to hear some of y'all's thoughts on these blends.
Oh and Russ, if you read this, I'd really like for you to chime in. I'd also like to hear your thoughts on the blend that inspired these wonderful tobaccos!
Dan

 

[philobeddoe]

They are emulating what someone just paid $1,125.00 to obtain!

 

[petes03]

Wow Philo, that's incredible! What's the name of it BTW, I can't remember? It must be pretty damned good!

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

Ah... I knew Black House was made to emulate another long lost blend, but I did not know that it was Balkan Sobranie. Now I can almost understand why someone would pay that much.... Ok scratch that. Sorry Russ if you're watching I really really do LOVE Black House. But I'd never pay that much for it lol!

 

[judcole]

They were both emulating an aged tin of Balkan Sobranie 759. I did smoke a tin of 759 back in my youth, but always preferred Sobranie Original.

I have smoked both Black House and Blue Mountain. Both are excellent blends, but I prefer the Blue Mountain.

 

[petes03]

Thanks Jud, for clarifying the blend name. I seem to recall reading that it was 21 years old, I believe! I truly do love both blends, but to me they are completely different! Black House seems more of a mellow smoke to me, and yet it has a level of complexity that keeps me coming back for more. Blue Mountain is a smooth, Latakia rich smoke that I greatly enjoy on the evenings.

 

[chervokas]

Enormous difference. I find it hard to believe these two blends were created in emulation of the same blend. You'd never know it from just smoking them. To me they are actually very little alike.
I like both blends, but Black House is complex, there's much more of an Oriental presence, and a little spiciness. I might have guessed there's a hint of perique in it, but I suppose that's from the Cavendish maybe? In any event, I think it almost tastes like a darker, more Lat heavy version of Magnum Opus (which btw, I much prefer to Black House).
Blue Mountain is a steamy Lat bomb (is the steaminess from PG?), with a fair amount of sweetness to it (which I don't get at all from Black House), I suppose from the Virginias. I don't really taste any Oriental influence at all. I really like it when I'm in the mood for a very easy to smoke Lat heavy blend. I wouldn't want to smoke it every day. It's a little too sweet and one dimensional for an everyday smoke for me. But in a way I like it better than Black House, which to me is more akin to a lot of other excellent Balkan blend choices out there.

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

I may have to try this Blue Mountain.

 

[papipeguy]

If you like these then I can highly recommend Russ' Magnum Opus. Much richer and fuller bodied than Black House.

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

Magnum Opus is definitely on my list of blends to try... I have so dang many.......

 

[petes03]

I've never had Magnum Opus, but I do have 3oz samples of it, and Mazatec in the mail as we speak! I'm very excited to get to try these!

 

[petes03]

@chervokas, I don't have much experience with Orientals, but I've noticed in the blends I know that have them, that there's a certain sweetness about them. I get that with Black House. Am I right to say that this is due to Orientals?

 

[chervokas]

Not sure, I don't really associate Orientals with sweetness -- more with a kind of incense-y sort of aromatic quality and a bit of a kind of tanginess, but there are a lot of different tobaccos that fall under the heading of "Oriental" -- including, once, Latakia -- so it's probably a fool's errand to try to describe the whole range of 'em with one flavor profile. Personally I don't taste sweetness with Black House, which to me is a good thing.

 

[petes03]

Huh, interesting. I find Black House to be quite a bit sweeter than most Lat blends. Different taste buds I guess! Lol!

 

[foggymountain]

I must say that I dislike both blends, but if stuck with one would prefer Blackhouse. Blue Mountain tastes awful and metallic to me.

 

[salewis]

I have smoked both Blackhouse and Blue Mountain. I agree with others that say they are different. I found Blackhouse to be more oriental forward than Blue Mountain. Personally, I like Blue Mountain better than Blackhouse since it is more interesting to me. I have several other options to smoking oriental forward blend other than Blackhouse.

 

[kcghost]

Both Blue Mountain and Black House are wonderful blends.

 

[andrew369]

Blue Mountain is one of the only latakia blends I like, it has a certain sweetness to it that is just gorgeous.

 

[docwatson]

At the Chicago Showdown where these tobaccos were judged, the people's choice in voting went to Blue Mountain (McClelland's blend) and the 3 or 4 judges' choice was Black House (Russ' Blend). Either way they are both great blends IMO. As usual personal preference is what it's all about.

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

So I was just looking at Blue Mountain at 4 Noggins and it says it was one of three in a throwdown emulating #759 at the 2011 Chicago Pipe Show. So what was the third?