Imperial Tobacco Group, PLC Saint Claude

(2.62)

Details

Brand Imperial Tobacco Group, PLC
Blended By Mac Baren
Manufactured By Mac Baren
Blend Type Virginia Based
Contents Kentucky, Virginia
Flavoring
Cut Ribbon
Packaging pouch weight
Country France
Production Currently available

Profile

Strength
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
None Detected
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Tolerable
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming

Average Rating

2.62 / 4
4

10

10

2

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 26 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jun 27, 2014 Strong None Detected Full Pleasant to Tolerable
In France we call this blend type "braun tobacco". I don't know if there's a counterpart word in english. Whatever ! You must smoke this tobacco dryer that an aromatic tobacco or an english blend, so it can developp all his taste. Not too dry anyway, of course. I suggest you to smoke with something to drink if you don't want to have your mouth slurred because of the dryness of the tobacco. The taste is rather strong, but not the nicotine strength. So if you want a "heavy" tobacco without being dizzy, this tobacco is for you. Even if you're a young smoker. To me, this blend type ("braun" or natural) is my every day tobacco. And when I want more sophisticated taste, I turn to english mixtures. If I can smoke it every day, it's because I find it good. So I highly recommend it.
6 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Aug 22, 2009 Medium to Strong None Detected Medium Very Pleasant
St. Claude tastes very similar to Five Brothers. The Virginia presence here though, brings out a bit more tang. I really liked my pouch and would not turn down more. Straight forward, in your face tobacco taste. Ribbon cut and dry in the pouch, it burned quickly and easily from top to bottom. Good stuff!
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Aug 25, 2007 Strong None Detected Full Very Strong
Also brought by French buddies of mine, at the same time as the Caporal and Caporal Export.

This is a more refined and smoother version than the Caporal line, in accordance with some of the other reviewers.

Less acrid and harsh, but still strong, because based on the Scaferlati tobacco. But I managed to finish off the pouch.

I guess I could like it if I smoked it while getting drunk on Calvados: the strong liquor would smooth out the strong bakkie. But I didn't try it.

For those who have hair on their chest only.
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Sep 25, 2016 Strong None Detected Medium to Full Very Strong
My nightmare memento from France. If you're broke and you're looking for some cheap mix of Virginia with cigar leafs then... no, that's still no solution - absolutelly do not buy Saint Claude. Instead of this, get some 10 g pack of Samuel & Gawith's Black XX or Cigar Leaf.

I knew few pipe-smoking beggars who would never try again Saint Claude - that explains a lot about it's low quality.
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 25, 2016 Medium Mild Medium Pleasant
Being in the quest to find the most similar flavor to Gitanes cigarettes but in a pipe tobacco form, came across this blend threw a friend in France.

The Grey Scaferlati being the sharpest strongest ( which by the way resembles the most to Gitanes until now without knowing the Scaferlati Superior, but if anyone points out a better, will be appreciated ) this blend falls in the Brun and Virginia blend category with a little flavorings added being honey I guess. Very similar to the Italia blend from Italy which has more Kentucky ( Fire cured Burley ) as the base. St.Claude has more Brun tobacco ( flue cured or air cured European Burley or Black tobacco) involved here. As someone stated, Drum tobacco at least smells similar but do not remember how they tasted.

