This is master tobacco blending at its finest, the bold bitterness of the dark fired burley combines with the sweetness of the Flue-cured Virginia creates a sensory delight, This contains great burley which provides body and a woodsy taste to the smoke, fantastic!,Also, while this blend is very comparable to Irish Flake and Dark Fake, it is without a doubt superior in every way.

Just dont try to inhale the smoke as there is enough nicotine to kill a horse!

Superb stuff, 4 stars!

This is simply superb. The cigar note is quite subdued, it just adds a little spice to the experience. The level of strength suits me to a "tee". I am finding it perfect for the autumn weather. At least once during each bowl I've smoked of this blend I find myself pleasantly surprised: "Mac Baren made this!?" Had somebody given me an unmarked sample, I would have sworn it was a G&H offering: it has that sinew and smoothness.

I was getting ready to order a shipment of Revor and Warrior plug tobacco from the U.K., now I'm wondering if the money might be better spent laying in a supply of Dark Fired. I can't give it higher praise than that!

The flakes are of a consistency that affords the smoker typical pipe packing methods for the whole or rubbed-up flake. Still, a few moments out of tin rarely injures and oft improves the the smoking quality of most tobaccos. ODF will light and burn delightfully with a bit less moisture than present out of the tin. My preferred preparation is folding flakes lengthwise into thirds and making short sections by the pinch, rubbing up the sections, and then trickle, tap, trickle tap loading them into a group 2 or 3 bowl. ODF also does very well just rubbing up a whole flake into long ribbons.

ODF is clean-tasting, lacking the "soot and dirt" aftertaste I find prevalent in Petersen's Perfect Plug. ODF is also very, very smooth by any comparison, but particularly for a flake loaded with nicotine laden burley. PPP is quite harsh in the latter regard. There is also real tobacco flavor in ODF, not much from casing and no top note detected. The tobacco flavor is steady throughout the smoke, varying subtly between the sweeter Virginias and smokey, loamy dark fired leaf. The flavor emphasis definitely tilted toward the darker leaf. At times, there is a musty note that reminds me when I was a small boy playing in the far reaches of grandpa's closet at his home near the ocean. He lived far enough from the shore to miss the salt air, but close enough to gather in the damp. There is that note of the sea on some puffs.

Nothing bland about ODF, and one does not get the sense that Mac Baren intended to show how strong a tobacco can be. ODF is strong, but nothing in the neighborhood of Irish Flake, Dark Flake, 1792, or death by rope tobaccos. ODF is by my impression, stronger than Pease's Jack Knife Plug and not quite as interesting. On the flavor emphasis, JKP and ODF are opposite sides of the same coin. JKP veering more in flavor throughout a bowl, and the flavor supplied more from the Virginia leaf. I say they are of the same coin in that they are extraordinarily similar and certainly belong to the same genre of tobaccos by leaf content and flavors present.

Mac Baren surprised Britain's man o' war fleet of stout, dark tobaccos with an irony analogous to an English buccaneer swinging from a Viking longship and in the attempt capturing many British loyalists with the introduction of Old Dark Fired.

The irony is that a famed Dane factory known for oft bland, aromatic, nicotine- challenged, offerings is now more royalist than the Queen (of England) in producing a steamed and pressed flake of Virginia and dark fired burleys full of power akin to those manufactured in the UK, past and present.

Whether an irony or surprise to any, some, or most, a new vessel has raised the waterline for all the boats in the harbor of manly smokes. Old Dark Flake has certainly accomplished this in a non-aromatic and handsome presentation.

Anyway, my initial impression of this tobacco was, well, not very good. I really wanted to like it but didn't necessarily look forward to smoking more. I'm sure glad I gave it another go. This stuff is amazing. For any other smokers out there like myself who are just starting out with pipe smoking, I am lerning that different tobaccos must be packed differently. The method that gave me such an amazing experience was cutting the flake into cubes. It may seem like a daunting process, but this blend is more of a special treat than anything else, so why not?! Smoke it slowly and the flavor will shine through. The nicotine level is also pretty high compared to the other blends I've smoked, which is not a bad thing at all. This will be worked into my rotation as an after meal smoke.

I hope others who initially don't like this give it a second try. I can't wait until tomorrow evening so I can smoke some more.

Bravo Mac Baren! I can find no faults with this blend.

NOTE CONCERNING THE 1 STAR REVIEWS: Everyone is entitled to their opinion. No argument there. But I can't help but wonder if some people see a blend that has nothing but 4 star reviews and decides to make a 1 star review just to spite it. Seriously...no smell? No taste? Really? REALLY? It's one thing to say "Its not my cup of tea" or "I just didnt care for it." But when you write a review saying things like "Whats the point?", "It has no smell/taste/aroma" and "I threw it in the trash" (sure you did), it just screams tobacco reviews troll and seriously calls in to question the validity of your review as well as your personal character.

