Like any Mac B smoke, I stuck my nose into it first and it was kinda scary. Good scary if you like aromatics.

I like some weird stuff, smelly and strong stuff too, but this is a bird altogether. There is a straight flat chocolate front to this tobacco, as goes the smell.

It pretty much tastes that way, too. Flat, dark strong, kinda chocolate, non tobacco. I can see the allusion to 1792 here, really, but this a bit like 1792 lite. Not lite flavor-wise, but lite in the tobacco department. Also lite in the Tonka, too, but the idea is similar.

Me, I couldn't finish half a bowl and I won't try another. But I can see how a guy could like it. I won't disagree with the best things said about (no Honey) & Chocolate but I'm not jumping into the mix either.

A true Mac Baren quality aromatic.

Best of all, the wife loves the smell of it.

My experience with this blend is that it packs well (it is a dry tobacco in the tin and typical of a Mac offering), doesn't need more than 2 lights for me to get it going, it burns cool and even throughout the smoke, and I never experience any moisture accumulation. Never cigarette-like. All Mac Baren blends that I smoke are dried out beyond their already dry feel in the tin beforehand, and this certainly helps to achieve an enjoyable smoke. I have found the tobacco to be quite sweet tasting, not cloying, perhaps bitter-sweet is a more apt description. At times it seems to have a BO like smell in the side stream, but surprisingly, never off-putting. It seems to smoke best in smaller bowl briars, and I have never had a hot smoke. It has a nice spiciness in its flavor without any nibbling at the tongue. Reflecting on the "spiciness" I mentioned, I would add that it is an incense-like spice. There may be Perique in this blend (most likely similar to their Acadian offering)as it is a bit pepper-like at times, but I believe the incense-like spiciness may be attributed to some Oriental leaf. I have had the most enjoyment smoking it in several small-bowled Dr. Grabow pipes. Too large a bowl and I get agita - similar to when I smoke a very heady Burley or with Irish Flake. It also goes exceptionally well in a meer-lined Dr. Grabow I bought many years ago (no longer produced - too bad as the two I have are great smokers). Not a light smoke by any means. If you would like a good aromatic with solid tobacco flavor, you can't go wrong with Mac's Honey Chocolate. It was originally listed on the Mac Baren website but has been removed, since, according to Mac Baren, it's only available in the USA.

Whenever I smoke it, my kids think my wife is baking brownies! It's that good. A nicely done cavendish type tobacco that retains its tobacco presence with a little something extra, Honey & Chocolate is sure to satisfy.

UPDATE 2-18-13: Now listed on the new MacBaren website. Just cracked a 5 year old tin - simply delicious.

I don't know. I feel about like Pipe4ever on this one. I love Mac Baren. Favorite brand, etc etc. But this one is just too much.

Tin note is incense-like - yes, chocolate and honey. Sweet and heavy like Grandma's perfume.

In the pipe, this isn't hot or bitey - a very easy smoke. But the taste is too much like smoking chocolate milk for my tastes.

The one redeeming feature is that it leaves a really delicious smell in the moustache.

Not for me - a delicacy I do not appreciate.

Now, where's my Club Blend...

If you enjoy strong dark chocolate flavor in your tobacco, try this blend.

Well here it is. Upon popping open the tin you are immediatly greeted with a bitter sweet chocolate aroma like no other. But wait, it gets better. When Mac Baren says this is "a very special kind of Cavendish" they're not kidding. This stuff has great body, again like no other. I've never had a straight Cavendish with such substance and flavor. The aroma is chocolate but the flavor is tobacco, sweet and rich.

What a concept ! What a smoke !

While it is a cavendish, it is not wet and gloppy as they sometimes can be. I would say most of my VA flakes are moister than this straight out of the tin. I dried it a little, and then packed it loosely. It took a few goes to get it charred and lit, but burnt readily, and coolly, once I got it started.

