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Balkan Sobranie

vortex

vortex

"A billion Eddie Barzoons jogging into the future
Joined
May 5, 2006
Messages
5,510
I am a huge fan of the brand going on 30 years. Started with their Turkish Yenidje cigarettes in the white tins(filled a bureau drawer with the empties). Started smoking a pipe and it was natural for me to continue smoking their pipe smoking mixture(similar to the Turkish cigarette blend).

As of now, it is almost impossible to find the pipe smoking mixture that isn't stale. I believe the company went out of business. Has anyone found any in good condition lately? Does anyone know of a good approximate replica blend?

I would be grateful for any help at all,

Steve
 
From what I've read, there are some close approximations, but none hits the mark 100%. Peter Stokkybye's Balkan Supreme and Balkan Sasieni are close. I've also read that GL Pease Charing Cross comes VERY close with some age.

The vintage Sobranie is VERY difficult to find in good condition and is VERY expensive when you do find it. I recently saw a tin go for well over $200 on eBay.

That's all I've got. Sorry I can't be of more help.

Good luck!
 
God I loved those. I'd buy out the place anytime I could find some. If anything could get me started back on cancer sticks after being off them for almost 7 years it would be those original Turkish Yenidje.

vortex said:
I am a huge fan of the brand going on 30 years. Started with their Turkish Yenidje cigarettes in the white tins(filled a bureau drawer with the empties).
Steve
Click to expand...
 
LilBastage said:
From what I've read, there are some close approximations, but none hits the mark 100%. Peter Stokkybye's Balkan Supreme and Balkan Sasieni are close. I've also read that GL Pease Charing Cross comes VERY close with some age.

The vintage Sobranie is VERY difficult to find in good condition and is VERY expensive when you do find it. I recently saw a tin go for well over $200 on eBay.

That's all I've got. Sorry I can't be of more help.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

LB is correct. The original is very expensive....but oh so good. The pouches(late 80's-90's) can be had for about $25 a piece. Not the original, but a great balkan none the less.

I honestly havent found anything I would call close. It is sad the blends of yesteryear have been lost.
 
Kayak_Rat said:
LilBastage said:
From what I've read, there are some close approximations, but none hits the mark 100%. Peter Stokkybye's Balkan Supreme and Balkan Sasieni are close. I've also read that GL Pease Charing Cross comes VERY close with some age.

The vintage Sobranie is VERY difficult to find in good condition and is VERY expensive when you do find it. I recently saw a tin go for well over $200 on eBay.

That's all I've got. Sorry I can't be of more help.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

LB is correct. The original is very expensive....but oh so good. The pouches(late 80's-90's) can be had for about $25 a piece. Not the original, but a great balkan none the less.

I honestly havent found anything I would call close. It is sad the blends of yesteryear have been lost.
Click to expand...
I wonder if the new blend can be "adjusted"? Or one of the substitutes improved upon?

I read that it's hard to find some of the quality Balkan tobaccos because of the emphasis on profits causing the larger companies to overlook the small growers. That some of this wonderful tobacco is still grown but not bought by the larger concerns so it doesn't make it out of the region.

And Sobranie sold their name, but that's another story.



WOW, AVB, I've never met anyone else who shared the Sobranie Turkish cigarette experience! :thumbs: They were as good as a cigarette gets! :laugh:
 
vortex said:
Kayak_Rat said:
LilBastage said:
From what I've read, there are some close approximations, but none hits the mark 100%. Peter Stokkybye's Balkan Supreme and Balkan Sasieni are close. I've also read that GL Pease Charing Cross comes VERY close with some age.

The vintage Sobranie is VERY difficult to find in good condition and is VERY expensive when you do find it. I recently saw a tin go for well over $200 on eBay.

That's all I've got. Sorry I can't be of more help.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

LB is correct. The original is very expensive....but oh so good. The pouches(late 80's-90's) can be had for about $25 a piece. Not the original, but a great balkan none the less.

I honestly havent found anything I would call close. It is sad the blends of yesteryear have been lost.
Click to expand...
I wonder if the new blend can be "adjusted"? Or one of the substitutes improved upon?

I read that it's hard to find some of the quality Balkan tobaccos because of the emphasis on profits causing the larger companies to overlook the small growers. That some of this wonderful tobacco is still grown but not bought by the larger concerns so it doesn't make it out of the region.

And Sobranie sold their name, but that's another story.



WOW, AVB, I've never met anyone else who shared the Sobranie Turkish cigarette experience! :thumbs: They were as good as a cigarette gets! :laugh:
Click to expand...

It is interesting you bring this up. In conversations with Mike at McClellands, this was the idea behind the new orientals. There are many "flavors" out there that have been forgotten....so to say.

