Mac Baren Gold Block

I used to buy this when I was about 17 (I'm 39 now) and it came in a nice vacuum packed square olive coloured tin. The tobacco then, smelt of honey and mild fruit and was a light coloured mixture that had a hint of stickiness. It literally did look like a little 'block of gold' wrapped in white grease proof style paper.

It smoked well and had a nice room note. But that was then..

As with most other reviews about Gold block today's incarnation is a sad sad shadow of its former self. A completely different blend that is cigarette like, hot burning, and bland as a plain wall coated in magnolia paint.

1 out of 4 stars for the current production. 3 out of 4 stars for the 1989 version.

This stuff has its place in the pipe smoking world. If you're an amateur blender and you have a concoction that won't take the match so well, add some of this. It doesn't impart much flavor and it will improve the burn rate.

Smoked by itself, this is an overly blase smoke that burns rather quick. It will certainly smoke hot if you allow it to but puffed temperately, this is cool enough. I just found it bland but if bland is what you want, this is your ticket. I plan to keep it stored for blending, and it really helped out one of my Vapers burn properly and also toned down an overly rich taste. Nice! Of course, some shag or finely cut burley will do the same trick at a lower cost.

I think there's only one way to enjoy this tobacco and that is to smoke it as slow as possible. At my normal pace the flavor goes off the rails quite quickly. When I force myself to have the patience it provides a decent smoke with sweet hay, a touch of citrus, and a hint of nuts and earth. I'll recommend this to those who have the patience of Job.

Mild to medium in body and taste. Has a very mild added sweetness. Burns very well.

The smell in the packet is barely discernible, save for a vague scent of rice pudding. Probably the easiest lighting and easiest packable tobacco I've found so far.

The smokes is reasonable pleasant and light but doesn't particularly stand out amongst all the tobaccos I've tried. Does give a bit of tonguebite.

The nicest thing I find about this is the room note, which has a habit of popping up hours later and surprising me with a really nice waft of tobacco scent.

Update 27/04/2013

I recently bought a 25g pouch of this to check it out again. I've done this with a few tobaccos recently that I bought when I first started and wasn't fond of, usually because of rampant tonguebite, and ended up liking second time round, in part due to the tonguebite disappearing probably because I'm more used to pipe tobacco now. First time around I have to confess that the bite without filters was horrendous and manageable with (that's both bowl and stem). Sadly, this hasn't changed at all unlike the others and has fallen into the mediocre and the dull. I ended up putting most of the packet in my scragends mixture with the leftovers of a load of other tobaccos, only to be smoked when a lack of other tobaccos keeps me from smoking something good. Not so truly rank as to deserve a single star and that room note still charms, but I doubt I'll bother getting this again.

ìts a typical Macbaren burley blend, with virginia behind. Its sweet, cool and easy to smoke all day. Its not at all complex and can get very boring very fast. But...many many people love this blend so this speaks to the subjectivity of taste in pipe smoking. If i want this sort of blend, id pick one of the pure virginias from macbaren, which tend to have a touch more character.

it is what it is.

I wanted to like this. I bought loads on a whim a while back. I found it dry, harsh, lacking in nicotine and hot to smoke. TW's review of 2012 says it exactly. However, when I was at school my carpentry teacher smoked Gold Block all day long in class and I used to love those crisp autumn mornings, going up the stairs in the old converted barn to lessons. The smell of turned pine and Gold block mixing with the crisp autumn air. Bonfire night and the smell of cigars and hotdogs coming soon, Then Christmas. Then I tried it when I grew up. Now I smoke Full Virginia Flake and from a packet St Bruno. Completely different. I don't hate it, if you smoke all day and slowly it could be quite ok, It's not 1988 any more and I don't work outdoors so I prefer a punchier heavier strength tobacco. (I work long hours most days, so whilst I long for the days when one could smoke at the drawing board, actually I'd probably end up smoking continuously whilst awake so looking in a positive light, at least for most hard working men a pipe is a treat to look forward to I suppose). I can't hate this tobacco at all as it taught me at an early age that pipe smoke is nicer than any other.

From what I feel higher nicotine content than your average aromatic. Very unnoticeable flavoring and grassy tin notes. Burns quickly but its not too hot and there is no tongue bite. Smooth smoke. I would say its something that goes well with a milk tea. But its not an all day smoke you can get bored of the flavor pretty quickly I usually smoke this pack once or twice in a week and while smoking there is nothing to write home about.

It seems like Gold Block was an iconic blend back in the day and it may well have merited all the hype and sales in days gone by. Never smoked the original. With that being said, this tobacco as it is no great shakes with me. Very seldom if ever do I dislike a blend because I believe each stands on its own merit. I find Gold Block to be a monotone blend. While you do get components of both Virginia and Burley they just don't seem to marry very well. To each his own I guess. I think I may add this to some others and try it. I am sure it will marry with something.

Original June 16 2008

I had a passionate afair with this for a good number of years, would'nt smoke anything else 'till one day my tobacconist, Nat Chait (RIP) led me astray, could hardly face it afterwards.

Reccomended here in England as good tobacco for new pipe smokers, and as I'd just come back from ten years on the other side of the pond, it was a good one to get back into English tobacco's, burned well, smoked well, with a good taste. Unfortunately, as I said, I was led astray and wandered into the world of aromatics for a goodly number of years before coming over to flakes.

There seems to have been a lot of poor reviews to this particular offering of Ogdens, and in comparison to other tobacco's, I would have been inclined to agree, had it not been for my discovery of this site, which gives much credence to the cellaring of tobacco's, virginia's in particular. last week, my wife discovered a tin, yes a tin of Gold Block that I had opened and then left, perhaps eight years ago ? or more, needless to say, the tobacco was a little dry, but by leaving a damp tissue in the tin for about four days, I actualy ventured to try it, surprise suprise, not bad at all, there seems to be something in this cellaring.

Still only giving poor old Gold Block three stars, change that, I'll give it four. Why? well it served well it's original purpose, and I've found an aged Gold Block to be even better. But I am not sure about ageing pouches as that of couse is what it's served up in these days.

Updated 7th August 2010 For old times sake, I tried a 25g pouch of this and it's nothing like what I remember, the basic taste is still there, but it just burned hot and peppery so I tried the trick of mixing it with 25g of St Bruno RR. And that did nothing to save the day either.