BALKAN SOBRANIE 2011 - ARANGO AND GERMAINS

As I mentioned last Sunday, the Balkan Sobranie Original Smoking Mixture is available once again.
This iteration is made by J. F. Germain & Son in Jersey, Channel Islands.
The copyright holder is Arango.

When first I wrote about it, all the internet retailers were out of stock, and panicked chatter in various corners of the internet speculated about shortages, dearths, lacks, and black complots - for that is what the unavailability of what one dearly wants to smoke often seems to pipe aficionados.
That, however, did not affect me.

[This post: The return of Balkan Sobranie. ]

Quote:
"Given that supplies are likely to be spotty for a while, it may take a few weeks before I lay my hands on this new iteration. When I do, I will be quite keen to find out how it compares to my nose-memory of what I smoked back in the seventies."
End quote.

I really wasn't expecting to try it for another month at least.
As of this writing I have already had several bowls.
Courtesy of the local tobacconists.
They had a few tins.


BALKAN SOBRANIE, NEW VERSION

Yes, it's not the same as the Balkan Sobranie of the nineteen seventies.
You already knew that.
But it IS the real McCoy.

No product based on natural ingredients can be exactly like a version of itself from another era. Each iteration will differ in some respects. Tobacco crops vary from year to year.
But this is as close to what you smoked when you were a teenager as you are ever going to get.
I'm fairly convinced that Arango got the recipe book, and that Germains was the best choice to manufacture the product.

Admittedly, the Latakia is not quite so creosote-rich as the Syrian stinko leaf from a generation ago. So that aspect will be a little different.
And before Gallagher laid their claws on it in the eighties, it was not so narrowly cut either, but I shall not quibble.
I do not recall it being so moist in the tin, however. That is a particular Germains touch, also noticable with their Royal Jersey Original Latakia Mixture.

[NOTE: Both cut and moisture level affect how it will taste in the pipe. The pre-Gallagher Balkan Sobranie was a slightly broader ribbon cut, and was not blended so wet. The visual effect was consequently more striking, showing off the contrasting hues, and a high moisture level 'dampens' some of the sharpness from bright tobacco. That Latakia was more sooty and smudgy back then probably made it lighter in weight too, so proportionally it would have had a difference in blending. These observations do not detract from the appeal of this current product, nor the pleasure at rediscovering the past, courtesy of Arango and Germain - both excellent companies.]

What Arango has brought back is good stuff.
It's revives corners of the mind.
Echoes and shimmering.

After a late lunch in Chinatown, I wandered down to the office smoking a bowl of Balkan Sobranie in an old Charatan. Let's just say that the day at that moment could not seem better, brighter, more beautiful. It was a splendid hour.
Actually the entire last two and a half days have been darned nice. Well, other than a fracas the other night in Chinatown, where glass was thrown and blood was flowed. That was a bit too educational. There are strange things in the air.
But since acquiring a few tins of Balkan Sobranie, my nose has been aquiver, there's a spring to my step, and lead in my pencil.
Or something. La la la.
Don't even mind the Blue Angels and their testicular excessities high in the skies over San Francisco. Fleet Week will be over soon enough, the macho display of precision fighter jet flying has ended, the ships and sailors will depart, the whores will go back to suburbia, and life will return to normal.
I have some tins of good tobacco. And there will be more.

TOBACCO INDEX


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BALKAN SOBRANIE IS BACK

The news from several sources is that Balkan Sobranie is back, made according to the same recipe, by Germain and Sons in the Channel Islands, distributed by Arango Cigar Company, who have acquired the copyright.
CupoJoes is already sold out.
As are the other internet merchants.



Given that supplies are likely to be spotty for a while, it may take a few weeks before I lay my hands on this new iteration. When I do, I will be quite keen to find out how it compares to my nose-memory of what I smoked back in the seventies.
Germains produces some exceptionally fine tobaccos, and I have no doubt that whatever they have come up with, whether or not its exactly the same, is indeed quite nice.

TOBACCO INDEX


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YENIDJE

Much of the mystique surrounding the term 'Yenidje' as used by Sobranie of London revolves around a Turkish tobacco which allegedly gave the product a rare perfume, a sweetness, and a resinous quality.
And part of the problem in correctly identifying that leaf lies in the name itself. Yenidje simply means "new settlement" or "new village".

[The term 'Turkish' refers to all tobaccos grown within the Ottoman sphere, including the Balkans, all of Asia Minor, the Levant, Persia, the Black Sea regions, and Egypt. Nowadays it generally is applied to small-leaf tobacco grown in a Mediterranean climate which is comparatively low in nicotine and possesses a grassy fragrance.
Turkish tobaccos, generally speaking, are a labour intensive crop that varies considerably from region to region and from soil type to soil type.]

So what is 'yenidje'?


YENIDJE

Giannitsa in Greece is in Macedonia near where Alexander the Great was born.
Gennisea in Xanthi is near the border with Bulgaria.
Yanitsa ('yeni shehir': new city) in Thessaly is now named Larissa.
Yenice in Çanakkale Province of Turkey is opposite Gallipoli at the entrance to the Dardanelles.
Yenice in Karabük Province is in the north, just south of the Black Sea.
Yenice in Mersin Province is in the south on the Mediterranean Sea, near Hatay.

These aren't the only Yenidjes of record. In fact, almost everywhere in the Turkic world, including Central Asia and the Balkans, Yenidje in various spellings littered the land.

Tobacco is grown or traded in all of the places named above. Yenidje could therefore mean Macedonian, Bulgarian, Xanthi, Samsoun, something akin to Smyrna, or something else entirely.

NOTE: for an earlier mention of Yenidje on this blog, see this link: http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2008/08/balkan-sobranie-postscript.html.
Mentioned in regards to Balkan Sobranie.


BALKAN

By the late nineteenth century the Balkan region was split among different powers and divided along ethnic, religious, and linguistic lines. Ottoman Turkey, the Austro-Hungarians, Greece, and Russia either ruled outright or meddled in each others' bailiwicks, and intrigue in St. Petersburg, Vienna, Athens, and Constantinople often had consequences in local affairs.
With the Serbians and Russians taking sides in the Macedonian question and the Bulgarian National Revival, the Southern Balkans became of interest also to Russian revolutionaries.
Add the ambitions of the Italians and the Germans, and it is easy to see why the region was an irresistible political tinderbox.

David Redstone of Sobranie Ltd. was originally Dovid Roitenshtein (or Roitenshtern) from Odessa, a political troublemaker who emigrated to England in 1907 following stints in jail for anti-Czarist activity, and subsequently Anglified his name like relatives who preceded him in London.
After a number of years in the tobacco trade on behalf of others, he established a name not only for pipe mixtures, but also for excellent Russian and Turkish cigarettes.
Since words in his hands were both political and cultural more than dryly factual, there is little reason to assume that the term 'Yenidje' meant either a dominant ingredient or an actual specific origin.

Prilep and Yaka tobaccos were cultivated in Macedonia since before 1873 when the Ottoman Tobacco Monopoly started processing crops locally for export, and were I a betting man I would wager that the term Yenidje as used by Sobranie of London (established 1879) was meant to differentiate Balkan tobaccos from Orientals grown further south (Turkey), or even as a marketing gimmick, rather than to identify the main leaf in the blend.
It is quite possible that the term Yenidje was useful to distinguish this 'newer' Macedonian leaf from other more established 'Turkish' varieties.

