Compton's of Galashiels Macedonian Mixture

This is another review I'm writing by memory, and I might spoil the average grade by giving it less than four stars, but I just have to write down my impressions from 5 years ago when I smoked a 100 g pouch, and all the disappointment that came with it. I was born in Republic of Macedonia, and lived there the first 27 years of my life, before moving to Bulgaria. So there is certain patriotic pride in people from small and insignificant countries that nobody has heard of, whenever their country gets famous with something like that. Of course, some of the finest orientals are grown there, and we are the only country that actually have a tobacco leaves on the coat of arms. (along with opium poppy and wheat) So, to get to the point, when I heard about Macedonian Mixture for the first time, and also other Comptons blends, it was on youtube, people were boasting and glorifying this mixture as "creme de la creme", the finest masterpiece that has ever been smoked, the closest to the legendary Balkan Sobranie only better, and so on, and so on. Then I ordered some from Max, back at that time he wasn't famous enough and although boutique stuff, his tobaccos were pretty much available to everybody that orders them and pays online. Being a fan of Balkan and English blends, I loved tobaccos where orientals are in abundance, (I still do) I imagined this to be something like Balkan Sasieni, or Frog Morton on the Town, or Charring Cross only better. It just have to be like that, all the praise and glory on the internet, It just has to be that way. I had even imagined what the taste would be like. I had no idea what would Macedonia have to do with it, but anyway, it's cool to be associated to the best tobacco out there. Kinda like you feel more significant. Then I opened the pouch, and filed my Peterson in ecstatic anticipation of the best smoke on the planet, which is also a Macedonian smoke by the way. Then I lit the pipe, and with first puffs of it, all the imaginary picture about it, ... well, it just collapsed. I was furious and mad that this isn't what I imagined it would be like. That was indeed a "Macedonian" flavor, but in the worst possible way. And I'll explain why. I come from a rural part of the country where poor people smoke local cigarettes made almost entirely from local low end orientals, that smell disgusting. The lower grade tobacco that can't be exported goes to the lowest possible grade cigarettes. And their smell is so strong, it's just disgusting. My father used to smoke those, and entering a room where he had smoked few cigarettes was the worst possible experience in the world. Shepherds, homeless persons, poor people and shiptars (albanians) used to smoke that tobacco rolled or in cheapest local cigarettes. That is the smell that i associate with the lowest and the worst possible smoke there is. Prilep is the type of oriental that was most abundant, and the city being only 60 kilometers away from Yannitsa (former Yenidje) I guess it's the same thing, or a variety of it. At least I learned how yenidje smells (or should I say stink) like. Very familiar and disgusting smell. It just stinks. Then I smoked a few more bowls of it, trying to find the beauty and start to like it just to avoid the disappointment, and I really did find the top quality in the ingredients, it was composed of finest ingredients, no doubt about it. Later I tried Comptons Balkan, and there I found all that superb taste I imagined previously in Macedonian Mixture, and even better than I expected, and was blown away, but here, I just couldn't get rid of this cheap, poor, homeless, shiptar impression no matter how hard I tried. It's a pity, since latakia, VA, and other orientals were awesome and superb. If there was just a bit less of that damn Yenidje, it would be an awesome smoke. If you don't associate it's aroma with anything bad, and smoke it without prejudices, you may like it. Comptons stuff is the best there is, ever! I don't think this review would be of any help, since not all pipe smokers can relate this to the cheapest macedonian cigarettes, but I just had to write this down, I hope fellow pipe smokers don't mind. I don't think that I will ever smoke Max's blends again, since you have to be masochist to get some, he may had blend the best tobaccos in the world, but screw him, they aren't worth years of waiting in line, and becoming his regular customer just to get hold of 100 grams of tobacco. I'm not that enthusiastic. There are plenty of other good tobaccos out there, that are just one click away. Even Penzance is more easy to get than his tobaccos. If by any chance they get more widely available like they were, 5 years ago, I might buy another pouch of this one just to refresh the memory, and check if I'd still find that yenidje note repulsive like in the old times, just out of pure curiosity.

Cheers!