I love the taste but VA #1 isn't sadly compatible with my my body chemistry at all. I get almost immediate discomfort in my mouth when smoking it, which isn't the same tongue bite that I still might get when smoking bright VAs too fast and hot. I have re-visited VA #1 once in a while, but after fifteen years of pipe smoking I still can't handle it. I guess I need more training.
I suspect, and this is purely my own guesswork, it's the added sweeteners (sugars and sorbitol) in most Mac Baren's tobaccos that cause this adverse reaction to me -- and apparently to some other pipe smokers, as well. Interestingly, their HH blends that I have tried have none of this effect, and I can enjoy them without any problems whatsoever. And I do, a couple of them are my favourites.
Almost every time when the "Mac Bitey" subject comes up for discussion, there comes the comments similar to this:
I honestly think that this conception that Mac Baren tobaccos ‘bite’ is nothing more than psychosomatic from people having read reviews that it is has a reputation for being so, and therefore encounter something that simply does not exist any more so than any other tobacco that might ‘possibly’ bite.
Ah, yes, yes, just because Mac Bees' baccies don't sting you, it naturally follows that those who do get bitten are imagining the problem just because they read it somewhere.
I was a bit offended by that comment at first, but then decided it "simply does not exist".