[The Ottoman Tobacco Monopoly was one of the institutions created to increase revenue in the interests of satisfying foreign banks and whittling down the enormous national debt. Tobacco was one of the few crops in demand for export. Under their aegis, growing areas were expanded, and processing improved.]

Given that geographic source terms such as Turkish, Virginia, and Burley have long referred to three separate styles of tobacco and are used quite generically, except on a certificate of provenance 'Yenidje' might be nearly meaningless in any case.

[Virginia: flue-cured; the tobacco leaf is killed and fast dried in heated barns, which preserves the natural sugars yielding a sweet medium strength leaf. Burley: air-cured, originally from Kentucky and Tennessee; the leaf is dried outdoors, maintaining nicotine and certain chocolate-like flavours. Maryland and Caporal are close relatives of Burley which are often steamed under pressure till dark to further develop the taste.
Nowadays Turkish is used primarily for Greek, Cyprian, Turkish and Levantine tobaccos that are not Latakia.
Latakia, formerly tobacco from the port of that name in Syria, now also comes from Cyprus. What differentiates Turkish from Latakia is the curing process, Latakia being a smoke-cured leaf that is dark, tarry, and crumbly because of the incorporated soot. Both types fall under the heading of Oriental Tobacco - which doesn't include Indonesian leaf, Virginia or Burley grown in India, Thailand, or Indo-China, or the thin and acrid tasting Chinese crops. Russian tobacco can be any one of these types, or even some nasty greenish-black shag of unidentifiable origin, depending on region and process.]


With all that in mind, you will surely understand my interest upon once again opening a tin from McClelland's 'Grand Orientals' series, even though I've smoked the product in question before.


YENIDJE SUPREME
[GRAND ORIENTALS, by McCLELLAND]

Tin blurb: "The finest of Xanthi in this blend comes from the best original Yenidje growing area of Western Thrace. These small, delicately aromatic, top leaves from the mountains (Djebel) and lower slopes (Yaka) have been renowned for their sweet, mild, fresh flavor and delicately tangy aroma since the 1600s. This blend is designed to demonstrate why this particular Xanthi is known as "The Queen of Tobaccos."


Even after leaving the tin open for several hours, the reek of that vinegary treatment to which McClelland is addicted is almost unbearable. Surely there are better mold-retardants and bug repellents than British sweatsocks?
I've often thought that the presence of acetic acid narrows the flavour spectrum of many McClelland products, almost killing those tobaccos which are furthest from fully fermented Virginias.
It is especially objectionable in something that purports to have a "delicately tangy aroma".

The appearance of this blend is of small shreds of medium brown and darker hues, the amalgamation likely steamed to meld the flavours.
Taste-wise, it is a smoke that induces contemplation, and while the pong of vinegar in the tin is unacceptable, when lit little thereof is even noticeable, especially if smoked with a steady pace. Instead, there is an old-fashioned quality that promotes peacefulness.
You should not smoke this if you are a nervous or easily agitated person.

It has a pleasant real tobacco taste all the way down, due to the inclusion of other leaves in the blend. Enough nicotine to satisfy, nowhere near enough to knock your sock off. But if you are smoking this, that isn't what you wanted anyhow.
Reduces to a velvety ash, only slightly gritty.
Rather reminiscent of Virginia Woods, though much more like McClelland's Orient 996. Both of those also contain red Virginia. The smoker of paler tobaccos will find the first a good companion to Yenidje Supreme, the aficionado of darker Orientals will favour the latter in rotation with it.
Goes well with black coffee.

This is not a tobacco for a talkative man. If I were still employed in draughting, this would be perfect to smoke at the office..... if one could still smoke at the office.
Quite possibly my father would have liked it.
I shall have to try it in his old Canadians during a quiet weekend.



AFTERTHOUGHT: TOUTOUN

Most of the lower grades of Turkish leaves, irrespective of country where they are grown, are destined to become cigarettes, and will consequently be treated much like American tobaccos. Usually the factories will augment the sugar-content and steam or toast the leaf to make it fit the flavour-profile expected by smokers, who since the Second World War have been exposed to 'Anglo-Saxon' preferences.
Where formerly there was a large market for the Turkish taste, especially in Central Europe, most brands now cater to smokers of blonde leaf. Exceptions are elderly fossils, hinterland peasants, and intolerable eccentrics - but other than the French and Mittel-Europeaner, these are not a large audience.
Pure 'Oriental' cigarettes are a specialty market. Pretty much the only things that can be said for mass-produced smokes is that both nicotine and sugar will be present; the one for the addictive hit, the other for the smooth taste.

Pipe tobacco is, of course, another story.

TOBACCO INDEX


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BLUE MOUNTAIN PIPE TOBACCO

There was a Balkan Sobranie Throwdown at the 2011 Chicago Pipe Show.
Naturally, I was not there. The idea of spending two whole days surrounded by fellow-aficionados ("fanatics") of any type has about as much appeal to me as attending a weekend with the Moonies.
I may be crazy but I am not crazy.

Entirely aside from which, while I myself have waxed more prolix about Balkan Sobranie than many other pipe smokers, the idea of trying to duplicate something that has not been in production for several years strikes me as, forgive the expression, an exercise in pipe dreaming.
Doing so for an audience of fiercely opinionated (and often staggeringly wrong) obsessive types is a form of circle-jerking in which I want no part.


In consequence of that event, there are now at least two new commercial products being offered to the cognoscenti.
One of which is (was) available at the local tobacconist.
A sample of which was offered to me.
Which I took.


BLUE MOUNTAIN
Manufactured by McClelland Tobacco Company of Kansas City, Missouri.

Tin blurb: Rich with the finest Mountain Latakia, a classic full Balkan pipe tobacco mixture, smooth and deeply fragrant. The inspiration for this elegant mixture was a 21-year-old tin of the legendary #759.

"Take a Journey Back to Yesteryear"


Ghastly concept, tasteless graphics, and on the whole a glib slick approach guaranteed to nauseate me.
I am an utter cynic when it comes to marketing aimed at nostalgic oofuses who yearn for the products of their own fondly legendarized past.
Taking a journey back to yesteryear has no buggery appeal.
Yesteryear sucked, in some ways more than it didn't.

Fortunately McClelland, in my estimation, has come no closer than anybody else in bringing it back.
This blend only bears slight resemblance to Balkan Sobranie 759.


Balkan Sobranie 759 (in the black tin) was a creamy full bodied English-Balkan, heavy on the Latakia, with some Turkish mixed in, and a base of Virginia Cavendish ("black Virginia"), a little ribbon, and possibly something in the nature of red cake.
Because it was steampressed into the container, like all products of certain English firms, there was a pleasure upon popping the lid off a fifty gramme tin that many of us have fondly implanted, permanently in our subconscious.
A satisfying thwack as the vacuum was violated, then looking at the neatly crimped paper and admiring the smooth surface of the disk of tobacco, which just begged to be teased and roughed up as you stuffed your pipe.
McClelland's product naturally has similar tobaccos, though without the flat enameled tin, the neatly crimped paper nest, and the smooth surface.
The way the tobacco has been tumbled also yields a different appearance and bowl-pack.


A CHARMING OFFENSE

Within the first minute of setting fire to the sample, I rushed off to the tobacconist to purchase all the tins they had.
I deliberately kept my gaze averted when I passed the other smokers at the wall, as I did not wish to be delayed or interrupted.
Tight-jawed determination, decisive action, and a purposeful stride.
Those tins are mine, dammit.

