I think this tobacco has it all.

I admit it was my first non aromatic but i've since tried several other EB and I still haven't found another one I like as much.

It's complex, it has a challenging and ever changing aroma, burns nicely.

this is one for a nice, meditating session.

very relaxing experience, wish i bought more.

The aroma from the packet wasn't particularly noticeable, barely managed to pick up a little latakia but that was about it. Packing and lighting were easy, then again this is quite a thin ribbon so no surprise. The smoke flavour gives a good hit of latakia with little hints of the oriental and the virginia later on, but doesn't really give any of the variety of Squadron Leader. Also, I found the smokes getting a bit rough towards the end of the packet, but didn't affect the quality of the smoke that much.

On the whole then, quite a good solid smoke with only one or two drawbacks. Not wholly interesting with odd hints of roughness later in the game. Not something I would want to smoke all the time but happy to get myself a packet every once in a while.

Ribbon/shag cut, black, oily, wet. A bit difficult to load. Lights easy, stays lit. Leaves a fine gray ash. Taste is funny though; I do get the latakia, virginia but the lakeland essence is on top of everything ruining the smoke. Others have said they don't get the lakeland, well then it must indeed be inconsistent because I don't think it's possible not to detect this flavouring.

All in all, not my cup of tea.

This is an okay English blend but for me not in the same league, for example as the Dunhill Early Morning or Standard and couldn't seriously be mentioned in the same breath as Balkan Sobranie, tasting quite different and lacking its weight, complexity and gravitas. A little too sweet and cloying for my taste, the flavour never really changes or develops down the bowl. Sweet Virginias predominate, a bit or richness from the Lat and then that soapy Lakeland taste just sits on top from the first puff to the last. I can't recommend it and will have difficulty finishing this pouch - and the topping means I wouldn't try to blend with it either.

At first blush, this appeared to be a typical balkan-style latakia blend, with nothing standing out from the ordinary. However, this one had its moments of sweetness that I don't associate with latakia or the base virginia tobaccos. At times, it seemed like there was a touch of Lakeland flavoring here. It was sort of the vermouth in a martini where they simply wave the vermouth bottle over the gin and olive. It's so subdued that it might be just that they allowed my batch to get to close to the Ennerdale or something. And I can't be sure it wasn't my imagination, but this does seem to have a very delicate wisp of Lakeland essence.

This is also a fairly nicotine-potent latakia blend. I did try some faster puffing, as is my custom with new tobaccos, and it never bit but it did get bitter and it did give me a pretty good case of niccups. Smoked at normal cadence, this was a perfectly fine blend with a typical balkan-type flavor, just nothing to write home about. I wouldn't turn down a free bowl but this one is not destined for my rotation. But it should be tried by anyone that enjoys both latakia and nicotine, as this might be just the ticket.

As with the much lamented Balkan Sobranie, the cut is varied - mostly a ribbon cut, but with the Latakia in bits and pieces of various size, and the orientals sometimes in large clumps. A few small bits of stalk at times as well.

Once dried out (to drier than I'd expected it would need) it's a reasonable take on a Balkan. There's no trace of the Lakeland scents in the 4 packs I've had. In taste terms it's pretty mild -in the same area as Dunhill Early Morning, Erinmore Balkan and maybe Squadron Leader, and like them is a good all-day kind of tobacco.

Not much like the Balkan Sobranie as I remember it (Peter Stokkebye Balkan is pretty close according to my memory) but a perfectly good Balkan blend in its own right.

In the end, it's nice Oriental, but for me this place is already occupied by Presbyterian Mixture. Balkan is cheaper - for reason.

This stuff is, quite frankly, the shiznit.

I'm not going to go into great detail describing the flavours of this blend as other reviewers have done this better than I ever could. The point I want to emphasise is just how well the different tobaccos work together. It is very characterful and although I agree that it doesn't develop much down the bowl, who cares when there is so much going on right from the word go? I find that it smokes best when it is a bit dryer than I think it ought to be, if you follow my meaning. The VA is bright and gives the blend a solid backbone. The Lat is resinous and unctuous and I guess it must be the VA and oriental working in combination that adds the touch of spice. Vitamin N is just right to be consistently satisfying with no risk of inducing the niccups from loading one bowl too many. Is it soapy? Well, I smoke enough Lakelands that I probably wouldn't notice, but I suspect that to an unconditioned palate it might be, and I wouldn't have it any other way!

Four stars is a walk over for this one. It definitely has a place in my top tier of Latakia smokes.

In the update to his review (over the page) Dr Dyson suggests that GH&Co might be discontinuing this blend! I sincerely hope that proves to be no more than an ill-founded rumour. About 6 months ago a tobacconist told me that Revor Plug was destined for the chop, but that one still seems to be available, thank God!

Gentlemen of GH&Co, if you are reading this then for the sake of all that's Holy please don't stop manufacturing this ambrosial weed! By all means can some cherry flavoured cavendish blends if you have to, but don't deprive us of your delicious Balkan Mixture.

I normally don't care for flavorings or scentings in my tobacco. This is an exception. What we have here is a scented Lat blend. Balkan? Not in my book.

This tobacco has dark, chocolate-y notes that make my mind go straight to Kendal twists and Stonehaven. It's a very interesting and unique element in a Lat blend. Must be the Va's. Delicious, and gives the impression of backbone, although I've never gotten nic overload from this one. I do take a lot of snuff though, so my tolerance is high.

