Hearth & Home Black House

This is a great Balkan. Anymore I don't trust my taste memory enough to tell you if its a dead ringer for the original, but its in the same camp, and stands on its own as a great Balkan.

What I get throughout the bowl is a full, dark Balkan flavor. The taste is a big, woodsy, cool latakia, with the orientals coming around the sides with hooks and jabs. The flavor is spicy, but is tempered by a very dry sweetness (aided in no small part I'm sure by the cavendish). And it is smooth, more than almost any other modern Balkan.

This blend never got harsh or bitter, staying cool the whole smoke, and being full without wearing out the mouth. I am not a sipper of tobacco either, I loaded this up in a very generously sized Castello bulldog for its inaugural smoke and it never bit or got harsh, even with my freight train smoking style.

As far as new Balkans go, this is one of my favorites, right up there with the new Balkan Sobranie and the Compton's balkans.

I never smoked that Balkan tobacco which this one was supposed to emulate. I just know that this is a complex blend that pleases any time of the day I reach for it. It packs well, burns evenly and leaves the bowl dry and clean and the smoker wanting another bowl.

There is dark fired KY as the base, some cavendish which is forgivable. The lat. is good and strong in this blend. The oriental and Turkish tobaccos are more forward than most blends even for balkan's and the VA is a sweet creamy element. Beautiful smoke without bite.

A very satisfying Balkan. The latakia and Kentucky linger on the palette the longest, but the other players are discernible throughout. This is a true medium smoke where the flavor and strength are almost perfectly matched. The flavor is also well balanced between dark, mysterious and exotic on the one hand, and on the other hand salty and savory. The tin did not stay on my shelf for very long--looking forward to a long relationship.

ive bought this now in both bulk and tin. it is excellent in my 20+ year old molina briar, which i use only for this blend. i dont smoke this in regular rotation, but only on sunday, after church.

I am just recently back into pipe smoking for the first time since the 1980s. Over the past few months I have sampled quite a few tobaccos, including several of the OTC blends and some of the blends that have been highly recommended on this Website. I have learned that straight Virginias and Virginia/Perique blends are not my "cup of tea." I can enjoy some of the "old codger" blends like Carter Hall and Prince Albert (maybe because I am an old codger!), but don't find them as deeply satisfying as English blends.

In my admittedly limited sampling of tobaccos, I find Black House to be the best tobacco I have smoked. I won't try to describe the nuances of flavor and aroma, not having the expertise to do so in a valuable manner, but I will say that this is the blend I would choose if I could smoke only one blend from now on. I can find no fault in Black House; no bite, great flavor and aroma, adequate strength, and it leaves me fully satisfied at the end of the bowl.

This is a tobacco I had been wondering about for a long time since hearing it won the contest for matching the old Balkan Sobranie at the 2011 Chicago Pipe Show. I ordered a tin last month and immediately found out it was on back order. After about 3 weeks I called to inquire about it and the nice young man on the phone said he would send me 4 oz. of the bulk for the same price as a 2 oz. tin, even though the bulk was worth considerably more. Pipes and Cigars customer service is the best!! The package arrived 3 days ago and after work I immediately opened it and pulled out the bulk Black House. I loaded a favorite straight billiard and fired it up. The iniatial taste I got was intriguing and a little spicy. Then after about 1/4 bowl it settled down into a beautifully balanced smoke between the Latakia, Turkish, and VAs. I had never smoked a tastier Balkan and subsequent bowls only re-inforced this opinion. I smoked 6 bowls straight between 3 different pipes: the billiard, a Jan Zeman Rhodesian, and a Karl Erik bulldog. I just can't get enough of this blend! This is one that is definitely going to be cellared and I'll get at least a lb. next time.

My wife did not mind the room aroma, either, although to be fair I should say that she lets me smoke other Latakia blends in the house. Burn rate and lighting were good, too, with minimal relights.

Scores for Black House: Taste- 20 of 20; lighting and burn- 8 of 10; value- 9 of 10. That gives Black House a score of 37 points, the highest I've ever given and a HUGE **** rating. If you love Balkans, you must try this tobacco!

An true epiphany!

I still remember my first contact with the original Balkan Sobranie Smoking Mixture while preparing a college exam a cool and rainy afternoon in 1967. The tin was a gift from a dear auntie who had just returned from London and had asked for "the best English tobacco for a pipe smoking nephew". God bless her soul. The leather and figs upon opening the tin! The perfect humidity, the easy to pack wide ribbon, the whirldwind of smells and flavor on the char... Oh Lord!

I kept at it, adapting to its subtle changes until 1999 when I quit tobacco altogether blaming the pipe over a brief relapse into cigarrettes. Then I cleaned, sanitized and packed my collection and gave away my supplies, among them five unopened tins of the then current BSSM, plus one more than half-full. I still want to hit my head on the wall when I remember; but enough! This is about Black House.

I got this after reading it was the winner of the ChPS last year and the complimentary reviews; all true, IMHO.

On opening the tin, the scene of the first paragraph returned to my memory with a vividness that was almost painful. It's said that the olfative memory is the most prominent of all and this must be true.

I don't intend comparing it to the lamented Balkan Sobranie, any of them —too many years have passed for that. Suffice to say that this is by far the best Balkan blend I've smoked since I relapsed into pipe smoking with a vengeance several years ago, and I've tried quite a few, looking for the lost Grial.

No description can make it justice, I suppose most of the educated ones here are correct and you will pick them out easily, but this is one you have to try and decide for yourself.

For me, it has completely filled the void. I have begun stocking on it and this time around I won't be commiting my previous sin. I frequently give away tobacco tins to friends but this one I'll scrooge away. I only expect it to age like a great Bordeaux.

Accolades to Russ Ouelette for this superb blend!

The depth of richness is difficult to describe. Black House carries a dense and flavorful smoke that is amazingly well balanced. The flavors of every ingredient come through and can be detected individually and yet they all work together to produce a unique balkan taste that is elegant and unique. My greatest delight in this tobacco is that the pace of the smoke doesn't harm the experience. No tongue bite from a rapid pace, and still flavorful. A slow and relaxed pace and the reward is likely to be one of the most consistently delicious smokes you have or ever will have. This is a permanent addition to my rotation and I could easily be happy if this were the only tobacco I could smoke for the rest of my days.