Mac Baren Golden Extra

The burleys offer earth, wood, nuts with light sharp notes, molasses and a lightly more obvious chocolate as the lead component. The Virginia provides a bit of grass, tart and tangy citrus, and light bread and sugar as a secondary player. It acts mainly as a cooling base to contrast and smooth out the burleys. The mild honey comes from the Virginia. The chocolate and sugar toppings tone down the tobaccos just a little. The strength is mild, and the taste is a couple of steps past that mark. Has very little nicotine. It needs to be puffed moderately to avoid a slight warmness to the tongue, but it won't bite. Has a few minute rough edges. Burns fairly cool and clean at a reasonable pace with a very consistent flavor. Leaves virtually no moisture in the bowl. Requires an average number of relights. An uncomplicated all day smoke that does the job you require with a short lived, pleasant after taste and room note. Three and a half stars.

-JimInks

This is a great blend ! It's a toasty Burley flavor . Many a Burley is woody [ and I like those ] or nutty [ and I like those too ] .. But MB GE ends where many Burley blends either start or are at mid way or so . Its a straight on burley flavor that is milder than most with the added honey /water combo that MB adds to most all their blends , which equates to a little sweetness but not an aromatic in any way . It's a burley that anyone can smoke . The quality of leaf is excellent . It's a breeze to light and keep lit [ I twist it once in my palm is all ] and is a ready rub type broken flake . The room note screams pipe and is pleasant and it wont bite unless you are a spaz . It doesnt get bitter .... ever . As far as Burley blends go , it's top quality all day everyday blend . It's my Go To for a good while now ... I'd give it 5 stars if I could

The Golden Extra tastes like a basic burley with a little Virginia in it for character, and it is slightly sweet. It tastes to me like this is the Virginia in the flavor profile and not a topping. I can still taste the burley, and I liked this blend. If Carter Hall hits a single note well, Golden Extra hits two, so it is not THAT complex. It is a good, basic smoke in the same camp as Old Companion. It was a slow, cool smoke for me with no tendency to burn hot. It was easy to keep lit.

Edit 9/18/14: When I finished this, I bought a pound of it. This is a solid "all-day" smoke that satisfies and has a great rtoom note.

Mac Baren-Golden Extra. Fantastic!

I fail to see how any true piper couldn't feel enchanted by the natural aroma from this. It smells like a blend of consummate class. Natural and untainted.

My pouch contains mostly broken flakes (I bought a pouch not a tin). Big enough to still require rubbing or can still be sort of folded.

From the pouch it's smokable but if given a few days once the seal's been broken it becomes perfect. Either way, I adore the smoke!

I get no nuances of underlying flavours. What I do get is a superb smoke that's pretty heavy with Burley. The Burley accounts for most of the flavour. I only get a very slight Virginia taste. It's a Burley lovers delight!!

The nicotine seems fairly present. It's not over the top but it stills airs towards strong though!

The burn is good; I started a bowl whilst writing this and haven't had to re-light it once!

This is a superb blend. Brilliant. Four stars.

Golden Extra is one of those long-standing blends that has not only staying power, but a unique flavor presentation that stirs the palate. Nice specially cask fermented Burley with some Virginia woven in, the leaf is then pressed and married before breaking up into flakes. I don't believe there is any added flavoring in this one, just the deep, rich cask Burley presenting itself in a sort of dark chocolate sort of way. Really good stuff!

I'm predominently a Burley smoker or Burley-Virginia, and have been for over 20 years. This tobacco is billed as Virginia/Burley but it's predominently Burley. It satisfies every description of true Burley tobacco. I suspect the Virginia component is less than ten percent and simply adds a bit of sweetness that compliments the blend. And unlike some of the MB blends, there is little to no bite. Once you smoke a third of the way down the bowl, it's deeper and richer then one would expect from the description. Some have described it as bland but if you're a Burley smoker, I think you'll find this a pleasant and enjoyable smoke. There's no need to go into a lengthy description of smoking and other qualities - there's plenty of that here. Highly recommended.

