Tobaccos Synjeco - Synjeco's Balkan

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	SteelCowboy (685)	2012-07-17		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

Synjeco's Balkan is a beautiful looking tobacco that appears to be made of excellent leaf. The pouch aroma is mainly of smoky Latakia. SB arrives at almost the perfect moisture level. It's easy to pack an burns clean and dry. I am going to toss my hat in the ring with the other reviews in that it SB is a bit sweet and spicy. The dominate flavor for me is of Latakia, but not enough to cause the blend to be out of balance. It is slightly rough around the edges, but only slightly. Some of the Synjeco blends are made by Samuel Gawith, but if I had to guess, I don't think Synjeco's Balkan is one of them. SB is a well-made blend that English lovers should have on their “must try” list. Three and a half stars!

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30079)	2010-05-13		Mild to Medium	Very Mild	Medium to Full	Pleasant

I really like Synjeco's nice, informative website. Very interesting and a comprehensive selection of hard-to-find and highly interesting-to-try tobacco's! With for every tobacco a photograph of the tobacco itself. I find this much more interesting then a tin-photo... Two kinds of description: the factory one and a personal test review. Fast delivery from Switserland to Holland completes for me the experience of a very well run webshop.

In addition to all this they also offer their own blends of which 'Balkan' is the first I tried.

The Blender's description says: "The name should remember you something(?)" so I ordered this, hoping it would be a Sobranie clone. But having won a tin of Sobanie Original on e-bay and having found a square tin of Sobranie Ready Rubbed Flake in the Amsterdam Pipemuseum shop, I find they must have meant some other tobacco.

Pouch note, on first opening a bit to sweet for me, but now after some months pleasantly dark and spicy. Strangely enough, after having been openend for a few months in the pouch, the tobacco is dryer but still moist enough to smoke. The Synjeco pouch is very practical in use and since the lower part is transparant, it gives a good view of the contents when unrolled.

The short wide ribbon cut is easy to load and light.

The spicy sweet taste is a pleasure and it smokes cool as well.

The only tobacco in my knowledge it resembles, is Sir William English Latakia (black label) but I slightly prefer Synjeco's because it appears to me more matured and a bit sweeter.

Highly recommended.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Swiss-smoker (86)	2020-10-17		Medium	Very Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

A bulk offering of Synjeco. On their website it says: “A full-bodied classical English mixture with high grade Virginias, a lot of Orient, 10% Dark Fired Kentucky, 40% Latakia and a pinch of Perique.” On a scale of 10 they rate it 8 in strength. My personal rating would only be a 5 or a 6. When I dig my nose into the bag I can smell some Black Cavendish, which is not mentioned.

Good stuffing and lighting properties, and good but fast burning too. It needs some draws until all tobaccos are well under fire to get a proper presentation of the blend’s flavour. The body of this blend consists of Virginias. I doubt whether they are “high grade”, as the manufacturer’s description says. I find it very hard to perceive the well-known Virginia flavours. Maybe they are pushed aside by the other, rather robust tobaccos. I can definitely pick-up Black Cavendish, Orientals, some Dark Fired Kentucky and a little peppery Perique. On the other hand I cannot find that healthy dose of apparently “40% Latakia”. Certainly, there is some smoky Latakia in this blend but it is far away from being a Latakia bomb.

Over all, it is a mixture of medium strength with emphasis on the Orientals. Since I like Orientals, that’s fine for me. Each tobacco donates a restraint amount of flavour of its kind only. No deep-digging, lingering taste.

Purchased From: www.synjeco.ch

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Rob73 (77)	2016-10-02		Strong	None Detected	Full	Tolerable

A rich and complex mixture, an English with Kentucky (10%), a reminiscent of Balkan by Brebbia but the presence of Virginia makes it a little sweeter and creamy. Great for smoke in a winter's evening. 4,5/5 in my personal rating system.

Purchased From: Synjeco, Brissago (Switzerland)

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30079)	2011-10-13		Medium to Strong	Very Mild	Medium to Full	Tolerable

Another fine Balkan I had the chance to try because of my very good friend “Hetfield”. Once I opened the bag I found out that its humidity is very good, so I filled my first try-out bowl right away. It filled the pipe easily and it light up even easier. From the first puffs you discover a full body tobacco. A classic English blend, enriched with Virginia. It is rich in Oriental which provides this sweet and at the same time spicy taste. The flavor is complemented by small amounts, fortunately, of Perique. Of course it contains 40% Latakia in order to give this flavor that only Latakia can give. It is a pity that it is not Syrian, as than we would be talking about a perfect mixture. One negative aspect is that even though the tobacco is dry at the beginning, it left plenty of fluids at the bottom of the bowl.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30079)	2011-02-17		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

Another fine Balkan I had the chance to try because of my very good friend “Hetfield”. Once I opened the bag I found out that its humidity is very good, so I filled my first try-out bowl right away. It filled the pipe easily and it light up even easier. From the first puffs you discover a full body tobacco. A classic English blend, enriched with Virginia. It is rich in Oriental which provides this sweet and at the same time spicy taste. The flavor is complemented by small amounts, fortunately, of Perique. Of course it contains 40% Latakia in order to give this flavor that only Latakia can give. It is a pity that it is not Syrian, as than we would be talking about a perfect mixture. One negative aspect is that even though the tobacco is dry at the beginning, it left plenty of fluids at the bottom of the bowl.

Nobody has rated this review yet.