In Mac Baren’s Secret Service
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Kevin Godbee - Apr 30, 2014
- 5 min read
E. Roberts
The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success. In the high-stakes, cloak and dagger world of tobacco blending, it’s the one who holds the most secrets who has the hand to beat when the cards are laid out on the table. After the smoke clears and the dust settles, it’s the dashing fellow in the three-piece suit that walks away with the self-satisfied grin, calmly extracting a classic black billiard—Dunhill, of course—from his breast pocket, filled to the brim with a luscious ebony flake. The aroma it exudes is exotic and flirtatious, perfectly balanced on the precipice of sweet, overlooking the valley of mystery below. Content that his adversaries are thoroughly vanquished, he climbs into his bespoke Aston Martin Centenary Edition and speeds away into the sunset, intent on blending another day …
Well, sort of. The world of pipe tobacco blending could perhaps be more accurately described as medium- to moderately-high stakes, and it’s not really all that "cloak and dagger"—it’s more of a "comfortable sweater and Czech tool" vibe that prevails, actually. Bridge and penny-ante poker are far more common than baccarat, and a cold brew is preferred over vodka martinis by a wide margin. Tobacco recipes are certainly top secret and closely guarded, naturally; if they weren’t, then any old Harris, Peck or Kevin would be blending up batches of 759. To my knowledge, though, no one has ever been killed for the formula of his VaPer mixture. Other secrets are rather out-in-the-open, such as the key to Mac Baren’s latest triumph: steam pressing in the (olde) English style, which shines brilliantly in HH Latakia Flake, to be debuted at the Chicagoland International Pipe and Tobacciana Show 2014.
Steam presses aren’t exactly a dime a dozen, and Mac Baren has really capitalized on their competitive edge with the technology and blending expertise to produce world-class flake tobaccos with releases like the HH Old Dark Fired, reviewed in March. Producing flake tobacco this way, in the "English style", coupled with Danish technique and sensibilities, is a Mac Baren signature to be sure. Dozens of their more than forty offerings are flakes or contain portions of flakes in the mixtures, and they tend to have a very particular quality about them in the color and texture that is recognizably Mac Baren. They’re among the few companies producing steam-pressed flakes as well, which deepen and marry the flavors a considerable amount in a relatively short time. It’s a bit of shorthand for aging, to some degree—it hastens the melding of flavors and intensifies the earthy bass notes, as well as lending fullness and a mellowed quality to the mixture. Therein lies the arcane mystery of the blender’s art, coaxing a synergy of flavor from the confluence of time and technique.
From Mac Baren With Love
The effect that all this effort produces in HH Latakia Flake is nothing short of spectacular. Inhaling deeply from a fresh tin reveals no sharp edges; rather, a creamy bouquet that evokes rosewater and campfire, with the leather and clay notes characteristic of Cypriot Latakia. It has a definite floral quality to the aroma, but not in a perfumy or Lakeland style sense. Imagine being at the farmer’s market and nibbling on some freshly fried flores de calabaza—that’ll give you a better sense of the slightly herbaceous fragrance. Once the tin has a chance to breathe, there is an even more pronounced aroma of rose, sweet and supple. The charring light draws out the familiar dance of Virginia and Latakia, briefly sharp and peppery, settling quickly into a remarkably soft and rounded top third of the bowl. The mid-bowl is where Latakia Flake really shines, letting the deep and complex flavors really open up. The interplay runs from a bright forward vegetal sweetness, offering highlights of honeysuckle and rose, turmeric, and a lightly tannic oaky edge, all the way down through to the bass notes of the smoky, salty burnt edges of a well-marbled steak. In this regard the apportioning of the leaf is masterful, as it allows the Virginia-burley framework to be molded expertly with the Oriental and Latakia components to express the complete spectrum of flavors. Above all it smokes smoothly, with not even a hint of bite to cloud the experience—the steam pressing really shines through here, all the way down to the heel with a very uncluttered, pure tobacco taste.
