Mac Baren Amphora Original Blend

Amphora Original Blend is a perfectly good tobacco when smoked for what it is. And what is that? A casual utility blend, not a gourmet offering.

This was originally produced in the Netherlands by Douwe Egberts, the brown package then denoted as Regular. It was part of a family of Amphoras, including (but not limited to) the red full aromatic (actually somewhere between mild and medium), the blue (light aromatic with a hint of mint), and the green (medium aromatic with a hazelnut taste). In the late 1990's the brand was acquired by Imperial Tobacco. and according to many the quality went down. I have no idea if this was true, for Imperial would not distribute to the United States. After some years the manufacture was farmed out to MacBaren, and then in 2015 MacBaren actually acquired the Amphora line. Once more the brown "Regular" was available in the US, but it was now characterized as "Original Blend." MacBaren produces good tobacco.

In the pouch you discover a mixture with a somewhat stringy ribbon cut. The sniffing test reveals nothing outstanding, but then it is not unpleasant either.It lights OK, but the ribbons are large enough to require an occasional relight in the puffing. The tobaccos are burley, dark fired Kentucky, cavendish (not black cavendish), oriental and Virginia.

The taste is pleasant, although not exciting. The burley and Kentucky dominate, enhanced with a bit of cocoa flavoring--a taste that melds well with burley. The cavendish and Virginia lurk in the background, but provide a bit of sweetness. The oriental is just barely evident. What you have is a very nice medium smoke with a taste that is perfectly fine for casual smoking but a bit too insipid for those pipe times when full attention is directed to the smoke.

The room note is pleasant, more of a natural tobacco than an aromatic smell (for Amphora Original Blend is a semi-aromatic, not an aromatic blend).The nicotine strength just hits medium. I smoke it in my burley blend pipes. I am not particularly bite prone. This blend has never bitten me, but hold in mind that I am not sensitive along that line.

When you are doing something else, but choose to also puff a pipe, Amphora Original Blend fills the bill. When your full attention is directed to the smoking, however, it comes across as very ordinary. Use this as a utility tobacco.

One of the most popular blends. The reason? It's the right choice for a novice, it's an aromatic but not too sweet and not so boring and also it has a good and intriguing flavour after the first third of smoke. You have to smoke it very slowly to appreciate it. 3,0/5 in my personal rating system.

This blend is a great all-day smoke. It is just nutty and chocolatey enough to give a kick to your bowl. The room note is great, I appreciate the sweetness of the last half-bowl. It's a tobacco I like to share with a non-smoker friend for his firsts time because here in Quebec it's the only convenient store tobacco that offers a good burley blend. (the other available tobaccos are Sail, Tycoon, Captain Black and Borkum Riff) all of these have poor reviews and I'm not interested in trying those.

The pouch: great nut/chocolate sent. 1st half: Good, plain burley. 2nd half: The flavoring reveals itself. great aroma, great room note. Ending: I have never thrown the last fourth of the bowl like I usually do.

Pros: great flavouring Cons: occasional bite tongue, the flavouring could be overwhelming for English smokers. Creates quite a lot of humidity, keep a peap-cleaner near you, especially in cold weather.

Is almost tasteless, not so strong. For me is Flat,but is a good quality product. Agreable for novices in pipe smoking.

Good times! This was the first blend I ever tried, I bought it the same day I bought my first pipe. I had no clue. I bought the pipe because I liked how it looked and it was cheap, and I bought Amphora Regular because the guy at the counter asked me if I wanted to pick up some tobacco and I blurted out "Amphora" since I remembered an old commercial for it, and "Regular" since it was the first pouch I spotted behind the counter.

The taste is mild, and it burns relatively well. Thankfully I enjoyed it enough to stick with the pipe, it really led me to explore the hobby deeper. I will eternally be grateful to Amphora for it...but you still only get two stars!

Worth a try.

I smoked this for years and am still looking for a replacement. If anyone ever finds one, please, please contact me as I would love to try it. This is an almost natural tobacco and a mix of Burley and Virginias in a thin cavendish cut that stays lit easily and can be smoked all day long. It has a great room note that noone, I mean noone ever complained about. It has a sweet nutty taste and a good n hit. Unfortunately they no longer import into the US! Don't you hate it when your all day blend cannot be had anymore? Cakes the bowl well and burns down to a powdery grey ash.

Great stuff!

Seeing Skilling's review of Amphora Regular reminded me of when I started smoking this blend 25 or 30 years ago. I ordered several packages of Amphora from the Dan Tobacco catalog a year or so ago and the flavor sure seemed less impressive than what I remembered. Then I read Tantric's review and understood why. I did not know the blender had changed.

Like many of today's staples that have undergone subtle changes due to the recipe being recreated by different blenders, Amphora Regular is indeed not what it used to be. A hot burning, mild sort of mostly burley with a smidgen of virginia, AR does not light my fire.

Commonly recommended for beginners here in Italy but I don't particularly agree with this, to be honest. I myself smoked my first bowls with this blend but never managed to quite love it.

First, the cut is chunky and moist, which made my first packing and lighting experiences quite a chore. Second, I still don't believe the taste holds up. It's a good tobacco, but too anonymous to my taste... but then again, I'm an ex cigarette smoker so my expectations for pipe tobacco are high. I'd never choose this over an English blend or a good aromatic, but I'd still smoke it with pleasure.

The contents of burley and cavendish, plus oriental are harmoniously blended with Virginia and a very mild chocolate flavoring (almost not existent). It is an all day easy going blend that has all the components I like for when I chill in the evenings. Surprisingly after all those complicated blends and tobaccos, this blend reminds me why I still am a fun of simple burley cavendish ones. I am smoking right now one bowl in a corncob pipe and I must say this blend is mild enough to relax yet strong enough with a tasteful aroma and hints of cocoa that I much appreciate on a hard day work ahead.