Hearth & Home Black House

I smoked a pipe for years, mostly aromatics, quit for cigars but picked it back up to find my new favorite line of tobaccos. I fell in love with English and Balkin lines right away and haven’t looked back. THIS blend so far has my top billing! Naturally sweet from the Virginias in the first puff (even the tin note is sweet), which is creamy, elegant & pleasing. As a Latakia lover, this has just enough to mingle with the Black Cavendish and Perique to create a lovely bouquet for the senses. Woody, earthy & burns cool, right down to a fine white ash with minimal relights. My new and forever baccy friend!

Black House is a solid English blend with an unusually sweet body. The black cavendish is immediately obvious upon initial lighting -- it gives the tobacco a burley-like creamy foundation that sits nicely beneath smoky latakia and peppery-winey perique.

Those who appreciate ostentatious and strong Lat-bombs might be a little disappointed here, but otherwise this is a friendly place to start if you're new to English blends. If you love both English and aromatics, this might serve as a kind of synthesis in a way, being both sweet and spicy.

The burning characteristics are great. The tobacco comes pretty dry and doesn't seem to need much or any drying time.

I found this blend to be similar to Fusilier's Ration, which isn't surprising since it's made by the same guys. This is like a milder, earthier, and sweeter variation. It's a great casual smoke for quiet evenings and easy to relax with when a hard-hitter like Fusilier's seems like it would be too rough.

Overall, this blend is enjoyable and will highly please a select milieu. It's worth giving a shot.

Probably among my two or three favourites if not my absolute favourite. An English with complex flavours but not overwhelmingly heavy. When I smoke this it almost is like eating some roast for Sunday dinner. Very filling. Very delicious. 4/4

When it comes to Balkans or Sobranie homages, Russ takes the cake. This guy is (in my opinion) made from quality leaf, a practiced, balanced hand, and one hell of a palette.

It’s smokey, floral, a touch prune-y, with a great foundation that lifts up the key players. It is a great Balkan and deserves its place in the Pantheon of Balkans, which is no surprise given the blender.

I always go back and forth between this and Whiteknight. Both have that very enjoyable “soda biscuit” note, but I think it shines through more in WK than BH. This is probably due to BH being a bit more full flavored than WK. Both a very enjoyable depending on what I’m in the mood for but there are some advantages that BH has over WK.

The primary difference would be the type of tobacco in BH makes it burn a bit slower and cooler than its counterpart. The light sprinkling of perique gives it some interesting spiciness as well. That plus the Kentucky adds a bit of complexity here. The Latakia isn’t too toward here and is more of a steady background note. The orientals are just barely perceptible and the cavendish is almost nonexistent. I assume this is due to the Kentucky wanting to overpower everything else.

The main advantage the WK has over BH is that it’s an oriental forward and those blends are slowly becoming my favorite. It does burn a bit hotter so you have to baby it more than BH. I enjoy the taste of the orientals and notice the Yenidje “baking soda” note much more in WK, since it’s a lighter smoke. There’s no perique, which I see as neither good nor bad. I think perique in any amount would spoil WK and overpower it, but that’s just a hunch. BH is strong enough with the Kentucky that the perique doesn’t take over.

Really it just depends on what you’re in the mood for. Both are sweet and Smokey and flavorful. Both are exceptional smokes in their own right. You really can’t go wrong with either of these. The age old battle continues and it will be up to your pallet (and mood) to determine if the fabled Whiteknight will be victorious over the intriguing Blackhouse.

This Black House is a classic.

When Black House won the 2011 Balkan Sobranie 759 Throwdown at the Chicagoland Pipe and Tobacciana Show, it would be another two years before I even picked up the pipe. I have never experienced the 759, so I can’t compare Black House to what it was intended to replicate. But were I given Black House in a blind taste test, I would have drawn the following conclusions:

1. This is Balkan – it’a a fantastic Balkan – and it’s not like the Balkan Sobranie (London), nor is it like the Balkan Sasieni (STG).

2. I immediately loved this blend: it’s sporty, very fun to drive; I love the fine wood trim, along with the fabulous plum & raisin leather interior. The Latakia smokes – the mixture burns totally clean – and it only gets better as you go.

I’ve never driven a 1962 Corvette, but this Black House version is just totally awesome! Highly recommended. 4-stars.

The winning blend from the Chicagoland Pipe Show 2011, Balkan Sobranje 759 throwdown. I have smoked almost two tins of this in the past few months which for me says a lot since I am hopping around from blend to blend. It starts out smooth and slightly spicy with a little sour note toward the end. If I had a top ten this one would be in it. For me this one is on the mild Latakia spectrum but that is not a negative. I would highly recommend this one to try.

I found a jar I cellared of this a couple years ago. The tobacco is well balanced and doesn't taste cheap. Ive been occasionally smoking this as a treat at night. Nice incense aroma and smooth oriental/turkish taste thats plays nicely with the cavendish, virginia, and kentucky. I like this stuff I hope its around a long time.

UPDATE 11/2020: I purchased a lot tobacco on an online group and in that lot I got an tin of Black House from its release year. I have been smoking from a 2017 tin and was down to my last bowl when I remembered I had this older tin in my cellar and wanted to do a side by side comparison. With natural products you would expect variations in the tobaccos from year to year and from farmer to farmer, add to that the aging process, of both tins, and I would have expected both to have over time. I was a bit surprised at how different they were. I will say up front that the character of the tobacco was maintained across time, tins and jarring but I noticed one major difference, the sweetness. The 2017 tin was much sweeter, almost to the point that I think the sugar content of the casing/processing may have changed over time (maybe not, maybe age neutralizes the sugar additives while enhancing the natural sweetness of the VA's). Two other more minor observations is that the older tin seemed to have more light brown tobacco's, the tin note was more Oriental forward and the quality of the Oriental's seemed superior in the older tin, this latter point may be from aging. Oriental's age at least as well as VA's in my opinion, at least in shorter term aging, 5-10 years. BH is a great smoke from any vintage, but I am now a little PO'd that I don't have more of the older stuff.

ORIGINAL: This one I have waited on to review. As a pipe smoker that never experienced the original Balkan Sobranie I cannot compare it to the original, however I can say that I like all of the tribute blends and I can only imagine that I would have liked the original. It will always be a venerated example of what was and an aspiration of perfection. That said, striving for "perfection" while never attaining it, is a noble quest. This was the last blend, and the one claimed to be the closest to the original. To my palate I enjoyed it very much, but not my personal favorite. This blend is bold, flavorful and complex. The nose is latakia and sweetness. I know that isn't particularly descriptive but it is what I get. The Latakia is strong and sweet, smoky and edgy. The cavendish acts as a booster to the other flavors and softens some rough edges. Woody, dry orientals are strong supporting players and add that spicy note on the retrohale. The virginias are sweet and to me, seem stoved and bready. There is a hint of sourness on occasion that I attribute to the orientals. What I miss in this blend is the maltiness that I attribute to "Balkan" blends. I am not sure why it isn't there as the component tobacco's would suggest it should be there but I do not get it in this blend. This blend smokes extremely well straight out of the tin and burns to a gray ash. This is a very nuanced complex smoke and a great treat to enjoy when contemplating the events of the day. Another great blend from Russ O. I prefer the White Knight to this as the malt flavor I love is there in spades. I recommend to anyone who likes Balkan blends and enjoy's the journey and quest for the perfect smoke.