The Flake With The Golden Tin
The tin art, too, reflects the luxury feeling of this flake, with its sable field, filigreed with gold lettering and the Mac Baren crest, a black-on-black image of the Mac Baren lion’s head subtly screened behind it all. The precisely-cut flakes are stacked three-deep inside the gold foil wrapper, and rub out to a fine angel-hair consistency, which is my preferred preparation for this particular blend. It plays well in both large and small chamber sizes, and I found a particular affinity with a rather dainty "new old stock" straight prince shape recently acquired.
License to Smoke
What else but a blind singleness of purpose could have given focus to their genius, would have kept them in the groove of purpose. Mania … is as priceless as genius. Mac Baren’s genius will be on full display this year at the Chicago show, where they will unveil this delectable treat to the public; and in fact it is only being offered in the US, at least initially. The niche of English style Latakia flakes is decidedly small, steam-pressed flakes smaller still, and I think it’s a safe bet to make that HH Latakia Flake will be received with the same enthusiasm from the eager pipe community as their 2012 effort, the instant classic HH Old Dark Fired. With my double-0 designation as PipesMagazine.com’s resident tobacco reviewer, I was afforded a generous sneak preview of this delicacy—and didn’t even have to kill anyone for it. In my job, when I come up against a tobacco like this one, I have a motto: "Live and Let Cellar."
For Your Pipe Only
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Written by Kevin Godbee
18 Responses
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Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 636. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Barry Kane. Barry started smoking a pipe in 1961 when he was 14-years old. Back then it seemed like everybody smoked, and you could buy pipes and tobacco just about anywhere. Barry is a true old-school pipe smoker, sticking to just one blend. See if you can guess which one before listening. At the top of the show Brian will give his take on Scandinavian Tobacco Group’s purchase of Mac Baren and Sutliff Tobacco and their announcement that they will be shut down.
There’s a pipe in my collection that I cannot bring myself to smoke, though I’ve had it for more years than I care to recall. It’s old, or shall I say, well experienced; that experience, that oldness came to it long before it was in my possession. The pipe is an old Comoy’s Grand Slam from the 1940s. The shape (#93), a slightly canted, stack billiard (sometimes referred to as a Belgian) is right up my alley, and it’s a beautiful example of it. It came to me with some wear and tear; nothing unusual for an old pipe, but more the signs of one that has been well loved, smoked a lot, treated as a favorite tool, cherished, in a sense, by frequent use. It’s the pipe equivalent of a vintage car that’s been driven a lot, enjoyed fully and maintained adequately, rather than one kept in a spotless garage, dusted and detailed weekly, brought out only for leisurely Sunday drives, or to be ogled behind the ropes at the next Concours d’Elegance. When it arrived, those uncounted years ago, it wanted a little restoration. Nothing dramatic needed to be done to it, but the stem was oxidized, the finish a little dingy. The cake was even and fairly thin, and the airway was relatively clean, both signs that its previous owner cared for it, but the bowl’s surface was a little drab and dull. It took little effort to reveal its beauty, to show the lovely contrasted stain and interesting grain beneath the old wax. I often think I should do before and after photos of pipes that I work on, but those thoughts always come after the work’s been done. This one would have been a great illustration of how years of handling that can sometimes make a pipe more beautiful, can other times make it just look grungy. Once I’d cleaned up the externals, it was time to address the inside bits. I approach this a little bassackwards, I realize. It would be more sensible to take care of the inside before addressing the outside, but it’s how I roll. If an old pipe isn’t pretty to look at, it’s unlikely that I’ll care much about it, and cleaning is usually the hardest part, or at least the most boring part of any restoration for me. Alcohol and pipe cleaners. Lots of pipe cleaners. That’s why I leave it for last. Sometimes, I’ll even give a pipe a test smoke before a deep cleaning, just for a point of reference. I gave it a sniff to get an idea of what I was up against, and it stopped me cold. There in that bowl was an aroma that I had not smelled in decades. My