Mac Baren Club Blend

(2.97)
A roll-cake tobacco, spun from rich, matured Virginia and choice cavendish tobaccos giving Club Blend its medium strength and delightful aroma. Edit: According to Mac Baren's website, Club Blend contains Virginia and Dark Fired Kentucky. Besides maple sugar and water, no additional flavouring is added to the tobacco.
Notes: Introduced in 1955.

Details

Brand Mac Baren
Blended By Mac Baren
Manufactured By Mac Baren
Blend Type Virginia Based
Contents Cavendish, Kentucky, Virginia
Flavoring Other / Misc
Cut Curly Cut
Packaging 100 grams tin weight
Country Denmark
Production Currently available

Profile

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

Average Rating

2.97 / 4
22

31

16

4

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 73 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 06, 2008 Mild Mild Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
Update. Initially underwhelming, this tobacco has gone to the top of my rotation. Spicey marshmallow yum. It IS best in a fairly large bowl, smoked slow.

Actually, I can't say enough good things about this tobacco. It is a Va/Per in disguise, or something. It compares favorably with Escudo - Mac Baren's patented spicey cavendish mimicing a perique-y flavor. It is just slightly sweetened, so if Escudo is a bit medicinal, or "dry" in finish for you, try a tin of club.

I'm hard pressed to pick between this and Dark Twist. If I was ordering 100 lbs of tobacco, club would probably get the nod.




Well, I like Mac Baren stuff, it turns out. Learning to smoke Mac Baren products allows you to enjoy them tremendously, as well as to enjoy other, more forgiving tobaccos more. Mac Baren tobaccos aren't particularly forgiving, and I feel sorry for people who can't get around hot bowls and tongue bite.

If you do slow down, fiddle with the packing, and get these blends to work for you, then they are just magical. The idea of more flavor, more spice, more latakia, etc just down't apply. You are looking for nuances of marshmallow, honey, plums, rum, or whatever, depending on the blend.

Club is pretty straightforward. A little peppery and fairly light and sweet. Nice on a fall day.

I rub the coins right out and dry it just a bit. Then just smoke it real slow. A big bowl of club leaves me very satisfied, but not wobbly, which means there isn't much nicotine, really, because I am fairly sensitive to it.

So, if you hate Roll Cake and Dark Twist, forget this stuff, but if other Mac B products have been enjoyable for you, then by all means, enjoy the coins and enjoy having people watch you rubbing and fiddling and setting up your pipe, old school.
28 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 03, 2014 Mild to Medium Mild Medium to Full Pleasant
Mac Baren - Club Blend.

Lets begin with the opening of it: it has a similar aroma to the dark twist that I find pleasant. The rolls themselves are nicely sized and are very easy to rub out and fill with as they hold just the right amount of moisture.

It’s very easy to light and once lit it does not require many re-lights. The smoke is like a dichotomy between sweetness and spiciness which is very nice and it also doesn't burn too hot. The sweetness is one of maple syrup. I didn't get any bite but different tobaccos bite different people! The smoke is of a nice strength and I can detect the Cavendish in it which I adore! The room note gets much appreciation from all around. It really is pleasurable indeed!

Highly recommended.
Pipe Used: Peterson
PurchasedFrom: Smoke King
Age When Smoked: New
23 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jun 12, 2008 Medium Mild Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
I really gave Club Blend the "old college try." I smoked it in meers, and briars of various size and quality. Only in a large briar -- and only once -- did this tobacco reveal its glory.

But once is not enough. All the other times, Club Blend bit my tongue ferociously.

This tobacco looks great; nice spun coins of golden Virginia with a cavendish center. Smells nice in the tin, too. So, if you are looking for a visually pleasant, nice smelling tobacco, have at it.

Unfortunately, the smoking experience falls far short of its looks and tin aroma.

I enjoy many MacBaren tobaccos, just not this one.

UPDATE: Other reviewers (including Sasquatch) have recommended smoking MacBaren tobaccos very slowly, and drying it out before firing it up. I did so, and what an improvement! Now I smoke this almost daily.

This is a pretty mild Virginia with a cavendish core. As stated by others, it has a nice room note. In fact, my wife commented on how pleasant it smelled, and said it reminded her of roasted marshmallows. I agree, and it tastes somewhat the same!

I was going to wait to update my earlier review until finishing the entire tin...I'm half-way done now. But I thought it best to correct the record at this time. Maybe I will further update my thoughts after completing the tin.

Govern Yourself Accordingly!
15 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 17, 2010 Mild Very Mild Mild Very Pleasant
This for me is an addictive blend. One of the mildest yet tastiest I've smoked. (Disclaimer: I'm not a cigarette-replacing, nic digging perfervid puffer of strong tobacco.) I like subtlety and nuance. And this one is incredibly nuanced. I rub the curly buggers thoroughly, let them sit overnight, and then light them up. It's complex and unpredictable. That I like. Sometimes it's subtle sometimes more in your face, but still complex and nuanced. A sphinx is what it is. The Sphinx of Copenhaguen. The Bloomy Dane. The Danish Relish. You get the idea. Excellent tobacco leaf irradiated with magic. This is from a two year old tin. I have two other tins dated last year. My mouth doesn't feel any untoward aftertaste whatsoever, just a lingering memory of sedate nirvana. No no no no bite whatsoever. Actually, I find it downright soothing. And I've just had four bowls in a 24-hour period, also known as one day. What a creeper baccy. Wait, wait.. where's it going?? Oh, yes. To the top of my rotation list.
12 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 21, 2002 Mild to Medium Mild to Medium Mild to Medium Very Pleasant
Club Blend has a fine taste. Not too much flavoring and does taste like tobacco. The roll cake style makes it a bit of a hassle to rub out and pack, but you will be rewarded by a cool, dry smoke. I say cool, but that is because you must puff slowly for it to remain that way.

