Mac Baren, 7 Seas and My Humble Opinion of Their New Regular, Royal, and Gold Blends | Dottle Diggers, Ember Chasing And Slow Smoking

Mac Baren, 7 Seas and My Humble Opinion of Their New Regular, Royal, and Gold Blends September 19th, 2010

I was fortunate enough to have been asked to try the new 7 Seas Blends by Mac Baren. I was sworn to secrecy… No not really, just asked not to tell anyone. Provided with a pouch of each blend; Regular, Gold, and Royal, I dove right in. The pouches are not available in the U.S., they were just samples. The following is what I submitted.

Mac Baren, 7 Seas, Regular Blend: The White Pouch

Before I opened the pouch, I carefully looked it over, first thing I noticed was the excellent depiction of a very tall sailing ship’s mast with the impression of a great-long and majestic unfurled pennant making the numeral 7 and three fully trade-wind filled sails under which is the word Seas written in long-hand; a most impressive logo. Inside is a gray scale map reference compass, on the whole very impressive tasteful packaging.

Mac Baren’s description of the contents on the white pouch is very descriptive of my first impression of the blend upon opening the pouch. The pouch note is very sweet and pungent, seems like I smell plum… very pleasant, but not overpowering. It seems to smell like RLP-6, but not as spicy. The tobacco is rather course cut and moist. It is comprised of very dark and very light tobaccos.

I decided to pack my MM cob churchwarden straight from the pouch without any preparation (in hindsight probably not the best choice). Being moist it packed very easily.

The char light was very pleasing as was the true light. The flavor was very nice, quite smooth and rich. I have never been one to discern individual and ethereal flavors, but I seem to taste a little vanilla and plum. Its flavor, to me, is reminiscent of Captain Black Royal only smoother. Somewhere I picked up the impression that this was supposed to be Mac Baren’s answer to Captain Black White, maybe because of the pouch I had been given to try. You know what they say about assumptions…..

It is somewhat difficult to keep lit because of the high moisture content, or because I chose the cob-warden. It may not be so with a bit of drying.

I asked my wife about the room note. She said: “It’s strong… smells like Captain Black. Not bad.” It burned completely and the bowl was dry, but it did gurgle about half way through, and probably my fault for being so anxious to try this exciting new tobacco blend.

I liked it, so I packed a second bowl in my Cavicchi Volcano after about an hour. The second lit well and I had no trouble keeping it lit. The flavor was just as good as it was the first bowl. No bite, didn’t burn in my nose, rich and sweet.

It is a blend that I will buy in the future; it has earned a permanent place in my stash.

Mac Baren; 7 Seas Royal Blend: Dark Aqua package

The pouch note reminds me of RLP-6 as well, only milder, not too sweet, and very moist.

The Char light immediately tasted a little peppery and smoky in a way that is unlike Latakia, and not very sweet. Following the true light; the flavor hasn’t changed much from the char, it still tastes smoky and there are some pleasant flavors that seem to be making their way into the overall flavor. It is very mild. While it is a good blend, it doesn’t seem very sophisticated (for me that is a good thing). I mean that it doesn’t seem to have too many things (flavor wise) going on, and I like that.

I’m smoking it in my handmade Ascorti “New Line”, made by the dearly departed master pipe carver Roberto Ascorti. It is on par with my 5C Cavicchi as far as overall quality of craftsmanship, grain, and ineffable smoking qualities. In other words; I have chosen to smoke this blend in the best pipe I have save one. And that one isn’t superior to this one, but equal.

The 7 Seas Royal Blend is burning well, maybe a little on the hot side, but not unpleasantly so, it is also burning at a fairly slow rate and has no bite. As the smoke continues it begins to hint at an un-sweet 1Q, but not quite as satisfying (possibly due to lower nicotine content than 1Q). It is smoking dry, there has been no gurgle. As I near the end of the bowl, some 40 minutes into the smoke, I find myself looking forward to the end. It has lasted far longer than I had anticipated, and that isn’t a bad thing either.

I asked the wife what she thought about the room note: “It’s OK”. My wife isn’t very loquacious sometimes.

While I don’t dislike the Mac Baren 7 Seas Royal Blend; it is not something that I would purchase with any frequency. But, I may keep it in my stash. However; it does seem to have a place there.

I think that this would be a good choice for the novice pipe smoker. It has qualities that would lend itself to the inexperienced pipe smoker’s enjoyment of his pipe, for the following reasons:

First; it smells good in the pouch without being flashy not Royal, but Nouveau riche, (using a 17^th Century cultural definition.)

Second; it packs well and easily.

Third; it lights well and burns evenly without the need to continually tamp, and stays lit with little effort.

Fourth; while it does burn a little warm, it doesn’t bite.

