The Celebrated Bengal Slices

23rd August, 2010: Posted by glpease in Editorial

When I was a young pipester, a relative newcomer to the fold, I was always deeply intrigued by The Celebrated Bengal Slices. There just wasn’t anything else quite like it. The rich, wonderful tobacco, served in their elegant little black, red and gold tins had the deep Latakia flavours that I loved, along with a beautiful pressed virginia sweetness and exotic oriental spice, all harmoniously joined together and augmented with a delightfully subtle, artfully and precisely applied floral note. (To be clear, this is not the aromatic version, which was, even to my inexperienced mind back then, an abomination against all things sacred.) Legend has it that this was Balkan Sobranie, pressed into cake form and thickly sliced. Given the credibility of the fellow who originally told me the story, I’ve no reason to question this. In fact, everything that I’ve learned about this blend through the years has provided more credence to the claim. Read more…»