Mac Baren St. Bruno Flake

St. Bruno flake is composed by dark-fire Kentucky and Virginia, of high quality in my personal vision. After the opening the moisture is not excessive and the tobacco is ready to be packed; we are surely in front of an aromatic, but a good one. The aromas are many and different, we can recognize red fruit like plums, hazelnuts and the smoked Kentucky. During the smoke sweetness and floral taste converse with a background spicy hints, the body and strenght are present but not excessive, well balanced with the flavour. The result is a fresh smoke on mouth, this is the particular of St. Bruno a simple, relaxing, unforgettable experience.

A true classic British hot pressed flake and the choice of generations of smokers. Available for well over 100 years and full of flavour and tradition. The subject of this review was bought about 2 years ago and jarred so it has a little age on it, with some nice bloom and crystals appearing. It is ostensibly a lakeland style, but the topping is very lightly applied so is not dominant. I had smoked Bruno many years ago when made by Ogdens and it had been richer and more refined than the MacBaren iteration, but some time in a jar has sorted that out and it now smokes damned near the same. That is a sure sign that the Ogdens production was warehoused and allowed to age. The jar note is rich and leathery, with the Kentucky fairly obvious in its smokyness and there is some fruit and bread from the Virginia as well. One and a bit flakes rubbed out and put straight in my Jambo Meerschaum Reject required no drying time and lit with a minimum of fuss. Quite a lot of flavour in the initial light with leathery tones and dark fruit. There is quite a complexity to the taste, but it is all melded together well by hot pressing and burns cool with a lack of bite. It gets richer as you progress but doesn't morph into other flavours and that is how I like it. Consistent is good in my book. A slow burn needing few relights make this an ideal smoke to fire up whilst out and about. It burns down to the proverbial fine white ash and leaves a little dottle but more drying would probably help to avoid that. Be warned, it will leave a subtle ghost, so best smoked in a Meer or Cob or dedicated briar if you really like it. All in all a good solid smoke with plenty of Nicotine without being overpowering. Pleasant nutty after taste and a traditional Masculine tobacco room note. I prefer it's close cousin Original (Walnut) flake as it is basically the same blend without the floral lakeland thing but it has a place for me as an occasional treat and a change of pace. Benefits greatly from jarring.

I have revised the final score on this the quintessential English stoved flake. The more you smoke it, the more it gets under your skin. Its reputation as the best selling British OTC is well deserved. I may not smoke it for a month, and then suddenly I crave it and smoke it for a week solid.

St Bruno - a well known tobacco, that every smoker has to come across sooner or later and that's been smoked worldwide since I don't know when.

The rather small flakes come sealed in a small plastic pan wrapped in a pouch to preserve the nice moisture level. TBH, I never rubbed this one out in about 3 years of smoking it as it has perfect condition for a tobacco to smoke straight away. Packs well with folding and takes flames pretty nice then burns well and steady without tongue bite even if smoked a bit faster. Bruno leaves not much condensate (for an aromatic) and only light grey ashes in the bowl.

With the first lighting one will notice that this is a very characterful yet smooth blend of good quality leafs. Sweet and smoky natural tobacco tastes build the body that's beautifully rounded up by a floral almost soapy topping just enough to be noticed and not too much to overcome the main contents. Taste doesn't differ much during the smoke only it gets a bit more spicy from time to time then an almond like sweetness comes back just to keep a nice pleasant aftertaste. Nasal there are many different fruity and floral scents which will stay until the last toke. Citrus is clearly detectable and I think this is coming from the VA.

St. Bruno is a must have in my shelves and clearly one of my favorite flakes. Room note is pleasant and pricing is good for what you get.

I have to say... this is/was an otc? Well that counter is my pipe... this is the real deal.. beautiful notes of chocolate and coffee along with the natural tonal hue that is Virginia tobacco.... yeah.. I don't want to sound like a guy who writes tin descriptions when I'm a common wage slave.. but this #@$ is good. Open wide and enjoy

I opened the pouch to find a small plastic box covered with a foil. Not a very posh presentation but the brown/black flakes contained in the box in two rows are packed very tidily, are extremely thin and look very appetizing. They are so thin and contain just the right moisture that you just have to fold, pack and light.

