It definitely contains Virginia, but with regard to his perfume, it is much intense that it was impossible for me to precisely say what it contains. I tried to clarify the situation looking up at other reviews. Maple, Caribbean sugar, chocolate liqueur, etc. I did not taste anything of the above, despite only a smoke which is too intensely aromatic and moist that killed my throat and my tongue.

It leaves very beautiful perfume in the room. You can buy it, if you want, as a room deodorant.

Mac Baren keeps on disappointing me completely.

Tobaccos are the same, but the flavoring is even stronger, more complicate with notes of "face powder" (talcum?) over fruits, vanilla and spices.

The smoke is even more creamy and velvety, full bodied. The absence of aggressive notes is absolute. No feel at all of chemical additives.

Cube is another way to think at smoking a pipe. I don't think it coincides with mine, so I will reserve it to some particular moments and a couple of dedicated pipes.

No need to buy further pouches, the two I bought (Silver and Gold), properly stored will serve me for long time.

I usually don't like aromatics, but this is one of the best I have ever smoked, for several reasons:

1) the quality of the leaf is excellent

2) it smokes very regularly, not too fast nor too slow

3) it doesn't produce too much moisture

4) it tastes fresh, sweet and slightly fruity/sour

5) it never gets bitter, unlike other aromatics

6) the flavoring actually complements nicely the tobacco taste (yes, it DOES taste of tobacco, not of flavored cardboard), although it certainly is mild

7) the taste is delicate even if the tobacco feels rather sticky and over-cased at the touch

8) it does not bite at all, on the contrary it's very soft and never aggressive

Sure, it will leave a permanent mark on your pipe because it is VERY flavored. And the room aroma is very intense and sweet, which means that it's a matter of taste (my wife for example doesn't like the smell of very sweet aromatics).

Personally I feel that it's a tobacco that will be appreciated more by experienced smokers who can puff at a relaxed pace and enjoy both the nice fruity/chocolatey flavoring AND the underlying delicate tobacco background. But I would suggest it also to novices because, even if it costs more than the cheaper aromatics, it is actually in a league of its own.

Oh, and a recommendation: pack it loosely, because if pressed too much it tends to clog the bowl!

That was what I had written about the original Cube... and it still does apply to the Gold version. In what does it differ from the original one? Well, quite simply, the Gold is even MORE flavored: in addition to the other aromas (you still can feel the vanilla, the licorice and the chocolate) Mac Baren added a whole truckload of tropical fruits (in particular, I can taste passion fruit). The result is shamelessly fruity: I have never smoked a tobacco which had such an intense and marked sweet taste, at times it truly tastes like you are not smoking a pipe but sipping some tropical fruit juice. Of course this will be shocking to lovers of natural tobaccos, the so-called "Latakia talibans": if you hate added flavorings, stay very clear from this one. If you love plain Virginias or English mixtures and happen to stumble on Cube Gold, arm yourself with crucifixes and holy water because you will find this blend to be devil incarnate. Or, as it happened to me, you might be hooked by this perverted concoction and start smoking it all day long like a drug. Really, I should hate a tobacco like this because it's the antithesis of what I have always loved in pipe smoking. And yet, I like it a lot: it's tasty, it smokes great, it's fun. And I admire its shameless attitude of being 100% pure candy, 100% pure guilty pleasure. Definitely recommended, but with caution!