Lane Limited BS-005

(2.84)
The traditional English blend, distinct, royal and noble. An admirably skilled blend of pure tobaccos. Any smoker whose first love is for the finest quality mixed together without adulteration will fall in love with this one.

Details

Brand Lane Limited
Blended By Lane Limited
Manufactured By Lane Limited
Blend Type English
Contents Latakia, Oriental/Turkish, Virginia
Flavoring
Cut Ready Rubbed
Packaging bulk, 50 grams tin
Country United States
Production Re-release

Profile

Strength
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
None Detected
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Tolerable
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Medium to Full
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming

Average Rating

2.84 / 4
8

9

4

4

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 25 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jun 04, 2014 Medium to Strong None Detected Full Tolerable
Back from the dead! Thanks to lane for bringing back this lat bomb. If you don't like English blends or Latakia, move along, this one isn't for you. But if like me, you revel in that incenseish first light of a Latakia blend, you should give this a try. Bought a pound, good quality tobacco with no sticks or stems. Lights easily and required only one relight after an ash dump. No casing detected and no goop in the bowl. Good price as well.
Pipe Used: Large briar
PurchasedFrom: Pipes and cigars
Age When Smoked: Fresh
19 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jun 08, 2014 Medium to Strong None Detected Mild to Medium Tolerable
Just got a lb. from Pipes and Cigars for $25! so I thought I'd give it a try, damn! I'm glad I did!!!! I'm a fan of va/pers and matured Virginia's and English blends. Packed my Ferndown, two lights to get it going and the rest was a genuine pleasure! 1st quarter of the bowl was the latakia up front, but then it settled into a quite a tasteful smoke. The Virginia came through as did the orientals, just ever so slightly. A little bit of sweetness here and there, just enough to make it more dimensional than other englishes. Tons of creamy smoke! No harshness! Didn't bite the tongue! Easily stayed lit! I just totally enjoyed this blend.
Pipe Used: Ferndown
PurchasedFrom: pipes and cigars
Age When Smoked: new
14 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 31, 2016 Mild to Medium None Detected Mild to Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
The smoky, woody, very lightly sweet Cyprian latakia is the main component, but gets just enough support from the grassy, citrusy Virginia, and the smoky, woody, lightly incense sour and spice Turkish to keep this from being a complete lat-bomb. Has very little sweetness, and is mostly a dry smoke. Burns at a moderate rate with a consistent taste. Won’t bite. Has a mild to moderate nic-hit. I’ve smoked this before under another name, though that name presently escapes me. Could be an all day smoke if you don’t miss the sweetness of other English mixtures, though this is not bursting with a lot of flavor or interesting enough to puff on all day. Two and a half stars.

-JimInks
12 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 08, 2006 Medium None Detected Full Strong
I'll make this short, but not sweet. I hate sweet, whether it's pipe tobacco or cutesy-poo, in any form.

Okay, I like candy.

Lane's BS-005 is a very non-sweet smoke that I've been puffing away at for over thirty years. I've found other tobaccos I like as a very occasional change, but nothing to replace 005 as my favorite and steady smoke. LIke the store description says, this is the pure and real thing. I like it even better than Lane's quite good "superior" version - "Crown Achievement".

A note of criticism regarding reviewers, if I may:

One who dislikes Latakia, or English/Balkan blends in general, will never like this and has absolutely no business saying anything about it in a review. (Give ME any "aromatic", and I'm going to give it a determined thumbs-down every time.) My comment is meant solely to place various prior, and doubtless subsequent, comments in perspective; as well as to encourage those who might otherwise ignore this little masterpiece, due to false representation.

That having been said: paradoxically, to the unacquainted, I would NOT recommend my all-time favorite as an intro to English/Balkan blends. Just as, for example, one who thinks he doesn't like Scotch Whisky is hardly advised to start out with, say, the Isle of Islay's best pure malt, "Laphroaig".

My suggestion for an introduction would be one of the G.L. Pease blends: "Odyssey" or perhaps "Caravan". I came to my favorite Lane by way of Rattray's "Red Rapparee," but I'm not sure Rattray is the same as it was forty years ago and it is too heavy in virginia, anyway.

Another advantage this blend has is that it comes only in bulk and can be acquired quite inexpensively, especially if one has enough storage space to accommodate it in 5 lb. lots.

In fine, when it comes to real-McCoy ENGLISH, Lane BS-005 is, in Tom Wolfe's meaning of the phrase, truly the "Right Stuff."
11 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Sep 19, 2014 Medium to Strong None Detected Medium to Full Tolerable
I have just tried the resurrected Lane Limited BS-005 and I liked it. Although I have smoked well over 500 pipe mixtures, I do not think that I have had this before. Of course, Lane bulks are sold under a myriad of names in pipe shops, but I liked this enough to think that if I had sampled it previously that I would have found out the blend behind the moniker.

While R.J. Reynolds owned Lane they cut production of a great number of their bulks and other tobaccos and this was one of them. Since the Scandinavian Tobacco Group took over Lane in 2011, a considerable number of the offerings have been resurrected.

This is a pretty stout latakia, oriental, Virginia mixture, with the latakia taste definitely out front. The oriental is there in a lesser note. There is enough Virginia to give a counterbalance to the latakia/oriental components.

The cut is ribbon. Expect no trouble in lighting or in keeping this going. Unless you puff like a maniac you will have no problems with tongue bite.

The room note will be abhorred by non smokers. Of course I am not aware of the aroma while smoking this, but reentering the room shortly after a smoke it is OK with me.

