Lane Limited BS-005

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.

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.

Although I have been smoking a pipe for almost sixty years, I have no memory of ever smoking this blend under it's present name nor any other blend name. Therefore, I can't address the "old" version and am reporting on my experience with the "resurrection" blend. I found my tin of BS-005 to be very dry on opening; almost too dry. The tin appearance was rather dark in overall color and in a range that ran from medium brown through dark brown to black. The tin aroma was, likewise, in a narrow range of very smokey nuances. Since the tobacco was already in a dry enough state to smoke, I loaded up right away. As I smoked away on the top third of the bowl, I realized that the smoking aroma was heavy in latakia but very short on follow through. What I mean by this is, with every puff, the aroma went from the heavy latakia to some lower and mid range notes and....nothing. Where we experienced English smokers might expect some higher and grass-like notes at the top; here, nothing. BS-005 smoked consistently in this manner all down the bowl to the finish. As I contemplated a two star rating, I also began to use BS-005 in micro blending and this worked out quite well. While I agree entirely with reviewer Jimlnks 2016-01-31 that this blend is not interesting enough to smoke on an ongoing basis, it still is recommendable and I give it three stars.

I found this blend, named Old Balkan, in my smoke shop bulk section. It smelled great in the jar and the price was right so I purchased a few ounces.

Upon getting it home, I noticed that there was no humectant and this blend dried out nicely after about an hour. I packed a bowl of this mixture of dark, meduim brown and light brown, small ribbons into a savinelli bulldog and started with a good charring light and then hit it with the true light.

Ok this is good....the first 1/3 was cool and medium full in flavor...nicely prominent was the latakia. The second third gathered some strength and settled nicely into a wonderfully mellow, burnt, woodsy olfactory and gustatory experience.

The finish was no different except there was a slight bit of dottle to remove from the very bottom of my bowl; this was most likely due to my packing the bowl too tightly. For the price and wonderful lack of bitterness and sting, which I have encountered in some other Balkans, this blend is a good inexpensive keeper.

I picked up an ounce of this for free at a pipe show and was pleasantly surprised. I smoked cool and tastes great. I really enjoyed the Latakia content and it's smokey aroma.

This is a review of that is more of a complaint since this blend has been discontinued. It was one of the last of Lane blends that contain any Latakia (such as Crown Achievement). That's a real pity. They seem to be concentrating on excessively aromatic stuff these days and as a confirmed English blend nut I can only say---goodbye Lane! The Latakia was nicely balanced and smoky notes predominated more towards the end of a bowl. There was occasional bite, and the bowl finished as white ash without goop. Try Old Lodge or Squadron Leader.

I've tried few of the English blends made by Lane and they all seem to follow a common path, you can detect a common taste. I happen to like it, so I like this blend too. Stronger than 10 Downing St. and sensibly lighter than Crown Achievement, it sets itself roughly at the same A-100 level, but it's smoother and it's by far the easiest smoking blend of the whole bunch. This last thing is probably due to the lighter use of humectants; being this one drier, the burning is even, easy and without the need for relighting to the end of the bowl. The flavour is all there, round, full, while the medium body makes it an all-day smoke of good quality. Sure: many better and more complex blends are out there nowadays, but at that price this is worth its salt.

I came across this blend when I went into my tobacco shop and asked for an oriental to try. They recommended this, saying that it was nearly identical to the original Balkan Sobranie (which I have never smoked). Out of the bag, this tobacco was super dry, which was great for the smoking experience. The smell is wonderful and once lit it becomes even more powerful. There is definitely an incense smell to the tobacco but it is not so overwhelming and leaves a pleasant room note. A nice, full flavored tobacco that smokes cool; reccomended for sure.