Cornell & Diehl Super Balkan

From the first bowl I knew this tobacco was for me. Medium bodied Lat blend with nic to match, and it produced the elusive sour note that I desire. Very dark tobacco, very dry, not an incredible jar note, but magic in the bowl. Dry, incense- like, sour, smoky. I'm thinking this is one spectacular bulk tobacco.

Then it dawns on you that despite the traditional impressions, this tobacco is anything but. There is no Va here. You read that right. Burley, Latakia, Perique and Turkish. I am guessing 4 out of 5 Lat blend smokers wouldn't guess that in a blind test. Amazing.

Once you know the Va is not Va, you kind of notice a Burley sweetness in the background. But I stress, this smokes like an excellent Balkan and is nothing like an American blend.

I love C&D's Red Odessa, a unique, genre busting tobacco. It's not a conventional Lat blend, but more like Three Friars with Latakia. I like Super Balkan even more. This is my bulk Lat blend, and I just ordered a pound. This is by far the best bulk Lat blend I've smoked, and it shames most tinned blends. In fact, this is the best Lat blend I've smoked from C&D that isn't wearing a GL Pease label. At $36/lb, about the same tinned if you look around, it's simply astonishing. I'll tell you right now I like this better than Larry's Blend.

###update 4/31/2012 Long term, this blend hasn't consistently reproduced the magic that had me so excited about it, and I have to lower my opinion of it. Occasionally I get spectacular smokes from this one, with luscious sour notes. More often than not, it's an undistinguished generic Lat blend. Still recommended but not one of my favorites.

I bought this one because it had ‘Super’ in front of it. I am no expert on English vs Balkan and am not going down that rabbit hole but this one lacks the smoky sweet Latakia smell and taste so as the name says ‘Balkan’ it is. This smells really mild in the jar as I bought this in bulk. This will be the last time that I also mention that I have hardly any sense of smell and taste anymore, probably due to my age, heavy coffee drinker, broken nose twice, anyway I think you get the point. It smokes clean, almost cigarette(ish) which I assume is the main presence of the Turkish and Oriental tobaccos with Latakia lurking back in the dark. This is a good blend. I also started smoking it in a larger pipe bowl which seems to allow me to coax out the flavors a little better. If you are looking for a stout, no nonsense tobacco, give this one a try. 3 stars on my scale.

When smoking Super Balkan, I barely taste the Perique, on the contrary I just taste the burley, which give the deepness and nuttiness.

Fresh Super Balkan smokes very nicely but when the moisture decreases after three months, it smokes very harshly.

So I highly recommend you buy the 2oz tin version and store it carefully in order to keep the high moisture. It is different from SG's Commonwealth, which dry out thus become much more savory.

This is a good blend. It does remind me a lot of Balkan Sasieni, although to be fair it has been a few years since I have opened a tin of it. There are some differences to be sure but if I had to pick one I would lean toward my memory of Balkan Sasieni. That said, this is still a good mild to Med. bodied smoke. The lat is there and is smokey and has a slight musty note but it is not so much of a percentage of the blend that it completely takes over. The Orientals are creamy a little sweet and have that buttermilk like sourness that I love they are in competition with the lat for which is dominate and often take the lead. The burley is very earthy with a slight nuttiness about it and always trails right behind the late and the Orientals. The VA's have a grassy/hay like note, although I get no citrus note at all, which is odd but they are more in the background and the perique is barely noticeable with a little plum and pepper on occasion. This was enjoyable I would certainly recommend this to a smoker who has had a few blends under there belt and looking to try a Balkan style blend. I think for me personally there are blends that are fuller that keep my attention more so this is more a personal rating if you enjoy the mild side of things this is worth a try.