Barclay-Rex Maravilla

Not exactly a wonder! This is a flavored blend (aromatic if you prefer), but nothing special. The composition is Red Virginia, Golden Cavendish, Black Cavendish and a good presence of additives and flavoring substances. Unfortunately, all chemical and nothing natural. I do not detect any Burley and even if there is a little bit, it is completely irrelevant. Opening the pouch, the smell is sweet, pleasant, something like toffee. The taste? Pleasant? Maybe, but it is not such a marvel. In my opinion Maravilla could be an all-day smoke but only for aromatic blends’ lovers. That’s all: nothing crappy but nothing special. In my personal rating system (from 1 to 10) my score is 5 and two stars (not quite deserved).

I am a newbie. This was the first pipe tobacco I smoked. I was previously a cigarette smoker, stopped! I notice that the reviews are from 2009. I think they may have changed the blending/topping. I bought 2oz and it has all been good. Not wet. Lights fairly well. A full bowl smokes well from top to bottom. UPDATE: smoking some in my Rattray pipe... needs a lot of relighting

Nice cavendish and burley blend. I like it when I want something sweeter than my English blends I usually smoke. Leaves a beautiful room note which is why I probably smoke it when people are around. It is a bit too soppy for me and eventually burns hot and wet.

I purchased this from their B&M store in NYC during a recent trip, on the recommendation of one of their employees.

I suppose This is a tobacco I really want to like, but it isn't living up to my expectations. First off all, the pouch aroma is very sweet, and the tobacco is very moist. After a few days of drying, is it still sweet and somewhat moist. It packs well enough and lights, but I'm having trouble keeping it lit. It smokes wet, and can get hot. Frustratingly, I get the best flavor when I smoke it very warm, about 2 puffs shy of having to set the pipe down to cool. The tobacco flavor comes thru nicely, and when warm the toping comews close to matching the pouch scent, but I can't maintain it.

I'm setting it aside for now, and will dry it out some more later, to see if I can get it to behave better. In the mean time I have plenty more brands and blends to sample. This is 2.5 stars for me. If I can get it to behave, I'll move it to three stars, but if it continues to smoke like it is now, I'll drop it to 2 stars.

I bought this when i had a 5 hour layover at JFK, I asked the guy whom i bought a pipe from, what's you most popular tobacco and he gave me a 2 oz pack of Maravilla. It smelled sweet and pleasant.

I couldn't wait to get to my destination to light up a bowlfull of my new great smelling tobacco.

It tasted really good for the first 2/3 of the bowl, then I toss out the soggy wet tobacco. Not sure why this blend does this...sorta weird.

But to me I enjoy smoking Maravilla and will contine to have this in my Pipe tobacco rotation.

This tobacco was a gift from an employer who didn't seem to like the smell of my non-aromatic blends. It had been given to him by his son who had visited one of the Barclay Rex shops. He had owned it for over a year before passing it on to me. He assured me that this tobacco would smell ?better? than my VA?s or Balkans.

I really don?t have specific knowledge of the age of this particular sample, other than I?ve owned it for perhaps 8 months and the previous owner had it for over a year. I don?t have any first hand knowledge of Barclay Rex other than by reputation. They are supposed to be a premium tobacconist in NYC. I have no idea how they blend, if they blend, or if their tobaccos are renamed Lane or Consolidated tobaccos.

Appearance: Mostly ribbon cut bright and reddish Virginia and toasted Cavendish. The tobaccoreviews.com description says it contains ?not much burley? and I really can?t visually detect any. Even after over 1 ½ years in a Barclay Rex zip lock baggie, it is still moist to the touch (danger Will Robinson). The cut is fairly uniform and pleasant enough to look at, from yellowish flakes through browns to nearly black.

Tin aroma: This blend smells like it is mostly topped (cased) with vanilla, though there are other components that I?m unable to properly identify. It smells rather odd, perhaps Brandy or Rum, hard to say. There is also an odd ?chemical smell? to it PG or some other humectants? The over all tobacco smell is of perfumed Cavendish, very little of the Virginia and none of the Burley come through.

This stuff packs easily but watch it, like other goopy aromatics, you can easily pack it too tight. Lighting is about what you might expect for a ?goopy aromatic? it takes several applications of flame to really get it burning evenly. After the first tamp, you should be well on your way to mediocrity. Initial flavor is of vanilla ? maple casing with as yet unidentifiable other components, with toasted Cavendish being the main tobacco player.

Mid Bowl: This turns out to be a fairly pleasant smoke about mid-bowl. The humectants and casing agents settle down and some of the Virginia and Burley start coming through. The aromatic properties never truly go away and being a very moist tobacco, I?ve found that I generally soil 2-3 pipe cleaners getting to the bottom of this blend. The Room Note seems pleasant enough, for your non smoking friends. My LSW reports that it smells ?better? than most of my smokes, but not as good as Evening Stroll by Benjamin Hartwell.

Home Stretch: The mid-bowl glory has faded considerably, and this is becoming too muddled. Where many blends are truly coming ?into their own? here we descend into pipe madness and muddy aromatic confusion. No single components stand out anymore and an odd chemical taste (as smelled in the tin aroma) is becoming pronounced. Eventually this becomes a goopy un-light able mess of dottle.

Supplemental Notes: I have had this particular sample (perhaps 2 ounces) for 8 months and have smoked it at least 1 dozen times in various pipes. The result is nearly always the same; I enjoy maybe 10-15 minutes at mid-bowl and end up with about 1/5 of a bowl of goopy dottle. I also get the added benefit of having to thoroughly clean the pipe afterward, to insure that my next bowl does not taste like Marvilla. Rating for those interested in numbers 1/2 * (1/2 a star)

Kilted1