Wilke Pipe Tobacco Balkan

The woody, earthy, floral, spicy, sour, dry, sharp Turkish takes a little of the lead. The very nutty, slightly molasses and moderately cocoa sweet, earthy, woody burley offers a lot of support. The perique provides stewed raisins, figs and plums, and an obvious amount of spice that you will constantly notice more than its other attributes. That spice content almost equals the burley sweetness. The smoky, woody, earthy, musty, sweet Cyprian Latakia often rises above being the fourth star in the proceedings and is more than just a background player. Sometimes, it’s a side stream extra, and other times, a little more than that. The grassy, lightly woody, tangy dark fruity, tart and tangy citrusy Virginia is noticeable in a condimental role. The strength and taste levels are medium. The nic-hit is a couple of steps short of that threshold. No chance of bite or harshness, but it does sport a light rough edge here and there as many blends in this genre will have. While not a true Balkan mixture, it is complex and nuanced as you will observe most of the subtleties in every puff. Burns cool and clean at a reasonable rate with a fairly consistent, rich, deep, sweet and spicy, mildly sour, savory flavor that also translates to the pleasant, mildly lingering, lightly tingly, camp fire after taste. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires an average number of relights. Not quite an all day smoke.

-JimInks

since its called BALKAN , I have to try it out. this one is decent , nothing really that special , a bit spicy and sharp tasting . would say its more on the generic side for WILKE . they have so many blends that I really like this one is on the back burner . good quality components , as with all there blends.

Probably the worst tobacco I’ve ever smoked. Not by any stretch of the imagination can this be classified as a Balkan.A half pound bag taken from my stash last week and I’m still waiting for a modicum of satisfaction.Yes, it does have earthy,nutty overtones, but overall no complexity,whatsoever.Sad, because most of the other Wilkie tobaccos are highly enjoyable. The worst aspect of this offering is the burn time. Out, brief candle ! Perhaps ten minutes in a a full bowl.Overall, most unsatisfying.

One whiff of the jar note with its sweet creamy aroma tells you that this is not what anybody would expect of a traditional Balkan, no matter how you define that. For the most part this sweetness does not intrude on the flavor, and without it I fear this blend would be even more bitter than it already is. I’ve tasted at least a dozen different types of raw unprocessed leaf that were all less bitter, which tells me that the underlying issue here is not tobacco related. There is something chemical here that I’ve not encountered in any of the other quality blends I’ve tried from Wilke. I therefore understand and sympathize with the more recent 1-star reviews which seem indicate something has changed since that first enthusiastic 4-star review over three years ago.

Using a filtered pipe seems to mitigate against the worst of the nasties. I had one smoke in particular, in a Savinelli 673 using the new 6mm charcoal filter (not the old balsa filter), that I might have rated at 2.5 stars. That was a generally smooth smoke, not at all complex, but with some sunflower seed nuttiness, very, very light Latakia, and with some of that pleasant creamy sweet flavoring. In non-filtered pipes, even meers, I mostly get bitter herbal notes like dandelion weed, some sourdough bread from the Turkish, tart grapefruit, a little sunflower seed. Worst of all is if you sit the pipe down to go do something for fifteen or twenty minutes and then return to light it up again. Beware the blast of bitter walnut shell and acrid bitterness. So yeah, one-star awful, or as one reviewer said: “flat out nasty.” I give two stars simply because the blend is salvageable if you use a filter.

The issue of product consistency is hardly a far-fetched idea. Ernie Q over at WCC has said that small operations are often harried to meet sudden peak demand of product, and that he sometimes has to go into manic mode in order to maintain a consistent product. I wonder if other small one-man operations are at times simply overwhelmed to the point of making mistakes? Ernie also says that with the growing paucity of quality tobaccos blenders are more and more having to rely on alchemy to put forth a pleasing product. That means changes in components or processing. And that means that the Wilke Balkan of the glowing 4-star review may not be what you get in the mail. I know I’ve raised more questions than answers, but, for now, a provisional two-star rating only for those who use filtered pipes.

Cannot recommend this Balkan. I could detect no Latakia in it at all. Hot burning,harsh and just flat out nasty. I am primarily an English smoker and have tried many Balkans over my 45 years of smoking a pipe. This one is the worst. Surprising coming from a company that has so many outstanding quality blends.