Tobaccos James B. Russell - Bengal Slices

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Pipestud (1829)	2002-06-30		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant

Bengal slices burns cool and dry. It is a flake and rubs out easily too. My version was the English original and I was absolutely wonderfully, delightfully, exquisitely overwhelmed by the depth of the flavor. I understand now why this one is considered to be one of the world's finest ever blends. Smooth and bulk building jet black cavendish, Latakia and Virginia leaf with depth of flavor like no other. I want more!

13 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	SteelCowboy (685)	2011-09-06		Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Tolerable

My review of Bengal Slices is based on a tin from the 1990's. Due to the age of the tin the Virginias offered sugar crystals that made BS visually inviting. I chose to rub out the small flakes. The tobacco was still moist and I found it smoked better on the dry side after having smoked it both ways. On every occasion I really enjoyed the first half of the bowl. Unfortunately, as each bowl progressed, the Latakia really took over and I found myself longing for some Oriental component as the flavor was too monotone. I do find BS similar to Lancer Slices, however I prefer Lancer Slices over this blend. I am glad I was able to experience this fabled blend, but I won't be spending my hard earned cash on finding a rare tin.

7 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	JimInks (3022)	2014-04-19		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Tolerable

The Virginias were grassy and hay-like with some earth, citrus, fermented dark fruit with a “barbecue” quality, and a very light floral hit. The black cavendish provided a mild sugary creaminess. The smoky, woody, mostly dry, barely sweet Cyprian latakia was the dominant component. The dry, woody, sour Orientals also had a touch of spice in the background. The nic-hit was mild to medium. Didn’t bite, but had a rough edge at times. Burned cool, clean and slow with a consistent flavor. Left some moisture in the bowl, and needed a fair amount of relights. Had a woody, smoky, lingering after taste, and the floralness was obvious in the room note. Was not an all day smoke. Two and a half stars.

This review is for the original production, not the recent Standard Tobacco Company release. My review for that one is in the appropriate place, unlike a couple that have been posted here that should be moved to here: http://www.tobaccoreviews.com/blend/9899/standard-tobacco-company-of-pennsylvania-bengal-slices

-JimInks

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2009-08-10		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Very old tin - from sometime around 1992 or so. Still very moist in the tin, this is a predominately black flake with some mottled leaf. Very nice looking small flake.

Hard to keep lit out of the tin so I dried it to varying degrees and got the best results when it was extremely dry and crumbly. That must be the result of the flake because latakia flakes always seem to work better for me when close to tinder dry, whereas ribbons work best when somewhat moist.

The latakia definitely makes its presence known throughout the smoke. My tin was not toned down (based on my memory) through aging and if fact I'm wondering if the latakia became stronger (i.e the cavendish and virginias mellowed but the latakia did not!) with aging. This was like sucking on straight latakia with a fleck or two of sweetened burley. Robust and zesty but not terribly memorable. This is something to try if you can find an old tin but, as other reviewers mentioned, Penzance does a better job in the latakia flake department, as does McClellands Latakia Flake.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	tabaco (112)	2008-04-14		Medium	None Detected	Full	Pleasant

Alas, another great blend which for sometime has gone the way of the Dodo bird.

A dear elderly neighbour and friend who was the former proprietor of the best tobacco shop for many miles around. A very wise man indeed, he amassed a spectacular inventory of his favourite pipe tobacco and cigars to see him through until his final departure; yet to arrive.

I had the pleasure of receiving six tins of the British made original, approximately 35 years old. I really enjoyed the aroma and the contents were in impeccable condition. I found this to be a truly fantastic blend, cool burning, complex but not too demanding, very creamy mouth feel with dense blue smoke greasily hanging in the air.

It is certainly true that this was the flake/slice version of the famed Balkan Sobranie with a soapy floral Lakeland essence. I actually prefer the Sobranie in this form. The last decade or so, I have had a strong preference for slices and pressed tobacco. I really like the richness of a slice and the exceedingly complex flavours. Many folks complain about the packability and combustion, both of which do not bother me in the least.

Of the blends of today, it would be sort of somewhere between Esoterica Penzance and J.F. Germain Special Latakia Flake. I have tried ageing these slices together and then smoking them in the same bowl and the result is sort of close and a most pleasant smoke.

