Mac Baren Amphora Burley Blend

The very woody, earthy, nutty, cocoa-ish burleys also sport some rugged savoriness. The savory aspect reminds me of aged burley. A small amount of woody, earthy, lightly spicy and sour, floral, dry and nutty, smoky dark fired Kentucky boosts up the blend in an important condimental role. The grassy, lightly citrusy, slightly floral Virginia is far in the background. There are no toppings as per Per Jensen (I always wanted to write that.). The strength is a couple of steps past the center of mild to medium, while the taste level almost reaches medium. The nic-hit is in the center of mild to medium. Won’t bite even when pushed, though it does have a rough edge at times. It’s not overly sweet, but the sweetness present is natural. A ready rubbed cut mixture that burns cool, clean and slightly slow with a very consistent flavor from start to finish that also translates to the lightly lingering after taste. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires a little more than an average number of relights. Even though it has a bit of depth and body, it can an all day smoke if you wish.

-JimInks

After hearing of this blend (first available in Europe) I was intrigued and hoping it would come state side. As a Burleyphile I'm happy it did. Before receiving my two pouches I was wondering what it would be all about. At first I thought Amphora Original minus the orientals. After receiving my order I opened one of the pouches. No pouch note to speak of and not much of a tobacco presence to my nose. A nice medium to dark brown broken flake similar in color to Aged Burley Flake. Loading, lighting, and keeping it lit was a breeze as is expected from a Mac Baren tobacco. There was no discernible flavoring agent added that I could detect. This is one of the smoothest smoking blends I've ever smoked in 43 years of piping. Not much of a tobacco flavor but certainly not a hot air only smoke. I couldn't detect the Virginia at all - and happy at that as there was no tongue nip at all. This smoked clean and dry to the heal without any heat or bite whatsoever. Amphora Original minus the orientals and flavoring? I don't think so. This is its own animal and able to stand on its own merit. I certainly knew I was smoking Burley, but all the negativity associated with Burley was absent. Mild woody/spice notes detected with a subtle sweetness throughout. This is a great smoke for when you just want "a pipe," a here in lies its charm. Nice room note too, and highly recommended. I like it better than Amphora Original and Mac's Burley Flake by a wide margin. Kudos to Mac Baren.

Mac Baren - Amphora Burley.

I've enjoyed some of the Burley offerings from Mac Baren this year, with their HH Burley Flake being one of my favourites of this genre yet. Amphora Burley is equally as tasty!

I never read the cut before I opened it, so wrongly expected a ribbon. But the appearance is a dark brown, chunky, broken flake; brilliant! The flakes have been reduced to EXACTLY the consistency I like to rub a flake to! My pouch had perfect hydration, and a rustic smell with a drop of sweetness.

The smoke is lovely! Similarly to HH Burley Flake the flavour's lead by the Burley, the others lightly season the smoke; the Kentucky more so. The Burley has more of an inured flavour than a sweet one; there is some sweetness, but this is understudy. I note some hardy Kentucky, fiery and punchy, but the Virginias are about in need of the Pinkerton Detective Agency to seek them out! The burn causes no problems, generating a mid-temperature smoke. I spent a morning smoking this without any bite.

Nicotine: medium. Room-note: not too bad.

Amphora Burley? A definite four star smoke:

I only smoke Burley (blends), and without any flavorings, toppings, etc. In fact, I almost exclusively smoke C&D Burley Flake #1 and sometimes, Triple Play. I think I've tried them all, for years in fact. But my very specific taste always leads me back to BF#1. Yet, disheartened as I've become in my Burley adventures expeditions, I do get excited every time I find (or someone recommends) a possibly new pure Burley blend I've not tried. To my total amazement, I am loving this Amphora Burley Blend! The broken flakes are very similar to the C&D Burley Flake #1, the moisture is ideal, the burning perfect and the taste, simply great. It does have a bit of a rather noticeable and quite lingering taste in the mouth, probably from the casing, but that's ok. Burley fans, go try this smoke.