Again, not much like Balkan Sobranie 759. But indeed a very fine product.
Didn't want the others to grab tins before I had assured myself a supply.
Well, actually I just didn't want them to have any of it at all.

It's sweeter than the old 759, and the perfumed quality I remember is also missing.
The Latakia is excellent, however, and the components of this high quality blend compliment each other well.
Perhaps not the symphony advertised, but absolutely rocking chamber music.

No, I'm never going to like the uninspired label art. Metallic blue squiggles on copper sheet.
Blue mountains mean absolutely flange-all to me, aesthetically or otherwise.
Are there even any blue mountains in Turkey or Syria?
They might have blue-ish stones or bumps.
But who the bucket cares?


The first taste at lighting up is wonderful - rich, delicious in the nose upon exhaling, sweet and resinous. The middle of the bowl is satisfying, meaty, and easy to keep lit. At the bottom there will be some crumbs remaining unburnt, and the ash that the tobacco renders is mixed, both feathery and gritty.
I did not feel hungry after this, but strangely satisfied.
Blue Mountain Pipe Tobacco is the perfect breakfast.
Several bowls later the world seems bright and new.

The only things missing are a purring cat and a thunderstorm.

TOBACCO INDEX


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BALKAN SOBRANIE

Links to Balkan Sobranie posts: these are the articles on this blog that discuss what Balkan Sobranie Mixture was, of what it probably consisted, and which modern blends are similar.

[This is not about the famous 'Balkan Sobranie Turkish Cigarettes' in the flat white tin with the same illustration on the front as the round tins of pipe tobacco. Those, along with Sobranie's other fine cigarettes (imperial Russians, Cocktails, Chaliapins, Balkan Sobranie Turkish Oval Cigarettes, etcetera, are deserving of their own post. Particularly the Imperial Russians that Donald W. Daniels at Drucquer's was so fond of. They were an excellent product the disappearance of which is much lamented.
If you're looking for Turkish cigarettes, I suggest finding out if 'Khedive' is still around. Lovely sweet ovals, from Austria or Germany. They were delicious!
There are also probably still products made by Greek companies in Alexandria, using a variety of Oriental tobaccos. But it is almost certain that you won't find them in California - rules here are stricter (i.e. 'goofier') than many other places.]



BALKAN SOBRANIE - POSTSCRIPT
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2008/08/balkan-sobranie-postscript.html
Discusses the terminology and the name. Goes into the component tobaccos of the legendary pipe tobacco in some detail, though if you really want to know more about various blending tobaccos, nothing beats hands-on experience.
Describes the taste of Balkan Sobranie Original Mixture.
August 07, 2008


FURTHER NOTES REGARDING THE KEY LARGO SMOKING MIXTURE BY G. L. PEASE: CONSTITUENT TOBACCOS AND CONTEXT
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2008/07/further-notes-regarding-key-largo.html
As the title says, primarily about Greg Pease's 'Key Largo'. But because comparisons are inevitable, mention is made of BALKAN SOBRANIE VIRGINIAN NO. 10 ("with choicest cigar leaf").
Various types of tobacco more commonly used as filler or wrapper for cigars have also been incorporated in pipe tobacco blends - everything from Cuban and Centro-American through Brasil and Indonesian. Most such blends are composed of an aged Virginia base upon which cigar tobacco and other condimentals are layered.
If you treat cigar leaf as if it were equidistant between Turkish and Burley, you can construct something quite rewarding. Too much, though, and the cheroot funk will overwhelm. Tolerances differ.
July 24, 2008


BALKAN SOBRANIE ORIGINAL MIXTURE
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2007/10/balkan-sobranie-original-mixture.html
Mention of first encountering the Balkan Sobranie Mixture in the famous white tin, as well as comparison with some Germain's blends, Dunhill mixtures, G. L. Pease, Cornell & Diehl, and 'Bill Bailey's Balkan Blend'.
October 31, 2007


IT SMELLS LIKE VICTORY
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2007/11/it-smells-like-victory.html
Account of compounding a personal blend that to me resembles Balkan Sobranie exceedingly. But I shall not give the recipe, for two reasons: primarily because nose-memories vary considerably, with each person remembering a discontinued product differently; secondarily because there are other imitations and substitutes out there which are both admirable and a sufficient basis for your own blending experiments.
November 12, 2007



YOUR OWN BALKAN SOBRANIE DUPLICATE

If you were to try creating a replacement, I would suggest 40% Latakia or more, 20% - 25% Turkish, 30% to 35% Virginia, and a small quantity of an unflavoured black Cavendish OR 'Toasted Cavendish'.
Proportions are recommended approximates, vary them according to what you remember most about the product.

Note several things:
Latakia nowadays is usually from Cyprus, and is not the same as Syrian (it has a stronger flavour, and it doesn't weigh quite the same). Turkish varietals are no longer available in the spectrum that once was common - Cornell & Diehl sells 'Smyrna', which I particularly like. The Virginia component should contain mostly a medium flake rubbed out, and just a little Yellow Virginia for taste, colour, and smoking effect (even a little will look like a lot, as it is very light in weight), and lastly, both the unflavoured Cavendish as well as the Toasted Cavendish will be air cured tobaccos treated to darken them, and consequently will have a profound impact in small amounts, but will dominate if you are careless.

Blend somewhat wetter than you would smoke. Use mild heat to promote melding of flavours. Do this in a closed container to prevent loss of fragrance. When cool, pack it away for a week before testing it.


YENIDJE, GIANNITSA, YENICE

The term "Yenidje", as used on the label may have been a false clue, an almost deliberate misdirection. Possibly as a marketing strategem, though equally likely it was meant to misdirect and obscure sources.
There are SEVERAL places in Northern Turkey, Greece, and Macedonia called Yenidje - it means 'NEW TOWN' - the Turkish spelling is "Yenice". There is even a Yenidje that produces Xanthi leaf.
I believe that mr. Redstone simply appreciated the sound of the name, just as he liked the terms 'Balkan' and 'Sobranie'. Balkan sounds exotic and adventurous, Sobranie means assembly (or 'congress') and makes reference to the turbulent politics of the area, with which the Redstone family had connection.
I myself suspect that most of the 'Turkish' tobacco in the Balkan Sobranie Original Mixture was actually Macedonian, perhaps comparable to high-quality Prilep tobacco. Tzarich iyun ("needs further investigation").


There are a number of resources mentioned in the blog-roll on the right in the section titled 'TOBACCO'.
There are also clickable 'labels' underneath this post.



AFTERWORD

This post was actually written on Wednesday June 6, 2011. But because many of my regular visitors are rather sick of my obsession with Balkan Sobranie, it was placed on the blog between the previous Friday morning post and the Friday evening post, so that readers don't cruise in, conclude "darn it, he's off again", and cruise right on out.

TOBACCO INDEX


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TOBACCO COMPANIES, TOBACCO BLENDS

This post is about pipe-tobacco, and consequently there will not be much here for many of my regular readers; sorry, but I promise that there will be the usual zany antics later on - in particular something quite perverse in time for Purim.

[NOTE: There are several links scattered throughout the text below - clicking them will bring up my own posts on that subject (EXCEPTIONS: GLP and C&D).]


TOBACCO COMPANIES

Since the nineties several of the old tobacco houses have changed, due to the deaths of guiding hands and profound legal and tax developments in Britain.


