Vanilla, caramel, toffee, popcorn, gummy bears....I must be in a candy store judging by the taste this blend imparted on other reviewers buds. I have not smoked aromatics for more than 40 years so I thought I'd give it a try. Its' sweetness was just too overpowering for me.I also tasted this blend for days.

Not a total loss!! The 100g box holds paper clips real good!!!!

The first time I tried it I couldn't finish the bowl. God, it has a lot of flavoring added! I never was much for cherry/berry flavoring to begin with, but this was overload.

2nd time I finished the bowl but didn't really enjoy it - just tolerated it. I really try to like the tobaccos I buy. I figure Henrik put effort into creating this mixture so I should do my best to give it a shot.

3rd time a charm? No. Hey, I do get it......lots of different tobacco flavors coming at you.... get you to think about the eclectic mix......but alas, I don't like it. I really wish I could.

I will give it another try and see what happens..................

To be continued...............................

UPDATE: How I didn't know what to do with this tobacco I had the stupid idea of mixturing it with other tobaccos that I couldn't smoke. Now the problem is bigger: the mixture of all of them is so strange and nasty that I am not able to smell it. I think that with this cube Mac Baren I have got a very interesting food for my chickens...

And the package is so elegant that it will be my jar for the pencils on my desktop...

Definitively, I am hoping for a Full Virginia Flake and other similar tobaccos order. I wish to forget this cube (and my 10 ? that I paided for it!!). Best Regards.

UPDATE 07/17/2008: I have tried, once more, to smoke this cube mixtured with other flakes from different blends and brands (pupurri). The result:impossible to smoke it. So, the food for my chickens is already to serve!!

Good burn, easy on the tongue, easy to pack and leaves the pipe reasonably clean when done.

2,5/4

One downside, if you don?t like a sweet smoke, this is really sweet. But you should have known that going in! English fans, don?t even bother. And please don?t write reviews complaining about Cube?s sweetness; we all know it?s sweet. Another downside is that the taste is really sensitive to humidity changes. I live in a very dry environment year ?round, and managing the proper humidity can be tricky. The quality of the smoke definitely suffers with these fluctuations. Also, be very slow, or your tongue will take a real beating.

***** Update

I had to knock this one down a star, simply because of the afore mentioned bite. I still like the taste, but my tongue can use a break.

Great tin aroma, good packing, good lighting.

This is a room pleaser no doubt about it. For me, not usually being able to detect the room note when I am smoking, and especially in the smoke shop smoking, this one punched through all the aromas in the shop.

Taste.... well, what to say about that. It is sweet almost to the point of being noxious, but not bad. I enjoyed the smoke... and for something so obviously heavily cased... no tounge bite if you smoke slow.

I will try again, but being in the stage of wanting to stray from aromatics and find tobaccos with more body and depth, this will not become a regular. Overall, if you like sweet, you will like this. Would probably make a great apertif, and good choice for holiday "people" smoking.

Cube, is a combination of Burley/Virginia which contains black Cavendish. Surely, it is the best packing that I have ever seen. By smoking it, it remained on and dry in the minimum point of the bowl. It has to get a bit dry though, before you smoke it. It is a tobacco that does not bother; I would rather say that it is preferred by strange women.

I certainly do not agree with those who support that MAC Baren had some leftovers of tobaccos and has thrown them all inside a Cube.

I had begun a reassessment of Mac Baren tobaccos partly because many of them are now readily available in my country, and partly because I believe that if smoked slowly and leisurely, many Macs are actually pretty good (Vintage Syrian, Mixture, Navy Flake and Virginia Nº 1, for example).

After trying and, more frequently than not, enjoying Original Choice, I thought I'd give Cube a try. Oh my! Big mistake. In my view, this tobacco is exceedingly moist (more so than most other Macs), exceedingly perfumed, and, flavor wise, exceedingly sweet, to a nauseating point.

Unlike Original Choice or Mixture Modern, which are also rather sweet and very aromatic, I couldn't grasp any tobacco flavor beneath the heavy casing of Cube. No Virginias, no Burleys, no Cavendish. Just a very strong vanilla-on fruit-on caramel-on honey concoction. It is so mild that even when I did smoke it very slowly, that infamous tongue-biting Mac Baren trend (which I thought was, at least for my palate, a thing of the past) immediately became present, and in a very aggressive mood.

Flavor wise, Cube kind of reminds me of Larsen's Selected Blend Nº 50. But whereas Larsen's has a refined yet manly denouement, Cube is--again, in my view--utterly infantile. Plain sweet, no tobacco, no structure. Not again.

Addendum, 22 june 09:

Subjectivity is inevitable, be it in physics or in tobacco reviewing. I was given as a gift a 50 gm. silver pouch of Cube. I had vowed not to try this smoking entity again. My previous experience with this blend came from the big plastic canister in which Mac Baren is now marketing some of its products. My original impression was highly negative.

