Iwan Ries Balkan Supreme

I'm one of those deprived souls who never tried the original Balkan Sobranie that stained so many underpants and yellowed so many beards. And yet I feel pretty comfortable saying that this ain't a substitute for that Hall of Famer.

But this is still pretty tasty stuff and I'm glad I discovered it in a forgotten bin full of IRC pouches. If I lived in Chicago...even if I lived on the outskirts of Chicagoland--Napierville, Batavia--I might smoke this Latakia-heavy, faux-Balkan with some regularity. But I don't, and I won't. Still, if you're looking for a fullish English with an easy-to-like style, good smoking characteristics and a modest price, I think that you might enjoy this.

Trouble is, there are waaaaay too many similar but more characterful tobaccos on the market.

If you are in a pinch and need an English blend this could do it. It is better than most Bulk English . It is Stokebeye's aBalkan Sobranie. I have had better.

I made my pilgrimage to Iwan Ries. The helpful and friendly clerk recommended their Balkan blend to me along with a few other blends. Unfortunately I simply did not enjoy this blend very much. It has lots of Latakia but seemingly not much else to offer or perhaps the heavy handed Latakia obscures anything else. It came out a bit arid from the "Perma-Moist tobacco pouch". This dryness may have led to its fast burning characteristic. There are perceivable differences in Latakias. It could be that the one chosen for this blend does not meet my preferences. The flavor of IRC Balkan Supreme is of a kind of strong but bland,dull smokiness with very little sweetness, spiciness or other flavors. I would not say this is an awful tobacco, it would be OK if there was nothing else to smoke but there are so many other tastier options out there. However I will give it another go in the near future.

I'm a Balkan lover. I went into Iwan Ries one day and saw this, and figured for the price, I may as well pick it up.

I wasn't disappointed, but not surprised either. To me, this tastes quite similar to Balkan Saseini, which I don't think is particularly good either. The price is right, but the ratio of orientals (not enough) to latakia (too much) is not quite right.

That said, if I had a few bucks to spend on a Balkan, and IR was out of all of the Pease blends, I wouldn't complain too much about this. It isn't bad, but just not really a standout. Somewhat recommended.