DUNHILL

Dunhill blends have not been made in the British Isles since the late nineties, and have been unavailable for the past few years nearly everywhere.
British American Tobacco, which had owned the blends since Rothmans ceased to exist, quarreled with the company to which they had farmed out the manufacture.

Dunhill tobaccos were made in England till 1981, when Rothmans (who had acquired the company from Carrerras in 1972) moved manufacturing to the Murrays factory in Belfast. While a lot of later smokers praised the Murrays product in comparison to what Orlik put out, it should be remembered that the early Murrays tins were quite unsmokeable - sourcing and quality control improved considerably over the years.


RATTRAYS

Now manufactured in Germany by Kohlhase, Kopp und Co. KG (who also do Astleys, formerly of 109 Jermyn Street, as well as the blends of Robert McConnel) according to the recipes developed by Charles Rattray in Perth. The Germans are doing a decent enough job. The one thing they cannot reproduce is the microclimate of the Scottish home of these blends - moisture content in the air, temperature ranges, and the eccentric non-standardization of manufacture combined to produce some very fine tobaccos. What Charles Rattray never realized was that combining different batches of the same blend had more impact on smoking quality than his much vaunted panning method. A variety of ages united to produce richness, whereas uniformity of age and heat treatment makes for a mono-dimensional smoke.

[PLEASE NOTE: The Rattray Virginias are described in this later post: RATTRAY'S VIRGINIA TOBACCO: OLD GOWRIE, MARLIN FLAKE, BROWN CLUNEE, HAL O' THE WYND. They are excellent, still. If you age the tin for a year before popping the seal, you will have a treat. There's enough Rattrays of various ages stashed under the bed, in the book shelves, and on the desk to last quite a long while. Good stuff. ------- ATBOTH, August 12, 2013.]


SAMUEL GAWITH

Still the same, still in Kendall, boruch Hashem. An ancient company with all of the eccentricities of previous generations smoothed out by age, still producing tobacco as they believe it should be. Except for a few monumentally odd aromatics, they are right. They also make snuff.
Supplies are spotty at present - no explanation.


GAWITH HOGARTH

Less pronounceable a name than their cousin Samuel, but no less respected. More steampressing, and more aromatic disasters, but a fine company.
They also make snuff.


MURRAYS

The originators of Erinmore. Which has been described as the painted whore among the tobaccos, the veritable clapped-out harlot drenched in cheap cologne that shakes a syphilitic tit at the unwary. The factory closed in 1998 and the blends moved to Denmark. If you ever wondered why Dunhill Flake seemed reminiscent of a perfumed tart, now you know - same factory and same machines as Erinmore Flake.
Which, despite my austere Calvinist tastes, I am actually fond of, though I will not admit it.

Erinmore Flake, calmly smoked, burns down to a fine white ash, and leaves scant funk. If smoked fast, the top-dressing boils into your cake, and you will experience profound regret.


J. F. GERMAIN & SON

This company makes some very fine tobacco, both under their own flag and for Esoterica Tabaciana. Unfortunately it is becoming harder and harder to find either - blame the continentals for that, as the Europeans have become as daft as the Californians and wish to cripple the tobacco industry entirely. A good place to start the final assault is small eccentric family companies, in the estimation of Brussels.
Supplies are spotty, there is no explanation. And that is likely to continue.


BALKAN SOBRANIE

Yes, it was only a matter of time before I brought up that name - you were anxiously waiting its appearance in this text, weren't you? The company was started by an Eastern-European Jew with Russian and Southern Slav connections. He made very fine cigarettes and a limited range of pipe-tobaccos. The Balkan Sobranie Mixture in the white tin was more famous than any other product, and is no longer available. Nor could it be reproduced exactly in any case - European Tobacco laws would prevent it.

In order: Syrian Latakia, Yenidje and other Orientals, a medium flake, a lighter Virginia ribbon, a dark toasted or steamed flue-cured leaf, and something I cannot identify that wasn't tobacco. Probably deertongue, but I wouldn't stake my life on it. Combine everything except the Latakia and meld with light heat, then add the Latakia, age for a few days, and press it into the tin - which means more heat. Like many tinned tobaccos, the moisture level was upped to make it more malleable and less likely to crumble and fragment with this treatment.

Note that the preferred Syrian Latakia in the sixties and seventies was choice Shek El Bint with far more smoke-curing than is used for any Latakia-style tobacco nowadays. Consequently that exact flavour will not be possible. Yenidje may be replaced with other Greek or Macedonian tobaccos - again, not an exact match. Prilep might not be a bad choice, with Samsoun and Smyrna for a better spectrum. It is worth experimenting, but don't get your hopes up too high.
For more about the Balkan Sobranie Mixture than you would ever want to read (no exaggeration), click here: BS CLICK

[NOTE: Because this post discusses Balkan Sobranie, as of this writing it will be the very first post that you see - simply scroll down for other articles.]



Even though these companies and many others have disappeared, the situation is comparatively rosy. Here in the States we have three companies that make enough fine English tobacco to sink the empire.



GLPEASE

Greg Pease worked at Drucquer and Sons in Berkeley nearly a decade after I left that firm. He learned far more than I ever did. Drucquers was known for its English mixtures, and Greg continued that blending tradition on his own. To such commendable result in fact that his nickname on the internet is "The Dark Lord".
G. L. Pease owns Latakia in the same way that McClelland owns flake.
He has in recent years also done some very fine things with pressed tobaccos and Virginia mixtures.

[For all other posts mentioning his tobacco, click here: GLP. This post will also be shown - just scroll down to whatever you have not read yet. Same rule holds for some of the links embedded elsewhere in this post.]


CORNELL & DIEHL - CRAIG TARLER

Despite having a peculiar fondness for Burley tobaccos, Craig produces some of the best blends in the business. As well as manufacturing Greg Pease's blends. If you are so inclined you can purchase many blending tobaccos from his company, or simply order the blends that your local tobacconist does not stock.
I particularly recommend Red Odessa.
Yale Mixture and Old College are also very fine products.
His flakes are excellent and deservedly well regarded.


MCCLELLAND

By now this company has the hoary veneer of respectable age, having been founded over a quarter of a century ago, and many of the other tobacco houses having disappeared since then. This company is famous for pressed Virginia, on which they more or less base all their products. They also employ heat and steam for particular effects. Many house blends at local tobacco stores are bulk McClelland mixtures; many other retailers depend on blending tobaccos supplied by McClelland. Not everyone likes them. But without them, pipe smoking in America might have disappeared.
You can find out everything you need to know about them elsewhere.



With GLPease, Cornell & Diehl, and McClelland in the market, we need not worry overmuch at present. These three are keeping America's smokers more than adequately supplied with high quality pipe-tobacco.



BLENDING A BALKAN MIXTURE

Balkan Sobranie Mixture as made by Gallagher was probably around 36.00% Latakia, 24.00% Oriental (Yenidje etcetera), 32.00% Mixed Virginias, and 8.00% Black Virginia (steamed and baked, rather than pressed or fired), or an unflavoured Black Cavendish.
Black Virginia is quite unavailable nowadays, and unflavoured Black Cavendish is extremely hard to find.

If you simply want to blend a good Balkan, you may increase the proportion of Latakia or Virginia - the Oriental is nearly at full capacity anyhow, and as long as you use some remarkable Virginias you can not go wrong.

Fluffed flake should not be much more than the other Virginias unless you are aiming for a slow and almost boring blend; ribbon Virginias increase smokeability, but also heat and tongue-bite.
Plain Cavendish is smooth, and doesn't add much flavour - it can be used in lieu of too much yellow ribbon.

