Found a B&M hiding under my nose

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twangthang

Can't Leave
Sep 15, 2012
358
44
I have trying to find a decent B&M near(ish) me for the longest time. It seemed that the only choice I have to look at live pipes is an hour train ride into New York City. Which is fun and fine on occasion but a little inconvenient on a regular day.

I have one very small B&M that is near my home who I try and give all my tin tobacco business with. He never carries the same thing twice, but sometimes has some decent choices. He has pipes. They are a little pricey but not bad. I have been going in often enough that he knows me and I think he knows what I like. It seems to reflect on his choice of tins lately.

I have been visiting a local cigar shop and he has been promising for months to start carrying pipe stuff. I went in recently and he is carrying some Stanwell pipes and will only be mixing his own blends and keeping them in the humidor. I am not hopeful of finding anything but aromatics, which is fine but not my current favorite.

There is a tobacco shop I have been looking for very near my house and couldn't seem to locate. I thought it must be a small shop and closed long ago. Yahoo needs to update their local search.

Today while driving down the very road it was said to be I finally found it. I realize my eyes were constantly focusing on small store fronts and I have must have looked past this huge storefront a dozen times.

I went in and expected the usual large walk in humidor, small smoking lounge and not much else. The lady directed me to the back of the store and when I got there... wonder of all wonders... they had a very nice selection of pipes and a few tins.

My eyes landed on a tin of MacBaren Matured Virginia and I was sticker shocked by the $25 price tag for 100 grams. It did have a 2010 date on it though. They had some goopy looking bulk mixture and a few tins of Nat Sherman, but I was already on to the hardware.

I found a bent 4Dot, rusticated Sasieni that felt nice in my hand so I had to have that. For $60 I think I ended up with a nice smoker.

All in all a good day!
P.S. is the MacBaren aged a couple of years worth it?????
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sasquatch

Lifer
Jul 16, 2012
1,683
2,862
The Matured Virginia is a difficult one to recommend. There's nothing wrong with it, it's got some nice deep sweet flavors (smells kind of BBQy in the tin, it's weird). And yet, it's not very strong, not VERY flavorful... I remember one review of this stuff saying something like "How many Danes does it take to find a tin of Captain Black?" - not that it is a vanilla/chocolate aromatic, but that it is kind of bland and soft and approachable.
Hard-core virginia smokers probably won't find much of interest, newer smokers or people transitioning out of cavendish aromatics will probably enjoy it.

 

dhizzy

Part of the Furniture Now
Aug 29, 2011
649
1
Wow, that is a cool find. To me the matured va is a very nice smoke but then again, va's don't bite me like many. 25is a bit steep though. I recently got a couple of MacBaren tins for Christmas and my wife ordered them from smokingpipes.com. They both had 2011 tin dates on them. I bet they would check for you if you requested and asked for some of the older stuff. But then again, I can understand you wanting to give him some business.

 

twangthang

Can't Leave
Sep 15, 2012
358
44
Smoked a bowl of MacBaren Virginia #1 in the new pipe... a little diappointed that the stem is very oxidized for a new pipe but it did smoke very well.

My other local B&M isn't quite as steep for tinned tobacco but as Rothnh stated I would like to throw some of my business to a local guy.

 
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