Mac Baren Gold Block

I found this to be reminicent of 'Cutters Choice' hand rolling tobacco, although slightly stronger and heavier. It lights and burns easily, but the bowl does tend to heat up quickly if you are not careful. The tobacco itself also seems to burn quickly. I may use this to blend with other tobaccos - although as an occasional smoke I found it quite enjoyable.

Being English , and GB being readily available from almost anywhere in the country, I have tried this tobacco on several occasions throughout my pipesmoking years and always came to the same conclusion "...what on earth do people see in this tobacco?". It's bland, it's tasteless, it's hot, it's too expensive. A friend of mine loves it as a 'roll up' (cigarette), but then again he also smokes Clan the same way.

BUT! My father used to smoke a pipe (he's still alive by the way) and GB was his favourite tobacco. He used to be a pub landlord (bear with me guys' I'm getting there!) and had B+B (bed and breakfast) facility. One of his regular clients was a sales representative for Ogden's tobacco who claimed that one of the finest smoking mixture was a 50-50 mixture of Gold Block and St. Bruno flake mixed together. My father never tried it himself he didn't like St. Bruno - but I do, and I have tried it! It has now become a staple smoke for me 50g of GB and 50g of St. Bruno. I sit and cut up the flakes into a decent size zip-lock bag with a pair of scissors (who's a philistine?) to get the pieces fine enough - no rubbing out by the way, then throw in the GB tease it out, then finish up giving the bag a really good shake. I?ve also found the flavour improves if you let the mixture ?marinade? for a couple of days in the air tight bag before smoking.

The end result is very pleasant, the St. Bruno, being in little ?lumps? tames down the tongue bite associated with GB, and that the GB lightens up the ?heaviness? that can be experienced with pure ST. Bruno. Nicotine strength increases and the 'room note' is very pleasant. For those of you who may rate the two brands why not give it a try?

My father said to me ??if this mixture is so good then why don?t they market it?? I suppose if they did that then they would only be selling one product instead of two, who knows?

C. S. Lewis' favourite blend.

Not a bad choice for old-fashioned Anglicans: this was a mild, smooth, tenderly contemplative composition, as moderate in temperament as it was sedate in your pipe. Elegant, with "a demeanour nobly bland". A much more liberal Anglican, I always found Gold Block a blend for grand dads with pocket repeaters and rimless spectacles. (Like mine!)

I describe this in the past because what Imperial Tobacco, a soulless, heartless octopus dedicated to buying up everything and then turning it into cheap, wet-paper-flavoured ersatz Lumpendreck now sells as Gold Block is NOT what C. S. and bonpapa used to love back when. (Then again, I. T. is the company that bought up THREE NUNS in order to sell it with the "périque" flavour applied as A SYNTHETIC CASING AGENT!!!)

If you love the Screw-Tape Letters and the Chronicles of Narnia, and can get your hands on an old tin of GOLD BLOCK, bon appétit! Otherwise, you're out of luck.

In the pouch it smells like cigarette tobacco without the cheap & nastiness of cigarette tobacco (& sweetened a bit). This blend has been recommended by the council of puffer's to new pipesmokers & I see the wisdom in that , it is very easy to smoke with no tongue- bite & minimal relights needed- also smokes very cool. On the down side I found it a little bit rough in the throat though & being used to smoking a Virginia- flake blend evryday- I found this .......a lil' boring. As an interesting sidenote I have heard that this was one of the blends that tested positive to polyglycogen (some synthetic moisture retainer) So if you keep wondering why your left testicle doubles in size every time you smoke this stuff- it's probably just the artificial additive.

If I had to guess, I'd say that the "other choice premium tobaccos" is mostly burley. Either that, or the Virginias are awfully tame. Not a bad blend, but not a particularly distinguished one either.