This time it was not so much a matter of objectivity over subjectivity, but one of relative curiosity. Would it be different? Would my impressions modify? Well, keeping in line with relativity, yes and no.

These are my observations, which I hope will be helpful to someone out there.

1. Is Cube blended from quality leaf? Like all Mac Barens, Im sure it is. Their site states this is a blend of Virginias, Burleys and cavendished Virginias, in varying proportions, personally selected by the companys owner and master blender, from different regions worldwide. I may not like all of MBs offering, but so far I have yet to find a blend that is note developed from top grade leaf.

2. Is it cased with artificial flavors, sauces, and essences? Again, and this is no exaggeration: it is heavily cased (this is the type of casing I usually refer to as overwhelming). It says so in MBs site as well. A cornucopia of fruit flavors and essences, Caribbean sugar, chocolate sauces and other sweet flavoring agents have been generously applied (in my view, an understatement) in order to create a unique taste and aroma.

To be fair, I compared Cube not only to tobaccos of a similar kind, but also to similar tobaccos from the SAME brand. Cubes artificial aromas are far stronger, pungent, and sweeter than: (a) Original Choice; (b) Black Ambrosia (compared to Cube, its almost a non-scented blend); (c) Golden Ambrosia (slightly similar, but to my palate far more refined and elegant), and (d) Original Choice Aromatic. In terms of flavor, Cube and OCA are very similar, but to my 30-year old-smoking palate Cube seems to be in steroids.

The only other MB I find as heavily cased is Vanilla Cream Loose Cut. However, VCLCs strong casing DOES dissipate if left to air overnight (whilst keeping the most delectable vanilla flavor), and it never occludes the natural taste of tobacco.

3. A side note is in order: so far theres really nothing unique about the leaf components: virtually all MBs are a blend of Virginias, Burley and Cavendished leaf. As to the flavor/casing, Ive tasted a very similar (if not identical) composition in at least three other Danish brands: Petersen & Sorensens Danish Mixture; Ashtons Type 5, and Larsens Selected Blend Nº 50. In my view, Cube and P & S are identical. Both, by the way, will leave a strong, enduring flavor in your pipe and palate for days.

4. Does it have artificial humectants? Very much so. I removed the contents from the pouch and left it to air and dry well over eight hours. It was still very moist and pungent (if you press it in the palm of your hand, it will immediately sponge back). When Ive done the same with other MBs, such as Original Choice, Virginia Nº1 or Mixture, they all become crisp and their aromas somewhat muted and restrained. Its not then a question of the leafs natural oils or resins. Again, the same happens with P & Ss Danish Mixture.

5. Does it bite? In my 30 years or so of pipe smoking, Ive come to realize that in many cases biting is the result of an erroneous packing technique, and a fast and humid puffing cadence. But due to mildness and high sugar content, many tobaccos can generate that hot-burning-biting sensation no matter how carefully you pack and smoke them. Mixture 79 is an example, and so is MBs Virginia Nº1. That is something the company itself acknowledges, and as part of their marketing strategy for Original Choice or Black Ambrosia, they highlight the fact that theyve managed to develop a mild blend that does not smart on the tongue.

Now, back to Cube: unlike my first experience, this time it didnt bite immediately. But if youre not careful enough, by mid bowl that hot-biting sensation will make itself pretty evident. So be warned. If you want to alleviate bite with this one smoke it very slowly and carefully, and let it air as much as you can.

6. Does it taste of tobacco? Not to me. Im sorry, but I dont get any tobacco flavor at all from this one. There are many aromatic blends in which the natural tobacco taste is not absorbed or abducted by the artificial flavorings (Royal Yacht, Blue Note, Captain Black or, so they tell me, Silems Black). The casing and humectants in Cube are so strong and pervasive that, as far as my palate is concerned, all tobacco reference is lost. So I stand by my utterly infantile contention: more than a pipe tobacco, to me its the equivalent of an adults candy bar.

7. Would I recommend this blend? Theres no better judgment than your own personal experience with a blend. If you are a predominantly aromatic smoker, and dont mind heavily cased and very sweet blends, this could very well be manà. However, I would never recommend this blend to anyone who is not an aromatic smoker, or to anyone who doesnt mind an aromatic every now and then (which is my case). To each his own. As for me, and this time its for real, never again.

Well, I reckon they probably invented the saying to fit MB Cube. I know what the previous reviews have said, but I am willing to be the odd man out in writing a positive review. I like this stuff!

Call me a big girl if you wish (awaits accusation), but MB have hit a fruity, sherbety, candy-floss coated winner here. Having (in vain) attempted with numerous telephone calls to source an alternative to Skandinavik Mixture here in the UK, I saw this new and untried blend on the shelf whilst chatting to the shop assistant in my local and fairly decent tobacconist. It caught my eye because I had seen it advertised on the 'Net in a German store, and I fancied something different to relieve my frustration at being unable to get any of the aformentioned Danish blend. Having stomped in frustrated, I walked out intrigued.