I wholeheartedly recommend the Bengal Slices, a true luxury and exceedingly rare.

- Tabaco

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Noorrmm (192)	2002-01-31		Medium to Strong	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Tolerable to Strong

Similar to Penzance, a crumble cake showing much dark leaf with medium mottling and a few light flashes. The aroma is heavy Latakia, with good matured sweet Va, possibly some light topping. The taste is rich and lovely, quite complex with the smokiness playing off against the sweeter VA notes. For me, hard to keep it lit, much more so than Penzance. Worth a try, as YMMV.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	guitar2mw (92)	2016-05-15		Medium	None Detected	Full	Tolerable

I was given some of this from an unopened tin from the 1990's. I have the newer version but have yet to compare it. All I can say is WOW. I feel pretty fortunate to have tried a tobacco of this vintage. The flake rubbed out easily and packed well. It took flame right away. I was afraid it would burn a bit too hot being as dense as it was, but it burned just fine. I love the way this stuff tastes! Smooth, but bold and full of rich tobacco flavor. It had no mustiness to it at all, which I was afraid of based on the initial tin note. This stuff put out clouds and clouds of smoke - each puff being as flavorful as the first. It is rather monochromatic and didn't change a whole lot throughout the bowl, but with as good as it tastes initially, who would want that?? If you can still find it (currently going for about $100+ per tin), make sure you treat yourself as a pipe smoker and grab it up.

Pipe Used: Tim Thorpe

Age When Smoked: 20+ years

Purchased From: Gifted

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Eulenburg (193)	2002-02-07		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant

This is no longer made, not even by J. B. Russell.

It bears only the most casual resemblance to Balkan Sobranie, whose flake version it originally used to be. The addition of some Cavendish-processed leaf gives the blend a disconcerting creaminess that, as far as I am concerned, just doesn't go with Latakia. I know that the Danes love this "Scottish" (in their dreams!)combo, and that Dunhill has some famous Latakia/Cavendish blends; but here the balance is not really successful. The whole thing tastes like a "cross-over" Latakia-aromatic. HERESY!! HERESY!! do you hear?

This is like Frog Morton with shoes.

Not the worst I have ever smoked, and the tin-appearance suggests quality, but there are many better attempts at this kind of thing in the market. Blends seldom die without reason.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Jorge Soler (202)	2017-10-30		Mild	Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

This review is from a 1993 tin a friend of mine cracked open the other day. I was surprised to see those jet black slices all lined up in a perfect row after so many years. Call me crazy, but the tine note sort of remains me of Erinmore flake with sour and fruity undertones. Upon closer inspection I detect sugar crystals (bloom) here and there. These flakes crumbled quite easily despite being so compact and thick, I guess, because how old they are and the lack of moist. Maybe I should have rehydrated them a bit before packing my pipe, but they smoked just as fine despite that. The smoking experience was somewhat similar to Penzance, but duller and way more subdued. The Latakia is definitely there, but pushed way back into the background, with sort of sour and fruity undertones. And again, Night Cap pops to mind, relatively speaking of course. I cannot detect any tongue-bite, but a few relights were needed to keep it going. Obviously, time has worked its magic, so I cannot tell what this tobacco was like fresh straight out of the tin, and this can only mean I cannot give it 4 stars.

PD. As this thread is for the A&C Petersen Bengal Slices, only the Danish made version should be posted here, and not the English one made by Sobranie.

Age When Smoked: 24 years

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	CherchezLaghost (52)	2017-08-07		Mild	Medium	Medium to Full	Pleasant

I was lucky enough to score 3 tins of this storied blend from my local tobacconist, who acquired it in an estate purchase from a former patron. Nothing like smoking a dead man's tobacco stash to put you in a contemplative mood...i felt very lucky to get my hands on it, but also vaguely wrong somehow as well. Not badly enough to not come back for 2 more tins after my initial smoke mind you, but a bit uneasy all the same.

