HENWRENCH, Please be respectful of your fellow reviewers. If their opinion differs from yours than simply note that and express what you happen to think about the tobacco in question. Personal attacks are not appropriate. Mr. Tillman would not have tolerated a post like yours.

First, understand what a 'Balkan' is for. Fill a cob and hit this an hour or so after you've woken. Then tell me what you think...

And if you get tongue bite, ever....you are not smoking your pipe right. You don't even know what pipe smoking is..

As others have pointed out, it smokes well right off the bat, and it ticks off all the right boxes for a BM of spices, noble woods and leather however it is quite flat and lacks depth unlike other BM like Gawith, Hoggarth's version which i prefer.

Overall, it's a fairly undemanding English Balkan blend with a clean taste, very little bite and a smooth burn. It's the opposite of "challenging" - which isn't a bad thing first thing in the day. It would make a good introduction to Balkan blends for newcomers as well - all the essential "Balkan" qualities are present, but not so marked that someone used to the fruit-flavoured aromatics would be overwhelmed by it.

Often regarded as an early morning blend, it has a dry tannin quality about it which goes much better with English-style Assam tea (strong, with a little milk and sweeten to taste) than with coffee.

Very well balanced, and to my great surprise it has Orientals of unexpected quality, and the truly fair quantity of Latakia. Burns very very well and dry, leaving the smoker wanting more, but in a very positive way. IMHO this is one of the few EM having the right features to be an all-day smoke.

EBM doesn’t match the highest quality of say-Skiff, but proposes to be a solid and reliable second.

The cut is a nice ribbon. On my first opening of my first tin of this blend (definitely not my last!), my impression was... er... it was the dog that did it. Honestly, the freshly-opened tin straight-out STANK.

Call me degenerate. I still stuffed a pipe, and lit up. And I was in for one of the greatest surprises of my life. Because when smoked, this blend simply shines. The Latakia is in there and adds spice and smoke. There is a very noticeably presence of Orientals, which leave a beautiful aftertaste of Turkish Delight on the tongue, and the pipeful burns down to a voluminous, very light grey ash with practically no maintenance. The VA adds its sweetness. The room note belies the tin note; it is far better than only tolerable.

Beautiful smoke, great taste, wonderfully perfect amount of Nic -- not too much, not too little. Uncomplicated to maintain, just... as close to perfect a blend as I have yet experienced in 22 years. I'll stick with it.

Ingredients: orange virginia,fine oriental,latakia

Wanting to try an archetypal balkan so i could taste what separates its name "Balkan" from an "English",i think i can establish that in the ingredient percentage of "oriental" tobacco in the formula..

Tan,brown,and dark ribbons with some broken flake..

Full flavoured,medium to strong stregth.

Could be an alldayer smoke,but i like variety and change and i feel this could become too sickly for me..

Instantly smokable more or less,,it seemed quite dry in the pouch.

Pack odour:creosote(in a nice way)leather and spicy woods,,,slightly diesel sump oilish.

Its a dry smoke and because it was a small pack which i finished off quite quickly, it didn't get a chance to get any drier;perhaps with a future repurchase i may try drying it because it tones down orientals which get carried in the moisture vapour,which calm down in a drier tobacco condition.

FLAVOURS:Complex actually;spicy wood(rosewood?,sandalwood?,frankinsence?)like a natural perfumed musk,,,sweet blood orange peel,,,chuckney ala mango,,,pine cones (or pine in the natural rather than the floor cleaner sence),,,smokey,,no casing identified,,,honey tree sap,,,ketchupy in the sause sence(but no tomato),,,rich flavour,,sweet and sour,;would maybe buy again as variation on a theme if i couldn't find anything else..

It sticks to clothes and makes my overals smell,,i notice it strait away when i put them on the day after...

I basically liked it but found it complex like a puzzle i couldn't solve..There was more which i wrote about its enigmatic room note;"the room note smells like some form of animal piss designed to attract the other half,not sure i would smoke this in company of the non aquainted,,,;quite pheromone-ish,,like that smell you get when you take your watch off on a hot summers day,,,i don't know??...:It may attract or repel pedestrians(you can experiment yourself)"..

Glad i tried it but i think i prefer the "english" ratio of the same ingredients,,,;i like orientals as a condiment more than the main but;it did enjoy this as a pick me up sazzy flavour..

Erimore Balkan Mixture however, really shines. It's just suited to my tastebuds better overall. I love the orientals in there, and the latakia is present, but not over powering.

It's a sippers smoke, nice and cool burning with great flavor. I don't see myself getting tired of this anytime soon.

My gamble was well rewarded. Like some other reviewers, I would call this an English rather than a Balkan mixture, and it’s a very good one. It’s a tobacco to be enjoyed slowly in a comfortable chair, rather than outdoors or while doing something: it deserves your undivided attention. The balance of flavours is excellent; it lights well, and stays lit, and there are lots of complex nuances that make their way in and out of the smoke as you go down the bowl. It’s not villainously strong, very smooth, and it doesn’t bite. I can see why some people compare it to Dunhill’s Early Morning Pipe, but it seems to me a more “substantial” smoke than EMP. On the negative side: it's a bit too moist in the tin, and it burns rather quickly. I like my smokes to last, and this doesn't give you much in the way of duration.

I’m not always in the mood for a Latakia mixture: the fancy for one comes upon me especially when the weather is cold, for some reason. So, for me, this is a good, occasional winter smoke. I wouldn’t make a habit of it, and I can’t say that it’s one of my all-time favourites; but I’m happy to recommend it.