head was instantly filled with memories of being in the back room of a fabled Berkeley tobacconist’s shop where I stumbled upon a few jars of long discontinued blends. One of them, a blend called Forty and Eight, had the most engaging and unusual scent of any tobacco I’d stuck my schnoz into. It was sweet, but not in a candy store way. There were none of the usual vanilla, cherry, berry or anise notes of typical aromatics, nothing that could be compared to aftershave or deodorant soap, but something almost musky, a little earthy, something exotic. The shop’s owner couldn’t tell me what was in it, how, or where it had been produced. The old blend had been retired before he’d bought the place. The printed catalogue gave no clues, either, other than being overprinted with the word “DISCONTINUED” in bold, rubber-stamp type. (And, I don’t recall it as being “highly aromatic” as the description indicates.) There was still quite a bit in the jar. Being, at that point, an intrepid explorer of all kinds of tobaccos, whether I thought I’d like them or not, I had to give it a try. It was burly based, but also comprised a good measure of virginia leaf, and maybe some other varieties; I didn’t have enough experience at the time to really pick it apart. But, that aroma was unlike anything I’d experienced before or since. It was something now completely lost to time. Until it wasn’t. Memories are powerful things, and there is no sense more tightly bound to memory than our sense of smell. One whiff was all it took to carry me back in time, conjuring a vivid recollection of something long submerged in the inky depths of a subconscious mind. Look, I know as well as anyone that pipes are meant to be smoked, and that many feel it almost sacrilegious to have a pipe and not set it to its intended task. In this case, I simply can’t. I won’t. Ever. Rationally, I am fairly certain this pipe would probably be a great smoke. It was too well loved by its previous caretaker to be anything less than that. My choice not to smoke it is an emotional one, not something rational. Of the thousands of pipes that have passed through my hands over the years, this is the only one to create such a singular and vivid, almost Proustian recollection of temps perdu, of lost time. It revivified a long dormant memory that is mine, and mine alone, and that’s enough. I keep it in a drawer with other old English pipes. In some ways, it’s nothing special, just a nice old pipe. I don’t lavish it with any particular care that arguably befits the hidden treasure that it holds. It’s not in a special box, or displayed preciously in a glass cabinet. Every once in a while, I take it out, point my nose bowlwards, and every time, those memories return just as powerfully as they did the first time. I have no idea how long it’s been since its last owner smoked it, but in the years I’ve had it, there seems to have been very little degradation of the aroma, and that’s […]
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 635. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with James Ravenwood. James is the boutique tobacco blender of Ravenwood Blends. His blending started out as a fun hobby, and he now has professionally packaged commercially available products with some great tin art. Part of his interest in pipe smoking goes back to fond memories of a retired Navy Veteran that lived on his street while he was growing up that would sit in his driveway smoking a pipe all day. Later, in 2011 he began smoking pipes and soon after started experimenting with mixing different tobaccos. His other hobby, that he has been doing for 30 years, is photography. He takes wonderful photos of outdoor spaces, and still life pictures of pipes and tobacco. You can see them on his Instagram @thebriarfellowship. At the top of the show we’ll have an Ask the Pipemaker segment with renowned pipe artisan Jeff Gracik.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 634! Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Warren Ertle. Warren is an extremely accomplished musician with a PhD in music. He started early as a percussionist in sixth grade. Later his grandmother got him a cheap Casio keyboard which he taught himself to play. He started playing in blues bands in high school, and has been a pianist with jazz big bands for years. Even though he was already a professional musician, he took his first real piano lesson when he enrolled in college with his studies in classical music. He is of course a pipe smoker. At the top of the show we will have an Ask the Tobacco Blender segment with Jeremy Reeves. Jeremy is the Head Blender at Cornell & Diehl, which is one of the most popular boutique pipe tobacco companies in the USA.