This blend is lovely. It is a crumble cake of dark luxurious latakia, virginia and cavendish. Somewhat ahead of its time i think. The scent is what you'd expect from the contents, though the latakia has much softened in the nearly 30 years since it was tinned. The top dressing is still apparent in the nose as well, though less so than in Fusiliers Ration or the new Bengal Slices. More subdued, but very similar. I have smoked all three side by side, and i find them all to be tasty and very similar in effect, but this older version was my favorite. Its not a fair comparison, as tge virginias here had a whopping head start in aging, and the result was a sweeter, more perfumey richness. The lat here was also more muted, which was to my liking. I think the cavendish used in fusiliers ration was a bit better than the other 2, in that it was slightly less cavendish sweet, as opposed to virginia sweet. Overall not something i reach for often at all, but it fills a certain place. The gorgeous tin and the history and laurels of this blend also make it well worth the purchase. A true classic that is unique, rich, and satifying. I am glad i was able to find out what this one was all about.

Pipe Used: Cobs, meerschaums, briar

Age When Smoked: 25-29 years (approx)

Purchased From: Smokers Haven

Similar Blends: Fusiliers Ration, Bengal Slices (current).

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	StevieB (2076)	2016-07-11		Mild to Medium	Very Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Bengal Slices.

When I opened the tin I found one of the most unique looking blends I've had. I'd expected some neatly presented dark flakes, going on the list of ingredients and the cut specification. Instead, what I found was a tin of, what I can only describe as, 5 thin Krumble Kakes. The tin-note implies a more formidable English flavour than what I actually get.

As the tobacco's thicker than the usual 'flakes', it can be crumbled into rather chunky pieces: this gives an incredibly cool smoke. Igniting B.S. is, due to the moisture, easy peasy. And then the flavour of the smoke is a very 'smooth' English one. Forgetting the Black Cavendish for one second, the Latakia, Oriental, and Virginia taste as would be expected for this type of blend: smoky, woody, with a slight grass quality. The Black Cavendish is what totally adjusts the scenario: this gives a nice vanilla-cream attribute and changes the smoke quite a lot in comparison to the normal English blends.

The nicotine's not much higher than mild: to become anywhere near medium it needs a big puff, and to be honest the room-note's about the only thing I'm not a fan of: pleasant to tolerable at best.

This is a definite four star blend:

Highly recommended.

Pipe Used: Peterson Founders Edition P-Lip

Age When Smoked: New

Purchased From: Smoking Pipes.com

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Pkloop (53)	2015-10-29		Mild	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

I'm smoking through the remains of a tin I purchased about a dozen or so years ago..

At this point the Latakia has softened substantially and the VAs have more of a say in the smoke then when it was fresh. I think the black cav adds a nice subtle sweetness to the two combining for a pretty well rounded smoke.

The well aged version I'm smoking has a nice creaminess to it but also displays that "greasiness" a fellow reviewer mentioned below..a characteristic which was indeed much more pronounced smoking tins back in the day when they were still in production.

I like the thick little flake presentation they used as it facilitated easy prep. Crumble & go was all it took. Easy to pack, keep lit and enjoy. I like the room note but I doubt it would win over any non smokers.

A fine smoke both back when fresh and the quite aged version I'm finishing now. I'd seek out another tin but wouldn't get too carried away pricewise..its a good smoke not a legendary one..for me anyway.

Try it if you can find it..

Pipe Used: various briars

Age When Smoked: new back in the day..and a 12+ year old tin

Purchased From: can't remember

Similar Blends: Frog Morton..kinda.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2014-01-21		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

This flake was awesome, the black Cavendish brought a nice contrast to the latakia. A dark mixture, it was still easy to smoke and I have thouroughly liked all the tins I had purchased. If I would have known it would end up discontinued, I would have stocked up.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2012-04-05		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable

Thick,creamy,greasy smoke wish it was still around

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Peppino (74)	2011-03-15		Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

Smoking this in a Castello and enjoying every puff, I've had this tin unopen for well over 10 yrs and finally cracked it open. This is a fine tobacco, it get's better as you move down the bowl. It burns well and is easily rubbed out to your liking. The latakia comes through at the mid point and continues to get better, it reminds me of good Virginia flakes that just get richer as your nearing the end of the bowl. As all good blends you don't want it to end, a fine blend that I wish I could still get.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2010-07-31		Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable

