Mac Baren - Vanilla Flake pipe tobacco reviews

Review

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Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
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Jason	10/16/2009	Mild to Medium	Medium	Medium	Pleasant
I prefer Dan's Blue Note if we're talking aromatics, but this Vanilla Flake seems to have it's fair share of followers so I gave it a shot. I'm a novice pipe smoker but here is what I've found... the first bowl of it burned my tongue something fierce. That was obviously due to user error. Well, user error and overly moist tobacco. This stuff needs to air dry for at least 30 min before smoking for best results. It really needs to dry up a bit to take the bite off. If dried properly and packed/smoked properly, this is a fine tobacco. Pleasant smell, smooth and sweet taste, but not the worlds best by any means. Try it if you like aromatics, you might dig it. Just don't say I didn't warn ya about the bite. This is a fussy tobacco, but if you can tame it, then good on you.
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Griswold	10/06/2009	Mild	Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
This is the tobacco that I invariably reach for when I fancy a vanilla-flavored pipeweed. The flavour is not applied so heavy as to overpower the tobacco taste completely when smoked and the tobacco itself is of good quality. As for the roomnote, this is what a lot of (non-pipe-smoking) people associate with a pipe! A real crowd pleaser. Recommended if you like good-quality vanilla aromatics, otherwise steer clear.
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Hunter	08/26/2009	Mild to Medium	Medium to Strong	Medium to Full	Pleasant
As far as I can tell, this is the same blend as MacB's Vanilla Cream Loose Cut in flake form. That cut gives the blend a little more strength and body through the bowl. It is still my hands-down favorite. I am beginning to prefer the flake to the loose cut, and may now start buying the flake by the pound as well. The vanilla casing it top-quality. Not sugary or hot. It is certainly noticeable in tin, and as other reviewers have noted here, this blend never fails to get favorable comments from passers-by. Tobacco flavor is not at all missing from this blend either. This is a finely crafted, well-rounded aromatic. I have to echo other sentiments here about the "MacBaren bite." I have never noticed it in this or any other MacB blend I have smoked. All aromatics tend to burn a little hotter due to the added flavoring. Slow down. It isn't a race. MacBaren makes some of the finest blends around. Take your time and enjoy!
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DK	07/24/2009	Mild	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
Beautiful looking flake that becomes almost a crumble cake. I could not get this to fold for loading without breaking. No problem there, really. I just found it interesting. Tin aroma was of a chemically-altered light vanilla rather than a natural extract. This transfered to the taste, unfortunately. I tried this in various states of moisture and in all cases I got an extremely bland mouthful of hot air with almost no flavor. The most taste was on the pipestem. Very boring smoke. The tobacco appears to be of high quality but no tobacco taste comes through. I puffed madly on one pipeful in an attempt to get ANY type of flavor to exhibit itself but it was not to be. So far, Mac Baren blends tend to follow a pattern of "all aroma, no flavor" and this one is no exception (although Burley London is a wonderful deviation, and Virginia #1 is ok at times). I've got Navy Flake and HH Matured Virginia left to try and then I'll probably say farewell to the House of Mac Baren.
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newsmoker1977	07/02/2009	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
I find this blend much more pleasant after several months of aging in a sealed jar. Just for kicks, I bought about 8 oz. of VCF about 10 months ago and didn't really care for it then, but seems to get better with a little age.
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The German	06/17/2009	Mild to Medium	Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
It has been a long time since I could say I actually enjoyed a vanilla flavoured tobacco. After a few pipes of Vanilla Cream Flake, I finally can say it again. The small tin hints at a very compactly pressed flake. Opening the tin, a nice, almost understated vanilla note sets out to explore the room -- understated, that is, in comparison with the vanilla-with-some-tobacco concoctions that had turned me off anything vanilla over 15 years ago (Black Luxury comes to mind...). The small size of the slices makes this flake suitable to small bowls; these days, I usually fold, twist and fill my flakes, so for most tinned flakes I need pretty tall bowls. Not for this one, though. Lighting takes a little patience (that may change once the slices dry out a little), and right at fitst things are pretty mild and mellow. After about half a bowl, things become stronger and sweeter and the room note gains a little more punch. Even from a fresh tin, Vanilla Cream Flake burns down to the last embers without going out if smoked steadily. Overall, a very nice blend, and another one I would recommend to the beginner who likes things aromatic; particularly recommended for novice flake smokers or even the more experienced smoker who likes a nice, mellow aromatic flake.7 Update 09.06.26: I have smoked this flake rubbed out a few times to accommodate my smallest bowls, and stuffed in that style, the Vanilla Flake becomes more full-bodied, fully sweet and somewhat hard to handle; you need to keep it tamped down well, but I'd say it's well worth the effort.
