Mac Baren Royal Twist

The spice content is the star attraction. Some of it comes from the earthy, woody, very plumy, mildly raisiny, figgy perique. It is a little more obvious than the spice from herbal, earthy, woody, vegetative, sour, nutty, floral, mildly smoky dark fired Kentucky. These two varietals are the lead components because of the spice. In a strong support role is the gold Virginia, which forms the base of the blend. It provides a lot of tart and tangy citrus, grass, bread, sugar, vegetation, light floralness, spice, and a touches of honey and acidity. There’s a very mild honey casing that helps tame a few of the rough edges as well as producing a little sweetness. The strength and nic-hit are medium. The taste is a slot past that mark. Won’t bite or get harsh, but the spice content may tingle the tongue of a fast puffer. I suggest a relaxed puffing cadence. Even though there area few small rough notes, this blend is smoother than expected. The mildly moist coins easily break apart, and need no dry time. Burns clean, and a touch warm at a slightly slow pace with a mostly consistent sweet and spicy, mildly sour, floral, lightly nutty, creamy flavor that extends to pleasantly lingering after taste. The room note is notch stronger. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires a few relights. Can be an all day smoke. Four stars.

-JimInks

I almost ordered 10 tins of this. Something told me it was going to be outstanding, but in a rare moment of self control, I decided to order just five tins.

I could kick myself!!!

I’d only recently begun exploring the magical world of VaPerKys. There’s just something, well, perfect about a well-done blend of Virginia, Dark-fired Kentucky and perique. G.L. Pease’s Triple Play plug is a decent-enough example... but it suffers (in my opinion) from the same blandness that afflicts most other GLP/C&D offerings.

Scottish Cake by McConnell is a much better example of a VaPerKy done right, and Rattray’s has three really good ones, too.

But Mac Baren takes the gold medal in this category, with a perfect 10. They nailed the ratios. The casing is just enough.

What we end up with is a delicate spun cut treasure... sweet and subtle one moment, bold and zesty the next. MB’s Dark-fired zing proves reminiscent (again, to me) of McLelland’s VaPers.

Excellent. Just excellent. I went through two tins in about a week and a half. I was honestly hoping I’d end up getting a little bored with it, so I could just move on... but no. It’s just too good. This is the one I’ve been looking for... my desert island blend.

As I explained to a friend... I love VaPerKys, I love spun cut... it’s like Mac Baren made this one just for me. Surely they’ll make this masterpiece part of the regular product line... right???

I mean, if there’s ANY justice in the world...they can’t just make a limited run of the best tobacco I’ve ever had.... watch it sell out in a day... and then just move on to the next limited run.

Do you hear me, Mac Baren??? The world needs more Royal Twist. I need more Royal Twist.

Highly, highly recommended.

Summary: a strong and flavorful twist which brings the dark fired Kentucky Burley to the fore and uses Perique as a condiment.

I have met very few vaperky -- Virginia, Perique, and dark fired Kentucky Burley -- combinations that I dislike, but every now and then, you meet one that really makes friends in a lasting way. In this blend, the dark fired Kentucky Burley flavor hits first, a nice rich roast like a steaming mug of coffee, and then the Virginia sweetness rises around it. These Virginias are well-aged and seem to have spent some time in rope form, causing them to ferment, so they have a gentle glow of honey-like flavor on roasted nuts, something that the Perique then complements in the third part of the flavor: a berry-like, fruity and tangy, zesty flavor that seems to emerge from the interaction between the three ingredients in this smoke. Mac Baren has changed something about their maple sugar "glue" that holds together the ropes because the fireball is mostly gone, replaced by a first puff that melts the Virginias and makes for a smoothly integrated flavor. I hope this one becomes a regular. It is a strong medium for strength, but in flavor is gentle yet powerful, so that you instinctively smoke this one slowly because even a thin stream of smoke brings a rewarding taste. I could smoke this all day, every day, and be happy.

Mac Baren - Royal Twist.

Love at first light!

Just the smell upon opening made my mouth water! The coins have perfect moisture, so are easily crumbled and stuffed into the pipe. The moisture aids easy ignition, then what a smoke!