Update (07/07/2019): I've been smoking this beautiful tobacco in different pipes, to further appraise it. First, let me say, that the said lingering taste has subsided quite a bit. I think it was just in the first bowl, where it was pronounced. This is truly a bready-chocolaty delicious burley blend. The flakes are just great, as I said, very similar to the C&D Burley Flake #1. I love it. The burning is consistent, even in every respect, including the consistency of the taste profile throughout the bowl. It burns to white ashes all the way, and with very few relights. The natural and sweet chocolaty taste in this burley is nothing short of remarkable, and it comes from the Virginia. I must say that such "focused" sweetness can be a bit too much after the halfway point of the bowl. I would have preferred a tad less of this sweetness. The Kentucky is noticeable too, perfect. The room note is pleasant, truly tolerable. This is a fantastic blend, and it is now part of my very exclusive list of pipe tobaccos. Smaller bowls will let the Virginias more pronounced, bigger bowls will feature the Burleys to a greater extend. No toppings, just pure delight. The last pipe I tried with this blend was a BBB billiard.

The very woody, earthy, nutty, toasty, cocoa-ish burleys also sport some rugged savoriness. The savory aspect reminds me of aged burley. A small amount of woody, earthy, lightly spicy and sour, floral, vegetative, herbal, dry and nutty, smoky dark fired Kentucky boosts up the blend in an important condimental role. It also has a hint of barbecue. The grassy, lightly tart and tangy citrusy, slightly floral Virginia is far in the background. There are no toppings as per Per Jensen (I always wanted to write that.). The strength is a couple of steps past the center of mild to medium, while the taste level almost reaches medium. The nic-hit is in the center of mild to medium. Won’t bite even when pushed, though it does have a rough edge at times. It’s not overly sweet, but the sweetness present is natural. A ready rubbed cut mixture that burns cool, clean and slightly slow with a very consistent flavor from start to finish that also translates to the lightly lingering after taste. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires a little more than an average number of relights. The room note is a little stronger than the after taste. Even though it has a bit of depth and body, it can an all day smoke if you wish.

-JimInks

Was gifted this at my local store as it just came in, and all I can say it is a wonderful blend. A all day smoke, dont have to think about it much, just light it, tamp and go. Came perfect out of the bag. Hints of Cocoa and that Virginia hay smell and taste but they take a back seat to the Burley which I really love. I usually smoke Prince Albert at work on the farm as its a no nonsense blend that one light and you can finish the bowl to ash, well I am thinking of retiring my tub of PA for a minute and buying up more pouches of this fantastic tasting blend. Hopefully we can get this in bulk soon.

i do not use filters in my pipe, and i had no tongue bite at all. smooth as an well aged tobacco. typical natural Burley aroma and not too sweet.

Could this be HH burley flake fully rubbed? It's close, but I think not. Not quite as rich and it has a slight top note I think (molasses or chocolate but light). Mostly smooth and natural tasting. No bite.

Cool, tasty, hint of sweetness, with old fashion burley goodness.

An all day smoke for those that do.

Recommended as one of the best burleys around, pouch or not.

I must say that I did not particularly care for this one. I'm sure it is of good quality Burley which I do enjoy but it had a very sour note which I did not enjoy. This off taste is more than likely just my taste buds and won't affect others so take what I say with a grain of salt.

Pouch smell has a semi-sweet whole grain with dark cocoa, some wood tones and perhaps a tad of molasses. This is similar to HH Burley Flake with a similar but lesser woody notes to the smoke and the addition of the casing makes it a smoother smoke with absolutely no bite. Despite being a burley blend and supposedly some dark-fired leaf added I really didn't notice the nicotine. It's so reminiscent of HH Burley Flake I wish Mac Baren had developed it into something a little more unique. More sweetness would have been to my liking. One could think of this blend as sort of a hybrid between HH and Golden Extra with a bit more sweetness to round out the character more though it is not a sweet tobacco. A straight forward classic style ready-rubbed burley tobacco that should be appreciated by burley aficionados.