Tobacco production adapts and shifts over time based on many global factors — social, political, environmental, and ecological — impacting availability and consistency in the leaf tobacco blenders utilize. One of these long-lost varietals, Syrian Latakia, was the inspiration for Palmetto Balkan — a blend harkening to Balkan mixtures of old through Cornell & Diehl's proprietary Latakia processing — and C&D has decided to revisit this Small Batch mixture for 2026. Let's dive into the world of Palmetto Balkan with the help of the always knowledgeable Head Blender of C&D, Jeremy Reeves.

What Exactly Is A Balkan Blend?

Jeremy defines a Balkan as a variation on the idea of a Latakia blend. Traditionally, the term Balkan was used to describe blends that more prominently featured Oriental tobacco, with Latakia and Virginia serving more in a supporting role. Oriental tobacco predominantly comes from the Balkan region in Southeastern Europe, including countries such as Turkey and Greece. Essentially, Balkan blends come out of what is more readily available in that area of the world.

C&D released Small Batch: Palmetto Balkan in 2022 in honor of the tradition of tobacco in South Carolina and released it in another iteration in 2024, with the same components, flavor profile, and smoking properties as the last, only adding Turkish Latakia to the mix for the first time. Now, in 2026, the blend features Turkish Latakia, as well as Cyprian Latakia from 2004, a special leaf that is seldom seen in pipe tobacco today.

The New Latakia in the Industry

Latakia typically is the defining varietal in an English blend. Depending on the components within the mixture, different iterations have alternative primary focuses. For example, some English blends concentrate on the Virginias first, and then Latakia, while Orientals play a more supporting role within a Balkan. Historically speaking, when the English ruled over the colonies in what came to be the United States, Virginias were readily available and grown in the U.S., so they were featured heavily in English blends back then.

Within Small Batch Palmetto Balkan for 2026, similar to 2024's iteration, the Turkish Latakia was grown and processed in Turkey and also went through a proprietary process at C&D before it was added to the blend. This labor-intensive process at C&D was essential after the heavy fire-curing process the tobacco went through while processed in Turkey, improving and adding flavor and character to the Latakia and offering an Oriental flavor reminiscent of Syrian Latakia from years past.

The Turkish approach to Latakia in the modern day is to utilize elements of barbecue smokers and flue-cured barns. The leaf is placed in aluminum boxes that can control humidity, monitor temperature, and offset the smoke in the chamber. "The tobacco is laid out on perforated trays that are in a rotisserie sort of set up," says Jeremy, "and you have a valve on the chimney that allows a certain amount of smoke pressure to be built up. When it reaches a certain threshold, it can open up and exhaust." This system allows the temperature to remain steadily regulated. There's even an app for producers to monitor any flare ups overnight. "They've really brought a lot of technological advancement to a process that, as far as the actual process goes, the end result is unchanged, save for having more control to maintain consistency in the production."

These modern innovations have made Turkish producers' lives a bit easier, and have resulted in far less unusable, burnt-up leaves for blenders like Jeremy to combine with other varietals in a blend. "On all fronts, it's a more readily available, reliable, and better-quality product, in my opinion," says Jeremy. "We concocted an in-house process that takes a readily available Turkish-produced Latakia and actually renders it a lot closer to the wine-like and more fruit-forward characteristics of the old Syrian Latakia." The result of this process is a less prominent, intense smoky character that favors a more red-wine, dark-fruit character mingled with that robust smokiness.

Components & Flavor Profile of Palmetto Balkan

2026's edition of Palmetto Balkan features a foundation of mature 2019 Basma and 2022 Prilep Orientals, which bring a lot of citrusy, zesty notes, an interesting spice character akin to baking spice and warming spice, nutty creaminess like cashews, and floral notes. Oriental tobacco is referred to as aromatic on the leaf side of the tobacco industry due to the prominent, pungent aromatic character it affords.

There's also various top-tier grades of Carolina Red Virginias in the blend from 2013, 2019, and 2023, and specially processed 2004 Cyprian Latakia and Turkish Latakia. "We basically took the same approach as previous releases of Palmetto Balkan and mixed the old predecessor of Syrian Latakia with the new predecessor of Turkish Latakia, paying homage to the original Syrian leaf.

