Mac Baren St. Bruno Flake

What did they put in that stuf? Is that tobacco? My goondness, I believe someone is trying to poison me with this weed! My head is spinning,and I think I see the light! I just saw Elvis and Jim Morrison!And Mister Rogers ,and John Wayne...and...

I respect those of you who enjoy this tobacco.But to me, It's like eating Chiterlings when you could have had pork chops,(IMO only). Stout and strong enough to knock a grown Santa Gartrudis Bull over. If you need this much nicotene you're a better man than me Gunga Din. Truly a nicotene power house!!!!!!!!!!

At $20 a tin, plus tax, you won't get what you pay for. This flake is a whole lot of nothing and a bag of chips, the salt and vinegar type. No matter what pipe I packed with this, my Savinelli pot, a Danish churchwarden, my Peterson system 315, and others, my mouth felt like I had just eaten a whole bag of salt and vinegar potato chips. It had flutters of my beloved Erinmore flake, but nothing remarkable. Upon opening the tin, I was hit with a ketchup-like aroma. The flakes were perfect, too, delicate and easily rubbed out, save for wads of stem. That enchantment disappeared within a few puffs. There are many raving reviews of St. Bruno, but in my humble opinion, there are far better, and less pricy flakes to be had. Maybe I should have cellared it for a bit, for the tobacco seems young. Not sure I would try it again; once bitten twice shy, as the saying goes.

What happened to St.Bruno rough cut ? It was the staple of the smoking contests back in ......when a measured amount, complete with clay "dodger", were given to hopefuls. I actually came second to my friend, who was an inveterate Dunhill smoker. He agreed to " slum it " for the evening. Another tobacco which made me vomit, and had to take the following day off work with nicotine poisoning.

I guess this was the pipe tobacco that my uncle used to smoke when I was a lad in the mid 70's, and that eventually encouraged me to start smoking a pipe in the first place about 15 years ago - well, that and the cave scene from Dead Poets' Society.

Isn't it funny how the years change your perceptions?

I have to agree entirely with Guyrox. If Satan were to blend a pipe tobacco, this would be it. With his bottom.

St-Bruno Flake was my first very, extremely bad experience in pipe smoking...I still remember how bad and dizzy I felt once I hit the mid-bowl, and that was it between me and St-Bruno!

The ready -rubbed red VA, on the other hand, was a different story.

The flakes are very dark, and the aroma was discreet, but I could already feel the strenght of the tobacco before lighting up. It smelled of natural, strong tobacco.

Of course, you need to rub out the slices before smoking; the flakes were somehow on the moist side...

Upon lighting, it was strong, but still okay; a good taste, and the room note was very discreet. As I was getting closer and closer to the mid-bowl, things got worse and worse; a very strong taste started kicking in at an exponential rate! If it was the nicotine, then boy it was like smoking a full pack of smokes at once!!! Then, it transferred to my stomach all of a sudden; I felt sick!

Of course, I didn't throw up, but I would have gotten there if I would have insisted another 5 minutes...So I stopped smoking, emptied my pipe, cleaned the pipe as well as I could to rid it of that nasty, disgustingly strong tobacco and thought of whom I hated enough to the point that I could give him the reminder to get him sick. As I couldn't hate anyone that much, I just threw the devilish thing in the garbage.

St-Bruno: NEVER AGAIN!!! NOT RECOMMENDED

Appearance: Very dark, almost black flake.

Aroma: I guess this is what is meant by soapy aroma. I can?t tell if this is an additive, or the result of fermentation. Whichever it is, it went too far for me. Reminds me of Vitalis hair tonic. Anyone out there old enough to remember that?

Packing: needed to be rubbed out for any size pipe, or it would not light.

Lighting: Took flame reluctantly, needed several charring lights.

Initial flavor: Very intense. Some Virginia taste, but swamped by the processing.

Mid-bowl: Hard to keep lit, and the flavor is too intense for me.

Finish: Hard for me to get through a bowl of this product (I can?t really refer to it as tobacco), leaves a residual aroma and flavor in the pipe.

Summary: This can be used sparingly to beef up a wimpy virginia. A few strands on top of the bowl impart a good deal of taste to an otherwise mild tobacco. Other than that, I can?t recommend it..

Smelled great in the tin. Ended up physically ill from the strength and chucking the remainder.

Long awaited smoke. Wasn't worth the wait. So far I've only smoked one bowl of this out of a cob, so my opinion may change. If it does, I'll update this review.

I found it flatter than Kansas. No noticeable flavor at all. Therefore no enjoyment. Maybe I got a bad batch.

Burnt well after some drying time. Room note was ok.

I, too, felt overpowered by this blend. The descriptions above are fitting.

The aroma, however, always struck me as being similar to suntan lotion.