Balkan Sasieni question
Wolf-Ruediger Juergens
The little german brother of asp, daft need your help and wisdom.
In Europe the name of a famous tobacco is "Balkan Sobranie".
In US this blend is called "Balkan Sasieni". Why?
What is the story behind the name "Sasieni"?
Thanks in advance
Wolf
Creedmoor Chronicles Ltd (Albania)
by the Tobacco Gestapo (the manufacturer may have been Gallaher); Balkan
Sasieni is a substitute made by another firm.
Ian
--
To reply, get the dreck out!
"Wolf-Ruediger Juergens" <wjue...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:9v9giq$ag9$07$5...@news.t-online.com...
Joe Harb
Balkan Sobranie, they did not sell the rights to the name, so the new owners
of the formula changed the name to Balkan Sasieni. After a while, the sons
of the original owner of the blend felt that what was being manufactured
from the formula by the new owners wasn't what their father had
manufactured, so they decided to revive the original blend using the same
manufacturing protocols that had been used by their father. This blend,
because they still had the rights to the name, is currently manufactured as
Balkan Sobranie. I had heard that at one point, the Balkan Sobranie was
banned from import into the US because some of the ingredients they used
were not acceptable to US officials (I think the FDA). Whether this ban is
still in effect or whether the Sobranie is not imported into the US today
because of the withdrawal from the US market by several European
manufacturers because of concern of tax liabilities, I don't know.
Hope this helps.
Wolf-Ruediger Juergens <wjue...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:9v9giq$ag9$07$5...@news.t-online.com...
Ian Rastall
>My understanding is that when the family sold the original formula for the
>Balkan Sobranie, they did not sell the rights to the name, so the new owners
>of the formula changed the name to Balkan Sasieni. After a while, the sons
>of the original owner of the blend felt that what was being manufactured
>from the formula by the new owners wasn't what their father had
>manufactured, so they decided to revive the original blend using the same
>manufacturing protocols that had been used by their father. This blend,
>because they still had the rights to the name, is currently manufactured as
>Balkan Sobranie.
Okay, hold up. I think it's the other way around. They sold the name,
and someone else made Balkan Sobranie for a while, but with a
different formula. It was a sub-par product. So they decided to
re-release the original formula, but they couldn't use the name, so
they paid to use the Sasieni name (from the pipe makers). So now
Balkan Sasieni is the only tobacco that comes close to the original
Balkan Sobranie. What's currently being made under the Balkan Sobranie
name these days is something else entirely.
Ian -- Or I could be wrong as well
--
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but you're getting it anyways." (Brian J. Geiger)
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Robert Crim
<wjue...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>Hello asp,
>The little german brother of asp, daft need your help and wisdom.
>In Europe the name of a famous tobacco is "Balkan Sobranie".
>In US this blend is called "Balkan Sasieni". Why?
>What is the story behind the name "Sasieni"?
>
>Thanks in advance
>Wolf
This is another question that is asked and answered so often it should
be in the FAQ
REPOST FROM 1/30/99
From "PipeSmoke" magazine, Summer 98
Volume II
Issue 1
Balkan Sasieni
In the last two decades of the 19th century, there was a quantum shift
in the taste of pipe tobacco blended for English gentlemen. Mixtures
of "Oriental," meaning Turkish, Macedonian, Greek, and Syrian
tobaccos, along with Virginia and Carolina tobaccos, became the rage
among upper-class pipesmokers. Rich and smoky, redolent with the
exotic aromas of the tobaccos smoked in the Middle East, Balkan
Sobranie Smoking Mixture was developed for the officer and diplomatic
class concentrated in the St. James district's clubs. Balkan referred
to the growing regions of the flavorful leaf, and suggested intrigue
to the English gentleman. Remember where WW I started, and look at
Eric Ambler's spy novels of the 1930's.
Several generations of the Redstone family blended this tobacco from a
secret formula, renowned worldwide. Then, in the early 1980's, Dr.
Isadore Redstone (an M.D. - "an indiscretion of my youth," he once
told TBTM) sold the trademarks to Gallaher, one of the English
conglomerates, which made it, albeit with a modified formula, for
three decades. When Gallaher ceased exporting Balkan
Sobranie to the U.S. in 1995, Dr. Redstone got another company to
produce the original formula for export. While "Balkan Sobranie" is a
trademark - the term refers to the upper house of the bicameral
legislature, or "Bulgarian Senate" (sorry to kill the romance) - the
regional term Balkan is not copyrightable. To remedy this obstacle,
Redstone partnered with Dan Blumenthal, of James B. Russell, Inc., who
owns the Sasieni trademark, to revive the great old standby
under the slightly altered "Balkan Sasieni," in a package suggestive
of the earlier iterations.
