Mac Baren HH Old Dark Fired - Pruss' Snapshot Review

[pruss]

Hi gang,
As part of my participation in the Tobacco Pax/Pub Crawl started elsewhere on the forums I'll be chiming in weekly with a snapshot review of the tobacco being sampled. Now these snapshot reviews are simply a gut-check review after a couple bowls. They aren't exhaustive multi-tin examinations, and are only my opinion.
Caveats aside, here goes.
Mac Baren HH Old Dark Fired
Tobacco: Virginia & Burley
Cut/Style: Flake
Age: 1 year in tin. Some plume/crystal forming.
Aroma: Burnt sugar, walnut, baking bread, slight tangy quality
Drying: Smokeybear opened the tin on Tuesday and put six flakes in a sandwich bag for me. I went directly from bag to bowl on Thursday night.
Pipe: Ryan Alden Canadian, Group 4(ish) sized bowl
Prep: Rubbed out, 3 stage stuff method to 1/8" from bowl rim to allow for expansion, even draw pre-light; like drinking chocolate milk through a straw.
Charring light: Good expansion, tobacco took the light well and tamped evenly. Nice sweet aromatics on this light, tangy quality coming through.
True light through first third: Baking bread notes from aroma turn into toasted nut in the top third of the bowl. The sweets stay forward and I continue to get a tangy note attached to the sweets of the Virginias and Burleys. The smoke is light and sweet.
Second third: The flavour becomes more homogeneous and more robust with less individual flavour character, tangy quality diminishes and the bowl takes on more of a round burnt nut sweetness, an earthy note begins to develop. Smoke consistency becomes thicker and slightly acrid, body is more full.
Bottom third: This bowl flattened out for me in flavour and didn't deliver the complexity in the bottom third that it did in the top-third. Smoke body/consistency continued to climb, but the individual flavour notes were harder to discern, bottom third delivered earthy and burnt nut character.
This wasn't a stand out smoke for me. I will continue to smoke the rest of the sample I have, but based on my first snapshot of this tobacco I likely won't be rushing to pick up a tin. As I begin to define the tobaccos which interest me I find myself leaning into blends with Perique and/or Orientals, I think that might be why I found this tobacco lacking.
Cheers,
-- Pat

 

[smokeybear]

Great review buddy. Thank goodness you weren't drinking like me and wrote a proper review that I can compare mine with. Lol. So far it's pair with what I experienced but I found I enjoyed this smoke. Different strokes I guess. But the smell was very different from the taste I wasn't expecting sweetness from this blend it surprised me.

 

[smokeybear]

Sorry double post I'm still drunk apparently.

 

[ravkesef]

An excellent review, Pat. I suspect that because this is a relatively strong tobacco, many of the tars and much of the nicotine tend to concentrate in the dottle, and as you're smoking through that final third, this is what you experienced. It seems that the top two thirds of the bowl were more pleasant, and for those who aren't dottle smokers, it might be a pleasant tobacco, albeit a bit on the strong side.

 

[pruss]

I suspect that because this is a relatively strong tobacco, many of the tars and much of the nicotine tend to concentrate in the dottle, and as you're smoking through that final third, this is what you experienced. It seems that the top two thirds of the bowl were more pleasant, and for those who aren't dottle smokers, it might be a pleasant tobacco, albeit a bit on the strong side.

Eric, thanks for that. I think you're spot on. I like to go top-to-bottom with my smoke, and wonder if I'd packed a little lighter if I might have had a more pleasant back-half of the smoke.
-- Pat

 

[cobguy]

Nice review Pat!
If you have enough left you should try it cube cut with a little extra dry time

and then gravity pack with a light tamp. I've smoked this blend quite a bit and that

seems to get me the best flavors when slow sipping.

 

[pruss]

@cobguy Thanks, I think I'll do that, only I might use Harris' patented "cube cut and stuff the shit out of it" method. I think I'll also opt for a wider bowl and only go 2/3 full.
-- Pat

 

[cobguy]

"cube cut and stuff the shit out of it"

:rofl:
As Mae West says, "I'll try anything once ... twice if I like it"!

 

[andrew]

I think this stuff is going to age nicely and settle down over time. It's definitly a strong smoke, especially the last 3rd of the bowl. I can see it making some interesting blends like if you added it to an english you wanted to beef up.

 

[cmdrmcbragg]

I will join your boat, @pruss. It wasn't a bad smoke, but I wasn't impressed either. I don't care for burley forward and to my palate the VAs took a backseat in the flavor. I rubbed it out and fired it up in my calabash (was trying to avoid the Mac Baren bite I've experienced from everything else of theirs I've smoked). It lit easily, only needed a couple relights from not smoking if consistently. The blend smoked cool (calabash most likely) and burned to a fine grey/white ash which was easy to dump when too much had accumulated.
We'll see if it grows on me after a week.

 

[cortezattic]

Interesting reaction. Thanks for the write-up. Always interested in your opinions.

 

[bulletsnbriars]

Excellent review! Your description had my tastebuds and olfactories tingling. This baccy looks right up my alley, I think I'll get a tin next TAD order.