New Member from Ohio

[Islayphile]

Welcome

[Kevin Keith]

[oldbill]

I am a new member but not a new pipe smoker. My first pipe was a GBD purchased in the mid-1960s. I have been a GBD fan since then and collect and smoke them to this day. As my signature says I am a fan of Kramer's Father Dempsey which has an interesting history available online for those interested. I smoked Balkan Sobranie back in the day and also find Balkan Sasieni among my favorites today. Escude Navy De luxe, Newminster No. 400 Superior Navy Flake and Ashton's Consummate Gentleman fill out my list of regulars.

Welcome! I'd be interested to know what you think of the Balkan blends that were designed to mimic Balkan Sobranie and how close they really are, have you tried the Hearth & Home Black House for instance?

[oubobcat]

I have heard of it but not tried it. One suggestion: check out this YouTube channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyzAMe ... NXOXN584aw

There are 105 tobacco blend reviews there including many Balkans.

It has been years since I had any of the old Balkan Sobranie so I only have a memory of liking it. I understand there is a "new" version which has very limited availability. My favorite blend today as you can see is Kramer's Father Dempsey available from Smokingpipes.com in tin and bulk. I also like Balkan Sasieni. I have tried G.L. Pease Gaslight and find it a bit too bold for my taste. There is an Ashton blend called Consummate Gentleman in which the Latakia is a bit too much in the background for me. I have also been meaning to try another G.L. Pease blend called Blackpoint which as a bit of Perique included with the Latakia. There is also a Dunhill blend called My Mixture 965 which like most Dunhill blends is disappearing.
So my ranking of the ones I have tried would be Father Dempsey, Balkan Sasieni and then Gaslight and Consummate Gentleman.
Here is a link to Father Dempsey with a bit of its history which you might find interesting.

http://www.tobaccoreviews.com/blend/380 ... er-dempsey

Hope all the unsolicited information is useful.

[Longshanks]

Those selections sound pretty tasty. Welcome aboard!

[oldbill]

I have heard of it but not tried it. One suggestion: check out this YouTube channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyzAMe ... NXOXN584aw

There are 105 tobacco blend reviews there including many Balkans.

It has been years since I had any of the old Balkan Sobranie so I only have a memory of liking it. I understand there is a "new" version which has very limited availability. My favorite blend today as you can see is Kramer's Father Dempsey available from Smokingpipes.com in tin and bulk. I also like Balkan Sasieni. I have tried G.L. Pease Gaslight and find it a bit too bold for my taste. There is an Ashton blend called Consummate Gentleman in which the Latakia is a bit too much in the background for me. I have also been meaning to try another G.L. Pease blend called Blackpoint which as a bit of Perique included with the Latakia. There is also a Dunhill blend called My Mixture 965 which like most Dunhill blends is disappearing.
So my ranking of the ones I have tried would be Father Dempsey, Balkan Sasieni and then Gaslight and Consummate Gentleman.
Here is a link to Father Dempsey with a bit of its history which you might find interesting.

http://www.tobaccoreviews.com/blend/380 ... er-dempsey

Hope all the unsolicited information is useful.

Good info. and you mentioned a lot of good English blends there, thanks!

[Mikeb717]

Welcome!

[Houtenziel]

I am a new member but not a new pipe smoker. My first pipe was a GBD purchased in the mid-1960s. I have been a GBD fan since then and collect and smoke them to this day. As my signature says I am a fan of Kramer's Father Dempsey which has an interesting history available online for those interested. I smoked Balkan Sobranie back in the day and also find Balkan Sasieni among my favorites today. Escude Navy De luxe, Newminster No. 400 Superior Navy Flake and Ashton's Consummate Gentleman fill out my list of regulars.

Welcome! I'd be interested to know what you think of the Balkan blends that were designed to mimic Balkan Sobranie and how close they really are, have you tried the Hearth & Home Black House for instance?

Black House was supposed to try and emulate Sobranie 759 - I've never had 759, but have had Black House(Which I found to be just OK). I have had the J.F. Germain version of BSOSM and found it to be markedly different than it's counterpart, White Knight. I have seen it said that White Knight was supposed to more closely match the 1960's version, so I am curious about this too.

[oldbill]

I am a new member but not a new pipe smoker. My first pipe was a GBD purchased in the mid-1960s. I have been a GBD fan since then and collect and smoke them to this day. As my signature says I am a fan of Kramer's Father Dempsey which has an interesting history available online for those interested. I smoked Balkan Sobranie back in the day and also find Balkan Sasieni among my favorites today. Escude Navy De luxe, Newminster No. 400 Superior Navy Flake and Ashton's Consummate Gentleman fill out my list of regulars.

Welcome! I'd be interested to know what you think of the Balkan blends that were designed to mimic Balkan Sobranie and how close they really are, have you tried the Hearth & Home Black House for instance?

Black House was supposed to try and emulate Sobranie 759 - I've never had 759, but have had Black House(Which I found to be just OK). I have had the J.F. Germain version of BSOSM and found it to be markedly different than it's counterpart, White Knight. I have seen it said that White Knight was supposed to more closely match the 1960's version, so I am curious about this too.

Yeah, I haven't tried the White Knight yet either. I actually patterned my Balkan blend after BlackHouse and like you I found it to be ok but I thought it was lacking a little umph, so I put a good portion of DFK and Perique in my blend and it came out really good but also really strong in vitamin N.

[Preacher1611]

Welcome!