Seven or so years ago, I bought a tin of this and like provguy below was disappointed, which leads me to wonder which version I smoked. If Fairmon's Lancers Slices in any way resembles the original Bengal Slices, I can safely say that what I smoked was not the Gallaher version because the latakia was a but a hint. I kept the tin for a while and dipped into it from time to time, but I never got satisfaction.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2004-02-11		Mild	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable

I had a tin of this given to me from 1988 and it was wonderfull. The smoke was cool, smooth, soft, light and sweet. The taste is smokey, light and slightly sweet. There were some nuances of an earthy grassy type that weaved themselves in and out through out the bowl and were very tastey as well. This is really a wonderful blend and I much Appreciated it. I just wish I could acquire more of this since it unavailable to me right now. If you have an opportunity to acquire this, do it. You may like it or even treasure it!

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2001-04-17		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

This tobacco consists of virginia pressed with cyprian latakia (and my throat tells me that at least some of that black is cavendish), and sliced into flake form. While it lacks the layered complexity of some other english-style blends, Bengal Slices is nonetheless a superbly balanced tobacco, with a nice modestly sweet underpinning from the virginias, and a smoky, fairly spicy topping from the latakia.

Both the virginias and the latakia are surprisingly restrained in this blend, with none of the tongue-dissolving acidity of many other virginia-heavy blends (mcclellands) or the overwhelming smokiness of many english blends, I suspect because of the cavendish. While I'm not generally a fan of cavendish, its presence here seems to mellow out the blend nicely.

The room aroma is a straightforward smokiness, and doesn't seem to generate any complaints.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Darth Vader (110)	2011-11-05		Mild	Extremely Mild	Mild	Tolerable

Made in Denmark. Bought on Ebay. Bit of a gamble and i lost. Tastes like Black Cav really. Somewhat similar to Frog Morton On the Bayou which i didnt think much of either. I'll be giving or trading this as its just to awful to smoke. I see why this was discontinued. Update: I see i was pretty scathing in my previous review. Probably due to paying way to much and being very disappointed. Two years later and i have tried this again. Sitting in the jar has opened the flavours up somewhat and it now appears to be a mild Cav dominant blend which is ok. Certainly not worth what i paid($75) but i can now see why some would enjoy this. Two stars

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2010-07-25		Mild to Medium	Mild	Medium	Tolerable

Too bad it is not available aymore in its original form.

The sweetend black CA brought a nice touch to this Latakia & Va flake.

This has been my first Latakia flake and I enjoyed it.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	RMBittner (66)	2010-01-22		Mild	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Review based on a pre-2000 tin, opened January 2010; so this comes with more than a decade of age on it. (It always seems a bit pointless to review a blend no longer in production. But maybe there are tins still hanging around out there for the curious...)

I largely agree with the reviewer here who wrote: "Of the blends of today, it would be somewhere between Esoterica Penzance and J.F. Germain Special Latakia Flake." Bengal Slices, however, lacks the distinctive Oriental presence that makes Penzance such a unique and wonderful smoke. Minus the orientals, it is an ultra-smooth and soft mixture that seamlessly blends a constant latakia presence with an equally constant VA/Cavendish underpinning. It is surprisingly mild in flavor.

It is also surprising in its production of smoke from the bowl: This is the smokiest blend I've had in a long, long time. Not a concern whatsoever, unless you're in the company of others who don't share your love for a fine English mixture.

I haven't had the original Bengal Slices -- the flaked version of Balkan Sobranie -- since it was in production. But I can say that this is a completely different blend. The original bore the distinctive spice and rich latakia presence of a true Balkan blend; later-era Bengal Slices had moved into quite different territory. Both are enjoyable. But the original still remains a truly amazing -- and unduplicated -- mixture.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2007-08-24		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable to Strong

This was among my first good ventures into english/balkan blends, after the light english mixtures - Rattray's no 7, Blatter & Blatter Light english Mixture, for example- were not enough anymore in terms of strength.

There are not many latakia flakes on the market; this one was very tasteful, satisfying, but not extremely strong. The black Cavendish mellowed it down.

