Mac Baren - HH Vintage Syrian pipe tobacco reviews

Review

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Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
Showing reviews 1 through 20 of 131 reviews of this tobacco NEXT >
William H. Hardy	05/14/2013	Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Strong
You know, this one is a bit of a mystery to me. When I first received the tin and smoked it for the first few times, I thought it was great. After I got to about the bottom half of the tin, I started to loathe it. The flavors, at first, were all fantastic, initially, and I enjoyed it immensely. I suppose that after a while, my tastes started changing and it began to just taste like mud to me. I have liked 3 Oaks Syrian, Gordon Pym, and others with Syrian Latakia a lot, so I cannot really explain this, except that, halfway through the tin, my tastes changed. Strangest thing...
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tleek	05/07/2013	Medium	None detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable
Very good english blend. Full flavored but very smooth and well balanced. Definitely a lot of latakia in this one, but the other tobaccos compliment it greatly, and the syrian latakia is a lot more smooth and creamy than Cyprian. Very smoking barbeque type flavor, with a subtle sweetness. Definitely worth a try.
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Smoke	05/01/2013	Medium to Strong	None detected	Full	Very Pleasant
Smoking after two days of tin being poped seemed to help settle the flavors. Full bodied english, the latakia gives a nice cocoa taste.
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pacman357	02/17/2013	Medium	None detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
One of the finer Lat blends available, IMHO. I liked it so much, I bought the company. Well, actually, I bought a whole bunch more of it, which I imagine was more within my reach financially. If I could change one thing about this blend...well, I wouldn't change anything. Complex, more than a token amount of Lat in it, and the other support characters fit in quite nicely.
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Phonomet	01/17/2013	Mild to Medium	None detected	Medium	Tolerable
This is a nice smoky latakia blend, more savory than sweet. The supporting actor is the dark fired Kentucky which gives it a bar-b-que or chipotle smokiness. Won't overwhelm your taste buds but won't disappoint.
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MerleDixon	10/16/2012	Medium to Strong	Medium to Strong	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

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Scott	06/18/2012	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
This is not the best Syrian blend I've ever had, (G.L.P.), so I can't give it 4 stars... But it's a damn good one. Works best in my medium to large bowled Lovat's and it takes nicely to relights. It's a rich, spicy and satisfying smoke that keeps me reaching for it more and more. I look forward to it coming up in the rotation and have a couple of those aforementioned pipes waiting for it when it does. It will bite if pushed but it kinda demands a slow cool smoke. If you keep it there, it's just solid beginning to end.
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SouthBound	05/06/2012	Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Tolerable
I've been smoking mostly Lat-bombs lately, so that my have influenced my "Mild to Medium" rating. This is not a powerhouse blend, but it is one of the best Latakia blends I've smoked to date. The smoke is smooth and creamy with perfect touch of spice coming through as the bowl progressed. Every now and then, I got a whiff of Dark Fired in the sidestream, but I didn't detect it in the snork. I pushed it pretty hard toward the end with no McBite. This is one excellent smoke. I will definitely stock up on it next payday. Update: After finishing a tin, the luster has faded from this one for me. I still enjoy it, but many other English blends have come along that wowed me more than this one. It's still a good smoke, but I don't think I'll stock up on it. For all of that, I'll move my rating down a notch. 3 solid stars.
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Hurrian	04/22/2012	Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Tolerable

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Mr. Big	04/17/2012	Mild to Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
Opened my tin about a year ago and resealed it and just gave it a retry. Boy , I know that this drum has been beat before , but once again Mac-BITE. I really tried to give this a sip but the spice grows and grows and the tongue gets raw. The flavor is good with the typical light Mac's Latikia, and it is nothing to get excited about. I really don't know why I would buy this again. This is an all day smoke, if you only have a 1/2 a bowl per day!!!!!
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gladi8tor96	04/13/2012	Medium	None detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

