McClelland Syrian Super Balkan

I was expecting something heavier like Epicurean from the old Tinder Box days. This was not as I thought, however it's a nice smoke with some good flavor with a sweet undertone.The aroma reminds me of the good old days at the pipe shop on a winters day. It fit's the middle of the road to me but I enjoyed it. Will update after a a few more bowls!

Picked this blend as a possibility in my quest for a full-bodied Balkan/English mixture. As other reviewers have indicated, rather weak in the flavor dept. Very mild blend-just not what I personally am looking for in the way of a richer mixture, although I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to an aromatic smoker who might be experimenting in this direction. As I have indicated in reviews of other McCs' offerings, what they seem to consider a full-bodied blend is to me quite mild. Awarded a solid 2 stars only.

Greetings fellow pipe smokers!

I bring forth news today that bodes ill for this particular blend. This is difficult for me as I have been a loyal purveyor of McClelland Blends for many a year.

Shortly over six years ago, I purchased six tins of this baccy, to put away and age, for a future time. This time is now.

Upon opening the tin, one is carried away by a generous hint of smoky Latakia, joined by the sweet earthiness of the Virginias present. In the hand, it is a beautiful, quality tobacco, to see and to feel. Alas, upon lighting, this is not to be the case.

I have smoked this in many a bowl, small, medium, and large, English, Italian, German, and American, all to no avail.

This blend simply lacks flavor, balance, and structure. If you smoke it in a small bowl, and very slowly, you can pull out a hint of nuttiness, a hint of Virginia sweetness, and I mean a hint. Unfortunately, this is laid to waste by the utter astringent bitterness of the Latakia. In a larger bowl, forget it, there are simply no redeeming qualities. I can not in good conscience recommend this blend, not even a little bit.

Believe me, this is not an easy review to submit, particularly concerning the great house of McClelland. I feel let down by this blend, something I would never have imagined happening. It is not too often I regret a tobacco purchase. This time I do!!

Regretfully Yours,

mrmcmc

I smoked this a few years ago and loved it. It was extremely cool burning with a nice amount of sweetness, spice, and a unique metalic tang or worcestershire sauce flavor. I was all geared up and ready to defend this blend against all detractors when I popped open a three-year-old tin two weeks ago. Sure, it's not a balkan, but judging it by what it actually is, I thought, would be favorable.

Alas, after smoking it about 16 times, I cannot defend it. Sure, sometimes it tastes like a really nice Va/Per blend with just enough latakia and orientals to round out the flavors. When you get a good bowl, it is really good. I noted fruity flavors, figs and plums, brown sugar, caramel, and chocolate, all without being too sweet. Also, I thought I might have detected some fenugreek spice, though that might be a stretch. If it was always or almost always like that, I would definitely give it four stars. And interestingly, it had changed quite a lot from the newly packed tin I had before, with almost none of the worcestershire sauce flavor. It still burned very cool.

But too often, for whatever reason, all of this goodness was overshadowed by a very unpleasant, dirty, brackish flavor. Someone told me that was the Syrian latakia, but that is doubtful in my mind because I've had over eight tins of Syrian blends, four of them from McClelland, the most recent being Frog Morton Across the Pond, and had NEVER tasted this dirty flavor before. But in 1/3 to 1/2 of the bowls of this tin, and of another one I bought to see if mine was just contaminated somehow, it was either present or overbearing. That's just too often and negates the times it was good. Strangely, that is a problem not noted by other reviewers here, so it may be a problem of my own tastes, but since I only have my own tastes I can't ignore it for reviewing purposes.

I, too, seem to have developed a perique allergy, but I won't judge this blend by that idiosyncracy. But it will definitely help to keep me away from this in the future.

If McClelland could blend something that was consistently like this was when it was good, and renamed it to indicate it was not a balkan, they would certainly have something for those who love perique but don't hate latakia.

Syrian Super Balkan - Wow theres the expected Ketchup smell...how is that and why? Is McClelland casing their blends in Heinz? Anyway onto Super Balkan. Reviewer Pipeline summed this blend up best in their update.

This is hard for me, as well, to identify as a good Balkan blend little alone a Balkan blend...shoot what does this taste like? I am dissapointed...I was expecting the Balkan to end all Balkans hence Super Balkan...uh...not this time. =( On to the next. Try Frog Morton On The Bayou or On The Town instead.

Update January 2006: Neither intersting as an English blend or Balkan. It does not seem to be really either. It smells good burning, though. Yawn.

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This is more closely akin to McClelland's Syrian Full Balkan than Rose of Latakia from the same folks. All three were released at the same time. All three are top quality.

Each of the three has the same cut and burning qualities, so I will not duplicate here what I have said about the other two already. Though, Super did burn a bit more moist than either RL or SFB. Even with the Perique, SSB seems to have less black in the tin than SFB. RL has the least of the three.

The components of Syrian Full Balkan play better together than they do here in Super Balkan. There seems more competition than cooperation. Perhaps time will bring Super Balkan into greater harmony (Ypdate: Time just flattened the components out).

That being said, while I cellar more for aging (Update: not anymore), I will keep opening tins and enjoying this fine Balkan in the meantime (Update: not really). Full Balkan will get the most of my attention of the three.

A decent smoke. The Latakia is subdued and the orientals dominate but the perique adds some depth which saves this blend.

Very similar to Syrian Full Balkan in cut and appearance, but I like it a bit better.

The Perique, in very small doses (I usually don't tolerate it, but here it's OK), helps creating a fruity sweet/sourness.

Overall, not a Balkan again, but a decent tobacco.

As with Full Balkan, the best thing of it is the subtle and everchanging Syrian Latakia.

But I still slightly prefer Rose of Latakia.

Not as good as the Rose of Latakia, the addition of Perique does make it a better blend than the Full Balkan. But only barely.