Sutliff Tobacco Company Match Balkan Sobranie

Just buy some. This is one tobacco I would encourage absolutely everyone to buy. Between the price and the quality, it’s a must buy, whether you smoke it fresh or put it away in the cellar for a couple years.

Opening the jar I‘ve had it stored in for a year now, I get hit with a tangy, smoky, sweet aroma. It’s barbecue-y. There is a smokiness, but it smells almost like barbecue sauce more than a campfire. The intermingling of the latakia, orientals, and Virginias is mesmerizing.

Upon first light, you get a buttery, herbal, woody, incensy, slightly tangy/sour, and smoky flavor unlike anything else. It’s creamy and fragrantly sweet. The orientals have almost no spice, just an herbal and fragrant woody note. It’s a very mellow and smooth balkan. The finish is mostly Virginia grassiness and dark fruit, with incense from the orientals. That flavor continues quite consistently through the first half of the bowl. Getting into the second half of the bowl, an earthy, leathery characteristic becomes the star, but still with the bursts of butter, wood, smoke, and incense. A floral quality also becomes apparent near the end. All the flavors are amazingly balanced in this. I always recommend retrohaling with any blend, but this one, especially, should be retrohaled to get the full appreciation of flavors. It’s very fragrant, and should pass through the sinuses to get all the flavor. It’s smooth enough that you can retrohale every puff without stinging the sinuses. Definitely not a strong English blend like, say, Nightcap, but it is perfectly balanced and full flavored.

I don’t know what the original Balkan Sobranie was like, but if it was anything like this, I can see why it has such a legendary status. It’s just so perfectly balanced. The fragrant sweetness (not artificial sweetness) is out of this world. It conjures images of walking into some damp, dark, musty temple with incense whirling all around. No bite, no harsh qualities, and a ton of flavor. I fell in love with this blend from the very first smoke I had when it arrived fresh. I actually smoked it so much that I kinda got sick of it. I ordered another pound and just put it away, letting all the tobacco meld together. Coming back to it, I have a renewed appreciation for it. It’s perfect (at least when I’m in the mood for latakia). Between this and Arango Balkan Supreme, there’s really no need for me to buy tinned balkans anymore. Speaking of Balkan Supreme, I’ll give a quick compare and contrast of these two blends, which are quite different even though they’re trying to replicate the same legendary blend. Whereas Balkan Supreme is herbal, spicy, and woody with a bit of latakia smoky creaminess, the BSOSM match is dominated by the buttery creaminess, sweet/smoky qualities, and incense. Basically, Balkan Supreme is more oriental forward while the BSOSM Match is more Latakia forward. I love both depending on what mood I’m in, though I’d give the slight upper hand to the BSOSM Match. I’m amazed that this blend only costs roughly $2.25/ounce when bought in bulk. I would gladly pay $15 for a 2oz tin of this (which I guess I can since this and WhiteKnight supposedly use the same proportions of tobacco). The only knock I have against this blend is that it came quite dry. I ended up slightly rehydrating it a few months ago because it had gotten too dry. There’s really no reason to not at least try this blend, considering the price. Highly, highly recommended.