Ken Byron Ventures Goblin Mixture 2020

The year 2000 East Carolina red Virginia and 2009 Brazilian red Virginias offer a lot of tangy ripe fermented dark fruit, earth, wood, bread, some sugar, mild tart and tangy citrus, light floralness and spice. They are the lead components by a small margin. The very floral, earthy, woody, herbal, vegetative, spicy, mostly sour, lightly buttery sweet year 1997 Izmir and Samsun are competitive supporting players. The mildly musty sweet, rugged “tempered” fragrant Cyprian Latakia provides smoke, earth, wood, herbs, vegetation, spice, floralness, some sourness, and a touch of incense. Even though it is a condiment, the special treatment of the Latakia ups its effect in the product a tad. The strength and nic-hit are a step short of the center of medium to full. The taste is in that center, chiefly due to its floral quality. There’s no chance of bite or harshness, but there are some rough edges, which is common for this type of mixture. Well balanced with some complexity, it burns clean and cool at a moderate pace with very consistent, deeply rich, mildly sweet and rather savory, sour, spicy, vigorous floral campfire flavor from top to bottom. Barely leaves any dampness in the bowl, and requires an average number of relights. Has a pleasantly lingering, potent after taste, and room note. Not an all day smoke. Three and a half stars out of four.

-JimInks

This is my fourth foray into Ken Byron’s blends and I must say it’s not bad. Nice ribbon cut, lightly peaty Scottish smell out of the bag. It needs major dry time like all KBV stuff, but once dried out overnight, it lit well and required a typical number of relights. The Latakia is like a whisp that comes and goes, with Virginia’s starting out strong and giving way to the orientals as the bowl progresses. This isn’t one to take deep volumous puffs of, no, a bit more delicate, it requires a bit of attention as it is very mild, but the Virginias can easily get bitey and take over the experience if one doesn’t keep it slow and sip. Overall very nice nuanced mild VA/Oriental Scottish blend. I like it, but I probably wouldn’t get it again as it is quite mild.

A friend of mine is a big fan of KBV and I have been able to sample so far, six of his blends. This will be number seven. He got this one around the first of November and I was gifted about four bowls of this stuff with one bowl remaining. In the foreword this blend is called “Scottish” and in the blend description it is listed as “English”. From what limited knowledge I have I thought a Scottish mixture was English with Cavendish as an ingredient which this does not have. This smokes cool, very little sweetness which is fine and if I puff a little too hard can get a mild, very mild bite. None of this is a negative toward the blend. All in all, this is a good smoke, but and this is a big but and no reflection on KBV or the quality of his blends as the ones I have tried are pretty good but how many times is the wheel going to be reinvented? By that I mean, I believe if I was a younger “piper” I would be all over his creations but having tried so many different blends at least for me this comes across as good but not spectacular. And for the record a good blend doesn’t need the spectacular label. Must be guilt for rating this a 2 star, who knows. And before you yell at me, 😊, my thoughts on this concerning the “reinvention” would have occurred regardless, KBV just happened to be the next new English blend I tried.

Flavorful Scottish. Pairs well with morning cup of strong Cafe du Mond's chicory accents. Am adding a bit of perique to spice it up more. All in all, a fine blend.