"The Latakia is really present and special," says Jeremy, "but its volume is definitely turned down from what you might see in a more Latakia-forward, English-style blend. The focal point is really on Latakia's character, being first an Oriental that has gone through a process to become Latakia, and the other Oriental components in the blend make up the lion's share."

While creating this blend, and, frankly, all of his blends, Jeremy emphasizes the importance of balancing components as he develops pipe tobacco at C&D. "The most important thing to me is navigating how to get the flavor profile that I am trying to achieve, and that is all dictated by minor adjustments in the proportions of the types of tobacco that I'm pairing and grouping together. I always start with the two that I imagine being the base of the blend," he says. "I knew I wanted to make this blend a Balkan, so Oriental was the lion's share, then Latakia, then Virginias in the background serving a supporting role." Similar to his approach on Small Batch From Beyond, Jeremy wanted to take fresh tobacco that he has access to and try and capture the flavor profile of a tin that had aged for significant time.

Excellent Aging Properties & Mellow Mouthfeel

Palmetto Balkan is prepared to age gracefully. The previous iterations have made ample progress. "Oriental has the unique characteristic of being focused on engaging the olfactory senses when you're smoking," says Jeremy. "A way to judge how well they have aged is by the aroma. I'm pleased with the progress Palmetto Balkan has made." Age on Orientals provides the opportunity for fermentation to occur. The blend has morphed in the past few years, and will continue to meld all those flavors.

As for the mouthfeel, Jeremy describes the smoke as having a bit of weight and density to it on the palate. "It's round with no sharp edges to it. It's got lots of complexity from the Orientals and their interplay with Latakia and Virginia. I find it soft on the palate, mellow, and delicate enough for a morning smoke. It may be too light for some to follow up after dinner. I think it's a smoke that's well-suited to warmer weather." Palmetto Balkan is an ideal smoke for those who find Latakias typically too heavy; the Latakia incorporated within this blend is not.

"It produces really thick, rich, and cloudy smoke," he says. "The initial flavor character is really driven by the Orientals, so that is where you are going to see a lot of the floral and lighter citrus notes figure more prominently. As you progress, those attributes will become darker and develop into more tea-like characteristics, dried spices, and a little deeper flavor extraction." The burning properties are great on this blend as well, easy to light and keep lit.

Palmetto Balkan continues to change throughout the bowl, with deeper flavors the further you smoke. "The smoky character of Latakia will grow a bit. A whole mélange of lighter, floral, more airy notes, deepening and darkening as you progress. By the end of the bowl, you're getting those baking spices and molasses flavors. There are even notes of wood and leather, and the smoky character will have also built quite a bit from the Latakia."

The Inspiration For Palmetto Balkan's Return

South Carolina's mild winters and long summers inspired this blend, which is ideal for smoking in warmer climates. After the success of the original Palmetto Balkan, and 2024's edition, C&D knew it should be a blend to return to in the Small Batch realm. "We have grown a stable of Small Batch blends so we can have some that we don't do every single year. Then, we can bring them back. And we thought it was time to bring Palmetto Balkan back, once again in the spring in March, as in years prior."

This dynamic blend appeals to an array of smoking audiences. "Fans of the old Balkan Sobranie will do well to try this. People who enjoy many of the European-made English offerings from the '80s and '90s would like to try this. Those things are harder to find. For those who are curious about trying a Latakia blend but are sensitive to heavy hands of it will find that Palmetto Balkan is a much easier path to experimenting with the varietal and with English blends."

Palmetto Balkan represents the tradition of tobacco production in the Palmetto State, home of C&D, and uses currently available components to achieve the flavor character of the older versions of Balkan blends that were so revered — long-lost Syrian Latakia — all while implementing a special proprietary process to attain the optimal flavor and smoking experiences we've come to expect from the pipe-tobacco company.

Small Batch Palmetto Balkan by Cornell & Diehl returns in limited quantities in 8oz tins on-site on March 31 at 6:00 p.m. ET. Let us know in the comments if you're excited about the blend's return!