Not actually bad (but it can get slightly sour), but you really have to like such a combination.

Me, I think I'll restrain from buying it again after this tin...

I am somewhat partial to Mac Baren offerings, and have enjoyed smoking this blend. A litle sharp on the tongue at initial light, it settles down to a lovely honey-on-toast flavour. Ideal when one is concentrating on something else like watching a cricket match or some such. An automatic recommendation for the lovers of aromatics in the Danish tradition, but well worth trying by others as well.

I celebrate the fact that the casing in Mixture Aromatic does manage to obliterate the infamous ?raw-fish? undertone sometimes present in the traditional Mixture, but the price is too high, for it also obliterates whatever tobacco nuance there could be underneath this heavy coating of vanilla.

Some reviewers have suggested---and I think they are right---that ready rubbed Mac Barens should be packed in a slightly loose fashion, a trick that greatly diminishes their pit-bull biting proclivity. The suggestion definitely applies to Mixture Aromatic, and it should be complemented with a conscious effort of smoking it very slowly.

I wouldn't go to the extreme of saying this is unsmokable. I guess if you are an aromatic fan, and like a lot of sugary vanilla, this blend might just be what you are looking for. Personally, I prefer the original Mixture, and as far as light aromatic Mac Barens go, I would chose Golden Ambrosia or Virginia Flake. In fact this Mac Baren is closer to Peterson's new line of heavily aromatic blends (De Luxe Mixture comes to mind), than it is to other Mac Barens, except, perhaps, for Vanilla Cream.

This blend reminds me very much of Mac Baren Vanilla Cream. It has that same butter cookie flavor, the same smoothness, the same lack of bite, the same excellent cut and burning characteristics. True to the name, though, this is a much milder version of the standard Mac Baren flavor--so mild, in fact, that it sometimes verges on neutral in taste.

Although I prefer Mac Baren Navy Flake and Vanilla Cream for their fuller flavor, this is an excellent smoke and one that a person could smoke all day, every day, without much damage to either tongue or palate. As with most Mac Baren blends, there is not a lot of development to this smoke, but what's here is very pleasant and would probably go over well even with non-smokers. It goes without saying that this blend is a quantum leap up from the average drugstore aromatic--no wetness, no goop, no bite, just a nice, smooth, mild, pleasant flavor that one could smoke endlessly. In the hundred-gram tin, this stuff is a pretty good bargain, too.

----

After smoking a great deal of Mixture Mild recently, I note that it suffers from the Burley curse, having a tendency to turn bitter in the last third of the bowl. This turn is subtle--nothing like the bitterness of a really bad Burley--but it's enough to keep me from buying more, so I've downgraded MMM to "might try it again..."

Let's say that one's been driving all morning in a very warm day in Provence. One is hot and hungry. One has lunch. A simple, light, scrumptious tarte aux poivrons prodigally washed down with some chilled, light rosé of no particular consequence, which, none-the-less, tastes just wonderful.

That is how I sometimes feel about certain aromatics: I disapprove of them on principle, they would never do, perhaps, in a Boston withdrawing-room, but, given the right setting?hot weather, mainly; also lack of something better?ah, men!?I can enjoy them. They are never very demanding, and their lightweight amiability?like that of "guzzling" wine?can actually be refreshing. Of course, there are aromatics and aromatics. Some are simply shocking. But some are fine, and have their place.

Mac Baren's Mixture Mild is A Fine Aromatic. It tastes clean, has a gentle tobacco base to the taste, and the sweetener is not over-the-top. It actually got almost intense, first in a corncob, then in a Savinelli Autograph. It burnt non-goopy and cool, too, with the gentlest spiciness.

In a pinch, I could smoke this uncomplicated Danish-style blend without regret. If that sounds back-handed, it isn't meant to be. I'll take some to Antibes next year. The beach combers will love it.