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barneco	02/12/2012	Medium to Strong	None detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
I find this a pleasing smoke, overall. However, I doubt it will be a regular for me. I really enjoy Latakia, and this blend delivers. The Latakia is definitely the star of the show. The orientals also play a significant, but not overwhelming, role. I find that the VA rounds it out and adds just the slightest amount of sweetness. This works really well with the spicy oriental and gives an overall rich, complex smoke. I don't detect the Kentucky. The burn is great. It was dry enough to smoke immediately from the pouch and required minimal relights. Doesn't burn too hot and is fairly forgiving on your chosen smoking speed. I do get a fair bit of bite from this blend, regardless of how I smoke it. I also get a fairly significant amount of nicotine from this blend. I prefer less noticable presence, so these two factors will likely prevent me from picking this one up as a regular.
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pjorge1036	01/28/2012	Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Tolerable
I was gifted a sample pouch two years ago and this is the first time trying it. The pouch aroma was smoky and very pleasant. I packed a bowl in a pipe with a giant 2 1/8" bowl and fired it up. while charring tobacco I got a tingling sensation at the tip of my tongue that disappeared after a few minutes into the smoke. A nice smoky, peppery, flavour with a subtle sweetness was present from the start. The Syrian Latakia was not overpowering at all. The Virginia, Kentucky and oriental leafs were well balanced, each one complimenting the others. There was a creamy, maybe even soapy flavour detected with a little spiciness present. I was able to smoke the entire bowl with only 2 relights, not bad considering the size of the bowl. in conclusion this was aa easy to smoke satisfying blend with a pleasant to me tolerable to others room note and no bite.
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alpyesilay	11/19/2011	Mild to Medium	Very Mild	Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
Perfect Latakia Blend.
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under the arbor	11/03/2011	Medium	None detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant
Is there something "finer" about Syrian Latakia versus others or is it just me? We're too early into the can to tell if this will unseat my London Mixture for the "leadoff position". I must say though it does have some bite which is more like "My Mixture 965" than the Dunhill [Orlik] London Mix, but time will tell. The jury's out on the room note as the boss is still at work at the time of this writing. To date, MacBaren has yet to disappoint; Navy Flake, Scottish Mixture, Navy Mixture, etc. are quite fine, not everyday for my taste, but fine notwithstanding. I'm waiting on my Westminster and British Woods tins to arrive and can only say they'll have some work to do in order to bump this out of the three hole. By the bye, the two hole currently belongs to Arcadia.
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ROBERT	10/29/2011	Mild to Medium	Medium	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
this is a good blend to just sit back and enjoy while you are alone and day dreaming
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Fofo	09/27/2011	Mild to Medium	None detected	Very Mild	Tolerable
Not horrible by any means but not something I'd buy again. As far as English/Balkans go this stuff is too bland tasting and the blend seems to rely solely on aroma. I like the aroma, very leathery and woodsy, but I expect more flavor from a Balkan. Also, while I don't often experience tongue bite, this is one of the blends I find needs to be smoked carefully otherwise it does bite. Seems like this is tailored more for the Danish who, while they are fine cigar smokers, tend to favor bland pipe blends for reasons I don't understand. If your English/Balkan tastes run more along the lines of Dunhill, GL Pease, Esoterica, and such then I doubt you will find this blend satisfying.
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Hunter	07/22/2011	Medium	Very Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
Significant but not overpowering Latakia. At the tin I thought this was going to knock my socks off. I was pleasantly surprised. This is a smooth, rich satisfying smoke. Packs well, stays lit and burns relatively cleanly. Wife says it is pleasant in the room. This is a good go-to blend.
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The German	07/03/2011	Mild	None detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable
Opening the tin, the Latakia is noticeable, but very restrained. I can smell the Orientals in there immediately. The leaf is mixed brown to dark brown, with the occasional yellow highlight. The moisture level was perfect in the tin I got. Stuffing, lighting, maintenance are all easy, and this blend burns down without any relights, no condensation at all, and the remains are the promised bright, somewhat mottled ashes. This is a mild Balkan blend IMHO; the Latakia does define the taste to a certain degree, but the Orientals also come through with a touch of spice from the DFK. Beautiful all-day smoke that needs little maintenance or thought and is quite pleasant.
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Arash	05/23/2011	Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Tolerable

Showing reviews 1 through 20 of 131 reviews of this tobacco NEXT >