Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Balkan Mixture

Nice Balkan Blend, packs easy,cool dry smoke till the end, no relights needed. Reduce Latakia by 10 % ,and its will be best Balkan mixture. Anyway still worth to try.

I'm not even going to touch a comparison of this blend to Balkan Sobranie - the Germain reissue is perfectly adequate and you can't smoke memories. Let G&H Balkan Mixture be what it is instead of trying to make it something else.

There's a good portion of Latakia and G&H's deft use of Orientals gets straight to the characteristic Balkan flavor. The flavors are more mild and integrated than Plum Pudding. It starts out Lat-forward, later the Lat trades places with the sun cured. The Orientals are always pleasant, never sour. The strength of both condiments never fails. It's got an easy two stars for the skillful blending of them alone.

I give it a third star because of what they've done with G&H's characteristic African flue cured leaf. By mid-bowl, the flavor of the Virginias really comes out. While many Balkan blends are happy to leave the VA in the background, here it is a major component of the flavor. It holds its own against the condiments in a way that few blenders can match.

Balkan Mixture doesn't rise to the level of Arango Balkan Supreme, Compton's Macedonian, or Smoker's Haven's Our Best Blend. It's firmly 3 stars, but it's a very tasty 3 stars.

I bought this one as it had popped it's head up a few times on here and seems to be well regarded, I'm also going through a bit of a GH phase at the moment so it seemed worthy of a go.

The aroma from the packet wasn't particularly noticeable, barely managed to pick up a little latakia but that was about it. Packing and lighting were easy, then again this is quite a thin ribbon so no surprise. The smoke flavour gives a good hit of latakia with little hints of the oriental and the virginia later on, but doesn't really give any of the variety of Squadron Leader. Also, I found the smokes getting a bit rough towards the end of the packet, but didn't affect the quality of the smoke that much.

On the whole then, quite a good solid smoke with only one or two drawbacks. Not wholly interesting with odd hints of roughness later in the game. Not something I would want to smoke all the time but happy to get myself a packet every once in a while.

Little to add to previous reviews really. As supplied in the UK market sealed 50g pouch it's very moist when opened, and in need of considerable drying and airing.

As with the much lamented Balkan Sobranie, the cut is varied - mostly a ribbon cut, but with the Latakia in bits and pieces of various size, and the orientals sometimes in large clumps. A few small bits of stalk at times as well.

Once dried out (to drier than I'd expected it would need) it's a reasonable take on a Balkan. There's no trace of the Lakeland scents in the 4 packs I've had. In taste terms it's pretty mild -in the same area as Dunhill Early Morning, Erinmore Balkan and maybe Squadron Leader, and like them is a good all-day kind of tobacco.

Not much like the Balkan Sobranie as I remember it (Peter Stokkebye Balkan is pretty close according to my memory) but a perfectly good Balkan blend in its own right.

Phew! This is how I imagined a old-fashioned Balkan to be. Burned rubber, old motor oil, extinguished campfire at its best! It is waaaay to moist in the tin, so give it a few hours. There is something added to it which rounds off the taste, though I can't put a finger on it. BM is a good one, medium-high Nic level, full taste (very similar to Commonwealth Mixture) but not 'strong' as in Irish flake or Nightcap. Can't really imagine to smoke it all day, but every day, yes 🙂 4 of 5.

This blend first found its way to my doorstep as a gift sampler when I purchased a pipe. When I opened the plastic bag, the flavor was something I never encountered before, maybe the effect of the combination of Turkish and Oriental. I tried this with my brand new meerschaum, and it was exotically wonderful. As soon as I finished the first bowl (The sampler could allow me with 3 bowls), I ordered three 50-gram tin.

I somehow do not like the rectangular tin, because once opened, it is difficult to make it air-tight again. Same problem with Erinmore flake and Penzance. But this shortcome will be soon forgot with the good ribbon inside.

During the smoke, this blend seems to produce too much oil, and this feature makes it only a 3-star tobacco.

I found Balkan Mixture (bulk) by Gawith Hoggarth & Co. to be a good balkan blend, with a strong Oriental and Turkish component, less so on the Latakia and Virginias. Hence, indeed it is aptly named as a Balkan, rather than English or Latakia-heavy blend.

The cut is fine curly cut ribbons on smaller width, dark brown to blackish in color. It packs readily, lights easily and maintains the cherry well all the way to the bottom, whereupon after an hour smoke a fine grey to white fluffy ash is produced. Leaves pipe bowl rather clean with little residual oils detected in the chamber. I am guessing this is due to the lower content of Latakia and Virginias, the former especially, which if in high concentration, tend to the oily.

I enjoyed the smoke, now on my 6th bowl over the past week or so, but can not say that I prefer this blend over Star of the East by Cornell & Diehl or Dark English Full by McClelland or Balkan Sasieni. I am a Latakia hound and to be honest I find Balkan Mixture here under review to be somewhat weak on the Latakia and Virginias, accentuating the Orientals and Turkish. I prefer also a more heavy hand with the Virginias to balance the blend, which I find somewhat lacking in this one.

In someways I would classify this blend as close to Margate by Esoterica (which totally lacks sweet Virginia base). In other words, for me, a Balkan blend is to have a heavy dose of Orientals and Turkish leaf, as to be expected, however, I prefer a stronger addition of Virginias to balance the blend. Something I find lacking here. So, in summary, I would rate this 2.8 to 3 out of 4 stars. Not a bad Blakan blend, but not spectacular in any way, and nowhere near Balkan Sasieni in my opinion.

Ribbon cut, on the finer side, but not too thin. A little moist in the tin but not terrible. This could stand to be dried a bit before packing and lighting, but is not crucial. This blend as with all G & H blends has the requisite "baby powder" (as I call it) casing. A lot of folks call this soapy and find it distasteful. I rather like it. Especially when I smoke G & H blends outdoors. I expect this flavoring when I buy G & H blends so it never bothers me. It is especially nice in the Bob's Chocolate mixture which is my favorite G & H blend. Latakia with Virginias is what I taste. Not heavy on the Latakia so this blend can be an all day smoke for me. The "baby powder" flavoring doesn't affect the room note in an adverse way at all. Although not on my regular rotation of Balkan/English blends this is a nice change of pace. If not dried a bit this can bite or burn after a few bowls, so I highly recommend drying. A good average Balkan blend with a slight flavor enhancer. Enjoy!

Ok it's not 'The Balkan' but then what will ever replace perfection? A fine smoke however I find it can bite just a wee bit. It doesn't seem to enjoy a strong wind either, which is a minor issue for me. I don't need to appear like a steam train. That is my problem though. Lights well but does truly need a little airing, I find it best to load the bowl and go off for while, around 30 minutes. Fires up wonderfully after that. An enjoyable smoke and well worth the pence paid. I shall continue in my search but keep this in my store.