Mac Baren Amphora Full Aroma

The toppings have some flowery floralness as well as a deep fruitiness that includes orange and raspberry, the latter being more prominent. There's a little grass, earth, wood, tart and tangy citrus and tangy dark fruit from the Virginias, which are the main component, though the burley sometimes over take them. The burley is earthy, woody and nutty with a little cocoa and molasses, though the toppings sublimate the last two characteristics of the burley. The Kentucky is woody, little smoky, nutty, and earthy in a minor role. The Orientals are also background players, offering a hint of spice, floral, herbs, vegetation, earth, and wood. The strength and taste falls just shy of the medium mark. The strength is in the center of mild to medium, while the taste is a step shy of medium. The nic-hit is a couple of steps past the mild mark. The tobacco is ribbon cut with a little broken flake in the mix. It won’t bite or get harsh even when pushed. Fresh or dried, it burns at a reasonable rate to the finish. Requires an average number of relights, and leaves little moisture in the bowl. The lightly lingering after taste and room notes are very pleasant. An all day smoke with a very cool, clean, smooth, and slight creamy, floral, mostly consistent, deep flavors. Can be an all day smoke. The flower topping diminishes a little, while the fruit toppings and tobaccos become a little more obvious when dried. Your personal preference will dictate your preparation.

The flower topping diminishes a little, while the fruit toppings and tobaccos become a little more obvious when dried. Your personal preference will dictate your preparation.

They call it "full aroma" and indeed it is. Some mistake "full" for being strong. This isn't. It's full of flavor, but not strong in the sense that experienced pipe smokers would classify it as a "strong" smoke. However, the room note is full, and maybe that's what they mean by the description. Goes well with anything you drink and anything you do.

-JimInks

The fellow at The Tobacco Store in University Pl. said that this is apparently being re-introduced into the American market. I hope this means that all Imperial's offerings will be; I'd love to be able to smoke Amphora, Gold Block and CAPSTAN on a regular basis.

A "drugstore" blend is a burley-based concoction, savagely cased with inexpensive chemical agents, sold in the provinces of the US at "dime" stores and "convenience" retail-chains (called, in an all-purpose kind of way, "drugstores",) usually in bulk.

This is not a 'drugstore' blend. The fact that it was once very widely distributed and thus easily available does not make it a drugstore blend. Anyone who can't tell the difference between this and a drugstore blend, probably can't tell the difference between Balkan Sobranie and "Oriental No 12", either.

AMPHORA, like SAIL, is an older, Dutch Aromatic Cavendish-processed blend. Virginia, Burley, and several condimental tobaccos are blended, pressed together, and steamed. These "married" tastes are then given a natural flavouring, in the same way that tea might be flavoured with oil of bergamot or mint, or coffee with hickory. Or Latakia is flavoured by fumigation, or burley by flue-curing, or Virginia by stoving. These are classic processes that, since the Golden Age of perfumed snuff in XVIII century France, have been carefully followed by age-old practitioners.

The Dutch have traditionally been masters of the subtle flavouring of tobacco. They do not assume that Cavendish leaf is merely a pretext for holding an added flavour. The basic blend is all-important. It is often suprisingly intense, too, defying the chiché that all aromatic blending is lightweight frou-frou. In the best Dutch aromatic blends, too, the flavouring is undefinable, chimerical. If you can tell, "this is cherry", then it is not a good aromatic. Good aromatics are few and far between.

AMPHORA Red is delicious. Virginia, Burley, orientals, and an indescribable floral soupçon build to a full flavour that is tobacco plus. Nothing is in any way overpowering; it has a beautiful balance and finish; the arôme adds the je-ne-sais-quoi.

Burley is burley is burley. Latakia is Latakia is Latakia. They are a positive category, like roast beef. Oriental tobaccoes, fiddled-with Virginia, fermeted Périque: these enter a more religious realm of mystery and surprise: little Merrie England has met New Worlds. Finally the Dutch bring magic and necromancy to the game with their sleight-of-hand parfumerie. I enjoy it all, and would find all-roast-beef-all-the-time BORING.

The toppings have some flowery floralness as well as a deep fruitiness that includes orange and raspberry, the latter being more prominent. There's a little grass, earth, wood, tart and tangy citrus and tangy dark fruit from the Virginias, which are the main component, though the burley sometimes over take them. The burley is earthy, woody and nutty with a little cocoa and molasses, though the toppings sublimate the last two characteristics of the burley. The Kentucky is woody, little smoky, nutty, and earthy in a minor role. The Orientals are also background players, offering a hint of spice, floral, herbs, vegetation, earth, and wood. The strength and taste falls just shy of the medium mark. The strength is in the center of mild to medium, while the taste is a step shy of medium. The nic-hit is a couple of steps past the mild mark. The tobacco is ribbon cut with a little broken flake in the mix. It won’t bite or get harsh even when pushed. Fresh or dried, it burns at a reasonable rate to the finish. Requires an average number of relights, and leaves little moisture in the bowl. The lightly lingering after taste and room notes are very pleasant. An all day smoke with a very cool, clean, smooth, and slight creamy, floral, mostly consistent, deep flavors. Can be an all day smoke. The flower topping diminishes a little, while the fruit toppings and tobaccos become a little more obvious when dried. Your personal preference will dictate your preparation.

They call it "full aroma" and indeed it is. Some mistake "full" for being strong. This isn't. It's full of flavor, but not strong in the sense that experienced pipe smokers would classify it as a "strong" smoke. However, the room note is full, and maybe that's what they mean by the description. Goes well with anything you drink and anything you do.

