Good blend of oriental and Virginia tobaccos; complex taste; fairly strong on the Latakia. Definitely a sweet smoke, maybe due to a topping of some sort. I also taste Cavendish, though this is not mentioned in Abenaki's website description of the tobacco. For this reason, Turkish Balkan reminds me of MacBaren's Plum Cake. Lights easily and burns cleanly. No bite. Great price.

Only negative: To someone of Serbian ancestry, like me, the phrase "Turkish Balkans" conjures images of repression and persecution. Thus, the choice of name demonstrates either ignorance of the history of the Balkan peoples (Bulgarians, Croatians, Macedonians, Montenegrins and Serbs) or callousness toward these Christian Slavs who were ruled by cruel Islamic potentates for 350 years. How about calling it something else, like Turkish Virginia?