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Blue Mountain was my first non-aro, suggested to me by a pipe specialist at my long-gone favourite B&M shop, and was always my go-to. Although I managed to find about 10 tins of Balkan Blue after the sky fell last year, I'm wondering if there's anything close to it for when my supply is finally exhausted. I'm now planning top open one tin a year on Christmas Day every year until it's all gone, but would like to find an acceptable substitute, if such an animal exists. I do like Pease's Odyssey and I've tried Black House (always too dry, and I don't like the cut). There was always a "cool" taste in Balkan Blue that I've never found elsewhere. Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance.

Blue Mountain was supposed to duplicate the taste of Balkan Sobranie 759. I would look for some match blends.

Fr_Tom wrote: ↑Mon Oct 08, 2018 4:29 pm Blue Mountain was supposed to duplicate the taste of Balkan Sobranie 759. I would look for some match blends.

That's what I was going to suggest, so I second.

The other match blend was Black House, but while enjoyable, it's absolutely lacking the magic "cool" taste that BB had. I wish I could define it better. I thought it was the latakia but no other lat blend has a comparable taste. Black House is tasty, and when I mixed it 50-50 with BB it became other-worldly good. But with only 11 tins left to last me forever, I need to find another king of the balkans.

I find H&H white knight to be Damn close, better than Blackhouse by a lot IMO. Arango Balkan Supreme is also very good, and inexpensive.

Thanks for the tips! I've got some of each on order and will try them out soon. From reading various and sundry reviews, Balkan Supreme is remarkably high rated for a bulk tobacco. I had bought some bulk Black House in 2014 and put it in a mason jar at the time, plus one single tin that didn't really wow me all that much; it was always too dry, even out of the tin, and it burned hot. I just opened up the mason jar a few days ago and that tobacco has really come to life with 4 years on it. Might just have to get some more and cellar it. I still don't like the ribbon size of Black House, though. Too wide.

NJRadioGuy wrote: ↑Sun Oct 14, 2018 1:28 pm Thanks for the tips! I've got some of each on order and will try them out soon. From reading various and sundry reviews, Balkan Supreme is remarkably high rated for a bulk tobacco. I had bought some bulk Black House in 2014 and put it in a mason jar at the time, plus one single tin that didn't really wow me all that much; it was always too dry, even out of the tin, and it burned hot. I just opened up the mason jar a few days ago and that tobacco has really come to life with 4 years on it. Might just have to get some more and cellar it. I still don't like the ribbon size of Black House, though. Too wide.

Picky, picky

As slowroll suggested, besides BlackHouse H&H also makes "WhiteKnight" which I believe is closer to the original Balkan Sobranie that the BB and BH were created to mimic. The WhiteKnight is a really nice Oriental/Latakia forward blend that I used it to test my own mixture against. Here's the link to WK on the P&C page.
https://www.pipesandcigars.com/p/hearth ... o/1480052/

Since we've bumped this topic, it's worth mentioning that C&D Engine 99 is a mighty fine smoke in the same vein, available in bulk. More like the Balkan Sobranie 759, which in smoked exclusively for 20 years.

You might also try Balkan Sasieni and Kramer's Father Dempsey