Tongue taste (the taste you feel on your tongue when you first get the smoke into your mouth): mildly bitter with a touch of green pepper.

Snork taste (the taste when you roll the smoke around in your mouth and out of your nostrils): old leather, with green pepper over it.

All together: The tobacco gives an impression of quality and fine blending. However, the result is a taste that goes between bitter and peppery. And that isn´t really my thing. For people enjoying those kinds of taste (and are fans of, for example, Gammel dansk bitters) this is probably a winner.

I can't believe this stuff is so cheap. I will be stocking up.

That was also my first impression when opening the tin--I could make out the VA and a hint of Burley, but the name was not given this blend for nothing. The tin note is smoky-sweet with some pepperiness; I feel reminded of Mac Baren's Plumcake without the rum topping. The leaf is about equal parts bright and black, with a little dark brown in there; a medium ribbon throughout. Stuffing and lighting is easy; some may find the tobacco to be too moist for their taste out of the tin, but it's OK for me.

I only need to re-light once at the beginning, and things start to happen to my tongue. This blend is by no means weak--quite a surprise, this being a Mac Baren--and the Perique comes out early and stays noticeable throughout the bowl. The KY and VA both are quite noticeable with their sweet and smoky notes, and the Burley is also in there, adding its notes of chocolate. The taste remains sweet and complex, smoky and full until the very end, and I tend to have only a mottled ash left over.

This is one of the most complex blends I have ever smoked, yet it also is one of the easiest to enjoy. Kudos to Henrik Halberg; he did a great job on this one. I'll definitely keep it in my rotation--it makes me grin ear to ear while I'm smoking it. Nothing for the beginner there, though... don't mistake mellowness on the tongue for weakness in the Nic department!

The tobacco, as indicated by the blend description above, is a mixture of a number of different tobaccos. I am not sure why some reviewers gripe about this. It may be an issue of palate, but I do not think this tastes like floor sweepings or any other mishmosh of tobaccos. To my taste it is balanced, nuanced, and interesting. I also think the various condiment tobaccos, The inclusion of more than one being the thing that some find offputting, are actually complimentary of one another and create harmony. This is not, for example, one of those burley/VA blends with a little cavendish or perique thrown in to give it any flavor at all. Here the base of burley and VA's give it a well rounded and sweet flavor which lights and burns readily, and does not bite the tongue. The perique adds spice, and the orientals give it a smoky, complex flavor which is reminiscent, but distinct from, latakia. I am not sure what the dark fired kentucky does - I admit my ignorance in not having taken the time to learn about or familiarize myself with this tobacco, so that is for another day. This tastes good though, so it is ok in my book for now.

The tin aroma of this is incredible. It smells so good that it is hard to believe that it is not an aromatic. I love the cut, which is a chunky shag, and since it is not gooped up with toppings or humectants, it is not too moist, and is ready to smoke with just a little drying out of the tin. It packs easily, and, as noted above, lights up quickly and burns evenly with few relights. The flavor is fantastic, and offers layers of taste. It is spicy, and has one the strongest perique components that I have encountered. it is not overwhelming though, and the va's and oriental's continue to mingle and make themselves known throughout the bowl. It is not without nicotine, and will get to you if you smoke a large pipe's worth in one sitting.

This mixture is singular. You are not going to find a bunch of other blends that taste like this and burn as easily and smoothly. If you like perique, then this is going to blow you away. You have to be open for the addition of the orientals, however, which really do give this an additional flavor component unlike most other perique blends. This is wonderful offering from Mac Baren, and I play to lay up a number of tins for the future.

It lights well, even in my friends man cave that has a fan on high at all times. This is the only tobacco I can say lit in that room.

The smoke is somewhat different every time. One smoke I will get alot of perique, on another I may get primarily balkans or burly.

The important thing is it never dissapoints me, well not when it is in my mcarthur bent cob anyway ;)

The added length cools the smoke, and something about the pipe make the flavor seem purer. I'd love to try it in a clay churchwarden :D

My batch was just the right humidity. It has an almost sour armpit smell in the tin, a smell that sends a chill up my spine whenever I smell it. Another person wrote a review that said this blend needs a certain niche to survive, well I belive I am part of that niche.

If you want a tobaco that has flavor to the smoke, no tounge bite, and doesn't have much room note, this is definatly a tin to try out. I HIGHLY RECCOMEND buying a mcarthur bent however, it is only about 12$. In a shorter stem pipe it will not taste as good.