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Beer	04/25/2009	Mild to Medium	Medium	Mild	Tolerable
I am usually not a lover of aromatics, but sometimes I want to reach for something sweet. Since MacBaren uses quality leaf compared to other brands of aromatics, I gave this one a try. The fact that it was in flake format was a bonus, too. First of all: this is one incredibly slow-burning tobacco. If you fold the flakes like the MacBaren website shows, a couple of flakes will last at least a couple of hours... so be sure you have some time to enjoy your pipe! As a result, it burns cool and dry, which is certainly a nice thing: this is not a scorching and goopy aromatic! The vanilla flavoring could be more intense and sweeter: this one smells rather natural, but I also detect some hint of alcohol in it, and something that smells like fermented bananas. Other vanilla blends I have tried are much sweeter and intense in the flavoring department. It WILL still flavour the bowl easily, though, so keep it for a dedicated pipe... At the match, as I said, the tobacco burns great. And the smoke actually tastes of tobacco. I would almost be tempted to say that it tastes more of tobacco than of vanilla, which is quite a feat for an aromatic (they usually either only taste of the flavoring, or of hot air). Problem is that, like other MacBaren tobacco, it is a very mild tobacco. Good, but it leaves you wanting something stouter. Anyway, it has some nice body and mouthfeel, and it is a nice Cavendish and Virginia blend... simply, I just wish it was more flavorful. Room note is VERY sweet and persistent. If you like vanilla, all right. But my wife said that it's a bit more intense than she would have preferred: sometimes even too much of a pleasant thing can be too much... Overall: a vanilla flavored flake was a nice idea, and it's a quality tobacco. But in the same genre, I prefer the German blend called Sweet Vanilla Honeydew.
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
Pipe4ever	01/28/2009	Medium	Mild	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant
This is a decent aromatic vanilla Flake with Virginia/Cavendish, the vanilla flavor is deep and full, the Virginia used here is good quality, the smoke is sweet, full bodied and consistent, not as creamy as the loose cut version. This tobacco improve dramatically with time, I recently opened a 2 years old tin of this, the smoke was Mellow, very cool, deep and tasty, so far much better than the fresh opened tin I am smoking now. This blend is actually my favorite Vanilla flake tobacco.
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Steerpike	01/22/2009	Mild to Medium	Very Strong	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant
I've been thinking of trying this for a few years now, but never got round to it. Glad I did, maybe this is the best vanilla aromatic I've tried. I tend not to enjoy the sticky cavendish aromatics so much, but all kinds of flakes, english mixtures and plugs are my kind of thing. This treads the line between aromatic (strong, sweet room note and a flavouring you can taste) and flakes (tobacco flavour, strength, and slow, cool burning) rather well. The aroma on opening the tin is STRONG! Vanilla, lots of vanilla, backed up by an alcoholic scent (brandy?) and something slightly floral, perhaps rose. Not in a soapy way, this is not lake district tobacco, I think it's something they use to make the vanilla casing more interesting. It is packed very nicely, wrapped in gold paper, the flakes neatly cut, stacked and without excessive moisture. They tend to dry out further, suggesting that they are not soaked with humectants, which is just as well, it burns the better for it. It lights with ease- one match, if rubbed out. I like to rub it out fully, of smoking indoors- helps keep it lit, with an even burn. If outside, I'd rub it less, or just roll it up, if it was windy. The key to enjoying it, like a virginia flake, is breath smoking. Gentle sips, don't puff too hard or you'll steam your tongue. Take it slowly and gently and you'll enjoy the flavour- there is a tobacco flavour, and there's plenty of vanilla flavour too. This is what I find hard to do with the really sticky aromatics- if you smoke them gently, they keep going out. Not so with this blend. The flavour does not develop through the bowl, but remains fairly consistent to the end. It burns SLOWLY, and even a small pipe will last a very long time. Nice to smoke while doing something else like watching a film, reading etc. I wouldn't smoke it just to sit down and have a smoke, it isn't complex or interesting enough. But it's a nice tobacco to have going, and people do like the smell!
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Big Nick	01/05/2009	Mild to Medium	Medium	Medium	Pleasant
This has the exact same tin fragrance as the loose cut version. The flake is a little stronger and less bitey if smoked in flake form. Strong vanilla fragrance combined with quality tobaccos. Dry it out well and most of any bite will be eliminated. Sweet and tasty !
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Dr.sadik	12/20/2008	Medium to Strong	Mild to Medium	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
one of the best flakes in the aromatic world that i have encountered. although similar to the loose cut however there are few differences basically it burns slower (oh the intelligence!)secondly which i might be consider as a con is that the room note not always appreciated but certainly tolerable. the taste is fuller and you feel the blend hold its body perfectly with a considerable nic kick to it (as oppose to normal aromatics) the tobacco taste is more dominant than the flavoring added but you can defiantly taste the sweetness and get that creamy sensation. to me its a safe zone tobacco and i would certainly recommend it. ( i pack it through folding method however breaking the flakes down help with more even burning)
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gunnn	10/19/2008	Mild to Medium	Strong	Full	Very Pleasant
WARNING you must LOVE vanilla in order to enjoy this. overpowering vanilla and if you arent careful a ton of tongue bite.