The Latakia is not present as the focus of this blend, but adds depth and smoke.

The scenting wafts in and out. I don't smoke Lakeland flakes, so I am probably detecting something that a palate contaminated by those could miss altogether. The scenting is as obvious as the nose on my face. It's nice though, a little floral perfume to mix with the other elements. I normally hate anything that seems wrong or out of place in a tobacco, much less a Lat blend, but I love this tobacco.

This is an unfortunately named, unique tobacco mixture that deserves the attention of every Lat blend lover. Probably a love it/hate it tobacco, I love it. I do have a pipe dedicated to this one, because you will taste this in the pipes you use with it.

Out of the pouch it smelled a little like Dunhill's Nightcap to me. I've just ordered a few grammes of Peter Stokkebye Balkan Mixture for comparison, so we'll see how that goes.

Purchased from: www.thebackyshop.co.uk

It's somewhat bland and monochromatic. It combusted great even and cool, leaving a nice powdery ash. Thinking something was awry I tried it in various clean pipes of different shapes and the outcome was pretty much the same.

I certainly prefer Peter Stokkebye's Balkan Supreme.

This is not very close to the lauded Balkan Sobranie according to my palate. I still have a few precious pouches and tins carefully hoarded away, to be smoked on the utmost of special occasions.

Perhaps the tinned version is better. I'm not going to find out since there are so many other fish to fry. This one will be passed along to someone who'll appreciate it more than I; not my cup of tea.

I somehow do not like the rectangular tin, because once opened, it is difficult to make it air-tight again. Same problem with Erinmore flake and Penzance. But this shortcome will be soon forgot with the good ribbon inside.

During the smoke, this blend seems to produce too much oil, and this feature makes it only a 3-star tobacco.

This stuff comes in a shag cut, reminiscent of Kendal Kentucky or even Drum RYO tobacco. It's a little moist, so a few minute's worth of drying time doesn't hurt. It's composed primarily of dark brown and black strands, with some lighter bits mixed in. It lights and burns like a dream, which is more than I can say for many blends in this genre. It also has no bite, which is another trait I value highly.

The flavor is very reminiscent of Odyssey, but it also reminds me strongly of the Balkan Sobranie I smoked in the early 1990s. In fact, despite dozens of attempts to replicate that mixture, this is the only one that actually comes close, IMO (it's far nearer to that ideal than, say, Blue Mountain, Black House or Balkan Sasieni). I actually like this stuff far better than the BS I occasionally bought 20 years ago -- it's a bit sweeter, a bit more complex and the latakia has a distinctive smokiness that is, oddly enough, missing in many other Balkans. The orientals used are very similar to what I find in GLP's Odyssey, and the more I smoke it the more I'm reminded of that classic mixture ....

I find absolutly no hint of "Lakeland essence" here, which is to say no flowers, aftershave, or even tonquin. Zero. Which, to tell the truth, was a little disappointing as I'd bought this with the hope of finding a Lakeland spin on Balkan mixtures. That disappointment didn't last, however, as this stuff stands well on its own.

Is this is the absolutely best of its kind? I don't know -- again, it depends on what you're looking for. If you want complexity, both Magnum Opus and Wilderness are better choices. If you are looking for a huge dose of latakia and orientals, then Odyssey is the better blend. But there is a pleasant simplicty and ease of smoking found here that those other blends lack, as well as a shot of nicotine that was as welcome as it was surprising. I could easily see myself smoking this all day long, and I normally think of Balkans as once-a-day smokes at best.

No matter how I slice it, though, this gets an easy four stars.

In fact it was a bit boring.

It did have lots of levels to the flavour profile but none of them were particularly extraordinary. The trouble is that there are lots of Latakia mixtures which distinguish themselves, in my estimation, in various ways and this one just didn't. It's just too middle of the road for me. I suppose that some may think of this quality as a virtue but I don't.

However, it's top quality leaf and pretty smooth. So it may be a good starting point and benchmark for those wanting to experiment with Balkans.

The cut is fine curly cut ribbons on smaller width, dark brown to blackish in color. It packs readily, lights easily and maintains the cherry well all the way to the bottom, whereupon after an hour smoke a fine grey to white fluffy ash is produced. Leaves pipe bowl rather clean with little residual oils detected in the chamber. I am guessing this is due to the lower content of Latakia and Virginias, the former especially, which if in high concentration, tend to the oily.

I enjoyed the smoke, now on my 6th bowl over the past week or so, but can not say that I prefer this blend over Star of the East by Cornell & Diehl or Dark English Full by McClelland or Balkan Sasieni. I am a Latakia hound and to be honest I find Balkan Mixture here under review to be somewhat weak on the Latakia and Virginias, accentuating the Orientals and Turkish. I prefer also a more heavy hand with the Virginias to balance the blend, which I find somewhat lacking in this one.

In someways I would classify this blend as close to Margate by Esoterica (which totally lacks sweet Virginia base). In other words, for me, a Balkan blend is to have a heavy dose of Orientals and Turkish leaf, as to be expected, however, I prefer a stronger addition of Virginias to balance the blend. Something I find lacking here. So, in summary, I would rate this 2.8 to 3 out of 4 stars. Not a bad Blakan blend, but not spectacular in any way, and nowhere near Balkan Sasieni in my opinion.