I have smoked a fair bit of G&H Dark Flake and Peterson's Irish Flake. I prefer this one, and not by a small margin. Mac Barens managed to get most of the strength and earthy "presence" into a flake that doesn't overwhelm the nuances inherent in the leaf. They melded the two together exquisitely. This is earthy, dark and incredibly deep - and it is strong as well - but it's not so overpowering that even someone that shies away from nicotine couldn't enjoy in a small bowl. It's tasty and refined and luxurious. Probably the best dark flake I've ever smoked and my early leader for Best Tobacco of 2012. The best Christmas present I could receive would be to find this available in bulk! If you like strong tobaccos but find them to be occasional smokes due to their brutality, get yourself some of this. Mac Barens kept the best parts of strong dark flakes and made a blend that most anyone would find smokable. Well done, Mac Barens! Blending genius, pure and simple.

This is a very rich and flavorful smoke which I have enjoyed the last 2 weeks going through the 100g tin. It is a tad moist but drys very easily and makes for easy loading once rubbed out. From my first bowl of this tobacco I knew I was going to like it. It will not be for everyone though as it is very strong and I am sure has a high nic content.

This flake has found a spot in my cellar, know I just hope MacBaren does this right and has it readily available. So many of the great tobaccos of today are so difficult to acquire.

Update Nov 7/12 I have now smoked two tins of this marvellous blend & I find Ijust like it more & more. It is a dark, smooth blend with a smooth nicotine dose. I am hoping that McB will catch up with demand & pack in 1 pound boxes.

The flakes were at a good moisture consistency for packing and lighting. In a blind smoke, I would never ever guess this was from Mac Baren. This is one fine smoke. IrF and HS are two of my favorite tobaccos ever and now I have a third in the same genre. HH ODF has a very rich, natural flavor profile with solid, pure tobacco taste. It exhibits a nice spiciness while smoking. Unlike the spiciness of Perique, there is no pepper notes at all, which is a good thing for me as I don't care for Perique. I don't think there is any casing, and if there is, I can not detect it. It has a healthy dose of nicotine that takes an immediate front row seat. By the way, this offering is a smoother smoke as it doesn't seem to have the harshness I sometimes experience with a bowl of IrF.

I have quite a bit of IrF and HS but I can see myself reaching for this new offering from Mac Baren when I want a rich, pure tobacco smoke. It is simply fantastic in my book. If you like IrF and/or HS, you will not be disappointed at all. I enjoy other Mac Baren tobaccos, but this one is way ahead of the pack and is a major player in the pantheon of fine smoking tobaccos. My hat goes off to the blenders at Mac Barens for introducing such a winner. 10 stars across the board!!

UPDATE 6-9-12: Close to finishing the first of two tins, I will have to ration this as I read on the Mac Baren's website that due to the overwhelming positive response to this new HH blend, Mac can't keep up with demand. They say it is not a question of increasing production, but ODF needs a long time to store. The end result is they don't expect any more supply at the earliest until 2013!

According to Per Jensen, Mac Baren Product Manager, the steam press makes it so that the "tobaccos marry faster and in a completely different way than what we normally produce. In short, they alter the taste. This blend is a heavy/strong tobacco with a lot of vitamin N."

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My turn...

I ordered a tin as soon as I heard about this one, as I'm a fan of Dark Fired Kentucky. Everything I had read and heard sounded right on the money for my tastes. Was I disappointed? Not in the least. I took 4 of the small thin flakes out of the tin to dry them. Interestingly they REALLY dried. When I rubbed them out the flake 'fractured' into smallish thin brittle shards. Oh great! I thought. Well, I tried them anyway...and even though they were totally dried out they smoked really, really well. Then I mixed some fresh rubbed with the dried, about 50/50...and it also did really, really well...same burn, same flavors.

So...what did it taste like? It was deep and full and had that 'dark fired Kentucky' character. It wasn't sweet, but it wasn't bitter. To me, the dark fired essence was moderate...and didn't overwhelm the fullness of the Burley or the VA background. In other words there was a good balance and I would suggest this as a blend that might be enjoyed by those who appreciate any one of the components...as a change of pace from their usual fare.

The initial claims as to its strength I found to be a bit overstated...it's nowhere near the Gawith ropes, twists, etc. P's Irish Flake is stronger. But this is definetely above medium...on a 10 scale maybe a 6.5 or 7. On the scale they use here, that makes it "strong".

Though not one to make comparrisons very often, the best way I can describe this one is that it's like..."Gawaith Dark Flake Lite"...a bit lighter in flavor, in N and in overall impact. This doesn't make it any less of a blend, as that 'less-ness' allows its flavor profile to be more round, which I would call and asset. All in all it's absolutely excellent! Quite an achievement for MacBaren in my humble opinion. And lastly, as the tin is 3.5 oz. (100 gm) you get a decent handfull of the stuff, for which I'm very glad.

Very highly recommended.