Fifth; as aromatics go, has a mild smoky flavor, it isn’t overly sweet, and doesn’t taste like a bowl of fruit but pleasant none-the-less, not too rich, and not too much nicotine.

Lastly; it has a decent room note, so it won’t annoy those around the new piper, who by logical extension may be inexperienced with a pipe’s aroma, as well.

I would say this would be a good blend for a pipe smoking college student who is just starting out. The more I think about it, the more I like its attributes. Mac Baren, 7 Seas Royal Blend is a good blend for studying or just reading a good book. Yep… I will keep some in my stash.

Mac Baren: 7 Seas; Gold Blend, Gold Pouch

Pouch note: Quite pleasing, like a Cavendish, not sweet, just a good honest tobacco smell. The appearance is light gold to light brown ribbon cut not too coarse. Very similar in texture to Lane 1Q but not quite as thinly cut.

I smoked my first bowl of Mac Baren’s Gold Blend in my 5C Claudio Cavicchi Half Bent Volcano. After my first experience with Mac Baren’s 7 Seas Regular Blend; I decided to smoke it in my best pipe, on par with my Ascorti New Line.

Like the 7 Seas Regular and Royal blends; the Gold Blend packs very well, and like the others, is very moist.

Char Light: I found it a little difficult to get lit initially, indicating that it may need to dry a bit before lighting. That difficulty may disappear with subsequent openings of the pouch. The initial taste seems to be a Cavendish and I don’t taste of any flavor additives.

True Light: Once the char was successful, the True light wasn’t an issue. The Cavendish flavor comes through nicely. The smoke is not a thick smoke but quite flavorful.

I had to relight after about 10 minutes due to my own ineptitude. This is quite a good tobacco. It is not fancy just straight forward and smooth. There is no bite and is not burning hot. While I truly enjoyed the Regular, I think this is may be my favorite of the three. The flavor is very pleasant and bright. Not an “in your face” bright, but very tasty, and no gurgle.

As the bowl burns it hasn’t developed any bite. It is burning quite cool and hasn’t lost any flavor. It isn’t complex, a little nutty, and tastes to me a little like Half and Half, that’s just my opinion.

The description on the pouch is spot on. “A soft and exceptionally mellow smoke. Delightful aromatic taste. A true pleasure journey.” I can’t argue with that.

Room Note: I asked the ‘War Department’ what she thought of this blend. She said: “That smells good.” I asked: “Do you like it.” I got a smile and a bright “Ah- huh!” The Mother-in-law is up for the week, and she said it smelled good as well. She said: “That smells sweet.”

I’ve had to relight a few times, again that may be due to the moisture content. But, I have no complaints at all. This is definitely a blend that I will keep on hand. I look forward to this becoming available in my area.

My palate isn’t as discerning as Bob’s or some others and I’m new to this “Tobacco Review” thing; I hope I have been able to convey just how much I really enjoyed trying “something new” (in both the literal and figurative senses). I was also pleased to have been asked to try these wonderful new blends and offer my humble opinion. Thanks… that was fun!

Tags: 7 Seas, 7 Seas Gold, 7 Seas Regular, 7 Seas Royal, Mac Baren, New Tobacco Blends, Pipe Tobacco

5 Responses to “Mac Baren, 7 Seas and My Humble Opinion of Their New Regular, Royal, and Gold Blends”

cortezattic said:

Great review Lawrence! Based on what you report, I think I’ll give 7 Seas Gold a try. What piqued my interest most is that Mac Baren seems to be shaking its reputation as a producer of bitey tobaccos. I notice that your experience in these regards is the same as other reviewers, which is a confidence booster.

September 19th, 2010 at 9:15 pm
classicgeek said:

Thanks for the review, Lawrence! As you say, these aren’t on the market yet, but there’s a pretty good chance they will show up in the tobacconists around here (Mac Baren Plumcake and Scottish Mixture are readily available) and it sounds like the Gold might make a good go-to smoke when I run out of the blends that I hunted up on my last couple of trips to the States. From your other postings, I tend to think we have similar tastes.

Good stuff.

September 19th, 2010 at 11:47 pm
Bob said:

Nice reviews Lawrence!

One of the things that I love about pipe tobacco is; two people can taste different things and have somewhat different experiences while smoke the same identical blend.

September 20th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
pstlpkr said:

Thanks Guys,

I had a lot of fun tasting and writing. You are exactly right Bob about different tastes and experiences from the same thing. But, like I said above… My palate isn’t that developed. I just know what I like… and I like the Mac Baren 7 Seas blends a lot.

Thanks again for all of the kind words… I was a hoot!

September 20th, 2010 at 1:36 pm
kammi4pipes said:

Love your blog, and your use of ‘the war department’

November 1st, 2010 at 11:24 pm

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5 Responses to “Mac Baren, 7 Seas and My Humble Opinion of Their New Regular, Royal, and Gold Blends”

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