This is called "Golden Blend" if you buy the tinned product and "Golden Extra" if you buy it in bulk, which I did, and which is why my review is here instead of under Golden Blend. It *used* to be named Golden Extra in the tin. I'm also reviewing Symphony, which is what it's named in bulk but it's Harmony in the tin... currently. It used to be Symphony in the tin. What's next - a bulk version of Roll Cake named Royal Twist???? Who understands this stuff? Not me!

Anyway, about this tobacco... this is a fairly dry tasting straight burley that smokes cool and is extremely monodimensional. I taste just a bit of the typical Mac Baren sweetness and a surprising lack of nuttiness to the burley. I find it interesting that Mac Baren has such a reputation for blending tobaccos that produce tongue bite. I couldn't get this one to bite unless I puffed furiously... and I should note here that I smoke all tobaccos with varying degrees of puffing speed to see how they behave in all situations. Even a fairly fast puffer should be able to smoke this one without peril. However, smoked very fast, it will bite and it will also give off a bit of a soapy flavor as the tobacco cells burst too quickly. But who smokes like a Hoover, anyway?

To keep my ratings consistent, I gave this a "somewhat recommended" because I personally found it too bland to smoke on even a semi-regular basis. But I also found it a very genial and cool smoke with a nice breadth of earthiness and something that could be smoked all day by someone who just wants a good honest tobacco taste with a touch of sweetness. I think Mac Baren did a good job with this one. If you like straight burley, increase my rating to at least "recommended" because I think you'll like it!

This is a really nice smoke. Starts with a nice taste of Burley. Nutty with a little earth. As the bowl progresses the Golden Virginias make themselves known and continue in strength until a balance with the Burley is achieved. At that point the flavor is heavenly. The Virginias are sweet with a touch of citrus and hay. A really fine smoke that gives you plenty of both components.

Mild to medium in body and flavor. Burns perfectly. No bite.

A pleasant new surprise to me. I took advantage of a sale on Mac Baren bulk and got five 1-2 oz. samples. (I'll eventually review all of them.) Golden Extra was the first I tried.

For starters, I'm not as crazy about Burley-heavy blends as I am about Virginia and English/Balkan blends, but I thought I'd try this first among the Mac Baren selection. I did not regret that first smoke, not one bit!

Something about this blend strikes me as very well-balanced: perfect moisture content (straight out of the bag, fresh from delivery), stayed lit beautifully, never smoked too hot (still getting the hang of a more deliberate cadence), consistent flavor all the way to the bottom. What more can you ask from your pipe tobacco?

I'll also note that the casing additives are applied quite conservatively: I was never bowled over by chocolate or vanilla. Something about this -- it's probably the quality or amount of Burley, plus the high quality Virginia -- that reminded me a bit of John Marr. Enjoyed that tin very much, but sorry C&D, Golden Extra was more approachable and repeatable.

Highly recommended if you like Burley even just a little bit, or if you want to try a solid, approachable Burley blend.

I believe in a balanced diet. To get my minimum daily requirement of burley, I smoke Mac Baren Golden Extra.

But there are lots of burleys out there ... why Golden Extra? That's easy. Because it reminds me of an old sentimental favorite: Amphora Regular Cavendish, in the brown packet.

Golden Extra is the most refined burley I've ever smoked: mild and soft with absolutely no trace of harshness. In fact, Golden Extra is SO refined that it took me close to half a tin before all those exquisite subtle flavors and aromas began to emerge. I kept at it because GE was a satisfying smoke from the get go.

The room note blows me away: the natural wholesome fragrance of burley pipe tobacco with its faint suggestion of roasted hazelnuts, chocolate, and cocoa powder.

Golden Extra is a slow burning, coarse cut tobacco. I would suggest NOT rubbing it out. The chunky broken flake pieces burn beautifully right out of the tin. Two initial lights are sufficient, in my experience, to get it to smolder effortlessly and fragrantly all the way to the bottom.