Toasted Cavendish (actually fire-cured Kentucky) up to one twelfth of the total adds depth and body. Any more and you might end up with something too acrid.

If you use Perique, be discreet. Optimum percentages are between four and eight.

Avoid dark pressed (black) flake as a blending tobacco. It doesn't really work, as it is only narrow-range compatible. Which means Virginia mixtures and nearly nothing else.


Final note: Do NOT create a Latakia dump. While Latakia is a remarkable tobacco, it works best in concert with others, not as a solo. Anything over fifty percent is both juvenile and excessive - maximum 45% is plenty. You can increase the dark component of your blend by adding unflavoured black Cavendish (if you can find any) and Toasted Cavendish (which is actually similar to Burley and other air-cured leaf).
Doing so will produce something remarkably Scottish in character, which is probably what you want anyway.


LABELS

For further reading, do please note all the labels underneath this post. Clicking any one of them will bring up all posts which have those labels appended - today, this post is on top of the heap (and you have already read it) so simply scroll down to the next one.

TOBACCO INDEX


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All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
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SOMETHING SMELLY THIS WAY COMES

Then - 1976
Dusk and dawn take longer in Valkenswaard than here in SF. At this time of year, the morning mist covers the market square, the glimmer of the sun from the direction of the Hofnar cigar factory is scarcely visible. A flock of screaming marsh birds from the fens south of town circle and swoop over the bricks every morning at first light.

My father has come upstairs to wash. I go down to the kitchen, have a cup of coffee, and head out on my bike to enjoy the first pipe of the day. Along the square, up the Leender Weg, then north past the other cigar factory (Willem II). Beyond the warehouses there is a reek of fermented leaves, pressed and steamed - Java and Sumatra, Brazil and Cameroon. A warm fecund aroma, strongest at this time of day. Now turn west, then south on the Eindhovensche Weg, and back home to Kerk Steeg.
I wheel my bike into the stables (now a garage for the beetle and our bicycles), and open the kitchen door.


My father is downstairs again, having his second cup of coffee and reading the Dutch newspaper before heading to the office. I pour myself a short half-cup, and sit down to read yesterday's Herald Tribune.

His rustles his paper and asks "did you have the boys over yesterday evening?"

Indeed I did - Dion DeLeeuw, Boudewijn de Bats, Herman Ritter, Tom Bouten, Leendert Westerneng ... And one person whose name I can no longer remember, though I could still find his apartment with my eyes closed (he lived one block away from where the pretty Asian girl went to school).

We drank beer and coffee. A late night gathering after closing Parsifal had become our custom. Last night it took place in our kitchen. The boys put up with my horrid pipe-tobacco because I make excellent coffee. It was a very pleasant hour.

My father knows that this is what we do, and does not object when it happens in our kitchen.
This morning he extends a hand from behind his paper while telling me "ask your friends not to leave this here the next time - they might miss it".


He hands me a one kilo brick of hashish.


Lebanese. Nice quality.


With a corner broken off.


Last night, while I had been smoking Balkan Sobranie (the stinky pipe-tobacco aforementioned), the chap whose name I cannot remember but whose apartment I can still find blindfolded had rolled joints - he was the house dealer at Parsifal.
He had left his stuff on the table when he went home. For my father to discover when he came downstairs.
I am fairly certain my father knew what it was. But I wonder how he knew.


I left before my father finished his newspaper. So that I could return the brick of hashish on my way to school. It was already light out by that time.


Now - 2008
Yesterday evening I went into the kitchen several times for coffee and a smoke (last week Savage Kitten gave me a coffee maker for my birthday, the old one having crapped out several months ago). The smells of Balkan-style tobacco and good coffee from Peet's reminded me of those final years in Valkenswaard. That, and the sense of quiet throughout the building....... My mind's nose again remembered that night, that morning, the perfume of the tobacco, the reek of hashish, and the dry leaves on the Market Square. It was very good.

--------------------------------
--------------------------------

NOTE:
The name of the Balkan style tobacco is not important, and you probably have your own favourite. It isn't Balkan Sobranie, as that has not been available for over a decade. But if your local tobacconist does not stock a decent Balkan mixture, you can compound something yourself.


BALKAN BLEND

Eight parts Latakia
Five parts Turkish
Four parts medium flake, rubbed and fluffed
One part plain cavendish
One part bright ribbon

Let it age in a tightly closed jar for at least a week before smoking. If you added a shpritz of water while mixing, the flavours will meld better.
[Half a part to as much as one and a half parts Perique may be added. Perique lessens tongue-burn.]

Do not smoke it in large pipes - a regular size bowl is best.

Have some good strong coffee while enjoying a pipe full. Peet's is an excellent merchant of beans. As regards the kilo of Lebanese, however, I have no recommendations. I'm afraid you are on your own there. House dealers in the US are not the kind of people you would want to visit you late at night. This is not the same environment as the Netherlands, dusk and dawn are also different here.
Tobacco and coffee however are universal.

TOBACCO INDEX


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BALKAN SOBRANIE - POSTSCRIPT

This is a follow-up regarding the Balkan Sobranie posting from yesterday. It will, consequently, be of little interest to anybody else except pipe-smokers.



WHAT IS BALKAN TOBACCO?

There are any number of pipe-tobaccos on the market that use the term Balkan as part of their description or name. This did not begin with Balkan Sobranie, but it is largely due to them that the term Balkan gained such currency. The success and popularity of the Balkan Sobranie Original Mixture started a veritable cult among pipe smokers that continues to this day, even though the Balkan Sobranie Original Mixture is long gone.

Most Balkans, like the Balkan Sobranie itself, derive the greater part of their flavour from Turkish tobaccos - that being the term in common use for small leaf fragrant tobaccos grown in the Southern Balkans and Asia Minor. Many of the best Turkish tobaccos come from Greece, Macedonia, European Turkey, and Izmir (Smyrna). Some other Turkish leaf comes from the Black Sea coast. Other areas that grow 'Turkish' tobacco are the Crimea, Syria, and, formerly, Egypt. The term Turkish, in the case of tobacco, refers to leaf grown in the former Ottoman sphere of influence rather than modern Turkey.

Balkan tobaccos are a subset of Turkish. The Balkan Sobranie was compounded with Yenidje tobacco, grown in Macedonia - at one time part of the Ottoman Empire; it should not be confused with either Yenice in Çanakkale which straddles the Dardanelles, or Yenice in Karabük which is located between Ankara and the Black Sea. The Yenidje from whence the tobacco is now called Giannitsa or Yannitsa - both Greece and Macedonia claim the name. Yenidje tobacco as such is not available, but the precise same cultivar is grown in European Turkey, and yields a very similar leaf.

NOTE: also see this post for more about Yenidje.
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2011/09/yenidje.html



WHAT DOES SOBRANIE MEAN?

The term Sobranie has nothing to do with tobacco - it means parliament ('assembly'), and refers to the liberation-drang of the southern Balkans, which resulted in a number of national assemblies in post-Ottoman times.
The term is probably related to 'sovereign'.

NOTES
Lipman (http://lipmans.blogspot.com/), fellow blogger and pipe mayvn, writes regarding the term 'sobranie':
"Souvereign and sobranie aren't related. The first is from Latin superanus, a nominal formation to super, the second from Slavonic *sŭbĭraniye < *kom + bir(a) + niye."

