Mac Baren Halberg Green

Presented within one of the classiest boxes ever designed for a tobacco product, it's mild with an extremely gentle, but full explosion of fruit flavor. The grassy Virginias, and toasted, nutty sweet burleys more or less take a back seat to the fruity, light citrus, and berry taste of this ribbon and cross-cut blend. The Virginias may add a little of the citrus, though I think it mainly comes more from the topping. An essence of cherry adds to the complex fruit profile, also including a bare hint of vanilla, and an occasional tart note. Smooth and creamy, burns cool, clean, even, and slow without a hint of a chemical taste and a very consistent flavor. Won't bite and has little nicotine. Leaves a little moisture in the bowl, but no dottle. Has a very pleasant after taste. In some ways, it's a better, more complex, deeper tasting, less floral, smoother version of Amphora Red.

-JimInks

Wow. What a great blend. How good, you might ask? My wife volunteered that she loved the smell. Now THAT is really saying something.

You can't really review this tobacco without mentioning the presentation. It deserves 4 stars for that alone. Imagine a pair of high-end sunglasses...a handsome box with a faux-leather interior case that houses a foil bag. It is truly a sight to behold.

Upon opening the bag, you are met with a very dramatic aroma. It is definitely difficult to nail down. It seems to rest somewhere between blackberries, grapes, and red vine licorice. Extremely pleasant. It could use a little bit of drying time, but not too much. Considering how aromatic it is, it is surprisingly not goopy. Whats more, the flavor and aroma of it while smoked is incredibly similar to the "tin" smell. Very nice.

This is a fantastic tobacco for those who love aromatics. Unlike a lot of aromatics, it seems to be of the highest quality, both in tobacco and toppings. It truly is a dessert to enjoy after a meal.

If you like aromatic and particularly fruity tobaccos, this is a great treat. You do yourself a disservice by ignoring this blend.

I just recently finished up a generous sample of this I got a few years back and I liked this alright, but not as much as I liked the Halberg Red. I will say this, that in contrast to the aromatic I just reviewed before this, the topping seemed as strong as the day I jarred it. The topping also stayed with you from beginning to the end of the smoke albeit with less intensity as it reached ash.

The leaf is high quality as would be expected from Mac Baren, but it is not highly perceptible as the topping is pretty strong. The topping itself kind of reminds me of a sour apple jolly rancher, which is probably my favorite hard candy to eat. It is alright to smoke, but I wasn't raving over it. Sometimes it really hit the spot and other times it was just too sweet for me. In any case, I think heavy aromatic smokers could easily put four stars on this blend and I will put three on it since it delivers as a good aro should.

This is a lovely aromatic offering from MB. very similar to my taste to Sillem's Blue. I am going to conduct a side by side taste test to see the differences, but at present they seem very similar. That is not a bad thing at all, because in my estimation the Sillem's line of aromatics are simply the best european style aromatics available.

You can readily see the VA's here in the blend with nice chunks of broken flake and cavendish. The box aroma is wonderful and I smell berries and vanilla. It requires some drying to get the best experience as it is somewhat moist. It dries readily, however, due the high quality and lack of PG, and is ready to go in 15 in 20 minutes (this is from a very newly opened bag). It is a chunky ribbon cut with broken flakes, and it packs nicely in a medium to largish sized bowl.

It takes a little effort to get going, but once it takes a char it burns steadily. It opens with VA and fruity spice. I get a lot of lime personally, and the fruit is nowhere near as prevalent in the bowl as in the bag. The flavor is medium in body, with a spicy citrus element. It does not bite unless puffed far too quickly (which after 30 years of pipe smoking remains a bad habit of mine) but really opens up and becomes very pleasant and tasty when smoked slowly. There is no real nicotine to speak of, and the flavor remains consistent throughout the bowl.

I need to smoke this more to get a better handle on it, and may upgrade it to 4 stars after I do so, and compare it to Sillem's Blue. It burns a little hotter and requires more attention than the 7 Sea's american style aromatics. This is a good blend to practice your slow smoking with, because while it does not bite generally, you can experience immediate feedback and rewards if you slow down. Very nice, and definitely among the finest aromatics available from anyone.

This one was offered by a friend of mine and I liked it very much as it was burning too smooth, with no effort! I have carried the sample in my bag for quite some time and tasted it when I felt like smoking but didn't have the energy for a challenging tobacco. It looks really interesting, you can see all different cuts. Cake pieces look promising but in the end, it is just another aromatic tobacco by Mac Baren. Well prepared, excellently packaged but doesn't feel like smoking.

Great presentation with this blend. The tobacco comes in a nice bag, and is pretty nice, moisture-wise. It could use a little drying time fresh, but its good none-the-less. In the bag, it smells to me of chocolate and dried cherries and cranberries, and my girlfriend agreed. The taste is similar, with the cherry/cranberry flavor dominating. About mid-way through, I started tasting the actual tobacco, which is very rare with an aromatic. The room note is excellent, and really hangs in the room. The blend burns cool, but can bit a bit bitey i pushed...especially when fresh. This is an excellent blend.

Edit: I smoked this blend last night around 9pm. Today, at about 2pm, I can still pick up the aroma of this blend in the room. It has a definite lasting aroma...and that isn't necessarily a bad thing...

Are you looking for an aromatic tobacco that has the same taste as the smell from the tin? Then Halberg Green is for you. The smell from the foil bag is very delicious, there are at least four different fruity flavors that come out, it's like a fruit cocktail with maybe a hint of mint. It's hard to single out just one flavor. It's like trying to describe what you smell when stew is cooking on a stove top. The fruity taste and the tobacco are both present throughout the bowl. This is a truly aromatic blend. Again, tastes just like it smells. The tobacco burns well right out of the foil package but tends to build up moister towards the last part of the bowl giving the smoke a somewhat bad taste. Drying out the tobacco a little before smoking is a big plus. Halberg Green is the standard in which all aromatics should be based. Good quality tobacco, great room note and excellent taste.

The Virginia really stands out in this blend and the casing is mild enough to let it do so while still providing a wonderful citrus room note. The tobacco was not too moist, ready to smoke. Burns to nice white ash. A first rate smoke in a class by itself!

whelp... I hate to go against the general consensus here, but I really found this just way too aromatic and cloyingly so. I know McB is proud of this series, and this is the only ive tried, but Id lean toward the 7 Seas series before this. Mild nic...almost none....tons of flavor if you like fruit salad. But thats just me....some, clearly, disagree and it might be something aromatic smokers looking for a mild flavorful blend will love. I just didnt.

The pouch note is intensely fruity and nears the realm of artificial grape (a la Purple Passion). The initial light and first few puffs confirm the pouch note, but soon calm down to a pleasant, but sweet, fruity flavor. Although it still hints at "grape," the MacBaren base flavor of real tobacco is very present. It offers no tongue bite, burns clean, and doesn't fatigue the tongue. The flavor and sweetness are consistent throughout the bowl and provide the same excellent aromatic qualities that Kohlhase and Kopp blended aromatics (in my experience) are known for.

The room note, I've been told, is strange, but not unpleasant. The nicotine level is a shade above mild. In the realm of aromatics, this is a fine one and well worth trying.