From the first whiff I was greeted by a dark, yeasty and sweet molasses-tasting tobacco. Having read the many reviews mentioning a floral aroma I was expecting something like the Lakeland aromas of Kendal Cream or Ennerdale Flake but I found St. Bruno very dissimilar to either of them. If I had to name floral aromas for St. Bruno, I would say dried rose petals, violets and even geranium. I would not call its aroma soapy though and the main aroma for me is something molasses-like together with licorice probably.

The amount of casing perceived is mild, so I would not call St. Bruno an aromatic tobacco; scented is a more appropriate term given the fact the taste of the tobacco is not completely obscured by the scenting. Strength-wise it is medium, with neither lack nor excess of nicotine for an all day smoke. It smokes slow, burns cool, evenly and dry and taste is consistent throughout the bowl.

It’s a very enjoyable tobacco of very good quality surprisingly so for a so-called OTC blend. If you haven’t tried before it is highly recommended as it deserves at least a try. Then one can like it or not, but it surely is a very good quality and no-fuss tobacco.

I think I prefer St. Bruno to Orlik’s Dark Strong Kentucky, but J.F. Germain’s Rich Dark Flake is more impressive, if a little fussier.

For me St Bruno is perhaps the best of the Over the Counter brands to be found in shops and supermarkets across the UK. The flake variety is somewhat rarer, but is luckily carried by my local Tesco (which now appears to have dropped Mellow Virginia, hmm).

St Bruno flake provides a rich, creamy, delicious smoke which is almost impossible to describe - the flakes are like dark meat; the experience of rubbing them out is one of near-regret and if this smoker was not on a very limited budget, he would be happy to fold the flakes into the pipe. The tobacco is rather gracious - it gives off a white smoke and sequences a not unpleasant room note. The taste is sublime; indescribable. The best I can do is say that when you take this smoke into your body it is like taking a weather system to heart. It is like a low fog on the brain, so easy to lose your time and your senses over it.

The Ready Rubbed is not disimilar - not quite so nice, but still haunting. Both are highly recommended by me.

I can't for the life of me understand why this is classed as an ''Aromatic'' on this site when it comes nothing close to being one....same goes for Condor as well.

St Bruno is what my father used to smoke back in the 1960's...I know because it was me as a small boy who used to rub the flakes out on a sheet of newspaper for him and put it in his tobacco jar. I seem to recall the flakes being darker compared to today but could well be mistaken.

I like the size and thickness of the flakes...they are thin but it makes rubbing them out easy and one nicely fills my Falcon pipe bowl. It's a good honest virginia tobacco smoke and typically British. Not as flavoursome as Condor which I much prefer but a good over the counter substitute to have now and again. Just wish it were as easily available here as it is in the UK.

I can buy my St Bruno Flake from my local newsagents which is about 100 yards from my house.I smoke and have smoked 100 types of tobacco and more but St Bruno flake and to a lesser degree ready rubbed is and always will be my everyday smoke.As we say around my neck of the woods, Its the kiddy.

(This review is based on the tin version from 1982)...a fine flake indeed...I have smoked this flake since 1961 and fortunately with traveling in Europe for many years, I was always able to keep a supply as well as having it available here in the US until recently.

As other have noted, this is a classic English/British flake, that has stood the test of time...I am reviewing this based on the original manufacturer and not Orlik...

This is a blended flake and not 100% Virginia...rather "other fine leaf" added to a base of Virginia...Quality leaf, consistentcy, and midly flavored, are characteristics of this flake, and an easy flake to prepare and smoke.

Best in a medimum or smaller pipe and can serve as an all day smoke...

With the history of this flake, I highly recommend it, as it is one of my top 15 tobaccos and has been for many years...

...update...this is no way close to Ogden's...very disappointing!

...a pipe is to be savored...