Soon now, supposedly, our neighborhoods will shift from grinning pumpkins, skeletons in various assortments, and zombies dashing about to pretty reindeer, angels, and flashing lights illuminating homes with sparkling stars and laughing, scurrying Santas. But, lest we forget, there is the turkey season, fancy pie aromas wafting from kitchens, and a national pardon of a big Tom Turkey. Remember, now, that only one of these holiday personalities is a pipe smoker. And that is the hefty, bearded fellow in a bright red suit sitting in a sleigh with a herd of deer hitched up and ready to streak across the globe, bringing tidings of joy and many presents. Ok, the scene is set for the next couple of months, right? So, before we get too far off the beaten path, let’s just take a deep breath of fresh autumn air, shall we? Ahh. That’s better, isn’t it? What’s got the Pundit in a snit is not all the Halloween spooks who came a-jostling for candy. Or the wild turkeys gobbling in the backwoods or all the fuss and feathers over the big one—Christmas. No, it is that we might need to take note of all the little things that mean so much to us. Like a good sunrise (seriously, Pundit has not gone all Pollyanna.) Mayhaps we need to appreciate more of what we have than what we have not. Or something like that. Like, a good pipe in the morning with coffee as the dawn brings us coolish weather now that we have flipped the calendar to autumn. But it also brings beautiful leaves that have become a spectacle of technicolor in the wind. It is the little things. The rereading of an enjoyable book and finding something you did not see or learn in the first go-round. Or a stunning phrase you commit to memory with the re-read, while smoking that favorite pipe. And you notice a superior puff that just seems to be different. It’s in the air and the seasons of meaningful little things. It’s aromatic! Or perhaps it is that sense of satisfaction knowing and appreciating you made it to another day. With the world in a kind of rinse-and-repeat history, reminiscent of a Shakespearean play, it is perhaps a good moment to remember some of Pipedom’s philosophers whose cogent thoughts brought light to clear a path in the mists of confusion and confounding opinions. Ok. No gloom and doom. Just some down-home thoughts. Think of times in the past when history was running off the rails. It took our pipe-smoking thinkers (the mind workers of the world) to speak of better pathways to more light. Think for a moment, with a pipe in hand, these wizards of the world and word: Albert Einstein, J. R.R. Tolkien, Mark Twain, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edwin Hubble, Bertrand Russell, C. S. Lewis, and Jean-Paul Sartre. All learned and enlightened. They offered wisdom instead of storms of meaningless roads to nowhere. All while smoking their pipes! Maybe especially with the help of their pipes in the art of thinking and philosophy. Recall the words of Mr. E=MC2 when he said, “I believe that pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgment in all human affairs.” Amen and amen! Dealing with world-rattling events takes a calm and objective view of things, to the Pundit’s way of summing it up. You just don’t go messing around with quantum physics without a calm and objective approach, methinks. Or as the extraordinary physicist Robert Oppenheimer said after he and a team in the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos Labs developed a way to split atoms into bombs during World War II. “I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds,” said Oppenheimer referring to the development of the first nuclear bombs dropped on Japan. It must be pointed out that Oppenheimer was more of a cigarette smoker than a pipe smoker. Nonetheless, pipes were part of his personality. Now, if you have read some of the great authors of the past and present, their pipes were always nearby. Reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle can be a three-pipe problem at times. S. Lewis and Jean-Paul Sartre require time with your pipes to reflect on the existential problems and solutions these authors provide in learned novels and other narratives. Or take Edwin Hubble and Bertrand Russell, philosophers of another world. Pipes are required for reading. The quantum lode of ideas Pundit is attempting to sort out is that our pipes are relaxing and stimulate our thoughts and creativity. Especially in these last months of the year. Many times Pundit has had that light bulb flick on while smoking my beloved pipes. And friends in Pipedom, it ain’t easy to turn on the lights in Pundit’s rock pit head. Now it’s time for a quote from a Pipe Smoker of the Past. Shelby Foote was born Nov. 17, 1916, in Greenville, Miss., and died June 27, 2005, in Memphis, Tenn. A fact is not a truth until you love it—Shelby Foote. A parting thought: It is said that famed Southern author William Faulkner carried a packed pipe in a coat pocket wherever he went. That’s one effective way to deal with workday conflicts and confusion. A calm and objective judgment in our everyday human affairs, as the quantum man said.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 633. Our featured guest tonight is Jon David Cole. JD is the Owner/Tobacconist at The Country Squire in Jackson, MS, and the accompanying online store. We’ll have JD and Brian talking about what’s new at the store and in the business in general. At the top of the show, Brian will discuss tobacco growing, what happens to the leaf, and provide updated information on where tobacco is being gown today. Tobacco production originated in the United States and we were once the #1 producer. It’s quite different now.
