Mac Baren Amphora Full Aroma

Boy, did cracking the pouch of Amphora Red bring back a flood of memories! I had regained my youth: My muscles no longer ached, I had (more) hair and I had all my teeth?????..and they were ALL good! I hadn?t seen or smoked this blend for decades. As it is no longer available in the U.S., I ordered some from an overseas mail order firm in Cyprus ($20.99 for 7 pouches including shipping ? 5 week delivery). This tobacco has one of the most delightful pouch aromas I have encountered: sweet and fruity but not overpowering. This is what I remember most about this tobacco. It almost smells good enough to eat. While I did smoke this blend in the past, I more often smoked Amphora Brown. I also had the bad habit of repeatedly calling this stuff AMORPHA, not Amphora, that resulted in a lot of kidding by my co-workers, several of whom smoked Amphora Brown. This was in the late 1960s. In our group of about 20, there were 6 of us who smoked a pipe. It was these other guys who got me hooked on pipe smoking.

But to get to the point, this is a great aromatic with a flavor that is definitely akin to its pouch aroma. Unlike many aromatics, it doesn?t leave goopey residue in the bowl. I did notice, however, that the flavor dissipates somewhat towards the bottom of the bowl but its burning qualities are good. (I like to shred most cavendish blends a bit.) I do not smoke aromatics on a regular basis but I haven?t abandoned them either. If you want a quality aromatic of the Dutch variety, try AMORPHA Red (or is that Amphora Red). A delightful, flavorful and relaxing smoke to be sure!

I rate this tobacco 9.8 out of 10.

October-2003. Well at least Amphora Red is still consistant as always when I picked up a pouch recently while on a fishing trip. I still say its one of the best pouch aromatic tobaccos around,which is still easily obtainable.I also enjoyed the change of pace. The quality in Amphora Red by far out-weighs many other sweet sickly smokes,no goop here. This aromatic gets 8 out of 10.

Once readily available at drugstores and supermarkets all across America, this surprisingly high-quality Dutch blend is no longer sold in the U.S. Pouches still occasionally pop up from time to time and one can still mail order it from online shops outside the United States. I had expected yet another sticky black Cavendish to lurk within the attractive red pouch, but instead was greeted with a nice dark brown mixture containing quite a bit of broken flake. The pouch aroma is very heavy with a sweet chocolate cherry essence mixed with natural tobacco. I like to break up the mixture a bit as I am a slow puffer, but faster smokers should pack it as is. The room aroma is an extremely pleasant and refreshing blend of natural tobacco (I suspect mainly burley with some Virginia), the fruity citrus essence, and the musty chocolate essence. This aroma disperses very quickly after smoking. The flavor is predominantly one of light burley with the chocolate flavor lurking in the background and the citrus flavor providing a bit of perkiness. It is pleasantly sweet, but not overwhelmingly so. The burley provides a solid medium nicotine strength. While I only smoke this occasionally, I enjoy it immensely every time I do and typically wonder why I don't smoke it more often. It is especially nice during warm weather. I find it very easy to light and keep lit all the way to the bottom of the bowl. Amphora Full Aroma is not to be confused with Amphora Regular which comes in a brown pouch. While somewhat similar, I find Amphora Regular to be the most bland tobacco I have ever tried. Available from Synjeco, Switzerland.

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This was my favorite aromatic. Kentucky,burley,virginia,and oriental. The kentucky is what gave this blend it's nicotine punch. I loved it! But you can't get it in the USA no more. I found a can of this in a corner Philadelphia cigarette shop about a year ago when nobody else had it. I felt like I just found a diamond in a coal mine. It is a blend to be smoked slow because it had a tendancy to get hot due to the virginia and the flavoring. Fruit Whiff is how the flavoring is described. It's kind of like cherry mixed with roses but it wasn't syrupy. It could also get kind of wet if smoked too fast but there is so much nicotine here in this blend I would sometimes get the hiccups. If you like sweet and high nicotine punch this is your tobacco.