E-kvetcher (http://search-for-emes.blogspot.com/) earlier commented:
"In Russian, the word can mean 'an assortment'. Likely this is what in means in Serbo-Croatian, or whatever language they are trying to mimic. Though you can never be sure that a word in one language means exactly the same as a similar sounding word in a closely related language. The Russian word for 'match' happens to mean 'prostitute' in Czech. Many a misunderstanding has occurred when a visiting Russian would ask a Czech for a light. "

Not being in any way even 'half-chamor-ed' literate in either Russian or Old Church Slavonic (or any other Slavonic), I will gladly accept their corrections. --- B.O.T.H.
08/08/08


INDEX OF MY BALKAN SOBRANIE RELATED POSTS

SOME SAY IT SMELLS LIKE UNDERWEAR
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2008/08/some-say-it-smells-like-underwear.html
In which I discuss smoking the Balkan Sobranie, provide recommendations for alternatives, and speculate about the recipe. It is a long post.

FURTHER NOTES REGARDING THE KEY LARGO SMOKING MIXTURE BY G. L. PEASE: CONSTITUENT TOBACCOS AND CONTEXT
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2008/07/further-notes-regarding-key-largo.html
As the title says, it is not about Balkan Sobranie - but it does mention the Balkan Sobranie Number 10 Virginia, which was a blend augmented with cigar leaf. It continues the themes mentioned in a previous post (see below). Fairly short post.

KEY LARGO BY G. L. PEASE - A GOOD PIPE BLEND THAT IS HARD TO DESCRIBE
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2008/07/key-largo-by-g-l-pease-good-pipe-blend.html
A review of a new blend by Greg Pease. There is some mention of the Balkan Sobranie No. 10 mixture. Fairly short post.

THREE TOBACCOS AND SOMETHING ABOUT BEING CHEAP
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2008/06/three-tobaccos-and-something-about.html
Correspondence with a reader, and description of three tobaccos - one of which is the Balkan Sasieni Smoking Mixture, made in Denmark. Medium length post.

IT SMELLS LIKE VICTORY
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2007/11/it-smells-like-victory.html
This one is more or less gloating - I had compounded a blend that recalled the Balkan Sobranie better than anything else I have smoked. Not perfect. But close. Short post.

BALKAN SOBRANIE ORIGINAL MIXTURE
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2007/10/balkan-sobranie-original-mixture.html
Suggestions for tobaccos that share specific characteristics with the Balkan Sobranie mixture, as well as a personal recommendation: Cornell & Diehl's Red Odessa. Not because it resembles the Balkan Sobranie Original Mixture, but because it is a darn fine English blend.
this post is a little long, but detail rich.


There are other posts which might interest you - please note the tags underneath this post: Balkan Sobranie, Blend Review, GLP, Pipes and Tobacco. Clicking any one of them will bring up posts in that category.


BLENDING A REPLACEMENT FOR THE BALKAN SOBRANIE ORIGINAL MIXTURE

I mentioned yesterday that if you were to try your hand at this, it would probably be best to do seven parts Turkish, seven parts Virginia, and ten parts Latakia. In thinking it over, I believe that eight parts Virginia would probably be better.
Note that these proportions are only guidelines - deviation will lead you into interesting discoveries.

[Note (added on August 4th., 2012): recent information shows that the original Balkan Sobranie mixture, before Gallagher started modifying the blend, contained fifty percent Latakia and less than twenty five percent Turkish type leaf. Gallagher towards the end of their tenure used less than forty percent Latakia. Depending on your own taste-memories, something between forty and forty five percent Latakia  (rather than 50%) would probably be best - because the impact of the actual leaf now used for the production of Latakia is stronger than Shek El Bint would have been, all the more so with the changes in smoke-curing. 
Mix the Turkish and Flue-cured components first, blend damp.  Let this sit for a few days, then add the Latakia. You can use mild heat ("panning the tobacco") to meld at this point, which will also lower the moisture content.]


Virginia:
The Virginia should be mostly a red Virginia flake - Cornell & Diehl's Opening Night is one such, and it is a very fine tobacco - for blending as well as smoking. The other Virginia would be minor amounts of black Virginia (Cornell & Diehl) and bright ribbon, or you might add a touch of dark stoved flake in lieu of the black.

Turkish:
Regarding Turkish, you must know that Yenidje is nearly impossible to find. Smyrna, however, is an excellent Turkish tobacco, albeit different in taste. And I have heard that Prilep from Macedonia is quite good - but I have no clue where it can be purchased.

Latakia:
The Latakia will necessarily have to be from Cyprus. Till the eighties, the Balkan Sobranie mixture used Syrian, but that has become nearly impossible to find, even for old tobacco houses. The main differences are that Syrian Latakia was Shek El Bint ("the maiden's cleft") tobacco smoked over Oak and scrub, whereas Cyprian Latakia is Smyrna-type leaf cured over Juniper (and, they tell me, pine). A key difference also seems to be that the smoke-curing is not as intense as it once was; Latakia no longer smells quite as tarry as it did in the seventies.

Note: Shek el bint was a larger leaf cultivar, which lent an almost sherry-like tone to the mixtures; Cyprian Latakia is Turkish type, and in consequence is somewhat sweeter, lower in nicotine, and more resinous.
[This note added in 2015.]

Other Tobaccos:
I have seen some speculation that the Balkan Sobranie mixture also contained either ribbon-cut Maryland, or Perique. As both of these can be used to modify the sweetness of a blend (Maryland diminishing, Perique enhancing), and as both also modify the bitey aspect of Yellow Virginia (bright ribbon), this is not at all unlikely. But I do not remember either of those specific tastes being noticeable in Balkan Sobranie. Perhaps you do. Let me know.

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Postscript to a postscript, added several hours later - there never is a final word on Balkan Sobranie



BALKAN SOBRANIE BLEND REVIEW: HOW DID IT SMOKE?
[Rather ridiculous to discuss a pipe-tobacco at such length without telling you what it was actually like. Somehow, that seems like important information.]

A marked characteristic of Balkan Sobranie was the powerful release of a smoky resinous aroma when first lit, before it settled in to a spicy, buttery smoke. The Yenidje was a main player, supported by the Latakia but not overwhelmed by it - yet the Latakia was extremely noticeable in the mix. This gave a peaty nose effect coupled with an incense-like element, and hence a faint bitterness.
The Virginia base added a layer of sweetness, with a slightly sharp accent, presumably from bright Virginia (Lemon Virginia, Yellow Virginia). But the main part of the base was almost certainly a pressed medium Red Virginia - no edges, no raw taste, just a good Cavendish-like depth. I am fairly certain that there was also touch of dark Virginia or black Virginia - under everything, the faintest hint of raisins and caramel augmented the red, smoothed the bright, and added depth to the Latakia.
The Turkish element and the incense -hue of Yenidje dominated throughout the bowl, the sweetness of the Virginias was present but not bold - a supporting player. Of all the components, what stood out was the Yenidje.

The tobacco packed well, lit evenly, burnt regularly and smoked down coolly. It would not peak much at the end before just fading away, leaving a fine grey ash.

Tins of Balkan Sobranie with a bit of age on them were mellower - the Latakia had rounded out a bit, and the flavours of the tobaccos had melded. The tarriness of the Latakia was less sharp, more velvety. The overall effect was not as 'salty' as with the newer tins.


COMPARISONS:

Dunhill's London mixture had less Virginia than the Balkan Sobranie, G. L. Pease's Caravan has less Turkish, Esoterica's Penzance seems to have significantly more Latakia.