The tin aroma is wonderful, and very strong. I did not find that the taste was anywhere near as powerful as the tin aroma with respect to chocolate flavor. Actually, it tasted much more like tobacco to my palate than chocolate. I was skeptical of how chocolate would interact with tobacco as a flavoring, but after smoking more than one, have come to the conclusion that it is a flavor which enhances and blends very well with tobacco. It provides a rich and complex flavor, but does so by augmenting the natural flavor of the tobacco. This is nothing like the Milonga blend from Dan tobaccos, which is tasty, but aromatic in a very traditional way, meaning that the flavor and cased aroma is more pronounced in the smoking.

Upon initial light (charring step), I got a pretty full taste of tobacco w/ hints of chocolate. I didn't taste the honey much at all and the absence of the honey flavor continued through the entire bowl.

About mid way through I was beginning to taste the chocolate more and more. I wouldn't describe it as "smoking" chocolate, because to me it was more like hints of chocolate that i could pick out.... very very dark chocolate. To me, this was a surprise due to the STRAIGHT chocolate smell that came from the tin. I'm aware that tin aroma rarely replicates the taste of the tobacco, but I was still expecting more. My taste buds are picky.

Toward the end of the bowl, i found that if i pushed this blend i could get it to taste like a cigar (good?). Again, very full dark chocolate flavor w/ a heavy tone. By this time i was getting a buzz. Now, i don't inhale nor did i inhale this blend... so I don't know why this one made my head spin, aside from the fact i hadn't eaten in several hours.

So overall, this was an alright blend. Nothing special, nothing terrible. I just couldn't get that outstanding chocolate taste I've heard everyone raving about. And to me the honey had taken a rain check on the taste bus where it only lingered in the lovely room note. Again, i dunno if it's because i'm still a new smoker and i don't have a "trained" tongue yet or what, but all tobaccos have that same universal taste and it is tough for me to distinguish the small nuances among all them. This blend I would recommend as a sampler but for me it is too rich to come back to all the time. Just make sure you do not smoke this on an empty stomach.

The minute I opened the tin I got a buttery chocolate smell. Upon first light my nose tickled with a smell similar to chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven.

Mid bowl I got a honey/caramel offering and the chocolate lingered in the air.

Last part of the bowl was a hit of hard chocolate. So much chocolate. I actually tamed a sweet tooth with one bowl of this amazing tobacco.

I have had zero tongue bite with this blend, although like most aromatics I'm sure it will bite if pushed.

The tin aroma is very rich, a dark chocolate that is sweet but not cloying. The moisture is not excessive and just about where I like it to be.

Packing is easy... the cut is very much to my liking. Two charring lights sets me up for a straight smoke to the bottom of the bowl, with only grey ash at the bottom. If I've puffed a little too vigorously I can get it to produce a little moisture, but if I take my time that doesn't happen. I find the flavor rich and complex, with cocoa, coffee and dark sugar notes. I do not find it excessively sweet. It is consistent throughout the bowl. The primary tobacco taste is dark cavendish, and it is strong in flavor but smooth. I'm not looking for a nicotine hit, so the lack of a pronounced one does not bother me.

The room note is exceedingly pleasant. This is a tobacco which my wife does not complain about me smoking in the house.

Overall, an enjoyable, pleasantly sweet aromatic, with enough complexity and richness to keep my attention. Now a star in my rotation, and making me wonder why I hadn't tried MacBaren before.

The cut is your standard Danish loose cut with short ribbons of dark brown and black leaf. The moisture content is rather high but not quite "wet". The smell from the tin is a heavy musty scent with a slight resemblance to chocolate.

Packing is pretty easy and I went a little light on the pressure. The initial match brought forth a very dark and heavy flavor similar to the tonquin topping of Sam Gawith's "1792 Flake", although the Mac Baren is not as sophisticated as the Lakeland flake.

When pushed, this blend will bite quite hard. The flavor becomes one-dimensional and tastes not unlike old coffee grounds. If puffed with a lot of respect the tobacco burns slow and cool and requires few relights. A slow cadence rewards the smoker with a subtle sweet dark chocolate flavor and exhaling through the nose only enhances this effect. The general flavor is different from any other blend I have smoked before and it would be correct to say that one might need to acquire a taste for this.

For a moist tobacco it smokes dry and leaves the pipe walls clean of any sticky residue. It does, however, color the flavor of the bowl after one smoke so you may want to avoid using a favorite pipe to try this one.