To be honest, I absolutely love it. There are a wide range of subtle natural tobacco flavors that are married together and perfectly compliment each other in this aesthetically pleasing blend. It's rich, subtle, and hearty. I find the Virginias make themselves known throughout with their classic sweet saffron aroma and flavor, and the Oriental and Burley adds just the right amount of complexity and hearty woodsy smoke for a full bodied flavor.

This can very well be an all day blend that's easy on the pallet with nothing sharp and intrusive about it. In fact, I plan to move it to the top of my rotation and dedicate a pipe to it if it stays as pleasant as these past few pipe fulls have been.

So far I've found it to burn a little on the hot and wet side, but with surprisingly no tongue bite at all. Perhaps a little patience is needed with this blend, though otherwise I find it easy to manage, and rewarding throughout.

Smoking this blend for the first time was like being reintroduced to a long lost friend.

I hope to never run out of this, and plan to put a good portion away to cellar as well.

...

Update:

Well, I got a little board with this blend smoking it as frequently as I was, so I put it away for a few weeks. I also don't smoke all that often really, and only do when I get a craving to, so for me this wasn't a concern.

Being in the mood for a nice relaxing pipe, I pulled this back out today and was once again surprised by how good this blend is. It seemed to have sweetened considerably in even that short amount of time. A thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Judging by the other reviews here, it seems people either like it allot, or don't care much for it. I personally don't think it's possible to like a tobacco blend more than I like this one, and wish that this site had more stars that I could add to my review. For my tastes, this is easily the best all-around pipe tobacco that I've had the pleasure of smoking.

The Jar: A beautiful porcelain jet black jar with appealing MacBaren branding. It is sealed by a latch top with rubber gasket. The build and quality of finish is very nice and proven durable over the past six months of ownership. It does however not perform nearly to the degree of its aesthetics. The rubber gasket which is designed to compress under the tension of the latch and seal the tobacco into air-tight bliss has not demonstrated a capability to do so. The result is ever drying tobacco. One might be able to find a softer and thicker gasket for better sealing but then again what would be the point. I have since transferred the tobacco into a tried and true latch top jar I purchased at an import store upon Dug's referral. The classy albeit slightly dysfunctional jar now resides in an honorable location in my kitchen where it protects my whole coffee beans.

Tobacco

Eye appeal: This is a beautiful array of ribbon cut tobaccos and visits of a broken VA flake. Easily the most colorful of my open blends you will find ribbons in each spectrum found in the tobacco rainbow. The moisture level was enough to maintain a sponge-like buoyancy without setting off my damp sensors, however I also recommend some open time in the tin or otherwise.

Aroma: Out of the bag the aroma was sweet with an obvious presence of chocolate. If they can find a means to spread this on toast I would bite. While the aroma immediately informed me of flavoring and casing, it is not so much as to land into the oft disgraceful ranks of aromatics. I dedicated a Savinelli professor to the first Twelve bowls and HH MV left no subsequent residue nor evidence as to distract subsequent blends in the pipe.

Pack it: With its long ribbons and broken flakes HH MV is rather fun to pack. Diverse in color, cut, and texture I found the traditional methods of packing better suited than "Frank".

Easily lit, easily smoked: Once allowed to dry lightly HH MV is very easily lit. Given the long ribbons upon applying flame it acts almost as a fire-snake. Don't be surprised if the tobacco reaches more than 1/4" out of your bowl. Upon tamp and second light a few ribbons will continue to try escape like worms from a can. Its a rather fun lil lighting game I have come to appreciate. If you respect the need for slight drying this will be among your easiest blends to maintain, however do not entirely ignore your smoke rate.

Palate: HH MV is a princess. Not a queen. Pretty, fun, simple in her sweetness but best to not be neglected or ignored. I made the mistake of preoccupying myself with something other than her and she bit me so hard I required a week to heal! Never again dear sweet princess.. Upon lighting, the casing immediately affirms the sugars presence. This remains consistent through the first 2/3rds of the bowl. The experience is not entirely manufactured however and the various virginias in their many forms provide a little more body to an otherwise under-developing smoke. Toward the bottom of the bowl the sweet chorus tends to fade and I seldom see the final 15% before reloading or dumping.

If it were not for her ability to bite I believe this would be the epitome of an all day smoke. Not so much character as to fulfill a very specific craving and not so boring as to wonder why you bothered.

I bought a number of tins of this Mature VA upon its release. I did work my way through a first tin, enjoyed it quite a lot, but then decided to cellar the remainder. And recently, some 30 months after I bought it, I cracked open another tin. The pungent vinegar smell (that always turns me off) was still there, but tempered somewhat by time. This packs beautifully; a lovely ribbon cut. The smoking characteristics of this HH Mature VA are really good. It burns so well that I'd bet I could keep a bowl of this going right from the charring light...but, a disclaimer. I find the moisture content too high for my liking. I let it dry for an hour, preferably two. It's a cool, dry smoke. Today, I enjoyed it in my favorite S. Bang 1/4 bent Danish Egg - perhaps a solid Group 5 sized bowl. When I was finished, the pipe cleaner came out almost dry. And that rarely happens with me. Not a hint of bite. Absolutely a mild beginning that blossoms to no more than a medium strength by mid-bowl. My all-time favorite is, and will always be, Full VA flake. This is lighter and with decidedly less nicotine. It makes for a quite nice change of pace. Quality VA leaf, no discernible casing - a wonderful departure for MacBaren - and I give this a solid 3 stars, if not edging towards 3.25. If you like VA's, you really should try this.

Could use a little more nicotine strength for me, but otherwise I can recommend HH to anyone wanting a first Virginia experience or as myself, a change of pace from stronger blends. I like it.

When I packed and lighted a bowl of this tobacco, there wasn't any hint of the pungent aroma but instead a there was a spicy bite with a hint of sweetness. Unlike the aromatics I've smoked before, there was not a strong heady flavour but a more subtle honey-like taste intermingled with the smoke. The tobacco was fairly well behaved as tongue bite was virtually non-existent.

Despite the recent spate of mediocre reviews, I would definitely recommend HH Mature Virginia. I smoke Full Virgina Flake as well and find that HH Mature Virginia is sweeter but not as spicy or strong. For a fuller smoke, FVF is the better choice. For those times I want something lighter, HHMV is preferred.

Update: the second tin of this blend seems even blander and more boring than the first. Not bad or offensive, but doesn't make me want to smoke it... I guess I won't buy it again.

"Mature Virginia is a Virginia based blend, but it has some Oriental, a little bit of Kentucky and the only top flavor is a little bit of red wine balsamic."

It's a superb blend all Virginia fans should consider cellaring.

After accidently leaving the lid off of my tin for over an hour, I rubbed out this blend and gave it another shot. What I found was that it killed the bite I mentioned before. I should have also mentioned that I was first smoking this blend out of a relatively new molina pipe. I still found this blend to be pretty one-dimensional, but at least now I won't have to ebay my remaining 3 ounces. Sorry for the 1st review

I just can't get into HH. I've tried a few times now, and it just doesn't get my attention like FVF. It seems to me too uni-dimensional, and just not very rich on flavor. I will let the rest of the tin rest for a few months and see what happens...

I still have half a tin left that I?ll continue to sample, and if I change my current thought, I?ll update my review. I need to consume at least 50 grams to give a fair opinion, so I'll press on.