ELSEWHERE ON THE NET

Read what others have said about the Balkan Sobranie mixture here:
http://www.tobaccoreviews.com/blend_detail.cfm?ALPHA=O&TID=1525


RARE TINS, HIGH PRICES, AND FANATICISM

One can find sealed tins of Balkan Sobranie on the internet at ridiculous prices. Even if you've never tasted it, it is pointless to shell out so much money. Nor do I conceive of Balkan Sobranie tins as having significant collectible value. It would be far better to nourish a taste for the excellent products of Greg Pease (GLP) and Craig Tarler (Cornell & Diehl) than to indulge in a taste for an antique.
I would venture that both Greg Pease's Westminster, and Cornell & Diehl's Red Odessa, are blends every bit as good as Balkan Sobranie was when it was still made by the Redstone family at Sobranie House in London, and a damn sight better than the last ten years of Gallagher's production.

On the other hand, if someone gives you an uncracked tin of Balkan Sobranie, by all means smoke it, irrespective of whether it was made prior to Gallaghers acquisition of the trademark (in 1968), or after. The stuff produced up through the early eighties was excellent.

TOBACCO INDEX


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SOME SAY IT SMELLS LIKE UNDERWEAR

Much of my memory from the last four years that I lived in Valkenswaard is permeated with smoke. A large part of it my own.

I bought my first pipe when I was thirteen, but did not buy any tobacco at that time. During the first weeks that I owned it, the pipe was totemic and a touch-object, more than a tool in which leaves would eventually be burned.
I fondled it instead.

There was a tobacconist next to Priem's bookstore - I remember the bookstore name, but not the name of the tobacconist - and every day after browsing for hours in Priem's stacks I would pass the display window with its pipes, tins, and odd objects. During August and September I had noticed the pipes in the window but not given them much thought. By the middle of September I had started obsessing about one of them, and ended up buying it, for fear that it might otherwise disappear from my world forever. Something about the shape seemed so perfect, so well-designed.

It was of course a piece of crap.
But I did not know that at the time. I was not a smoker, and as a teenager I had a fairly abysmal sense of aesthetics.


DEAD LEAVES

In October I purchased a tin of Niemeyer's Scottish Mixture - a product that did not convince me that smoking was a good idea, but sniffing the opened tin was a marvelous experience. It was earthy, rich, sweet. Slightly rotten and autumn-ish. The knowledge that I had a tin of tobacco, a box of matches, and a hollowed piece of wood with which to combine the two, was deliciously sinful.

Out of a sense of obligation (to the pipe) I would smoke a half bowl every other day or so. By winter I was smoking five or six times a week, and had bought a few more pipes.


BALKAN SOBRANIE

About a year after that I discovered the Balkan Sobranie mixture. Most of what I had been smoking up to that point had been fairly innocuous ribbon cuts, Maryland and Maryland mixed with Virginia, plus some drecky perversions that the Dutch do so well (which are better left unnamed).
Balkan Sobranie was quite different; the name is one that for some people says it all. And the disappearance of that fine product is much lamented, obsessively mourned, and gibbered on about at length in a multitude of fora and media.

[Balkan Sobranie was composed of Yenidje (a small-leaf resinous tobacco from Macedonia - one of the "Turkish" tobaccos), Latakia (a smelly dark Syrian fire-cured product, marvelously cool and phenomenally pongy), and a Virginia basis. The Latakia seemed more present than it actually was, due to the manufacturing process - mild pressure and stoving. It was probably no more than forty percent of the total.]

Balkan Sobranie was a fabulous tobacco. But, in the social environment of that time and place, it was also a magic potion that turned one into a toad. Something about Latakia made people foam at the mouth and wax wroth.
I was often lectured (at great and dreary length) by stern-faced men, cigars in their mouths, about the frightful perversion that the stuff I had in my pipe embodied. Why, hell was filled with antisocial heathens like me, and I would come to no good. It was sheerly unchristian of me to be thus.
As if that wasn't bad enough, people who stank of unwashed clothing and dark shag cigarettes let it be known that their tastes were far too refined to put up with my pipe - I should be like them, and smoke their preferred tobacco, or I should else please go away.

I blithely ignored them.
That is to say, I did not seek their company, and I continued smoking Balkan Sobranie. My father did not object to the smell in the house, and occasionally would pull out one of his own pipes to have a bowl - he did not often smoke a pipe anymore, but before we had moved to the Netherlands he had been a regular pipe-smoker.
At such times my brother would make nauseated Dutch sounds, gagging and retching, and leave the room. Unless he forgot to do so. When he remembered, he objected fiercely to all manner of tobacco use.

[This was the same young man who would sit at one end of the table in the serra with his chess books in the evening, till the wee hours, while I sat at the other end with Vladimir Nabokov, Jasmine tea, several pipes, and a tin of Balkan Sobranie. Not a peep from him, he was entirely abstracted at those times. The smoke did not affect him.]


DRUCQUER'S

When I returned to the US in 1978 I bought my pipe tobacco at Drucquer & Sons in Berkeley. Even though their blends were extraordinarily good, far better than any other tobacconists, I do not remember them quite as intensely or as fondly. Yes, I enjoyed them, but I do not particularly miss them. And though I worked there for a few years, for some reason I cannot recall the smell of the place. Sensory overload, plus the different humidity of Northern California, may have affected my reek-memory of that time.

[Drucquer's most famous product was Blend 805 - fifty percent Latakia, twenty five percent Djubec, and the remainder medium Virginias. The choice of Virginias was probably crucial in the composition, as so high a proportion of Latakia may make the blend hard to smoke. But 805 was perfectly balanced.]


THE PAST TWO DECADES

Several favourite tobaccos disappeared in the eighties and nineties - John Cotton's Smyrna and John Cotton's No. 1 and 2, State Express (not the cigarettes, but a light Balkan mixture), Dobie's Foursquare Blue (aged Virginias and Turkish), and a blend called Constantinople (Latakia, Turkish, matured Virginia, and Toasted Cavendish). Rattrays' blends are now produced in Germany, and are little more than strange bastard kin of the original products. Dunhill and Balkan Sobranie changed considerably in the eighties and nineties, and the latter has since disappeared.

But on the other hand, there have been several bright developments.
Dan Tobacco was founded in that period (1991), Craig Tarler bought the company he turned into Cornell & Diehl (1990), and Greg Pease began blending.

Despite the anti-smoking nutballs socially dominant at present, things are looking up. The world still smells divine.


BLENDS FOR THE BALKAN SMOKER

Aficionados of Balkan Sobranie are of course out of luck. The product is no longer being made. But there are several blends that will provide similar pleasures, in particular G. L. Pease's Charing Cross, Blackpoint, and Westminster - all three dance nicely in the same theatre as Balkan Sobranie, though by no means performing the same ballet. Greg Pease's Kensington not only ages well, but has a tin-aroma when opened that absolutely recalls the Balkan Sobranie - it's something having to do with the particular Virginia and how it interplays with the Orientals. It is a lighter blend, though.

In that vein, Stokkeby produces a Balkan Supreme which is well-regarded. Samuel Gawith in Kendall (Cumbria, England) makes some very fine blends (Skiff, Squadron Leader, and Commonwealth - light English, Balkan style, and Latakia dump respectively). And Craig Tarler makes Red Odessa, which is a delightful straightforward medium-full English blend of extraordinary quality. Which I am currently out of - I must order more.

