Sutliff Tobacco Company Byzantium #525

The pouch smell is more or less a traditional spicy English with definite Latakia presence. Tobacco itself is very dry, crumbly dry, but since some of my favorite English blends exhibit the same, I did not discount the blend for this. Taste falls short from the get-go. Virginia is nearly imperceptible, orientals are flat, and the Latakia just seems to drone on in the background, coming forth every now and then. No matter how gently I smoked this 3 oz. sample, tongue bite showed up in nearly every smoke. Even worse, the smoke seems to coat the mouth and tongue with an unpleasant film that is velvety, tingly, and sometimes reminiscent of anise flavoring. I have not experienced that unpleasantry with other Balkan or English blends, nor do I have desire to find what component may cause this. Most likely some sort of topping. At any rate, I will not purchase again, and I cannot recommend this to other smokers in good conscience. There are hundreds of much better oriental blends out there, and I have found no redeeming qualities here.