Dan Tobacco Bill Bailey's Balkan Blend

First impression at first bowl: 40 percent of latakia? uhmm. Maybe it is chinese latakia. Too dry leafs, too dry tobacco. But burns quite well. Perique: more than a pinch for sure, but good. Or maybe it is the orientals, impossible to know because the kentucky is killing anything else. We are worlds away from Erinmore Balkan Blend.

Second impression after three bowls: this tobacco is one of the worst I have tried so far. It burns out too quickly, very hot, no matter I changed the pipe to a bigger or smaller bowl, doesnt make any difference. Taste is unknown, everything is mixed up and covered by the kentucky.

I will not go any further with this tin, and back to the usual Sobranie and Balkan clones (Schurch, SG Balkan, Erinmore balkan mixture etc.). For me, never more.

this is an example of how to esagerate with the latakia in a blend, without looking out for it's quality. there's a lot of poor quality latakia in this blend, and i can't feel the other components, that are overwhelmed by this disgusting quality latakia. to be honest i dont know if its real latakia.... i was not able to smoke this tobacco, and makes me sick to smell or to smoke it. i like latakia so much, even in high proportions, like it's on the old ironside pipe tobacco, that i love, but the BBBB is a very disgusting blend with no harmony between the components.

in few words: A POOR QUALITY LATAKIA BOMB BLENDED WITH SOMETHING ELSE THAT IS NOT DETECTABLE.

I liked the cut which packed well in the pipe. Lit after two lights and it stayed lit throughout the smoke. The taste confused me as there seemed to be a lot going on. Half way through the bowl I had to put it down because of so many flavors trying to compete made the taste very bad in my opinion.

Richard Hacker reviews this blend in his book Pipesmoking-A 21st Century Guide & there advises not to smoke this on an empty stomach. I did exactly that & was sent realing by this disgustingly vile blend! Was left wondering whether this blend was 40% horseshit & shavings rather than containing Latakia in that proportion! It surely didn't taste like Latakia. I suffered through the whole tin. My pipes required multiple cleanings to get de-ranked from this stuff. Since taking up pipesmoking again a couple of years ago, I've probably experimented with 30-40 blends & there are only 2 that were bad enough to earn only 1 star-this is one of them.

I completely agree with JOELSON, completely failed very badly, with a horrible taste.

Well, perhaps I am sole voice here. I can only say I really do not like this one; or, to be more precise, do not like it enough to taste again.

It burns well and is consistent all the way. End of the pros.

Here come the cons:

It has more clumps than I have ever found in tinned tobaccos. A clear sign of bad quality or bad mixing control. Too bad for this veteran puffer.

The presence of Cyprian Latakia is overwhelming? and not in a creamy, rich way (as you can find, for instance, in Commonwealth Mixture)

From beginning to end in every pipe tasted, Virginias and Orientals tried to jump to first or supporting role, but, my dear friends, it never happened to me. The harshness of the average Latakia plus Kentucky imposes once and again. Regarding the Perique, I never noticed it.

I only could recommend it if you look for not expensive ones? and do not experience this harshness and lack of subtlety I found.

RdX score: 76.5 (Pipe after pipe the scores went down, and I never repeat with tobaccos under 80)