Mac Baren Amphora Kentucky Blend

Smells like BBQ, and ketchup out of the pouch, but doesn’t show up in the taste. Love the price point. Too moist for me out of the pouch, and was a bit finicky keeping lit. The normal rub out, and drying routine worked better for me on future smokes.

Very strong tobacco. So strong, I can't really enjoy it. Has natural flavour and big portion of Kentucky and I'm afraid that Kentucky is not the leaf I like. However, it has its own quality and I can imagine there are many pipe smokers that could appreciate it. (Maybe, one day, mee too.)

The fresh openend tobacco smells like dark bread, bacon, smoked ham! The texture ist oily, a little bit to humid. In my opinion the tobacco should be aired 20 minutes before be fired. The smoke has aromas of earthy notes and petrol notes and toasted flavors. I dedected gunpowder, dark bread crust, tar. It reminds me to Plasticine a play dough which we used as kids. It also reminds me to the smells of dried sea slugs which are some people use as a souvenir from holidays for decoration at home. Retronasal it is clearly spicy and a prickle in the nose. The tobacco smokes cool even tough it is forced we hard paffs. Overall it is not my cup of tea. I will use it for blending.

If you enjoy Kentucky that isn't too harsh, you should enjoy this (unless you need high N). The VA is barely there, but holds the blend together. The broken flakes are truly broken flakes, not thick, sometimes short, ribbons as in some blends listed as such, and fold and stuff easily. Not very complex, but it delivers what it claims. Smokes easy, although I needed to relight a bit more than usual. My only criticism is not the many small bits of stem, or even the thin 1 inch pieces, but a thick stem over 2 inches long was a bit much (hopefully not common in many pouches).

The tobacco is very dark brown, almost black, and quite moist from the pouch; feeling almost greasy to the fingers. It says here "broken flake" but that's more like "half broken"; the main consistency is long strands of flake, and there are even quite large bits of still unbroken pieces of flake within.

Pouch note is that of very full burley, with just a hint of charcoal/barbecue.

Usually needs a bit of rubbing out to pack properly because of the consistency, but lights and burns surprisingly well despite the perceived moisture level. The smoke is VERY thick, fairly strong, and absolutely full of the rich kentucky flavour; it's like smoking a smoky fireplace, or the remains of a burnt-out house. It's not disagreeable at all, but to be honest, it's a tad bit too strong for my tastes to be smoked pure; definitely not an all-day smoke for me, but to be enjoyed occasionally after a good dinner or perhaps having a strong drink as a chaser.

I tried mixing it 1:1 with Everton first, but that's another burley blend so it stayed still a little bit too wholesome; what I think it needs is some pure virginia or perhaps orient to tone it down a bit. Drying out actually seems to make it somewhat mellower and not just too sharp/coarse as seems to happen with many other broken-flake blends.

Like many blends of similar strong taste and consistency, a pouch of this would last me easily 2-3 times as long as a pouch of some milder blend.

Will buy again but only to use as a base for own blends, not for smoking as such. Now, I'm eagerly waiting for Amphora Latakia and Amphora Perique. 😉

I have not tried any other Kentucky blend so far and I am more used to DFK as a condiment tobacco rather than the main star on a blend. Having said that, as I really enjoyed the Virginia Blend from Amphora I wanted to give this a go. Well, the puch offers a medium dark brown pre rubbed flake. It says to conatin a bit of Virginia but I cannot find it here. The aroma is what I can call salty, a little bit barbecuee and it is quite monochromatic. It packs and lights well. The aroma and taste are definitely not sweet. It is also almost salty, flavour is uniform and monotonic, it would be a good addition to other leaf blends ate 5-10% max. Smoking it as almost pure DKF is definitely not for me. It is bearable but not satisfying. It is rather dry on the pallate and does not evolve. I am not a big burley fan as well so I guess DFK as a blend is not for me. Burns down to a dry ash. If you are into DFK go for it, if you are an English or VA lover like me, maybe you won´t miss this one on your stash.

Like a codger blend, but more so.

Pouch note is straight ketchup.

Broken flake that packs well and smokes like a dream with little to no relights.

Big, brash Kentucky flavors backed by a Virginia twang.

I’d be happy to smoke this daily if it was the only option provided to me.

Good stuff! Delicious, hearty, satisfying.

I bought the Amphora sampler set during the last IPSD sales and have just recently gotten around to trying the Kentucky. From the first bowl this has become a part of my permanent rotation. For some reason I didn't have high expectations, possibly because all the dark-fired tobaccos I tried previously I've ended up using only for blending. But the Amphora Kentucky blend, with its base of quality Virginia, makes a fine solo smoke. Perfect for a an after-lunch pick me up on a crisp Autumn afternoon.

Amphora Kentucky completely fills the mouth with flavor, without any harshness. Very slight nic hit evident if smoked on an empty stomach. I do not get any grassy notes despite the base being Virginias (seem to be mostly red Virginia, possibly African grown). If you are generally scared off by dark-fired I will only say that I find this blend much more approachable for a broad range of smokers than a Bob Runowsky creation like Old Joe Krantz. Still, I wouldn't recommend it for the Lane 1-Q smoker.

Naturally I wanted to know how this compared to Amphora Burley, which was previously part of my permanent rotation. In a direct A-B comparison the Burley has a more pronounced earthy potato peel flavor and smoother nutty, retrohale, while Kentucky is less earthy, with something noticeably fruity in the pH tempering sauce (I get star fruit), and a distinctive and pleasant spiciness on the retrohale (I get coriander and tamarind).

I tend to like a lot of variety, but this is one blend that I enjoy having more than one bowl a day. I tried in numerous pipes before settling in on an old Savinelli Capri 625 KS that I've had since 1979, now dedicated to this blend. I guess it finally found its soulmate, lol !

Main aroma of fresh tobacco contains moist tar smoky pitch and dried fruit. Need an half of hour before packing, because my sample was too wet. Smoke is tangy, citrusy with hint of mellow fermented hay. Need several relights (mainly because of moisture), leave dottle but with good preparation can burn till the end. I can not help to myself, but very similar was green condor (of course condor contains additional aroma) And I was nicely surprised.