As far as the new blend being tweaked.....who knows. There are soo many great blends out there know that it is hard to put too much emphasis on a blend from days gone by. It is fun to acquire those old blends though. ;)

Edit: Neat read here: Clicky
 
Kayak_Rat said:
vortex said:
Kayak_Rat said:
LilBastage said:
From what I've read, there are some close approximations, but none hits the mark 100%. Peter Stokkybye's Balkan Supreme and Balkan Sasieni are close. I've also read that GL Pease Charing Cross comes VERY close with some age.

The vintage Sobranie is VERY difficult to find in good condition and is VERY expensive when you do find it. I recently saw a tin go for well over $200 on eBay.

That's all I've got. Sorry I can't be of more help.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

LB is correct. The original is very expensive....but oh so good. The pouches(late 80's-90's) can be had for about $25 a piece. Not the original, but a great balkan none the less.

I honestly havent found anything I would call close. It is sad the blends of yesteryear have been lost.
Click to expand...
I wonder if the new blend can be "adjusted"? Or one of the substitutes improved upon?

I read that it's hard to find some of the quality Balkan tobaccos because of the emphasis on profits causing the larger companies to overlook the small growers. That some of this wonderful tobacco is still grown but not bought by the larger concerns so it doesn't make it out of the region.

And Sobranie sold their name, but that's another story.



WOW, AVB, I've never met anyone else who shared the Sobranie Turkish cigarette experience! :thumbs: They were as good as a cigarette gets! :laugh:
Click to expand...

It is interesting you bring this up. In conversations with Mike at McClellands, this was the idea behind the new orientals. There are many "flavors" out there that have been forgotten....so to say.

As far as the new blend being tweaked.....who knows. There are soo many great blends out there know that it is hard to put too much emphasis on a blend from days gone by. It is fun to acquire those old blends though. ;)

Edit: Neat read here: Clicky
Click to expand...
You guys may find this post on another forum interesting: CLICK HERE
 
I ended up ordering McClelland Grand Orientals Yenidje Supreme and McClelland's Rose of Latakia and plan on blending them. I'm sure they will be interesting unblended, too.

The Rose of Latakia is pure Syrian and the Supreme lacks any Latakia so the combination will differ from the Sasieni by the absence of Cyprian Latakia.
 
McClellands Rose of Latakia is actually Virginia,Oriental, and Latakia. The portion of Syrian in it is very small.
 
I, too, smoked Balkan Sobranie years ago and Smoker's Haven's Best Blend which was supposed to be similar (and blended by Sobranie). I don't remember Sobranie well enough to describe it accurately other than I recall that it was damn good.

It would be interesting to make an inventory of all of the blends that are alleged to be someone's modern day version of Sobranie and compare them. I see Pease's Charing Cross is his version, I think McCelland's is Yenidje Highlander, there are numerous others. Perhaps that could be a tasting project later on.
 
The problem as I see it is the lack of the quality yenidje and syrian latakia. The warehouse fire that took out almost all of the available syrian latakia was a major factor. But "Big Tobacco" is a factor, too. For one, they buy up much of the Turkish tobacco for cigarettes and don't care about quality(what I've read - never been there). Also, the few growers of high quality in that area tend to sell to small regional companies that appreciate and pay for their special crop.

McClelland's Balkan Highlander has both Cyprian and Syrian Latakia and lacks the subtle flavors of the old Syrian stuff. The Balkan Supreme, however, has no Latakia so if one could add the right Latakian element to that mixture it could be pretty close. Worth a try, I guess.

Has anyone tried McClelland's Rose of Latakia? It's pure Syrian and may be the a better match. Of course, you would think McClelland would have done this already if it were that simple. I ran into trouble with backorders but I'll get to it eventually.

Steve
 
Bah!

Just a few rust holes is all. Most guys like to dry their tobacco anyway. :whistling:
 
It's really crazy.

I've seen cans worse than that sell for $125 and I've seen brand new looking cans sell for almost $300.

I'm sure it's a very good blend, but...
 
I saw that auction and the seller all but said the tobacco was ruined. I never even considered "paying through the nose" for the older tins after I saw the asking price. Even the more recent pouches were going for a high price!
 
People really are crazy. Why would a likely ruined, unsmokable tobacco be worth anything? Is the packaging really that nice to have. And this blend was no doubt great ( I wouldn't know) but can it really be worth about thirty times what currently available tobacco costs? I think some people would spend a ton of money on anything that is considered great and rare just for the prestige of saying they have it. To me one of the great things about pipe tobacco is that it's cheap, this sort of thing just seems dumb to me.
 
X2 Reminds my of "Concerning Tobacco" by Mark Twain. I like the part where he says he carried his favorite inexpensive cigar when visiting upper class households so he could secretly replace the expensive Cuban he'd be given after dinner with his cheap but favored cigar. :D
 
I have had Stokkebyes Balkan Supreme lately and it is close to the old sobrainie but there are some big differences, one is obviously going to be the age. I am going to start aging some supreme soon and hopefully in five years or so it will be even closer as the original is great.
 
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