Mac Baren St. Bruno Flake

I must first confess, this is not the pouche type offerings of the supermarket, I just got 50g (loose) from mysmokingshop.co.uk who assured me this left the regular pouche stuff behind, and as young Simon seems to know his pipes, tobbaco's, and cigars having gained the experience from his father who ran the tobacconists before him, coupled with the fact he's just been awarded Retail Tobacconist of the year 2008, who am I to argue. After simon had weghed ot the tobacco he placed a label which stated "Full Flavour" and that is the only point I beg to disagree on.

Dark oily flakes with a lovely aroma of I-don't-know-what-but-I'm-going-to-smoke-it-anyway greet you on opening the bag, rub out easy and fire up on one match, it starts out VERY tame, just a nice gentle smoke, wife says the stink factor is good, just ordinary tobacco smell with no bad manners, now although the flavouring stays pretty mild, just a good no nonsense smoke, the strength begins to build but stays constant. This is not a strength that becomes so great, you feel you've just swallowed a golf ball, this is a strength that says "when you've finished you'll be satisfied" although very moist, this is a VERY slow burning and cool tobacco, pipe got to warm, just, and absolutely no tongue bite, even though I was puffing a bit, this being due to (IMHO) the strength of nicotine did not seem to equate to strength of flavour, the first bowl made me think that this was an evening smoke, the second bowl made me feel it was more of a daytime job, the third bowl convinced me that it's an "anytime you feel like it tobacco". I found no need for re-lights, the tobacco just burned down to a salt and pepper finish, no waste. Simon claims he is the only purveyor of this particular rendition of St Bruno in the happy realm of good Queen Bess.

Why they sell this loose I know not for if ever a tobacco deserved a tin, it is surely this. This is one tobacco I'll be back for more of. Four Star rating.

I am a recent returner to the pipe, having smoked fags for years. I approached St Bruno wit some caution - it was the brand my father smoked and I had tried it (and hated it) in my long past youth. What a change the years have made..

Yes it has the Lakeland soap and yes, it is a serious, strong tobacco. But it is also smooth, satisfying and cool. No tongue bite however hard you go. Stays smooth and rich.

First light gives me clouds of creamy smoke, loads of flavour and a pretty quick nicotine hit. If you are not familiar with the Lakeland style, the soap/lavendar/whatever-it-is is very noticeable. I find the more often you smoke it, the less you notice it. Behind that is a rich and varied Virginia experience. Stays well flavoured for most of the bowl but the last quarter can get a bit overpowering. Burns to a nice clean ash. Best taken slow and easy.

Not for everyone, and certainly not for those who like mild strength and flavour. But I love it. One of my regular all-dayers.

Prologue:

Well, I'm bursting my 'review cherry' with St. Bruno. I've been a member of TR for a while now and it's been a HUGE help to me as a relatively novice pipe smoker. I've found a number of brands to enjoy and experiment with and I'm very grateful to you all.

Before I start, I'm like a great number of Brits who have St. Bruno etched in their olfactory memory banks. My father used to smoke it and it's a very, very familiar and comforting room note to me (as I'm sure many others). Certainly a British institution!

I'm a Brit living in America (for 8 years now) and I decided to become a full time pipe smoker on my 40th birthday this year. I was a 'closet' pipe smoker for a number of years before - but only the occasional puff on a lovely little pipe I bought in Astleys in London (before they moved) - one a very small batch that was made in the 1950's - small stem and bowl. No particular tobaccos - just anything I picked up.

Now, and especially after reading many of the reviews and experimenting, I've realized my tobacco tastes are similar to my whisky tastes ... I love both and am quite happy to puff on a very wide variety of tobaccos to suit my mood.

Review:

I picked up a couple of pouches St. Bruno on a recent trip to London to see family - just out of sheer curiosity. My father used to smoke it and having read the MANY mixed reviews I just had to give it a go.

I was impressed with the foiled packed mini tin that the flakes now come in within the pouch. Opening the foil I was greeted with dark, rich chocolatey flakes - having a sniff - the smell like stewed prunes.

Rubbing the flakes out was easy and I filled up a full bowl and went to work. I'd been warned from the reviews that this is a strong nicotine tobacco - and BOY do I concur. WOAH! After the initial burst I was very pleasantly surprised at the smoothness of the smoke. [Now please bear in mind I only smoke with 9mm filter pipes - so this might have some bearing on my reviews] I enjoyed the flavor and the room-note (brings back so many memories!). I was reminded of traditional British Christmas cake: fruity, moist and a little nutty.

Overall, I'm very surprised to say how much I enjoyed this tobacco. I think it definitely falls into the realms of LOVE/HATE - a bit like Marmite.

I would definitely agree with a lot of reviewers: NOT to be tried by complete pipe novices... it's a strong, fruity and nicotine-strong tobacco. For me it's going in the roster of regulars. I enjoyed it much more than I expected.

very nice well stoved virginia/kentucky blend, with a good dose of the typical british "soap". if one hasn't smoked it for a while, the first 10 pipefulls will seem very "coloured" by the top flavour, and then slowly one tends to forget about it.

the pouch aroma is slightly smoky, in combination with the heavy, fruity stoved virginias (and of course, a bit of the "soap"). very promising!

the flakes are easy to fold and pack into the pipe, and light easily. when burning, the virginias are pleasantly sweet in a non-artificial way, with hints of berries, and the kentucky adds spice and strength. i don't find it as strong as others do, though. perhaps it's a bit milder than it was 20 years ago? i don't know, really, but a very fine smoke it is. burns clean and straight-tasting to the bottom, leaving a fresh pipe.

one of my re-found favourites, now that i've discovered the internet tobacconists. i'll have to order a load of it for aging 🙂

Ah, this tobacco is one of greatest pleasures of the UK smoker. If you can't find it well, you're probably standing on the wrong side of the newsagent's door!

