Mac Baren Capstan Original Navy Cut

Smell from a freshly-popped tin is grape juice, 100%. Welch’s, Protestant communion, grape juice. Pre-light draw gives the same effect, with the slightest addition of burnt toast. Loaded into an estate Clark Layton blowfish that is fresh from the shop, no ghosts here.

Takes the flame easily, despite the moisture in the flakes. Initial flavors are of hay, like many Virginias, a little wheat, a little stewed fruit. Very typical Virginia profile. I also pick up hints of a sweetness like custard that enhances the sense of stewed fruit. Very nice, and also very consistent. That’s at a sipping cadence. Speeding up doesn’t do much for this blend, except heat it up and introduce the threat of tongue bite. There is a burley-like note of oats, more understated even than the custard, barely present enough to be a counter note. Other flavors include a note of cedar or pencil shavings, not present in every puff, but weaving in and out, and graham crackers, even more subtle, and the merest suggestion of brown sugar.

Burns well and quickly for a flake (I used fold-and-stuff). Not much of a nicotine hit. I could definitely inhale this one if I wanted. Wouldn’t call it cool-burning, but it’s well-behaved. From what I can tell, the room note is pretty pleasant. No relights needed.

I like this stuff a lot. Maybe the most user-friendly Virginia I’ve smoked so far. If it were not for the price, I’d make this my everyday smoke. I’d definitely recommend this, especially to beginners who want a friendly, mostly sting-free introduction to the world of Virginia tobaccos. The whole experience is exactly what I love about Virginia tobaccos. Easily four stars.

È la prima volta che fumo un tabacco Virginia, prima la mia concezione di tabacco da pipa era sugli aromatizzati, specialmente i vanigliati o al whisky. Ma assaporando questa delizia, specie il tipo di taglio Flake, senza ombra di dubbio posso confermare di aver trovato il tabacco che mi accompagnerà. Purtroppo mi sono avvicinato al fumare la pipa quando in Italia avevano già esaurito le scorte dei vari SG (avrei voluto provare il FVF). Inizialmente ho provato a piegare i fiocchi, ma vuoi che la latta sia appena aperta, vuoi anche la mia inesperienza, credevo di essermi sbagliato. Allora ho adottato il metodo di sminuzzamento e sfilacciamento. Posso solo dire che è stata una gioia per il mio palato. Non morde la lingua, non è stucchevole e soprattutto il mattino successivo non si sente la bocca impastata, cosa che succede con gli aromatici specie se sono secchi. Ovviamente per assaporare a pieno le qualità bisogna tirare leggermente e trovare il giusto ritmo di fumata, ma basta poco per trovarlo. L’odore nella latta ricorda quello del fieno appena tagliato. Fumato in varie pipe non cambia e non si forma condensa, anche nelle curve. Il mio giudizio finale è: se lo vedete nello scaffale del vostro tabaccaio di fiducia non indugiate ad acquistarlo, se invece non c’è fatevelo ordinare che non ve ne pentirete

I have recently discovered this Virginia based tobacco mix. I confess, knowing this could have been one of Tolkien's favorites, affected my decision to buy a tin. I liked the capstan as soon as I tried it for the first time. It brings together woody and bready flavors. Only mildly sweet. Smokes well, slow, without biting or getting wet. I am smoking it with most pipes I have (straight billiards) indoors and outdoors. No strong nicotine hit. It's an all day tobacco for me. Room note is pleasant, the smoke is not dense and not particularly aromatic. It remains the same throughout the whole smoke. I use to crush the flakes a bit usually, since I noticed that in case the flakes are just slightly bent or rolled, the bowl won't be properly loaded and the smoke will be wet..perhaps this is a newbie comment (I am not an expert piper, I admit). Overall reccomended! I like it.

JRR's recent birthday and a good sale got me to pick up a few more tins of this to add to my cellar. I was talking to my wife about the blend and instead of digging out an aged tin to open, I decided to go with a new one. The date on the back was Oct 2020, so it was pretty much a virgin virginia still.

Presentation: I love the square tins, I hate the "health warning" which covers half of it. Upon opening with a nice swoosh of the magic seal, you're presented with what is a gift. Folded card holder with a gold sticker. Nice classy packaging touch.. open the leaves of the card.. and you have perfectly matched and stacked flakes.