Some smokers do not like latakia or at least they do not with any more than a condimental presence. They can mark this off their list. Those who enjoy latakia blends often or at least on occasion will likely find this as an appealing mixture. I would rate the strength of this as a latakia blend as slightly stronger than medium.

I used 6 or 7 different pipes while smoking the baggie, and they all handled the mixture quite well. I utilized low priced Petersons and budget priced Leonessas the most. They did as well as the Dunhills with this offering.
10 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jun 02, 2016 Mild to Medium None Detected Medium to Full Tolerable
I was given a sample of this at the last Chicago show and found this to be a great and solid latakia blend worthy of three stars and quite possibly four, particularly if price is taken into account. I have already put up about 6 more ounces of this in the cellar and will revisit this when I have had a chance to get into a larger container.

While smoking a large bowl of it in one of my big meers on a crummy weather day, I got bored at the lack of activity on the forums and popped into TR to read the reviews on this one since I knew so little about it; other than I liked it. What I found was unusual. First, I did not know that this was produced and then ceased production for a period and was then reintroduced a few years ago.

Well, reading through the reviews there is a marked difference between the reviews of the older blend and the reviews of the newer reintroduction. The reviewers, as far as I can tell, were reviewing completely different blends. The reviewers of the old blend pretty much trash this blend; whereas, everyone who has reviewed the reintroduction has loved it. This appears to be one of those blends that exceeds what it formerly was. Similar, as I have been told, how Dunhill Flake today is better than that ever formerly produced.

To me there is no other way to explain the paradox. And the reviewers of the older blend were not the type of reviewers who don't know what they are talking about, but having went through this sample I can tell you that this is solid and offers everything that you would want in standard latakia/balkan blend; primarily, a smoky, creamy and cool smoke with the perfect level of sweetness. I would choose this any day over several acclaimed latakias such as Balkan Sasieni or Old Dublin.

It does not offer the complexity of say an Odyssey or Penzance, but is good enough for me to recommend it heartily. And I would highly recommend picking up a sample if you like Lat blends or if you were one of those guys who did not like it when you reviewed back in 2009.
8 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 23, 2009 Medium None Detected Medium to Full Tolerable to Strong
It sad that Lane Limited has discontinued this fine blend as in my opinion no other bulk English for the price could even come close to it. Smokey. sweet, smooth and no bite issues if smoked correctly. Smokes cool, burns slow and to a fine white ash. The flavor is outstanding. Fortunately, I have a couple of pounds of this delightful Latakia bomb stashed away.

If you happen to run across it at your local tobacconist, grab it. It's so worth it.
8 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 23, 2014 Medium None Detected Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
Back in 1980 when I first started smoking a pipe... I had no knowledge as well "somebody" had not invented in the internet yet... of all these wonderful English / Balkan style blends. I was content with my OTC pouch of riff or black or SWR and putting it into my 20 Dr. G. Life was good. Fast forward to a few weeks ago.. when I noticed the Lane had "re-introduced" a classic Balkan blend.. so off went an order for 4oz of bulk.. and darn glad I did. The price.. fantastic.. the pouch note puts me in my smokey campfire zone..The moisture was just right from the bag... the cut of this blend makes packing a breeze.. from charing light you know you are going to like this alot and as you are trying to find just one more flake or two to light at the bottom the bowl.. your smile and relaxed state of mind tell you this was money well spent. Is it a Balkan Sobranie.. no clue.. never smoked it... is it a well rounded you want to smoke more English/ Balkan blend.. you can bet your Sherlock Deerstalker cap it is. Two thumbs up across the board. Happy Smoking Cheers Mike
Pipe Used: MM Country Gent & GBD Century Matt Nosewarmer
PurchasedFrom: Pipes & Cigars
Age When Smoked: 1 month
7 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 10, 2017 Medium None Detected Mild to Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
Lane Limited - BS-005.

Since two of my favourite reviewers, Pipestud and Gentleman Zombie, reviewed this with an unfavourable outcome I can't say I was expecting much from it. But, hey-ho, I'd ordered it prior to reading the reviews on here, so the word 'tough' came to mind!

The pouch has been in my stash for about a month so the moisture's decreased, if anything it's too dry. The blend contains a slightly higher proportion of black ribbons compared to brown ones and they're quite robust.

When I started my first bowl I didn't find it that disagreeable, I thought it seemed like an ok, mild tasting, English. That didn't last too long; I don't find it as abhorrent as P'stud and Gent', but I can't recommend it. Mild transpires into dull: the Lat' isn't anywhere near rich enough, for me, and the smoke has a dustiness to it. The Virginia tastes flat; I know I often struggle to pick it out in strong English's, but seeing as this isn't too rich tasting that shouldn't be a problem! It burns fast, but I accept some responsibility for that because I stored it, and I get no bite.

The nicotine's medium and the room-note's not the best.

Lane BS-005? Don't bother.

Not recommended.
Pipe Used: Peterson 150th Anniversary P'Lip
PurchasedFrom: Smokingpipes.com
Age When Smoked: Month-ish
4 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jul 18, 2015 Mild to Medium None Detected Medium to Full Tolerable
This comes very close to being like smoking a bowl of sawdust. There is a sharp woody note that pretty much drowns out everything else. I can get just a faint smokiness from the Lat and nothing from the Virginias. Tends to get a harshness further down in the bowl. Save your money. Look elsewhere for your English fix. This ain't it.

Mild to medium in body. Medium to full in woodiness. Burns well.
Pipe Used: MM Country Gentleman, Diplomat Apple, Mark Twain
PurchasedFrom: smokingpipes.com
Age When Smoked: fresh bulk
4 people found this review helpful.
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