Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) Erinmore Balkan Mixture

Erinmore Balkan Mixture's fine ribbon cut looks suprisingly light-colored for an English pipe tobacco with tan and medium brown leafs dominating the blend and just a few almost black sprinkles. Yet the scent effusing from the tin might be unobtrusive and has the typical grassy sweetness of the Virginias, but also has the spicy floral notes from the Orientals and the peatiness of the Latakia it contains.

Even though the tobacco has been packed pretty tightly into the tin, moisture level is perfect. Filling and lighting your bowl is easy. In doing so I prefer the Frank method. A single charring and true light with some tamping down the ashes in between will usually do the job.

From the start there's a peppery sweetness that should not be confused with tongue bite. The smokiness of the Latakia and the flowery spiciness of the Orientals might be in the background, especially during the first third of the bowl, but they are clearly detectable and become more pronounced towards the finish. As far as taste and nicotine content are concerned, this is a well balanced, medium strength smoke, which makes it suitable for all day. It burns down evenly and dryly, leaving some powdery graying ash.

The room note is dominated by the Latakia and Orientals and therefore not everyone's cup of tea.

Quality blend rich in orientals, sweet and spicy. Cool and un-biting unless you smoke it too fresh: doesn't seems moist to the touch but it developes a significant amount of steam, let it dry out a bit. Nic makes feel its presence, if you care. On a comparision with its brother Latakia Supreme (which I prefer...) BM is less tangy and smoky, but mellower, spicier, stronger. Bottom line: it worth a try.

Erinmore Balkan in the tin offers up the appearance of a medium Balkan blend along with a very faintly sweet, what may be a faint topping scent. Most will find this pipe ready, but since I like my tobacco on the dry end of the spectrum, I like to dry for a few short minutes. In the pipe, the Orientals are the star of the show. There is more Latakia than Early Morning Pipe, a blend that I smoke daily. There isn’t a lot more, but enough to make it more smoky. There is a sweetness from the Virginias and what I believe to be something very lightly added. Erinmore Balkan is very smooth and offers a bit of strength too that I would put just a notch above medium. It burns cool and, while not very complex, there is some to be had. The flavor and strength build throughout the bowl, while the underlying sweetness remains till the end with no ashy taste. During the first few bowls of the tin, I could have seen this as an everyday blend. Too bad it’s not offered in the US along with the other Erinmore blends that are offered. i think that this would be a big seller in the US and I simply don't understand why some manufacturers hold back some of their blends from the US market??? (and vice versa)

A mild-flavoured blend for a Balkan, this. Not as rich as some, with the Latakia clearly there, but a little less pronounced than most Balkans, and with the orientals and virginias to the fore.

Overall, it's a fairly undemanding English Balkan blend with a clean taste, very little bite and a smooth burn. It's the opposite of "challenging" - which isn't a bad thing first thing in the day. It would make a good introduction to Balkan blends for newcomers as well - all the essential "Balkan" qualities are present, but not so marked that someone used to the fruit-flavoured aromatics would be overwhelmed by it.

Often regarded as an early morning blend, it has a dry tannin quality about it which goes much better with English-style Assam tea (strong, with a little milk and sweeten to taste) than with coffee.

Last week I bought 10 tins of this at the airport duty free (2 pack of 5 tins each, 50gr per tin), at 15$ per pack, considering this an unbeatable price, I was about to buy much more but I did not since this would be quit risky at the custom.

Erinmore Balkan Mixture is in excellent oriental blend, mellow, tasty, cool and well balanced, Turkish/Virginia is about 40%/40% , latakia is about 20%, I would say.

Comparison: somewhere between Davidoff Royalty and Squadron Leader, sweeter and milder than Davidoff Royalty with more latakia/Turkish and less Virginia. Stronger in nicotine and less sweet than Squadron Leader but less edgy, less spicy with more latakia and less Turkish.

Erinmore Balkan Mixture is a delicious Balkan blend, it is now a new favorite of mine, I have already 10 tins and I will certainly buy more in the futur (on my next trip).

This is a subjective matter. I started (after a brief and unsuccessful try with Clan as a student, and for some reason a lot of Gold Block I managed to buy in bulk) with this tobacco and it led me onto other things. (A Gateway Tobacco?!) If this type of tobacco is your thing, you ought to like it. I did. From here I went to try Squadron Leader and Skiff Mixture, then discovered Virginia/Virginia based flakes which I now prefer. However it is a nice tobacco, in a nice tin and to me is still very pleasant when I feel like a change.

I like Lakeland style blends and this certainly tasted like one for me. There are orientals mixed in with this but the mix is predominantly Virginia and latakia. It smokes really well, straight out of the packet and there is no tongue bite - though I expect that a lot of the tongue bite complaints in the various reviews may be due to bad smoking or a soured pipe used.

It's not the best English mix I've ever smoked but it is far from the worse and I would certainly smoke more of this were it easier to find.

Nice smell from the tin, it burns nicely from the beginning. The taste is a classic Latakia mixture with some interesting notes. The Latakia, tastes dry and reminds me of Consummate Gentleman but overall not as tasty. I still like it and recommend it for the casual Latakia smoker.

Virginia lover

In the long run, Erinmore Balkan Mixture has revealed to be a very appealing and substantial medium EM.

Very well balanced, and to my great surprise it has Orientals of unexpected quality, and the truly fair quantity of Latakia. Burns very very well and dry, leaving the smoker wanting more, but in a very positive way. IMHO this is one of the few EM having the right features to be an all-day smoke.

EBM doesn't match the highest quality of say-Skiff, but proposes to be a solid and reliable second.