I tried this blend in a variety of pipes, and I think it smokes best completely rubbed out in a group 4 size pipe. Keep the burn slow or you may find this blend to nip the tongue. Nothing serious, but you will feel the flame.

Typically top shelf quality by Mac Baren.

Pipestud
10 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 24, 2015 Mild to Medium Very Mild Medium to Full Pleasant
Mac Baren Club Blend Roll Cake – Just a brief confirmation of what’s been said already: Out of the freshly opened tin you might get bite through sugary, honey-like vapor on your tongue.

If you spread it out over night and let it dry a bit and then sip carefully, the experience changes entirely. Roasty, toasty and sometimes earthy tones of the tobaccos accompanied by the typical MB sweetness. The casing is now more discrete and well balanced, together with mild-medium strength and medium-full taste. A filter doesn’t change much, just take 10% off every aspect. A reliable pleasure.

Pick this one, if you really like the MB aroma, the Dark Twist, if you like it a tad more spicy with the sweetness and Stockton, if you prefer it spicy, with less MB aroma.
Pipe Used: Several briars with and without filter
Age When Smoked: fresh, but dehumidified
9 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jun 06, 2004 Mild to Medium Very Mild Mild Pleasant
EXACTLY the same as Dark Twist, except that every slice in the tin has Cavendish in it. Oh yes I forgot.. This little baby is hot as Beelzebub himself! It's impossible to smoke cool, no matter how cautious you are on the puffing. Ageing does not help - I tried stashing a tin for 5 years - no difference at all..

Otherwise, the same taste as Dark Twist (barely detectable notes of Samson Halfzware and burnt toffee)

Why smoke this when you can spare your palate with Dark Twist??

Jakob Kiilerich, Denmark
8 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 04, 2003 Mild Mild Mild Pleasant
If you can taste any difference between this and Dark Twist you've got either a) a scholastic/Talmudic tongue (depending on where you get your talent for minute-infinitesimal-how-many-angels-can-dance-on-the-head-of-a-pin distinctions OR, b) a great imagination.

To my jaded, decadent, illegal-in-Georgia tongue, there is no difference here. It may be simply that "Dark" may seduce some people, whilst making others uncomfortable?who knows? Is the difference in the packaging? A Scandinavian conundrum.

This smolthers pleasantly and sweetly in that quiet Danish way. My problem is that when I see a sliced twist like this, I want THREE NUNS intensity, which this sure ain't got. It also turns a bit stale in the last third of the bowl, as if, instead of fading, it were dying.

Not hateful, but not for me.
8 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 25, 2022 Medium Very Mild Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
The dark fired Kentucky center provides a lot of earth, wood, spice, vegetation, some sweet and sourness, herbs, nuts, floralness, and light smoke as the lead component. The gold Virginia offers some tart and tangy citrus, grassy vegetation, sugar, bread, mild floralness, light sour lemon, and spice along with touches of honey and acidity as a supporting player. The maple sugar very mildly tones down the tobaccos. The strength and taste levels just make the medium mark. The nic-hit is a couple of steps behind. I don’t experience any but or harshness, though I do notice a few rough edges. The coins are mildly moist and ready to smoke. Burns cool, clean and a little slow with a very consistent sweet and spicy, mildly floral flavor that extends the short lived, pleasant after taste. The room note a notch more potent. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires a couple more than an average number of relights. Not quite an all day smoke Three and a half stars.

-JimInks
7 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 23, 2012 Medium Mild Medium Pleasant
I have thoroughly enjoyed both Stockton and Dark Twist Roll Cake and it was only a matter of time before getting to Club Blend. All three of these spun tobaccos are very similar in smoking characteristics and flavor profile. What I like about all of them is the nice "brown sugar-like" taste that each imparts while smoking. No detectible topping like vanilla and the likes, just a nice, sugary sweetness. Couple that simplicity with high quality leaf and you have a very tasty tobacco presence while smoking. If I had to rate these three, I would say that Stockton is the spiciest, Dark Twist the sweetest, and Club Blend in terms of spiciness and sweetness just shadowing the other two in their respective departments. I do not mean to say that Club Blend is a middle of the road blend, but a blend that has the best of both worlds (sweetness and spice) in just the right proportions to make this stand out. I can smoke any of the 3 and be fully satisfied, but if I had to choose only one, it would be Stockton as it's a bit stronger in dark fired taste. By the way, CB did not smoke hot, however it can be a bit nippy. There was no palate irritation and it smoked clean and dry to the bowl's end each and every time. Recommended as a good, dependable smoke.
6 people found this review helpful.
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