Name and Format: Balkan Six Leaves (Tabacchificio 3.0) – Concentrated flavour 20 ml
Batch: 01-01/20
Nico: 3 mg/ml
Used Base: 50 PG / 47 VG / 3 H2O
Expiry date: 01/2022
INTRODUCTION
Speaking of vape it must be said that the italian tobacco scenario has profoundly changed since the dawn of vape, when the choice and options relating to this type of e-liquid were decidedly more limited and essentially limited to synthetic tobacco e-liquids only, those which here on our blog are classified as “classic tobaccos”. In the early 2010s, natural tobacco extracts were far from making their appearance on our market. How it went afterwards is known, and in less than a decade, Italy became the world’s leading producer of natural tobacco e-liquids as well as the leading consumer country.
Today the panorama for a vaper when he has to choose which tobacco e-liquid to buy and vape is profoundly different from the one I personally experienced when I started in 2012; today you can count on an incredible amount of blends and recipes able to satisfy all tastes and all vapers categories.
Today I am still talking about an organic tobacco aroma and in this case the Balkan Six Leaves manufactured by the Reggio Emilia company Tabacchificio 3.0. Massimiliano Caliendo’s company, despite its young age (it has been operating in the sector only since 2017), has become a regular guest on our pages in a few months, and has on several occasions deserved our praise for its undoubted quality creations. If you missed them, take a look at Eclissi, Halfzware Shag, Kentucky Tennessee and Nova Roma reviews, I am convinced that they will intrigue you a lot.
The concentrated aroma Balkan Six Leave is marketed like all the products of the brand in a 20 ml glass bottle to be diluted, according to the indications of the manufacturer, between 10% and 20%. A final composition as close as possible to VPG 50/50 is also recommended. Tabacchificio 3.0 aromas do not require steeping, although a few days of steeping undoubtedly improve the aromatic result.
Tabacchificio 3.0 introduces its Balkan Six Leaves as follows:
Quello che rende unica questa Balkan Mixture è l’impiego di tabacchi di origine dominicana. L’utilizzo sproporzionato di tali tabacchi renderebbe sbilanciata la miscela, ma se utilizzati nelle giuste proporzioni, donano alla miscela una speziatura seducente, un rimando alla ricchezza di un grande sigaro e una consistenza cremosa ad ogni puff. Un pizzico di Latakia Cipriota completa i sapori e leviga i bordi. I Virginia maturi forniscono dolcezza e struttura. Infine i tabacchi orientali riempiono gli spazi vuoti e rendono Balkan Six Leaves una miscela complessa, saporita e speziata.
What makes this Balkan Mixture unique is the use of Dominican tobaccos. The disproportionate use of these tobaccos would make the blend unbalanced, but if used in the right proportions, they give the blend a seductive spiciness, a reference to the richness of a great cigar and a creamy texture to each puff. A pinch of Cypriot Latakia completes the flavors and smoothes the edges. Ripe Virgins provide sweetness and structure. Finally, oriental tobaccos fill in the empty spaces and make Balkan Six Leaves a complex, tasty and spicy blend.
SMELL TEST
In the presence of a blend essentially consisting of light tobaccos and consequently not rough and incisive, the smell test of Balkan Six Leaves does not offer great thought as the perfume that comes out of the bottle is really very light and delicate, I perceive only a subtle trail spicy, but overall it is really difficult for me to grasp all the aromatic elements that make up this unprecedented and ambitious blend. I therefore rely on the vape test for a complete and exhaustive analysis.
VAPE TEST
Devices: ExVape Expromizer V3 Fire RTA single coil 1,10 ohm (Kanthal A1 28 AWG) + Flash e-Vapor 4.5s RTA single coil 0,85 ohm (Kanthal A1 27 AWG) con Cotton Bacon Prime.
For the vape test I will again rely on a pair of German atomizers that has become at home in my reviews: I’m talking about the ExVape Expromizer V3 Fire and the 4.5 S version of the Flash e-Vapor.
Slightly spicy, a bewitching spiciness and a pinch of acidity, this is how Balkan Six Leaves presents itself to me at the first puff, immediately tickling the curiosity of my palate in the spasmodic search for each of its most subtle and hidden nuances. As in the case of the Nova Roma aroma, also in the composition of this blend, Massimiliano Caliendo had fun creating an atypical, basically a light Balkan mixture, playing with the combination of Dominican, oriental and virginia tobaccos, and leaving only just hinted at the presence of Latakia, notoriously more consistent within a classic Balkan mixture.
Especially in inspiration, the vape is sophisticated and penetrating; the spicy accents of the Orientals and the harmonious acidity (of the Dominicans?) are the masters and stimulate my taste buds not a little, introducing with intelligence the subsequent sensory perceptions, those that arrive in the heart of the vape, when the Virginia surfaces with its vegetal and slightly straw-colored tone. The blend seems to turn and now, showing a more full-bodied and round aromatic plant, may be almost creamy.
Quality of raw materials but above all great ability of Tabacchificio 3.0 in harmonizing the tobaccos chosen for this mix in the best possible way, in order to achieve an impeccable aromatic balance. As I see it, the risk of obtaining an amorphous and indefinite blend was high, Balkan Six Leaves on the contrary, and fortunately I add, it is a very original bouquet.
The Cypriot Latakia mentioned in the description has a marginal appearance within this composition; a light and almost imperceptible smoke, accompanied by the same tip of acidity felt in the top notes, appears on the palate in exhalation and gives an almost analogical touch to the whole mix. The feeling of a great Dominican cigar for me is quite far, but here I admit there is all my limited experience with this type of tobaccos.
BALKAN SIX LEAVES FINAL VERDICT
Do you want to feel a greater presence of Latakia? Then you will have to choose atomizers more likely to emphasize dark tobaccos, the same Expromizer for example used for my test, does this type of work compared to the FEV, but Balkan Six Leaves I repeat, it is a Balkan blend that is not born to give too much space to Latakia tobacco. A very present and incisive Latakia would have removed the complexity of the blend, with the effect of reducing the balance of its spicy nuances.
I have never been a lover of clear tobaccos, much less cigar aromas, but I must admit that Nova Roma before and Balkan Six Leaves now have drastically changed my mind…
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Suggested dilution: 15-20%
Steeping time: ready to vape, recommended 7-10 days
