New Feature - Burning Questions

Actually my understanding was that an ‘English Blend’ was simply one without topping or casing, in accordance with a purity law written in England to combat adulterated tobaccos being sold there. The connection with orientals and latakia came after the Crimean War, when servicemen who had acquired a taste for these condiments returned to Blighty.

You are historically correct, my good man. Using the strict definitions, there are only two types of pipe tobaccos: “English” and “Aromatic”. English blends, accordingly, are only those with no adulterants or additives, and Aromatics are, well, everything else.

Latakia, being a smoked tobacco, would probably be considered an Aromatic according to the purity laws, meaning that all “Balkan” blends could not be “English” in the strict sense of the term.

However, the term “English Blend” has a far different meaning in modern usage than doesn’t have much, if anything to do with the purity laws and has much more to do with the constituent tobaccos used and their relative proportions.

Perhaps we have our next poll question…

In terms of modern day thinking, I agree that most people define an “English” tobacco in terms of mixture content, as opposed to whether or not it has any additives. For example, very few people would refer to an all natural Virginia, as an English blend. Invariably the popular conception for English would be smoky taste (i.e. Latakia) and for a Balkan (Latakia and liberal amounts of other orientals). It’s interesting to note that Va/Latakia mixtures that have a sweet topping are oftern referred to as “American English”.

I agree, in everyday usage ‘English Blends’ are Virginias with varying amounts of Latakia and Orientals, and may contain small amounts of other tobaccos. Perique, Burley, and unflavored Cavendish all appear in one or another classic English. Balkans for me are Latakias with Orientals and Va. in lesser amounts. There is a wonderful area where the two overlap, and where I find most of my best smokes-

I think of it like this:

English: A Virginia base with a significant addition of Latakia and Orientals.

Balkan: Like an English, but with proportionately more Latakia.

Scottish: Like an English, but with proportionately more Orientals.

I went the opposite of Cashmere- But am willing to admit I may be way off. For me, I always felt Balkans had a higher % of Orientals than your standard English blend where they Latakia and Orientals are more balanced.
But hey-I’m willing to learn

A Balkan blend is traditionally an English blend with equal proportions of latakia, oriental, and Virginia tobacco, as opposed to a “regular” English blend consisting of varying amounts of each tobacco, plus the potential addition of perique or brown cavendish.

Balkan blends to me on the other hand, essentially mean it will be somewhat smokier, and more round in flavor, perhaps less sweet (like 965) more strong tobacco flavor (like Penzance) than the other English blends produced by the same company.

My understanding aligns with Russell Harms. I suppose there would be almost as many opinions on the subject as participants. The same tobacco would be considered an English by some smokers and a Balkan by others; take, for example, a couple of GLP blends. Westminster is to me more of an English (though a bold one), not being quite as “smoky” as say, Oddyssey. Yet it has much more “body” than other English/balkans, like Kensington.

I’ve been on several sides of this polyhedron, and there seems to be no single answer that has any historical basis whatsoever.

As far as I can find, there are no references to “Balkan style” tobaccos prior to a few years ago, and, since that time, the definition of the term seems rather fluid. I’ve done my part to muddy the waters with my own definitions, but am nearly ready to recant, for several reasons.

First, the most notable “Balkan style” mixture, and, in fact, the one more than likely responsible for the term, is Balkan Sobranie. If we take this to be the prototypical Balkan, then most of our notions need to be cast out, or at least reversed, especially if we take something like Dunhill’s London Mixture to be the prototypical English mixture. Why?

London Mixture was comprised of Latakia, orientals and Virginia tobaccos, with the dominant components being the Latakia and the orientals, to the best of my analytical abilities. Balkan Sobranie, on the other hand, was actually dominated by the Latakia and Virginias! The “famed Yenidje” leaf actually played a more minor role in the formulation. Yet, today, most people, me included, would consider a “Balkan” blend to be the one with a higher percentage of the oriental components.

I’m nearly ready to abandon the term “Balkan” altogether, other than as a description for the origin of specific tobacco components…

As for the bailiwick of the “Scottish” mixtures, there is at least some basis for the impression that these are made up predominately of Virginia tobaccos, pressed and aged, usually blended with other condiment leaf, but never as heavy in Latakia or oriental tobaccos as in the English style.

I’m with Greg on this. I would add that, to my limited knowledge, what makes Scottish Scottish, so to speak, is Cavendish, either brown or black, but unflavored. By this definition, the beloved My Mixture #965 is a Scottish mixture, rather than an English (or Balkan). I am willing to defer to those who know more than I.

Cheers.

I hope I’m not too late on this. I’d like to dissuade Greg from advocating dropping the Balkan designation, because I believe that there is room for the term “Balkan”. What if it is relatively new? Most people seem to think of an English as basically Virginias with latakia and Orientals added and maybe a touch of Perique and even some burley. But, to me and others what distinguishes a Balkan mix is the predominance of latakia and Orientals with the VAs and other tobaccos in the background, resulting in a darker, smokier taste. Hey, ya gotta call it something! (And Greg, please keep ‘em coming.)

Thanks

I apologize for being really late, but I have only been aware of the reviews part of this site until now.For the past year I have been trying to sort my way through the Balkan/Oriental/Turkish/Scottish etc. maze. What I would appreciate are some outstanding examples of blends of each to give me bench marks. Ihave already noted the comments about 965 and London Mixture and will get some. Thanks guys. Joe

Re. my post yesterday: found info needed in Cellaring Etc blend definitions,categories and benchmarks. Guess I just need to learn where to look for research. Joe