Motzek Herbst 84

This is a nice smoking Balkan blend that varies a bit from the description above, at least to my tastes it did. To start with I found the Oriental to be much stronger than advertised. It very much felt Oriental forward to me thus my calling it a Balkan; whereas, the description refers to this as mild, an all day smoke and a good one for beginners to cross over into Balkan/Latakia blends.

I could not smoke this all day and perhaps, to the German palate, this could be a good crossover blend for the beginner, but it is not one I would recommend to a beginner. Rather, I found it for the hardened Balkan smoker. As that type of blend it is really quite good although I did not think so at first. It took some time to grow on me. Maybe this is partly due to my expectations after reading the description.

Orientals come in many varieties, and the predominant taste I get from this one borders on the sour side of a noxious burnt rubber taste. It is well balanced against the Virginia and Lat, the former adding a nice bit of necessary sweetness. The Latakia is somewhat light and does, in some respects match the description. The one thing that this one does right, and IMO the most important thing about these types of blends, is that it delivers a wonderful side stream aroma.

Of all the different types of blends out there, I find the Lat/Oriental blends to deliver the best side streams, and this one is right at the top with its aroma. It is always a wonderful smoking experience when I spend about half the time sniffing off the top of the bowl. I rate this one between three and four stars, but will hold it at three as it did not excite me as much as many of the four star Lat blends did.