The flakes were very dark, with a bit of brown and golden streams, easy to rub out but harder to keep lit because of the overall darkness colour. Slow burning, obviously, big latakia taste - I suspect syrian- and VA, kind of heavy room note.

Too bad, I haven't had it in a while, would love to retry it but can't find it anywhere!

A good flake, recommended!

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2004-05-25		Extremely Mild	Medium	Medium to Full	Tolerable

I still have old tins from this stuff when I smoked it twenty years ago. It was good stuff, albeit a bit too moist and thus needing rubbing out first. Also, the flavor was near excellent, but didn't match other slices that I was smoking at the time (I was into slice a lot at the time). A find old brand, that almost is a great one, but has a very slight undercurrent of blandness almost like there was cheap burley mixed in or something. Nonetheless, the drier it got, the better it smoked, and was always in the rotation.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2004-02-12		Medium	Very Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Rich and flavorful. Probably won't pass the wife test due to the latakia. Rub it out good it smokes cooler that way. Well balanced medium english smoke.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Blackhorse (96)	2002-11-19		Mild	None Detected	Mild	Tolerable

Is it that we're so spoiled by the likes of great Dunhill, C&D, McClelland and Peace blendings - that the old mainstays are vanishing? There is certainly genius at work in today's American crafters and time tested quality from Britan...here, is a dull but faithful companion. Mild, not potent...simple, not exciting. Perhaps it takes a tour on the sub-continent and yearnings for the cool, damp, green countryside to generate warm feelings for the comforts found in Bengal Slices. I have one tin in a well sealed glass jar on my shelf - that's enough.

Hmm-m-m-m. I wonder if I mixed it half and half with Penzance if that would.....

Oh, why waste the Penzance. If you want this sort of profile, but with flavor...then that's what you should have in your pipe anyway!

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2002-04-08		Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Extremely Mild (Flat)	Pleasant to Tolerable

I purchased my tin of Bengal Slices 3 years ago so I am not sure who made it at that time. In any case with everything I had heard about this tobbaco I was very excited to try it. I was very disappointed. The taste was almost not noticeable. It is a flake and rubs out easily. But I had a hard time tasting much. I thought it could be me so I left it for about 1 year and came back to it. Same story. Flat. Do not recommend this to anyone. It was not repulsive at all, just a lack of anything flavorful. It did have some flavor of latakia but that was it. Two stars.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Albion1956 (42)	2002-01-30		Medium to Strong	Mild	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

Visions of the days of the Empire, the Raj, and Kipling, made this a must. This tobacco, like some others, have either dissapeared, or have been reborn into a different but simular configuration. Bengal Lancers chasing after the Turks, make for good reading, and this tobacco is a good accompaniment. Upon opening the can, one can smell the rich musty smell of Latakia, and Cavendish. The flakes are small, but bold, and break apart easily. Filling is no problem, since this tobacco is related to Krumble Kake. Lighting emits a smokey presence, that is enjoyable, and somewhat acrid. The Latakia, and Virginia's are well blended, and the Cavendish is the glue to the whole mixture. Tasty, and familar, this is a easy smoke, on all in the area, except maybe PC cranks. Unfortunatly, this tobacco may vanish. Here, Here, for the folks at JBR, for trying to keep the old blends around.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	tillmanj (73)	2001-07-27		Medium to Strong	Extremely Mild	Very Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

Tin Aroma: This blend smells heavily of molasses or caramel mingled with Latakia. A wonderful mix of smoky and sweet notes make for a tobacco scent unlike any other.

Physical Characteristics: Very dark sliced of pressed latakia, cavendish and stoved virginias. These slices are slightly smaller than most virginia flakes. The rub out to a chunky broken flake, but are too small to fold and roll, as is popular to do with virginia flakes. Burns slowly and smoothly to a fluffy white ash. I do find this blend slightly too moist upon first opening a tin, but after a day or two, it normalizes to a nicely smokability.

Notes: This is a very full-flavored mixture, suitable as an after dinner or evening smoke. The molasses and caramel notes I detected in the aroma are present in the flavor as well. I very much enjoy this sweet note, and so do not accompany this blend with any alchoholic drink, as they all seem to overpower the sweet note. Tea does seem to go well with it, I particularly like it with a Lapsong Suchong!

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