Mac Baren Capstan Original Navy Cut

I hope everyone's doing ok today, for your viewing enjoyment tonights review is on Mac Barens Capston Original Navy Cut the one in the blue can.

Pipe Used: M.M. freehand corn cob

Tin Size: 1.75 oz.

Tobacco: Virginia

Type: Pressed

Tin Aroma: Natural honey sweet aroma, nice Virginia leaf aroma.

Taste: Nicely aged Virginia that brings on the natural sweetness of the Virginia as the more you smoke it. Richly smooth smoke, some robustness.

Strength: Medium to Medium Full

Room Note: Full strength and lots of body

Notes: Nice pressed flakes, the aroma out of the tin was fantastic. It reminded me of natural honey comb sweetness, it comes from the aging of the Virginia leaf. I noticed it was a bit moist and can use some dry time. I had to dry it about 30-45 min for a better smoke. I used the bend and fold method which I think produced a better complexity compared to if you rubbed it out, but if you do rub it out you get a nicer robust flavor and a little less sweetness, fuller flavor. Only needed a few relights other than that it stayed lit, you need to smoke it slow and is better in a deeper bowl for me. Burned cool,long and produced more of a nice natural sweetness as you smoke it longer with a nice rich flavor and remained a medium flavor through out the smoke. I recommend it not a bad smoke at all. I rate this one a 2.75 out of 5

The Wife's Review:

This one was weird for me. When the hubby started it I got so little odor I had him come by me to smell it. The smoke wafting out of the bowl smelled icky gross like burning wet wood. The smoke emanating from him at first was non-existent in odor but it built up quickly like a freight train gaining speed. It went from, "are you smoking that?" to "holy crap are you done yet?" in about a minute flat. It wasn't the worst I've smelled by far but if you don't like creepers stay away. I could handle this one in the summer with the patio door open, or maybe once in a blue moon. It certainly wouldn't be my first choice.. and since it chased my neighbor out of the apartment.. it might be good for getting rid of guests you don't like (although I like them and was sorry to see them go).

This is a good flake. Easy to see why so many love it. It is simple and straightforward. The VA's have a light citrus and hay note that form the backbone of the smoke. The casing seems to be clearly tonquin bean and liquor of some sort. Odd that the reviews I have read (I have not read them all) have not commented on this too, so maybe it is just me. In any case it is a lightly scented flake that could be an all day blend except for the fact that after about 3 bowls my cheeks, not my tongue, are irritated. Because what you get with the first puff is all you are going to get out of this blend it is a great set it and forget it blend and works well while working from home.

Capstan is a nicely constructed flake, but has a topping I don't much care for. The good news is that this medium strong flake does start to shine through the topping after mid bowl and shows its teeth some. Not too strong, not too soft, Capstan is full in body and gave me a good amount of smoke to chew on. Aside from the topping this would have been a 4 star winner.

Straight Virginia, without any doubt, and I believe natural Virginia. I think there is no flavoring in it, perhaps a light top dressing, but not casing at all. This is a great tobacco. Very good, natural, a classic. The taste of Virginia is unmistakable. If you want to learn to smoke straight Virginia, Capstan is absolutely the best. In my personal rating (from 1 to 10) my score is 9 and three stars.

I got this tobacco for free and wasn't sure about it at first, the packaging seemed to target another customer. However, it turned out that this was a nicely made tobacco. If you are looking for a complex tobacco this isn't it, I would describe it as a corse but agreeable, well balanced mixture with a few surprises and excellent burning properties.

This is a very enjoyable light Va flake. Toasted wheat bread notes with extremely vague but present whispers of honey. This is lighter fare than even MVF. It's a great warm weather smoke, and when your palate is on it's flat out delicious. Not a stockpile flake for me, but I will grab 15 or so tins to see what develops. Not a firm favorite, but a pleasing new to me blend.

update 20Jan2020 not raising the score but raising my opinion of this one. Any other flake along this line would have some sort of citrus going on. This one has zero citrus, instead presenting oat and raisin. This makes it stand apart from virtually all the other flakes in this genre. really the only thing I'd compare it to that is still produced is Samuel Gawith Golden Glow. It's really amazing what Mac Baren has done with their catalog the last 10 years. They've become a blender you absolutely have to pay attention to.

The main difference between Capstan "Medium" (or Original) and "Mild" (or Gold) is not the strength, as the name suggests, but the type of Virginias: while Capstan Mild is mostly (if not all) lemon leaf, Capstan Medium is a mix of lemon and red Virginias, the former being dominant. That gives Medium a bit more depth, more sweetness and less tang. It is a bit stronger, but other than that they're both quite similar. It won't replace FVF or HoTW in my regular rotation, but the quality tobaccos used here make are enough to give it 3/4.

This comprises two reviews really.....firstly the modern tin. Medium Navy Cut (which equates to Original Navy Cut) is a perfectly fine but bland flake. It's certainly a step up on the Mild, which I found to be thin in taste and harsh on the mouth, but otherwise it's unremarkable. The only way I can think to improve this is to put it away for a few years....and that leads me to the second review....

Fortune smiled on me recently and I was gifted with two round 2 ounce Capstan Full Navy Cut tins probably from the 1950's and a 2 ounce Medium Navy Cut tin from the 1930's. I've not opened the Full Navy Cut tins yet but I just couldn't resist opening the 1930's tin! The scent was very strong indeed...like a very old wine, almost a port. The tobacco was a broken flake, fairly dry and ready to smoke. To be honest it smelt so strong, you could almost just sit there breathing in the scent, but when I did light it I was greeted with wonderful clouds of smoke and the taste of alcoholic stewed dark fruits which lasted through the whole bowl. I imagine at something like 70 years old the tobacco has reached about as far as storage can take it....it's been such a privilage to have the chance to enjoy what must be a once in a lifetime opportunity. 🙂

Now smoking my fifth tin of this blend, I think I can do a good review, for clarification, it is the light blue tin of Capstan Original Navy cut, made by Orlik under Licence of Imperial Tobacco Ltd.

This is the flake that led me into virginia flakes in the first place, telling the tale of how sweet a tobacco can be, and that there is a great difference when it comes to flakes VS ribbon cut tobaccos.

the tin aroma is kind of sweet, fresh fruity smell, a tad of honey as well. The flakes are as wide as the tin, and not really thick. Easy to fold, and there is no extra stiffness at the edges, as there might be in other flakes. The color is lightly brown with some golden streaks.

The thinn soft flake is easy to fold, sometimes I roll it a bit between my thumb and index finger, to give a torpedo like shape before putting it into the pipe.

It lights easy, maybe a bit too easy, the first few puffs can be quite hot before tamping and slowing down. Carefully smoked, it is sweet and mellow, not alot of nicotine, sometimes an slight earthy tone is present, and this is a nice thing, keeping it from being overly sweet.

The smoke is consistent all through the pipe, giving a fine white ash. A freshly opened tin might, sometimes, give a bit of gurgles. Not to overly moist like penzance thoguh.

Room note: the room note does not scare off the spousal unit from the living room

The lack of nicotine is, to me, the major flaw, I can smoke Irish Flake in the morning, even before my morning coffee, without feeling any nicotine hit, this makes me still want to smoke even more, even though I just spent 40 minutes with my pipe.

Compared to SG - FVF, or another favorite: Solani - Silver Flake, this is kind of meek, therefore the 3 stars, it is good, but there are better alternatives at hand.