The scent when you peel back the foil is truly glorious. You are hit by what can only be described as a fine Ozzy Shiraz/Grenache blend with a touch of Mourvedre creeping into your nose: Heaven itself. The instant I opened it, my thoughts were drawn to D'Arenberg's Ironstone and haven't stopped smiling since.

Luckily the scent isn't deceptive as to the tobacco's taste and the sweet fruity notes transfer completely to the smoke. At first, this does tend to clash a little with the maple aftertaste - but there's nothing wrong with playing little tricks on the taste buds. The about halfway down the flavours marry perfectly, when the nutty aromas draw themselves to the front. Bliss!

One of the best everyday smokes available and one that it is near impossible to get bitten by.

The flake version of St. Bruno is vastly superior to the ready rubbed. I'd only recommend the latter over this form if you wish to have a sweet smoke, but without the fruit of the flake.

Notes: I smoked this in various pipes, and sampled both the pouch version (still available) and the tinned version (no longer made). It seems well at home in a briar pipe, particularly a Ashton Size XXX.

Apprearance: A mixed light brown and dark brown pressed 3" flake with evident topping soaking through.

Aroma: Black cooked cherries, prunes, smoke, hand soap, lemon curd, oak wood.

Taste: Stewed cherries, almonds, double chocolate cake, dry-aged Emmentaler cheese, leather, smoke, spice cake, rich deep Virginia tobacco flavor. Quite flavored and quite strong. A substatial amount of nicotine is found in this blend, so you must consider this if you are sensitive to such things. Heavy and tarry in flavor; it will also coat your pipe cleaners with black tar, mind you.

Comparisons: Not as perfume-oriented as other Lakeland blends, but heavy and strong-scented nevertheless. Stronger than Murray's Erinmore Flake, but less fruity at the same time. Not as potent as Gallaher's Condor, but not as sharp in taste either. Reminiscent of Ennerdale Flake, which has a wonderfully rich white cake flavor, St. Bruno's is richer, leaving one with the impression of having just eaten a rich and decadant piece of chocolate cake. The pouch version is markedly lighter and more approachable, but still quite good, albeit diluted.

Bottom Line: For those who seek a tarry, old-styled strong Virginia blend with a moderate fruit topping and a substatial nicotine hit, this is tailor-made.

A historical note: I recently chanced upon an ancient lead-soldered tin of St. Bruno's I suspect was near 100 years old. Surprisingly, the seal was intact and the tobacco within fresh and vibrant. Far stronger than the modern version with a substantial nicotine hit, it had a lot more Virginia in the blend and seemed to be a blend with red burley rather than white burley. This makes sense, as the white burley mutation was discovered in 1864. As St. Bruno's was first produced in 1896, it is possible that the earliest versions had not yet incorporated the use of white burley, which did not come into favor until the 1900's.

I last smoked St Bruno Flake in the mid-eighties from the pouch packaging. Hence it was with a frisson of delight that I discovered, while idly wandering the streets of Mumbai, two tins of the tobacco in a shop window. The tins were not the yellow, square variety but the white rectangular sort - Light Flake, University Flake sort. There was conspicuous rust on the tin bottoms, and it was with mixed feelings that I offered to buy the tins. The shop keeper declined to sell them on the ground that they were more than thirty years old, the vaccum seals had popped and the tobacco was probably unsmokeable. After some persuasion he parted with the tins along with my purchase of Murray made Nightcap and EU made Irish Oak and Old Dublin.

The tobacco was indeed dry as dust. Carefully sliding the contents into a bowl I covered the bowl with a damp towel. Over the next five days the flakes came back to life. The topping had disappeared completely. The virginia aroma was barely perceptible.

Since then I have been smoking my acquisition in a variety of pipes. The stately strength of nicotine is very much there. The sweetness of virginia is now brut, but once in a while there is just the barest whiff of the casing. If one had smoked a fresh tin of St Bruno with a heavy cold in the head presumably the experience would have been something like this.

It is difficult to say what exactly one is reviewing here. For purposes of comparison I also smoked a recent St Bruno Ready Rubbed: even in its cruelly treated form the Flake is a superior product

I'll keep this short. I'm an occasional smoker and have been looking for a straight tasting tobacco - similar to EMP, but without some of the harshness that I encountered in that product. ST Bruno seems to pretty closely fit the bill. A good smoke overall, easy to light etc. and it has an element of the 'woodsy/ campfire' taste and smell that I personally like. I have found that this stuff can heat up about half way through and at times there is the pepperiness that others have commented on. All in all pretty good in my opinion though.

A tobacco doesn't become a legend if it hasn't something good at the basis. This is the case, the Virginia is surely of fine quality, the casing is the greatest difficulty in approaching this blend: you may love it or hate it. I happen to like it. The flavour is definitely fruity, but much lighter than, i.e., Erinmore; here you can actually taste the tobacco, maybe not in every subtle nuance, but the Virginia sweetness is there. I suggest to smoke it in small pipes with thick walls: a small bulldog or pot will be fine.