Peretti Tashkent

This is an excellent balkan/oriental blend and I'll leave the details to my more experienced brother smokers below.

I do find the blend to be very subtle and smooth. The latakia is present but not front and center. There are several Peretti English/balkans I enjoy more but this is a wonderful variation on those type of blends. As noted, very subtle and smooth.

I especially like blends like this in the morning with my coffee.

Such a wonderful, deep flavored, bright tobacco. I went in to check out pipes and after talking with their master tobacconist and the wonderful guys behind the counter, left with what I thought would be plenty. Turns out I was wrong, I’ll need to go back for more.

Quite simply stated this is a blend of excellent tobaccos married for a lifetime of pleasure. If you enjoy Engish blends you will navigate thru a flavor profile of incredible satisfaction without a strand of Virginia influence.

Im surprised that there aren't that many smokers who know about this blend, but MAN is this a must try if you like Latakia. This is is a Latakia/Oriental without any Virginias, which is exactly why this blend stand out for me. That and my family is from Tashkent, Uzbekistan. It is an exotic blend nothing too fancy, but a must try for those who love the genre.

After many years of hearing the accolades of this blend I am finally getting around to trying it. I am ashamed to say, this is the first Peretti blend I have tried, and certainly will not be my last. I admit that in my younger piping days I often fell victim to the sirens song of flashy and brilliant packaging. I would often order blends after flipping through magazines or skimming websites, and seeing amazing artwork on tins. As I have matured, I have learned that some of the best pipe tobacco you can get comes in plain looking baggies with just a blenders name on the front. Companies like Wilke, Peretti (those paint cans are so cool though), and Boswell produce an amazing product in a humble packaging. My first thought when I got this is that latakia would play a prominent role. This was based on the bag note, but this would would prove to be false. This comes in a nice uniform ribbon like cut. Mostly medium and light browns with a few dark specks. The bag note is latakia and a beautifully incense like smell that orientals always bring. It comes at the perfect moisture level and packs and burns beautifully. The taste is just wonderful. A full on display of the wonder that is oriental tobaccos. At first, I felt like it was missing something. I believe this is due to the fact that, for the vast majority of ones pipe smoking journey, orientals are always an accompaniment, and never the lead melody. After I slowed down and concentrated, this really shined. It is a full, incense like experience. Very unique and just a joy. It tends to gather some gravitas as it travels deeper into the bowl. A wonderful blend. This is so unique and lovely. A must try. I also believe this blend is a wonderful gateway to help appreciate the oriental compomnent of other blends. Four stars all day.

Definitions get fuzzy. People get fuzzy. What is an oriental tobacco? Where does English connect to Oriental? Some suggest English must have Virginia and Latakia. And that this lovely blend from Peretti can’t be this or that because …. Back to fuzzy. What is an oriental?

Out of the bag this smells like an English with good Lat but in the smoking it is peppery and spicy and rather mild. The Lat is present but not like a Westminster or Odyssey.

I found this to be a pleasant and tasty mild to medium easy smoke. Tasty. Interesting. Some nuance. Lovely addition to the rotation.

The appearance: A two ounce bag, not worth talking about its age (because of the freshness of the tobacco), contained about a quarter of the mix, and the rest was orientals, dominated by turkish ismir. That was it. No Virginia. A roughly chopped sliver of three shades of brown, from slightly yellowish to dark coffee. The tobacco was a little dry, but quite acceptable for pipe filling.

Flavor: fairly dense notes of suede, spices (turmeric, allspice, the lightest note of cloves), sandalwood and musk dominate the peaty note of latakia, pushing it to the background. Along with it, also at a distance from the main notes, there was a light acidity inherent in Izmir. Herbal, floral, bread notes were completely absent. The overall bouquet is quite atypical, but pleasant.

Taste: The lack of Virginia had an impact on the flavor as a whole, and on the sweetness of the tobacco. Apart from the latakia, there was virtually no sweetness in the taste. But the subtle creamy sweetness of the latakia and its light smokiness was perfectly balanced with the spicy, woody notes of the oriental. A slight spiciness was also present, but it was different from the spiciness of the perique, having a support of spicy woody rather than fruity notes. To top it all off, I felt a slight slightly astringent taste on my tongue with a sourness, like biting into a leaf petiole. Gradually, the smoky notes of the latakia began to come in force, but the oriental flavor did not weaken, and the blend gained density and volume, being further unchanged in flavor. The latakia seems a little more noticeable in bentas than in straight pipes, but in both cases the blend smokes harmoniously, cool, slow and even, without any roughness or distortion of flavor. I would classify the strength as medium or slightly higher, in a very large pipe nicotine kick is possible. Oddly enough, the tobacco has a light and unstable rye aftertaste.

The smoke is spicy, dense, and quite plentiful. It has the scent of spice, cedar and sandalwood, and takes its time to weed out of the room.

What's the bottom line? As one Soviet famous song sings - "shine Tashkent, Star of the East!" A strikingly beautiful blend, created by a master of his craft, specifically for evening coffee. Even the fact that I prefer sweet blends, does not detract from its merits - a deep, dense, mild flavor with a relatively simple composition. Not much chance to try it, but if someone you know happens to be in Boston, Massachusetts, near 2 1/2 Park Plaza, ask them to stop by the Peretti store and get you Tashkent and a couple or three other blends to try. It's worth it.

The 2nd best tobacco available on the planet---Omega is #1.