I love everything about this tobacco. It's very easy to light & the flavour is fairly full in a (Suttle)way.It offer's a nice clean taste that is easy to live with.The perfect amount of sweetness & richness in a suttle way,that's not over powering. In Australia-Amphora Red (Full Aroma) has been & still is very popular,& I'm not at all surprised. It smokes extremely well to the bottom of the bowl leaving a nice fairly clean ash.It's tasty,trustworthy,reliable & I've never known this tobacco to make any of my pipe's "GOOPEY"!!! And you don't have to rub it out.Just fill your pipe-light it & off you go without fuss!! "If you haven't tried it yet" don't be afraid to. For a Pouch Tobacco I just have to give this (4 out of 5 Star's)

Overview: Amphora Full Aromatic comes in red 50g pouch. A product of the Netherlands, Amphora blends are available everywhere I've traveled. Sight & Touch: Reddish to golden brown in color, this Cavendish has the coarse shred & small flakes typical of Amphora products. Occasionally, new pouches are a little moist, but a little airing and mixing dries it enough to meet my needs without impairing flavour or aroma. Smoking Characteristics: Amphora smokes well without rubbing, just as it comes from the pouch. It's a '1 match' blend that is easy to keep lit with slow, moderately paced draws of light strength. I like it in any pipe ? strait or bent -- and smoke it with equal enjoyment indoors or out.

Nose: Upon opening a new pouch, your nose is greeted with strong, fruity aromas that have faint traces of vanilla & licorice floating around. Although the aroma is strong, there is no ?cough drop? scent that plagues other blends. The initial room note is pleasantly fruity and of medium weight. Unfortunately, it descends too quickly into a staleness I associate with many Burley & Virginia blends.

Mouth: The initial flavour is fruity with pleasant undertones of natural tobacco. This changes a wee bit half way down the bowl into a stronger and darker flavor that is still moderately cool to the mouth and tongue.

Economics: In Canada this blend is low-priced and, coupled with its moderately slow rate of burn, is an economical smoke.

Last Words: Amphora Full Aroma is a wonderful change from Lane, Middleton & Sail products that festoon most corner stores. Out of the 'corner store' blends available to me, Amphora Full Aroma is my 2nd favourite. I rate it at 3 stars out of 5 and usually have it in my tobacco cabinet.

Un tabac qui suscite souvent des avis contrastés, et sous-évalué. Pour ma part, je le juge excellent, mais il est sans doute plus complexe que l'on ne pourrait le croire. Il doit être fumé lentement, par petites bouffées, afin de libérer son arôme. Privilégier un gros foyer, car c'est du "broken flake". Globalement, la saveur est sucrée, chocolatée, avec des notes de marmelade. Ne pas se fier aux mauvaises revues : certains tabacs se voulant plus prestigieux ne souffrent pas la comparaison. Très recommandé !

The notes in the pouch are primarily of berries, some strawberry, some dark fruits. They don't jump out like strong aromatics, but are very light.

The smoke itself brings some of the same notes with a bit of grass and citrus from the Virginia and just a hint of cocoa and earth from the Burley tobacco.

As I like to do with other Amphora blends, I rub out the broken flakes as much as I can and let them dry for about an hour plus the time that they dry while being in the pouch. Once that happens, it smokes cooler than fresh, has less chance of tongue bite, and requires less relights without losing flavor. Otherwise, it smokes a little hot. Moderate-slow smoking pace. Loses just a bit of flavor towards the end of the bowl, but overall maintains the same flavor. Can be easily an all-day smoke.

Mild in strength and body. Perfectly balanced.

To sum up, I think that it's an excellent blend full of good flavor, easy to smoke, and has a good room note. In line with Amphora Virginia, Mac Baren did an amazing job here. As an evidence, I smoked this exclusively and didn't miss anything else. Easy perfect score.

This blend is the one on the Belgian pipe tobacco market I would rank as 4 stars. The thing is almost all pipe tobacco blends in Belgium are based on virginia which is absolutely not compatible with my mouth chemistry. This one contains virginia too but surprisingly it doesn't bite at all. Also, it is from MacBaren and all their blends are like a blowtorch for me. I like it because as I said no biting, nice slightly sweet taste which I don't get tired of, the burning time is around 25-30 minutes, it doesn't give a lot of moisture, and finally, it has an affordable price. The freshly opened pack can give a little bit of licorice taste but it disappears in a couple of days. The flavor is rich and with chocolate and fruit notes, completely opposite to Amphora's original. Tobacco gives nice and thick smoke and doesn't need to relight, maybe 1-2 times if it is not puffed regularly. It gives cool smoke and has the perfect moisture in a pack. When I smoke before going to bed I don't have an unpleasant taste the next day morning. So, it is a perfect blend for me.