Old tins of Dunhill mixtures are also quite desirable - London Mixture, Standard Mixture Medium, and Durbar in particular. The 965 is good too, but I am not so taken with it.

And no doubt, there will be more Balkan blends developed in the future. The end is nowhere near in view.

========================================


BLENDING EXPERIMENTS:
IS IT POSSIBLE TO DUPLICATE BALKAN SOBRANIE?

Many blenders have tried to reproduce the Balkan Sobranie Original Mixture. So far, results have not been particularly successful.
But why don't you try it yourself?

I would suggest starting out with seven parts Virginia, six parts Turkish, and ten parts Latakia.
The Virginia should be mostly a rubbed-out medium flake (Cornell & Diehl's Opening Night, or one of the paler McClelland products), augmented with a little bright ribbon (for appearance and general smokeability) and some stoved Virginia (which supports the Latakia and gives depth).
The Turkish will probably have to be Smyrna - it seems to be the only varietal on the market today (and again, Cornell & Diehl is a recommended supplier), or you could use McClelland 'Oriental'.
Latakia can be purchased from most tobacconists, or also from Cornell & Diehl.


STOVING

Like many tinned tobaccos, Balkan Sobranie was compressed with heat during packing - this promoted durability and helped prevent mold (hence the dense cakes of tobacco in English tins, which needed to be pulled and de-clumped when loading the pipe). In order that this process not damage or dry out the tobacco, it was put up wetter than optimum for smoking. All of this contributed to the taste - the tobacco "after-fermented", or matured, in the tins.
Reproducing this effect is not strictly possible for most amateur tobacconists - but there are ways of doctoring your tobaccos with heat. For Virginias and blends containing Virginia tobaccos, the heat-range is 200 to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.
Burleys (NOT present in Balkan Sobranie) can benefit from higher temperatures, up to 350.
In all cases it is ideal if the stoving can be done without much loss of moisture.
Half an hour is probably a safe minimum, some people keep it in the oven for well over an hour. The result of stoving will be a smoother product, without the harsh edges of certain tobaccos, and with more unified flavour. Latakia does not benefit from this, but a blend with Latakia will never-the-less taste rounder.
The longer a tobacco is stoved, the more it will have changed, regardless of any subsequent aging or fermentation.

Adjust moisture level, re-seal, and put aside for at least a month. Be sure to note on the container what was done, and when it was done.


OTHER MIXTURES

Most English blends have fairly praedictable proportions. A medium-full English will be around forty percent Latakia, with Virginias, Turkish, and other tobaccos making up the balance. Some famous English and Scottish blenders used more Turkish at the expense of the Latakia, others diminished the Turkish component and relied on a melange of Virginias for the basis.

Two purely hypothetical medium-full English mixtures could be composed on a forty percent - twenty percent - forty percent plan:
A - Forty percent Latakia, Twenty Percent Turkish, Forty percent aged Virginia.
B - Forty percent Latakia, Twenty Percent Turkish; Thirty percent aged Virginia, Ten percent Fire-cured Kentucky (or Maryland, Burley, Black Virginia ribbon).
The types of Virginia used in either case would be determinative. I favour medium flakes, and avoid large amounts of bright ribbon. Flake adds a smooth fullness, bright ribbon is sharp and bitey if over-used.


Note: If you are a young man, you probably want to create a blend overloaded with Latakia. But why bother? Not only has your local tobacconist probably done it already, but so have several more reputable firms. And it's a waste of time in any case, as more than fifty percent Latakia usually bashes whatever other tobaccos are in the blend into submission. Honestly, have you ever tried smoking one of those concoctions? There is such a thing as too much.

========================================


AFTER WORD

I've always liked bold flavours - chili peppers, fish paste, blue cheese, strong tea, bitter coffee, and Scotch Whisky. Roast fatty duck with a dab of hoisin jeung and sambal, pepper-crusted lamb chops, home-made ginger beer, and paprika chicken. Indian style pickles. Oven roasted baby potatoes with ginger and rendered animal fat.

So it should not surprise you when I claim that Savage Kitten is a strong flavour. She may look like a nice Chinese girl, and she may at times seem reserved, shy, even meek. Do not be fooled. This is the same quiet woman who has firm opinions about castration (very much in favour of, brutally, for certain crimes), a blistering vocabulary in Toishanese, and several martial arts awards. Despite her tiny hands, she can cause severe bruising, and she knows how to use a cleaver. Bland does not describe her.

What a pity that she doesn't like tobacco -- It would be intoxicating if her hair had a distinct whiff of Latakia and a hint of resinous Turk.
Yenidje or Djubec.

TOBACCO INDEX

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IT SMELLS LIKE VICTORY

Constant readers will recall that I occasionally gibber about pipe-tobacco, and may also remember mention of something called 'Balkan Sobranie'.


The Balkan Sobranie mixture, which has not been made for nearly two decades, was a bright spot of monumental proportions during the last few years I lived in the Netherlands.
It was ....... wonderful. Sheerly wonderfriggingfull.

But there seemed to be hardly anybody else in Valkenswaard who thought so. My brother was by no means enamoured of the smell. My classmates regarded it as clear evidence of perversion. And the fellows at the jeugd-societeit, who almost all smoked foul-smelling dark Dutch shag tobacco, considered the smell of Balkan Sobranie to be quite objectionable. Much more so than their own sour and rotten reek. Which they defended as the natural smell of a smoker.


I bear them no ill will because of that. Their mistakes and bad leaf choices are not the reason for this post.


This weekend I compounded a tobacco mixture of my own design. A Balkan English, with carefully calculated proportions. I used some of the blending tobaccos I acquired a few weeks ago from Cornell & Diehl. Including Smyrna and Latakia. Craig Tarler, of C&D, provides a very fine Latakia, by the way.


Can I just toot my own horn here a bit?


I'M A GENIUS! I'M A GENIUS!
[Now picture for yourself a small warty toad jumping up and down happily in a dense cloud of smoke.]

The mixture is as close to my nose-memory of Balkan Sobranie as I'm ever likely to find. I've been smoking it all weekend, and echoes of those last few years in Valkenswaard have been drifting in and out of my head. Details long forgotten. Even the creak of the furniture in the living room, the light of my father's desk lamp, the sense of grey sheets of rain in summer. Overcast half-dark in mid-day, leaden clouds and heavy branches, the tannic musk of wet tree bark, the perfume of grass and clay.
Thickly leaved trees on the market square - verdant, heavy, wet, wet, wet.
Green and grey, green and grey.


In retrospect I realize I was not, strictly speaking, sane during those last three years before returning to the States. One of my coping mechanisms was a state of emotional rigidity, a narrowing of responses. I don't think I dealt well with my mother's illness. But I wonder whether that was a natural result of my age and my environment at that time, or if it was a gradual and willed blocking off of certain categories of stimuli. More memory will tell.


On an aromatically related note, I particularly recollect the week that my father was in London.
Tobias (my brother) was living in Tilburg at that time, which left me in charge of the house. I ate sautéed mushrooms every day, and smoked lots of Balkan Sobranie. Strong tea at four-thirty in the quiet house, fried mushrooms a few hours later, drank more tea afterwards. The sense of solitary freedom was exhilarating. Pace yourself on the Genever, that bottle has to last.
Put down the book, and go for a stroll in quiet glistening streets.
Sooty Latakia, resinous Yenidje, and sweet pale pale Virginia.

TOBACCO INDEX


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