So what is there to Balkan Sasieni besides a name? The blend itself,
which is full of deep, dark, rich, complex, and suggestive flavor, is
beautifully finished and smooth, like a great cigar. Balkan Sasieni
manages to keep the sweetly tarry overtones of the Latakia in a
perfect balance with the dryly pungent Turkish and Macedonian leaf,
punctuated by the natural sweetness of the American tobaccos. This is
an extraordinarily satisfying mixture, at its best indoors where none
of the aroma is dissipated. Great for pipe dreams in a large
curved pipe. "
IMHO, both Sobranie and Saseini are worthy blends. Sobranie has a few
more rough edges where Saseini seems more smooth and well rounded.
Neither is as good to me as the old Sobranie 759 but alas, that is
nowhere to be found.
Robert
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flatulent1
>
>Okay, hold up. I think it's the other way around. They sold the name,
>and someone else made Balkan Sobranie for a while, but with a
>different formula. It was a sub-par product. So they decided to
>re-release the original formula, but they couldn't use the name, so
>they paid to use the Sasieni name (from the pipe makers). So now
>Balkan Sasieni is the only tobacco that comes close to the original
>Balkan Sobranie. What's currently being made under the Balkan Sobranie
>name these days is something else entirely.
>
>Ian -- Or I could be wrong as well
No, this is how I remember the story, as it seems the Sasieni gets better reviews than the
new Sobranie.
--
Fred Latchaw
Seattle WA
First, you need a live chicken
and a working knowledge of Latin...
Joe Harb
both the current Balkan Sasieni and Balkan Sobranie are worthy blends. On
the other hand, I prefer CAO Bill Bailey's Balkan over both of them when I
want a full-flavored Balkan blend.
Still, I do occasionally dip into my stash of some of the original 759 from
a tin estimated at 25 plus years old.
Best Regards, Joe
Robert Crim <frit...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:49ih1u0ehadh0hbe3...@4ax.com...
Ian Rastall
>Still, I do occasionally dip into my stash of some of the original 759 from
>a tin estimated at 25 plus years old.
>
Boy, you don't live in SW Michigan, do ya Joe? :)
Ian
The Piperack
welcome to come over for some 759 when you're on this side of the state.
Mike
"Ian Rastall" <iras...@myvine.com> wrote in message
news:8fmh1uo99dt7upld8...@4ax.com...
Ian Rastall
>I don't think Joe is from here, but I live in SE Michigan. You're always
>welcome to come over for some 759 when you're on this side of the state.
>
Woo-hoo!
Joe Harb
shop one Satruday morning for our informal club members get together, and
I'll make sure I bring some of my stash of 759 so you can load a bowl.
Best Regards, Joe
Ian Rastall <iras...@myvine.com> wrote in message
news:8fmh1uo99dt7upld8...@4ax.com...
Joe Harb
Milwaukee.
Joe
Ian Rastall <iras...@myvine.com> wrote in message
news:9loh1u8iatan8btt8...@4ax.com...
Ian Rastall
>OK, ball's back in your court now <G> about 50/50 between SE Michigan and
>Milwaukee.
>
That would put you in . . . Gary, Indiana?
Ian Rastall
>>OK, ball's back in your court now <G> about 50/50 between SE Michigan and
>>Milwaukee.
>>
Oh, I see what you mean. Yes, it's about 3 hours either way. I was
just in Milwaukee this August for the Baha'i Conference. A very nice
city. Kind of like a less stressful version of Chicago. :)
Jeff Schwartz
reference.
I do agree with you. Both are very nice blends. I give the nod to Sobanie
partly because it isn't as smooth or refined as Sasieni; I kind of like the
dips and spikes I experience when I smoke it.
Jeff
"Robert Crim" <frit...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:49ih1u0ehadh0hbe3...@4ax.com...
Tony Miller
-Tony
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Wolf-Ruediger Juergens
Many thanks for your answers.
Greetings
Wolf
Joe Harb
know in advance and I'll make sure some of my 759 stash is in my pouch.
Ian Rastall <iras...@myvine.com> wrote in message
news:f2gi1uojprd0mj75o...@4ax.com...
Bill McClain
> Ian Rastall wrote on Thu, 13 Dec 2001 18:41:04 -0500:
>
> >>OK, ball's back in your court now <G> about 50/50 between SE Michigan and
> >>Milwaukee.
> >>
>
> Oh, I see what you mean. Yes, it's about 3 hours either way. I was
> just in Milwaukee this August for the Baha'i Conference. A very nice
> city. Kind of like a less stressful version of Chicago. :)
>
> Ian
"A less stressful version..." Nice! I wonder if Uhle's is still on
Wisconsin Avenue? That's where I used to buy Bishop's Move, the first
English blend I ever tried.
Stephen P. Smith
Not a lot, but enough to last me awhile. Two months later, I moved in
with my fiance. Among the posessions with which I took over her abode
were several glass jars containing many of my favorite blends,
including the 759. When I reached her house, upon opening the trunk I
was dismayed to see that one of the jars had come open.
Yeah, you guessed it. <sigh> Didn't you just know it was the 759?.
The Pirate Kake survived the trip completely intact, naturally.
It would.
Smith
"taking up a glowing cinder with the tongs and
lighting with it the long cherry-wood pipe which was
wont to replace his clay when he was in a disputatious
rather than a mediatative mood"--Dr. John H. Watson