D & R Tobacco Ramback Balkan

My favourite base component for blending. Ramback Balkan is a pure, unadulterated blend of high quality tobaccos and also a truly gorgeous MYO tobacco that in my opinion is probably the best in the world, if not at least the best oriental blend in a tube by a country mile. It also works brilliantly as a blending component for pipes. Smooth, very light on the throat but rich in flavour. Woody, earthy, rooty, creamy, a touch of sweetness and citrus and just a faint peppery tingle. The sun-grown Balkan Virginia and Yenidje really add a lot to this blend compared with other orientals.

The only trouble is that the cutting of this fine ribbon is a complete mess. They are saving money, given the expensive nature of these high quality tobaccos, but it's still a real shame. It is mostly a fine ribbon but is absolutely full of huge sticks, clumps, uncut large chunks of leaves and a lot of the stuff that's even cut properly is still folded up and condensed making little hard lumps and twigs that need to be very carefully unfurled into individual strands. This is less of an issue in the pipe, but for tubes it's a nightmare. It truly shows just how much I adore this tobacco that I put myself through hours of preparing a tub of this for blending and tubing. They quite clearly do not unfurl and de-stem all the leaves for this blend prior to cutting and mixing. Honestly, I would volunteer to do that job myself if it meant getting a proper cut of Ramback Balkan with no stems in it. I mean, honestly, stick an extra dollar on the price if necessary, I'd gladly pay a little extra for a proper cut. An ever so slightly finer cut on this as well would really enhance the richness of flavour and not in any way detract from the pipe experience.

I blend this for tubes with a little Ramback Turkish and Penhooker. Adding a little extra Yenidje and some Katerini (from the Blender's Bench range - now unfortunately discontinued) has made for the finest cigarettes I think I'll ever be able to make.

The problem with this tobacco is down to its complexity. This is to say I would not recommend it to smokers who lack the necessary expertise to approach it. This presentation from D & R needs to be smoked as moist to get the most out of it. That means you won't be able to produce massive amounts of smoke, and the key point is you need to keep you amber running low and to a minimum. Because of the Virginia leaf it tends to heat up and produce condensation, but you can control this by keeping an eye on your smoking cadence and a pipe cleaner. In my personal opinion this is a rather pleasing mixture with a nice zesty and sour profile coming from the oriental leaf. Basically, it is dominated by the sweet Virginia notes, whereas the sour or spicy aspects seem to play more of a hide and seek role. As it does not contain any latakia and comprises virginia and oriental leaf, the Balkan designation is sort of a misnomer. I think they call it "Balkan" because of the yenidje leaf, which I believe was originally produced in the Balkans back in the time, so the name should not be taken as a description of its properties. On another note, I can see the cellaring potential here because of the virginia leaf, which I dare to say comprises 80% of the whole blend. To sum everything up, this is for the most part a virginia tobacco with a little bit of something added to it to leave you wondering.

As others have noted this is quite flavorful, but mild. I much prefer it with the addition of about 5-10% Picayune. Any more than that addition can overwhelm the subtle character of the Balkan. The Picayune in that small quantity adds a richness of flavor and some needed nicotine that improves the experience. Highly recommended.