-JimInks

Although long gone, this one is in the memories of a lot of older pipe smokers (of which, unfortunately, I am one). it was my "go to" blend in my youth for two reasons, the aroma was indeed so terrific that it attracted the ladies and the second reason; well, it tasted great! You had the tobacco flavor enhanced with that something extra that Amphora Full Aroma was famous for. I am not sure what the contents really were, but I suspect both Virginia and Burley with the Burley pulling double duty by accepting the enhancements added to the blend. Just delicious and I wish it were still around.

I have wanted to try Amphora Full for some time having never tried before. With its return to the American market, I finally had the opportunity and I wasn’t disappointed. Given the name, I was expecting this to be a very heavily cased OTC aromatic. In the pouch, the tobacco is of a very thin cut and smelled pleasant, but not overpowering and unlike a lot of OTC aro’s it was fairly dry to the touch. It didn’t require much “dry” time and I think that some smokers will be comfortable smoking it straight away. At first light, I didn’t taste any of the chemical taste that I often associate with blends of this genre although I do taste a bit of it in the later stages of the bowl. The Burley leads the way with the Virginias balancing things out nicely. I hardly noticed the Turkish. There is no bite and it didn’t burn hot either. Amphora is sweet, but not cloying. The “fruits” were just right without being overpowering and the Burley has a bit of a chocolate note to it. In rating it in comparison to other OTC aromatics, I believe that this is my favorite, although if one considers Missouri Meerschaum an OTC blend, then I would give the nod to MM as still my favorite OTC. I definitely will keep a pouch of this in my truck for those times when I forget my tobacco! As an OTC definitely four stars.

Amphora Full Aroma is one of the most mistaken blends. It is no aromatic! Maybe a hint of something is added . when I lighi a bowl of it, I taste at first a cigarrish note which dissapear while smokin the first third. From this point I taste almost pure tobacco with a strengh I not expected. I like it. It is a smooth and honest mixture and even a little complex

I beg to differ from some reviews here... AFA is a great classic and, despite being offeredin a pouch, or called a "Drugstore blend", AFA beats a lot of "prestigious" offerings on the market. Great cut, great aroma, great burning, great taste - dried fruits, vanilla and coco that are not overwhelming, you taste the tobacco as well - and it smokes DRY all the way down. AFA is superior to offereings like Davidoff, Stanwell, WO Larsen. Highly recommended.

This was my primary smoke for years when Amphora Red was on sale in every drugstore and grocery. They had coupons back in the day you could send in and get Amphora pipes as well. I have two in inventory I got that way back in the late 70's.

I am posting this from memory since I have not seen Amphora Red for years. This was a tobacco flavored smoke that had a slightly sweet smell in the room. It was not what most people would describe as an aromatic.

My wife liked it. If this were readily available, I would probably be smoking it still and might not have found pipesandcigars.com

I see there is a bulk copy out there.

Edit 11/18/13 I got some Amphora Red from a friend, and it is the 3-star rating I remembered. It was a familiar smoke and I enjoyed it a lot. Don't waste your time with the bulk copy. I bought some and gave it away. It was really bad (to my palate) and seemed to have a butterscotch topping.

Edit 2017 I suspect what I got was the wrong thing when I initially tried the match, and I have since tried samples of the match again. They got the topping in the ballpark, but the cut and smoking experience are different enough to change it from a 3 to a 2.5.

This is a classic tobacco. For me,is somewhat stronger than desired. Slow burning, witch is a good caractheristic. The Cocoa-Chocolate flavour and taste. cannot be scented easily, since the tobacco is strong and surpasses the flavours. Good quality, but recommended for people that need strong mixtures.

Amphora Full (Aroma) - an exceptional OTC blend.

Upon opening the pouch a gentle sweetness fills your nose, along with notes of chocolate, fruits like oranges, peaches and lemon. Accompanied by a sour-sweetish, almost woody (Orientals), as well as a citrusy note (Virginias). The Burley & Kentucky promote the chocolaty flavouring very well, so that the chocolaty note is the most noticeable to my nose.

The mixture of fine ribbons & broken flake pieces doesn't only look stimulating, but is also easy to pack and light.

On first light I get a multi-layered flavour profile. At first I perceive, deep and sweet nutty notes, before the mild citrusy Virginias and the sweet-sour Orientals come into play. The nutty flavour is consistent and supported by a chocolate/cocoa note. The flavour profile expands as I get along with the bowl. A gentle fruitiness kicks in and delivers flavours reminding of oranges, tangerines and maybe peaches. Along with a unobtrusive flowery note lurking in the back, that rounds off the taste even more.

Even tho the tobacco delivers a range of different flavours it's never too much, or obtrusive and certainly not artificial. All flavours come along pretty natural and melt into a melange that flatters the palate in a uncomparable way. A gentle spice is always present, which I find neccesary to keep this tobacco from being too sweet. There's perfect harmony and balance between sweetish, chocolaty and floral notes and the natural tobacco which delivers nutty, woody a tad smoky and just the right amount of spice.

To me - this is a masterpiece of tobacco craftsmanship! They have found the right balance. Exciting flavourings that not only match well to the tobacco, but also expand the flavour profile of the natural tobacco taste in a exceptional way.

No doubts left: 3-stars from me for a perfectly blended pipe tobacco, that's not only easy and steadily available, but also full of taste & quality an therefore an enrichment for any tobacco bar. For sure what's considered a "All-Day-Smoke" and I'd consider this a "semic aromatic", as the flavourings are unobtrusive and marry well with the tobacco. The "Original" aka Brown is better, so only 3-stars!