How To Smoke Macbaren Blends

[snagstangl]

I was smoking some Original Choice a few days ago. I was sipping the smoke. The flavor is quite good but not strong, and I have tendency to chase it and heat it up if i am not paying attention. Do you have any macbaren specific tips for smoking Macbaren's?

 

[Chasing Embers]

I smoke ODF, BK, Plum Cake, The Solent Mixture, and several of their other blends quite regularly. To me they smoke about the same as any other tobacco. Try getting them bone dry before packing.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Good advice by Chasing Embers. Mac Baren makes a lot of very good tobacco at reasonable prices. And generally easy to get.

 

[philobeddoe]

Dry them out and smoke them slow, they can often bite if pushed.

 

[krizzose]

^^^^ is good advice. I’m following a similar protocol right now with a bowl of Mac B Virginia Flake, not necessarily because it’s a Mac Baren, but because it’s a bright Virginia. It’s like sipping tea with honey, and no bite in sight.

 

[mso489]

Dry it out, yes, and be sure you are tamping often enough. Another technique that helps some blends is to further rub out or grate the leaf a little smaller, which makes it dry faster and burn more evenly. You can do this by hand, with a sharp knife on a cutting board, with a spice grinder (briefly, you don't want powder) or a little hand grater a bowl or two or three at a time. Sometimes, if you go to stronger blends and then move back to milder, you pick up the taste on the milder blends better -- counter intuitive, but works for some.

 

[bassbug]

90% of my smoking is either Vanilla Cream (loose cut) or Golden Extra (both Mac Baren). Although they will smoke reasonably right out of the tin, I've found drying them gives more flavour. Not quite bone dry, but close.
Although they don't bite me if I push them, they definitely smoke better when I slow down. Ive found this to hold true in all my pipes. Judicious tamping to keep the ember just on the verge of going out will enhance the taste even more. Don't worry too much about it if it goes out, relight gently but fully.

 

[snagstangl]

Damn,
I will just have to start drying stuff out... but I am so lazy when it comes to smoking.

 

[unkleyoda]

Yeah, dry Mac Baren stuff out, a lot.

 

[bassbug]

I will just have to start drying stuff out... but I am so lazy when it comes to smoking.

If you want to just pack your pipe and go, you can dry the tobacco when you first open the tin. Just lay it out, give it 20-30 minutes and put it in a jar. It doesn't take any longer to dry a whole tin than one bowl
It will stay at that moisture level for quite some time in the jar. Certainly enough time to finish it.

 

[lordofthepiperings]

I think the HH line really is their best offerings. Moisture content on most of them is ideal out of the tin. I haven't had too many bad experiences with them. Just load them up and go. The other offerings from them like Vanilla Cream, Navy Flake, Dark Twist, Club Blend can use about 10-20mins of drying time before lighting them up. Definitely watch your cadence on those and try smoking them a bit slower to avoid the Mac Baren McBite.

 

[sablebrush52]

I smoke MacBaren blends the same way I smoke any other. Dry the tobacco (if needed - MacBaren blends come in different levels of moisture so some I don't need to dry), pack it and fire it up. I've yet to experience MacBite.

 

[bigpond]

MacB (the HH line specifically) requires more input than average on the part of the pipesmoker. You can easily stuff your pipe with Pure Va straight from the tin and chug away with a full steam tank and get a wee bit of sweet grass and a whole lotta meh. Give it a bit of age, a bit of dry time and a dying ember and the blend transforms. Not a magical transformation, mind. There won’t be pony’s or unicorns frolicking in your bowl, but there will nuance.

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

This drying suggestion of Mc Baren blend is advisable with other Mc Baren produced brands such as Amphoras and St Bruno, in my opinion all them pouch tobaccos do greatly benefit from some 15-30min drying time.

 

[workman]

I do not find Mac Baren blends any more difficult to smoke than any other. Quite the contrary actually.