You know what? Glad I went for it. It is everything that the other reviews have suggested - very sweet, bizarrely Juicy Fruity, but really interesting. Not a traditional pipe tobacco. Nope, not even a bit. Yes it is cased extremely heavily. No, it has no latakia. Smells a lot like a sweet shop, or for our American reviewers, a candy store - sherbet, apricots, Pear Drops... and tastes like it too.

Clearly, most of us couldn't treat it as an all day smoke - or even as a 'every other day smoke' maybe - but it has merits. I have a house full of people asking me what the great smell is, and I reckon I could smoke this whilst wearing one of those T shirts with the yellow smiley face on the front. Burned hot, no tongue bite, and the bowl was quickly gone with a dry and mottled ash remaining.

It is what it smells like - fun, zesty and youthful... it is to pipe tobacco what alcopops are to a Friday night out when the Real Ale taps are dry.

Give it a try, but accept it for what it is!

Shame it is a loose tobacco here and not in a fancy box, but you can't have everything.

This is a sweet, sickly blend that will infection your pipe with such a foul taste that only a full ream and a strong twist will shift it. A blend that will suit fans of American aromatics but is heresy to an English man.

Luckily I only brought an ounce of this vile concoction.

My Tinder box guy gave me a sample of Cube along with a sample of Plum Cake. I had yet to find a tobacco that I truly disliked until now. Out of all the ones I have tried, this is by far the worst. I have read reviews before on blends and have heard the words Ivory soap. Now I know what they are talking about. It been 3 hours, a plate of nachos, several brownies, and various beverages and I still have this god awful taste in my mouth.

I dont like to knock things or put anything down but I feel I have to write this. If your going to try this, use a tester pipe and dont buy a large quantity.

I am always searching for new armoatic blends. I tried Mac Baren's Cube today. Mac Baren's Cube is...um...how should I put this??? It's Downright nasty. I tried this blend at the recommendation of a friend of mine. It cost me 22 dollars for the box (which is probably the nicest packaging I've ever seen for any product-tobacco or otherwise). I probably could have just set fire to the money. If I would have, at least something would get burned, because I will not be burning this again. The minute I opened the vacuum-sealed bag and poured its contents into the box, I knew I was in trouble. This didn't smell like tobacco. To me, It smelled like a mixture of cough syrup and dusting spray, neither of which I want to taste.

I filled a bowl and I lit up. I must say, rarely does a tobacco taste EXACTLY the same as it smells unburned. Cube unfortunately does. It's bitter and it tastes like Robitussin to me. Nasty!!

--------update---------------- ------------------------------

I thought I had better update this review. 3 nights ago, I had the misfortune of having nothing good to smoke. I was out of my favorite GL Pease's Barbary Coast) and I was waiting for the UPS man to deliver a new tin of it to me. All I had in the cabinet was a tin of Stratford-which I am not planning on opening for a year or more-and a couple of ziplock baggies. I believe one was a cheap vanilla-cased burley and the other was undoubtebly a sickeningly sweet, local tobacconist's attempt at replicating Stokkebye's Peaches and Cream. I was in the mood for Tobacco, not peaches. There it sat...the shiny silver wooden cube with the spring-hinged lid bearing the majestic Mac Baren crest. I opened the box and I smelled......tobacco??! I couldn't believe it. The leaf that was oily, sticky and smelled of cough syrup and chlorine had dried out substantially and was now a wonderful-smelling tobacco. And it is most definately a quality tobacco. I loaded my favorite Savinelli with the stuff. It lit efforlessly and it tasted incredible. Rich, full-flavored Virginias with the sweetness of the cavendish and the nuttiness of Burley which also gives it a VERY slight bit of spice. I would love a bit more spiciness though. The casing that overwhelmed the tobacco was now only present in the mix. It's a mild fruity essence that has a noticeable coconut flavor. It almost reminds me of great Thai food, which makes the absence of spice even more lamentable. This needs Perique in the worst way!!! Nevertheless it's still surprisingly good after aging it for a few months -though I fear aging it too much would make it too dry to smoke. This isn't something I would smoke all the time. But it is unique and well-balanced and the tobacco is of the highest quality you will ever see. I whole-heartedly take back my original review and I am giving this a solid 3-stars.

This is not one.

I have never written a bad review of a tobacco because so many different people have so many different tastes and opinions. This blend, however, is cased to the point that it no longer tastes like tobacco, but rather a Jolly Rancher that you crumbled in with a pouch of Captain Black.

Yuck.

About halfway through the 100g container, I started to get a better handle on this blend. The first third of the bowl could be hot if I was not careful, but once settling into a steady burn it was dry and tasted fine. This blend has a little more body to it than Sweet Killarney and is not as sweet as Blue Note but stands somewhere in between them.

Having once been interrupted early on after lighting up a fresh bowl and returning to it about an hour later I found that the bite had gone and the rest of the smoke was quite mild and tasty.

The Cube is most decidedly an aromatic blend, and as such it will appeal to those who like a little added flavoring and sweetness in their tobacco.