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Graybeard	07/05/2008	Mild to Medium	Medium to Strong	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant
This is another tobacco I order by the pound. Having said that, it would not be my first choice as an all day smoke. Indeed, if I smoke more than a couple of bowls of the stuff in a day, I find myself trying to put a bandage on my tongue at night. This certainly can be the infamous Mac Baren Tongue-Bite-In-A-Tin if not treated with respect. So why the recommendation? Because it's about the best at what it tries to be. A heavily cased blast of vanilla. I knew the room note was pleasant, but one day when my wife was feeling adventurous, I got her to try a churchwarden loaded with this (She is a cigarette only smoker). She hated it. But I was in heaven. The room note was flat-out amazing and I was salivating like Pavlov's dogs. No wonder she likes it when I smoke this stuff. So if you have a significant other (or you're in the market for one), give this stuff a try. 1 star for nicotine, 2 stars for taste, and 4 for room note.
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geenhauer	06/21/2008	Medium to Strong	Medium to Strong	Full	Pleasant
ouch!!! this stuff BITES!! and but quick!! strong, spicy, sour, hot, biting and unklike what i have come to expect from the house of MacBaren. A disappointment all around. The vanilla is indeed there. The tin is very neat, as a consolation. It will be nice to keep after this nicotinic rat-poison is smoked or relegated to an old shoebox. Sorry to have to be so negative regarding a MacBaren offering. :\ i liked the planta danish black vanilla, for this type of thing
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Pseudo Nim	05/15/2008	Mild	Extremely Mild	Very Mild	Unnoticeable
I have tried a few tins of Vanilla flake, keep finding it too dry, and too mild, although the Vanilla does eventually get through, tried spicing it up with a little Woods Navy Rum (100% proof) perhaps a little too much rum, burns a lot better though, only Two stars for this at the moment, maybe I'll get the Rum / Tobacco ratio right and update this.
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rhapsodyofmetal	04/08/2008	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Mild	Pleasant
A pretty good vanilla blend. I loved the way it was packaged. It was made to look like the tobacco of Kings. The taste is a little to mild for me but it is a smoke that can be for those evenings on the porch when you want to contemplate life. It smells very good as the room note but the taste sways to more tobacco than vanilla which is fine but a little vanilla every once in a while wouldn't hurt. 3.5/4 stars UPDATE***** 4/7/2008. I am upgrading it to 4 stars. It has gotten better over time and I am enjoying it more and more!
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AndrwHock	01/19/2008	Mild	Mild to Medium	Medium	Pleasant
I would like to preface this by saying that I am not primarily a smoker of aromatics. I tend to lean toward latakia blends and the like. I picked up a tin of this at the recommendation of a fellow pipe smoker. I found this to be a bit too mild for my tastes. The vanilla is definitely noticeable, and is not overpowering. It still leaves plenty of room for the tobacco flavor to come through. My experience with this blend was that there just wasn't enough tobacco flavor to fill in that gap, but the flavor that was there was definitely pleasant. Filling and lighting was easy enough with this blend. I used the fold and plug technique and it lit fairly easily and kept burning quite nicely through the smoke. For an aromatic blend, this is quite nice, but it doesn't pack much of a punch other than the bit of vanilla and tobacco flavors. not as good as the non flake vanilla cream as I have heard.
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flaminbill'	12/29/2007	Mild	Mild to Medium	Medium	Pleasant
I like a vanilla aromatic once in a while, but this stuff just bites and stings like a bee. It's a shame because it has a pleasant enough taste and a wonderful room aroma. I used one ounce of this as a blender in a 7-ounce blend and it justs dominates the blend. It certainly has a presence, and the bite transferred to the blend as well. It is presented well, has a nice smell in the tin and the moisture level seems correct.
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billbo	12/28/2007	Mild to Medium	Medium	Medium	Pleasant
I have been looking for a good vanilla tobacco and I love flake virgina so this seemed like a good match for me . It is. I love to smoke this tobacco it gives a very nice smell to the room which helps with the wife and I do not fine the flavor too strong I smoke it in a small acorn pipe and it manitains it characters throughtout the pipe. I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a good flake with a nice flavor that does not over power the tobacco.
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Stubshaft	07/23/2007	Mild	Medium	Extremely Mild (Flat)	Very Pleasant
The flakes were brittle and crumbly. I tried to prepare it in various ways, rubbed out, stacked, folded and cut into small pieces. They were all the same. A hint of vanilla taste and a healthy shot of tongue bite. If you sipped the smoke out of your pipe you would spend most of the time relighting your bowl. A real disappointment,
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