Virginia and Brun are noted, sweet nutty and earthy with the honey-ish flavoring enhancing the earth note. Spice is moderate compared to Scaferlati Gris.
Pipe Used: St.Claude
PurchasedFrom: Local
Age When Smoked: 4 months
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 26, 2015 Medium None Detected Medium Strong
Saint Claude is a quite good tobacco, really natural, in line with Caporal Export. Perhaps a little bit more subtle than Caporal Export but with the same character. In fact it is a typical French tobacco (brown tobacco) with Paraguay (cigar leaf) as fundamental element. Nevertheless I am not convinced about it: this blend is a national-popular mixture, good…..but so and so. In my personal system rating (from 1 to 10) my score is 7 and two stars.
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 28, 2013 Very Strong Extremely Mild Very Full Tolerable
I bought a pack of this while in Nice France and I found it to be a very strong, heady blend but full of tobacco flavor and very little additives or flavoring. It is not for the weak of heart but for an experienced smoker like myself (47 years) I found it to be very enjoyable. I like a blend that can be strong yet be enjoyable to smoke and I smoked the pack of this in a very quick time. It does burn fast, but it is very easy to pack and light. I also found it left a strong tobacco aroma on my beard and clothes, not a bother to me but might be to nonsmokers around. The room note is very strong and heavy but still pleasing to me. I bought this in a rollup pack and containing a rough cut khaki brown tobacco with the perfect moisture content. The pouch aroma almost has a Lakeland like aroma but I could not taste this while smoking it. What I did taste was just a full flavored tobacco flavor with a head on it. It does not bite though and it burns quite easily all the way down in my pipe leaving very little moisture or dottle. This was an interesting blend that I wish I had bought more of as I have never seen it in the States. If you are a fan of strong tobaccos, I would highly recommend giving this a try. I enjoyed it very much.
Pipe Used: Briars and Falcons
PurchasedFrom: Tobacco shop in Nice France
Age When Smoked: Right off the shelf
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 25, 2004 Mild to Medium Very Mild Mild to Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
This is the tobacco that a relative of my wife smokes all day, everyday. Along with 3 hour meals, fine wines, alcool de prune (and a chateau in the south of France) I took it that St Claude was part of that French art of living. So the next time I was in France (honeymoon in Paris) of course I picked up a pouch of this! So it is a rather blonde ribon cut. Pouch has indeed a sweetish/honeyish smell, but when smoked, IMHO this is straight tobacco. I feel the urge to compare it to caporal, or st. bruno ready rubbed or even semois, but it is way less robust and strong than those. In fact it is well behaved, no bite, pure tobacco room note ? but not arcid in any way. Ok, it burns fast. But sometimes it is nice to be able to finish a bowl in 30 minutes. So why don?t I smoke this more often? Does the retsina taste as good at home as on holliday in Greece?
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 04, 2023 Medium to Strong Extremely Mild Medium Tolerable to Strong
The Saint-Claude is a typical French tobacco, a brown blend in the old way, it takes the formula of the Caporal, a legendary tobacco, known for having been for a long time the pipe tobacco distributed to the French troops in the army, notably during the first world war. It had lost a lot of quality over the years, associated with the elderly, but I still remember with nostalgia its characteristic smell at my grandfather's house.

Being French and having made my education with tobacco especially English or Balkan, I love the Saint Claude because it is very different from all foreign tobacco and has a strong identity, the virginia is quite discreet to leave room for the Kentucky and a light aroma of Tonqua. The tobaccos are of much better quality than the Corporal while retaining this identity so marked. It is a rustic tobacco in the good sense of the word and quite charged in nicotine.

I strongly recommend it if you are a foreigner and want to learn about French or Belgian tobacco like Semois, because it will not resemble anything you have already tasted.
Pipe Used: Jeantet and MM Washington
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Aug 06, 2021 Strong None Detected Very Full Strong
This cigar leaf-based tobacco is rather strong-tasting and pretty pungent, requiring a little humidifying and curing outside of the bag, but is otherwise an easy and predictable smoke. Other than its name (referring to the famous pipe-making French village), that's probably the reason it is (or was?) the "official" tobacco of the Pipe-Club de France.

Although its nicotine levels are not the highest out there, it certainly has a bit of a kick and its taste is rather full and round, with comparatively little bite. The cigar tobacco is well at the forefront of its aromatic profile, with a very slight sweetness provided by the small proportion of Virginia added to the mix. Will definitely be appreciated by amateurs of lower-end cigars and cigarillos.

As a standalone tobacco, it's pretty mediocre in my opinion. However, I have found it to be one of, if not the best neutral tobacco with which strongly aromatic tobaccos can be mixed (hence the 3-star rating). My personal favorite is a 50-50 mix with the MacBaren Vanilla Loose Cut (called MacBaren Classic in France) or a 40-60 mix with the Chacom n°3 (a heavily black cavendish-based vanilla flavored tobacco). Thoroughly blend the two in a mason jar, humidify lightly and let sit for a couple days – the result is a wonderfully full and extremely easy to light/maintain smoke that I personally use as my everyday morning bowl.
Pipe Used: Chacom The French Pipe n°7, Dr. Plumb Extra
PurchasedFrom: Tabac Le Steir, La Civette
Age When Smoked: A few days after humidification and mixing
1 person found this review helpful.
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