Tin Note: From a fresh tin there was a little sweetness and a little grass

Preparation: Remove one stick of gum, I mean flake of tobacco and fold it twice and insert into my Morgan Blackjack Professor (Author Shape) and it magically fills the bowl to the top. I rough up the top edges to help with lighting and give it a good char. Light tamp and then off we go.

Taste: Not as sweet as it's Golden Haired Little Brother but still with a sweet top note which I'll guess might be a topping of some sort. It's not as complex as my usual VaPers but you get a nice consistent taste along the sweet hay end of the spectrum. It is consistent through the end of the bowl

Smoking: Once lit, it burns nice and slow without a lot of effort. No tongue bite and as long as I keep my cadence slow burns cool. Puts out a nice amount of smoke. Room note to the wife is "tolerable but a little cigarette like". It's a blend that I have to be ready for a long smoke as it will last a long long time if smoked slow from one flake.

I've never been lucky enough to try the older vintages of Capstan, but I know that I prefer the Blue over the Gold personally and the flakes over the ready rubs due to my preparation preference. I make sure to keep them in my cellar happily aging, but even new (3 months) they are a hell of a good smoke.

Capstan Blue is a very typical looking Navy Cut of uniform Flakes. Upon opening the tin I am pleasantly greeted with a sweet aroma, and notes of hay, raisins, grass, earth, fig, a little citrus, and a very mature fermented fruit smell that was very pleasing. The flake broke apart very easy and packed well. It also took to flame very well.

The first thing I noticed was the very sweet hay taste. But not sweet in an artificial way as I could not not pick out any toppings. It was a very natural sweetness found in good quality Virginia. I also tasted raisins, fig, earth, grass, and a bit of citrus. This blend has a very strong fruitiness that is in every puff. It is a dark fermented fruit that almost reminded me of Perique but without the pepper notes. This blend is a lot like LNF but with more mature Virginias, less citrus, and more of the mentioned dark fruit notes. It already has the aged and fermented tobacco taste that several years of age brings out. This blend smokes great out of the tin, but I am sure it would continue to age very well if desired.

Capstan Blue did not sport any rough edges or leave any tongue bite. It smokes down to a very clean and dry ash, though it did require a few more relights than usual, but not enough that it gets in the way of enjoyment. 4/4

Un grande Virginia. Ingiustamente ritenuto inferiore a tabacchi più blasonati come il grande FVF, regge invece il confronto senza problemi. Relativamente economico, buonissimo, semplice da fumare. Taaanto tempo fa era uno dei tabacchi preferiti da Tolkien (dicono sia un po' cambiato nei decenni, ma ha anche questo aspetto romantico).

Wonderful tin note, it is slightly citrus and aged Virginia. Sweet taste, full tobacco flavor and it burns slow and easy. Easily a full hour long smoke with one flake in a normal bowl. Love this tobacco, I can see why so many people love it

As this is a well reviewed blend I will just honestly attest that this tobac just gets better with age. Flavour develops as the bowl smokes down with the last puff wishing I had put in a deeper bowl. 🤜🍂🔥💨🦜

Capstan Blue

I purchased a tin of this from a local brick and mortar shop. It was quite expensive given the huge tobacco taxes we have in Ontario, but I figured it’s a pretty storied blend so I’d like to try. It is one of the first straight Virginias that I’ve tried (along with Samuel Gawith’s Best Brown Flake).

Opening the tin I do get a bit of a grass-like scent but mostly it smells like citrus, especially lemons to me.

The flakes are perfectly sliced and the tobacco is a lighter brown colour with some strands of yellow running through. Presentation is top notch and makes me feel almost like I’m spoiling something when I rub it out into strands for packing (I have learned that I seem to prefer to smoke these types of flakes rubbed out).

When I light up it takes a couple of charring lights to get it going but once it catches I do not have to relight through the whole bowl. The only maintenance required is a tamp every now and again.

The taste is what really surprised me; when I get about halfway through the bowl this turns into something strangely savoury and mouth-watering to me. I can’t describe the flavour more specifically than that except to say that I find it delicious. I have read a lot of the previous reviews that state this can be a sweet tasting blend, but for some reason I don’t taste much sweetness except in the aftertaste.

I’d have to say that this is now one of my favourite tobaccos, and having just finished the tin I can say this was the fastest tin I’ve ever gone through. Very much looking forward to trying more straight Virginia blends. Well worth the price, and in my opinion this could be an all-day smoke if you wanted, I know I certainly have smoked it all day the last few!