Thanks for the review. I’m looking forward to this one!
That was quite a mouth-watering review. Can’t wait to try some.
OK, I’m sold. Now off to the B&M and ordering some.
I will be sure to pick some of this up while in Chicago.
Ah, wish i was going to Chicago, but I just will have to be patient and order this from my online supplier. Sounds like a winner!
I’m looking forward to trying this blend.
It is one of many wallet openers I hope to hit in Chicago. Excellent review.
Great review. I wasn’t going to read it at first, because I don’t do Latakia (more for you, I know…) But how can a reader resist an opening line like: “The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success.” Great writing — all the way through! Thanks
Great review. I enjoyed my first bowl very much and have three tins newly added to my modest cellar.
Gotta get some! MB does have a way with flakes, and if the quality of this flake is as good as Old Dark-Fired, I can’t wait!
I did pick up a couple tins at Chicago. The aroma of the tobacco in the tin is as Bill described it. The flakes crumble very easily so there are no need to go through a “rub it out” process. The tobacco was rather moist so it might be best to leave it opened for a few days to get the moisture content down to an acceptable level.
Unlike Bill I have three taste buds (good, indifferent, and bad). I can’t taste flowers, nuts, leathers, herbs, etc. While the tobacco produced a nice volume of smoke I didn’t really get a lot of flavor and it is definitely on the mild side. So I am going to dry this stuff out for a few days and come back to it.
@Cotez–I can’t claim credit for the opening line, of course; I’ve just been on a Bond kick lately. Glad to know my tactic worked though!
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@KC–It is a mild flake, for sure not a powerhouse smoke. Take it slow, maybe even take a day or two off of smoking to come to it with a refreshed palate. The flavor’s definitely there. Incidentally, my favored preparation was a full-blown roll between my palms rub-out–I found the fine threads really released the fullness of the smoke better than cube cutting or fold & stuff.
Thanks Bill – great review. I can’t pretend this interested me that much before I read your piece, but now I don’t know. Perhaps I should give it a go. You only live twice.
Andy
“The mid-bowl is where Latakia Flake really shines, letting the deep and complex flavors really open up. The interplay runs from a bright forward vegetal sweetness, offering highlights of honeysuckle and rose, turmeric, and a lightly tannic oaky edge, all the way down through to the bass notes of the smoky, salty burnt edges of a well-marbled steak.”
When I read a review that is so nuanced, highlighting resemblances between the tobacco and chosen tastes and aromas in the world, I conclude that the reviewer must possess a palate far beyond mine or that he is trying too hard; and I lean toward the latter.
We received a sample of this from Sutliff / MacBaren at the last meeting of the “Hudson Valley Pipe Club”. All in attendance, sample this offering for the first time. Everyone was quite impressed to say the least! I loved it! I will be buying lots of this, if it doesn’t sell out for the next six months!
If you like Latakia, you have to try this right now…….
Looks absolutely delicious !! Wish I had it right now ,,,,
@4nogginsMike– I’ll definitely agree that I’m reaching. I do my best to parse out the flavor of blends and with reasonable accuracy relate them to tastes that the audience may be familiar with. It’s no magic trick, or insubstantial fluff; if you’ll re-read my article about the process of taste testing (“How Do I Taste?”, from December of last year, http://bit.ly/How2Taste ), and pay special note to sections 2 (The Importance of Time) and 5 (Putting It All Together), and apply them to your own tasting, then you may even find yourself reaching for flavors like honeysuckle, turmeric, and steak—and enjoy the satisfaction of finding them. However, if you’re among the approximately 7% of people who suffer from chronic dysfunction of smell or taste, then perhaps you won’t. But it would still be worth the effort, as you mentioned.
OK I’m sold, can’t wait to get a tin or two.