Next time I get paid I will be buying several tins of it.

This blend is worth a try but be gentle in puffing...sip this as it will be most kind to you!

Highly recommended!

...A pipe is to be savored...

A bit of a puzzler at first, because of the numerous types of tobaccos into it, one can still make out the plum taste of the perique.

After a couple weeks that it is opened, it will develop into something that is ok, but not more for my own liking.

I have 2 more tins. I will smoke as much as I can from both, but I will not buy again.

Packing and lighting is a breeze.

Rich, sweet, molasses & Scottish oatmeal, delicious funky scent of Perique fills the sinuses, Oriental leaf makes it’s presence known surprising boldly. As the bowl burns down, you end up with warm, sweet Virginia - slightly salted by the ghosts of the Oriental leaves - softly scented by the earthy bones of the Perique.

Easy smoking, consistently interesting. I prefer the way the American blenders handle Perique blends, but this Danish mix is very interesting.

Some reviewers here have discussed St. James Parish Perique vs. the more common modern versions. The new stuff is usually made from Green River Burley, where the “real” stuff is made from a native leaf known down south as “Red Burley”. Otherwise, both are cured the same way, under pressure in oak barrels - cured in the juices of the tobacco leaves themselves - flipped periodically to move the juices evenly through the leaves.

While there are some differences, just remember, less and less Perique is being produced in Louisiana. Most of the Perique we’re all smoking already comes from other sources.

I hope there will always be some St. James Perique around to enjoy. But if it does turn out to be a dying breed, I’m glad others are working on a replacement.

I wasn't disappointed. Right out of the tin, this blend was great! The aroma, texture, moisture and evenness of the blend were pretty much perfect, I think. It loaded well, smoked well and tasted fantastic! It is a very complex blend with many flavors (some of which as a beginner I can't even identify) appearing and disappearing throughout the bowl. The perique element is easily identifiable and the figgy sweetness it lends to the blend is unmistakable though.

I don't smoke every day, and always outside - which I like, even on cold days... and let me say: having smoked some "middle of the road" blends, I was delighted to find a tobacco that really let me know I was smoking something special and tasting something different, interesting and very pleasing. Even my girlfriend noticed the difference and remarked that the aroma was much nicer.

I love this stuff and plan on having some around at all times. No matter how many more tobaccos I try, MacBaren's Arcadian Perique will always be on hand for a wonderful smoke. Great stuff.

Even though there are a lot of tobaccos in there, the Perique dominates the game all along, with its plum-like flavor, complemented by the DFK's spiciness. Occasionnally, the sweetness of th VAs emerge.

Smokes well, leaves a gray ash at the bottom and does not bite.

I smokes it right out after receiving it. I imagine it will be a very good tobacco after a couple years of aging.

A very fine tobacco, indeed.

It has great Virginia flavor. If you're like me and always ask "Where's the Perique?", this won't leave you wondering. Loads well. Smokes well. I tend to sip (or "kiss") the pipe and route the smoke through my nostrils because I love the peppery flavor so much.

Didn't enjoy it so much in my Peterson XL305. I think the smoke cooled too much over the long trip to keep the flavor alive for me. Works great with any standard length pipe though.

My tin was packed so tight with this stuff that it was one big crumble cake which is fun. I hope everyone else is so lucky. It came dry as a bone. It gave me a little "Mac bite".

This one isn't for the sometime perique smoker. It's for the perique lover. The perique is first rate (so are all of the other tobaccos). It's worth a try but when compared to Old Gowrie or Escudo it's rough and unrefined. It's more like Bayou Morning Flake (which is much better).

3 stars.

Sitting down to a pipe full o' this makes me think of slowly wandering around a walk-in humidor with my nose tilted up catching all sorts of flavors, some of which make me scratch my head, while other's call my name with the irresistible pull of a Goddess ready to reward me for services rendered..... Anyhoo, it's a tad on the sweet side for my taste but it is definitely a good smoke if you are in the mood for something that will keep distracting you from what you were trying to do whilst smoking your pipe. Sweet Cavendish, nutty burley, and the extra percentage of Perique set themselves apart in this lively blend that has little of the traditional Mac Baren sweet casing and lot's of pleasing, well balanced flavor. Flavorful enough to make you want to puff and Virginia enough to make you pay. Mildly strong. Vitamin N. Lots of fun and tasty to boot. Bravo.

Three Stars.