What is the next Balkan Sobranie?

[vosBghos]

I'm just a newbie here, so take that into account. But to my understanding, Balkan Sobranie represents something that was really special but also commonly available. Widely respected, if not necessary loved by everyone. Perhaps blends like Dunhill/Peterson 965 or Nightcap might also be in that category -- so well-known and easy to get now that we don't consider them *that* special, but if they were to disappear tomorrow, we would have lost products that were considered benchmarks for those styles.

Of course, with all of the cloning that has gone on in recent decades, there's more of an effort to preserve/reverse-engineer what we like in these blends, so perhaps a better example might be something whose unique production makes it harder to clone, so the loss would be harder to take. Penzance comes to mind there, but that seems more niche than BS was back in the day, so it's not a perfect comparison either...

This, Because of the shrinkage of the Tobacco Market ,Malawi ,a Country in Africa whose main export and half of its industry is Burley with a very distinctive taste is wanting to start moving crops over to other things.

It will be horrible for me as I love that distinctive flavor and seek it out in its various forms from GH&Co to Solani ( latter of which I don’t even know if the new tins have Malawi).

I feel as certain crop’s especially small foreign crops dry up we will see a lot of blends die out or become shadows of their former selves

 

[jguss]

Jon,

Were you NEVER a miscreant? Have you NEVER smelled gasoline when refilling the tank?

No. If I had I’d be a Senator.

Have you NEVER filled a paper sack with dog shit, placed it on some asshole's porch, set it on fire, rung the doorbell, and hid while watching the resullts?

No. If I had I’d be President.

Did you live in a NUNNERY?

Yes, although technically it’s a 3-Nunnery. Sisters Mary, Agnes, Brunhilde (she’s the strict one) and I call it the Congregation des Filles de la Menage a Quatre.

 

[sablebrush52]

No. If I had I’d be a Senator.

Sniffing glue, more like it, but I digress...

 

[sablebrush52]

Yes, although technically it’s a 3-Nunnery. Sisters Mary, Agnes, Brunhilde (she’s the strict one) and I call it the Congregation des Filles de la Menage a Quatre.

Yeah, I had them in college, in the biblical sense. It seemed the proper thing to do.

 

[Apalea]

You lost me. What do you mean by EM?

Sorry English Mixture or Balkan… ( EM - English Mixture )

 

[vosBghos]

Sorry English Mixture or Balkan… ( EM - English Mixture )

if for some reason it went down I could see Father Dempsey becoming a sought after/missed blend it's its own thing for sure

 

[Andriko]

The next company to close its doors. A running theme is no one really cares until something is unavailable. Then it's the greatest travesty in the tobacco industry to lose such a coveted blend(s).

This recalls all the fuss over Dunhill when I first started smoking a pipe a couple of years ago. The label had just stopped production, so Charatan made 'replacement' blends, and everyone else seemed to be crazy about these mythic lost blends which were the best thing every (TM). Then Peterson started popping them out and no one cares anymore, and personally I find the blend a bit bland and over rated.

The fact that 'Dunhill' hasn't existed as a tobacco manufacturer, and is now just a brand flogged from one corporation to another like a cheap whore, never bothered anyone.

 

[paulfg]

I'm not an American either, just making an observation based on current market trends. People are already paying above retail for US produced Carter Hall.

Understood.
I am aware of the switch in production but wasnt aware that US produced was selling for above retail.
I assume from your user name you are Canadian ,should have realised but didnt spot it

 

[canucklehead]

Understood.
I am aware of the switch in production but wasnt aware that US produced was selling for above retail.
I assume from your user name you are Canadian ,should have realised but didnt spot it

Even new production Carter Hall is approaching unicorn territory.

 

[vosBghos]

This recalls all the fuss over Dunhill when I first started smoking a pipe a couple of years ago. The label had just stopped production, so Charatan made 'replacement' blends, and everyone else seemed to be crazy about these mythic lost blends which were the best thing every (TM). Then Peterson started popping them out and no one cares anymore, and personally I find the blend a bit bland and over rated.

The fact that 'Dunhill' hasn't existed as a tobacco manufacturer, and is now just a brand flogged from one corporation to another like a cheap whore, never bothered anyone.

Read somewhere that Peterson‘s Dunhill replacements have to be cracked left open overnight then jarred for at least 2 weeks to “ unlock the flavor” could be total BS , but I know that a couple months in the jar helps with the few I smoke frequently

 

[AppalachianPipe92]

This recalls all the fuss over Dunhill when I first started smoking a pipe a couple of years ago. The label had just stopped production, so Charatan made 'replacement' blends, and everyone else seemed to be crazy about these mythic lost blends which were the best thing every (TM). Then Peterson started popping them out and no one cares anymore, and personally I find the blend a bit bland and over rated.

The fact that 'Dunhill' hasn't existed as a tobacco manufacturer, and is now just a brand flogged from one corporation to another like a cheap whore, never bothered anyone.

Except for Dark Flake. I really miss that stuff. Although I was told by somebody on another forum that it was released under another name but only in Europe.

 

[AppalachianPipe92]

Read somewhere that Peterson‘s Dunhill replacements have to be cracked left open overnight then jarred for at least 2 weeks to “ unlock the flavor” could be total BS , but I know that a couple months in the jar helps with the few I smoke frequently

I do this with every blend - let em rest for a couple weeks before smoking. There's always an improvement versus smoking something directly from a cracked tin.

 

[mingc]

View attachment 164366

I usually toss my empties, but I kept a H'sNPU. It occupies a prominent place in the China hutch where I keep my pipe collection.

 

[Chasing Embers]

What is the Next Balkan Sobranie?

Culkin Macaulay

 

[warren]

no one cares anymore,

Some of us older guys miss some of the "original" Dunhill blends. Well, not original maybe, but the blends of the sixties.

 

[hawky454]

I have 3. All 3 are already hard to get so they are well in their way.

Skiff
Exotique
Margate

 

[Swiss Army Knife]

Best bet is to just stock up heavily on the blends that you like a lot, and that will offset anything happening to it in the future.

I think Cosmic nailed it here. None of us are soothsayers, trying to "time the market" will likely see you be just as successful in pipe tobacco as you would be in stock trading.

Better to ensure you won't miss the blends you love in the future than stock up on a bunch of blends you don't just because they might be tomorrow's unicorn.

 

[sablebrush52]

Sorry English Mixture or Balkan… ( EM - English Mixture )

Ahhh...Ok. I don't smoke much English anymore, so I can't really tell you. The few I do occasionally smoke are no longer in production.
Judging from the comments of others, Balkan Supreme might be one of the best, and it's available in bulk. A favorite for me is a long extinct blend entitled Easy Chair, that was made by Mel Feldman of The Smoker Ltd. Russ Ouellette had posession of Mel's recipe book and made me five pounds of it. Sorry, I can't be much help with this.

 

[anotherbob]

I think it will be the one that when it goes away the old timers bitch the most about it being gone or different. I've not heard more good about it but I have heard more old timers lament it's passing. A few who claim it was their only blend. Whatever blend is going to disappear or change dramatically that has the most passionate one blend smokers.

 

[VDL_Piper]

For me it’s the contraction of tobacco’s grown that is the real issue. It’s always “we can no longer source the quality or type of …………………to continue manufacturing our blends, thus we are shutting our doors”. This is the greatest threat and the dearth of aged tobacco’s. A simple google search reveals vast warehouses filled with tobacco’s from around the world are a thing of the past and this aging process is now forced onto the pipe smoker in attempts to capture or at least get ”young“ tobacco to behave like it should.
Its all a slippery slope from here so cellar, cellar, cellar.