James B. Russell Bengal Slices

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

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.

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.

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.

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