The Perique and Kentucky lead, the Virginia is the ''backdrop''. The Perique, being spicy and sharp, was the first flavour to leap out. After a short while I noticed the ambrosial, more fragrant, Kentucky. I find the Perique and Kentucky switch after a quarter; at first the Perique leads, but subsequently the Kentucky takes the lead. The Virginia's there, although quite nebulous compared to the formidable flavours from the Perique and Kentucky; it acts as a platform. The burn? Impeccable! Reliable, independent, needs little maintenance. No tongue bite, for me.

Nicotine: medium to strong. Room-note: not great, but tolerable.

Royal Twist? Without a doubt, four stars:

Highly recommended.

I was pleasantly surprised at the tin note slightly sweet and sour musky very mild. This may be one of the best tobaccos I have ever smoked. Perfect blend of perique, dark fired Kentucky and Virginia. The spice is the dominate player in this but it's light enough to just be perfect. I rubbed out the coins and only needed two lights. I only ordered 2 tins wish I had ordered more. I could smoke this every day. Defiantly if I was stranded on an Island this would be one I could be happy with. If smoked hard it tingles a bit but if sipped its perfect. Mild all day smoke If you can find it buy it.

Spicy flavor since opening the can. Next come the flavors of earthy, woody, plum, raisin, and fig. Mild smoke from Kentucky. Gold Virginia is the base of the blend.It gives the flavor of tart and tart citruses, grass, bread, sugar, botanicals and light flowers. They don't bite or get hard, moderately wet coins disintegrate easily, and don't need dry time. It can be smoke all day.

MacBaren
Royal Twist Deluxe

Blend notes: “Continuing a 400 year old tradition, Royal Twist is a limited-edition spun-cut blend, its recipe originating in the 1960s. A whole leaf wrapper encases a core of Virginias, dark fired Kentucky, and perique, handspun into ropes and sliced into coins -- resulting a naturally sweet, complex, and spicy smoking experience.”

This blend is delicious and strong. It is basically a well-defined VaPer with the addition of Dark-Fired Kentucky. The Kentucky, on my palate, usually brings cohesive structure to a blend as well as adding a light smokiness — but not smoky in the sense of Latakia.

Royal Twist Deluxe has a earthy, woody taste profile with good Virginias and a plummy bit of Perique. This is ‘chewy’ and a tad spicy with an almost floral room note.

4 out of 4 stars.

Excellent tobacco. I suspect there is more to discover as I get to know this stuff better but I just got mine today so I don"t want to procrastinate and never get around to the review. Very baked bean tin note. Similar to (current) 3 Nuns but not as pork and bean. Anyway I love that smell. On first light I tasted cured hay and then am approached by a light sweetness accompanied by a tongue tingle. It slowed my cadence down. I can taste a sweet dfk next. Akin to barbecue beans simmering on a smoker grill. I get whispers of farmy alfalfa but the perique hasn't revealed itself fully yet. Once I tamped it that seemed to energize the perique which in turn stoked the dfk. Once the perique, with dark fruit and pepper, awoke it was those 2 swapping turns on my tongue. I don't known if it would truly bite you but I'm sure with force you could make it happen. The VA doesn't need to age to protect you, but I don't know if I would antagonize it until its got at least 6 months or more. As others have said, I hope they make this a regular production blend. It is tasty and satisfying. I can't wait to get to know it better.

Freshly opened tin dated Mar 2021, has notes of mild pungent barbeque, spices, and sugar. Tobacco is an orangish brown and dark brown coins with tan specks. moisture content is a on the dry side, coins rub out with a little effort. Burns slow with a few relights. The strength is medium and nic is mild to medium. No flavoring detected. Taste is medium to full and consistent, with notes of wood, bread, leather, orange peel, dry earth, floral, slightly bitter, grass/vegetation/hay, sugar, moderately spicy, a tangy dark spice fruit background note, and a peppery retro. Virginia is leading with Kentucky and Perique supporting. Room note is pleasant to tolerable, and aftertaste is outstanding.

Mac Baren Royal Twist has a tin note that is very sweet, dark fruit, plums, figs, and a little spicy note right behind that. The VA's are the base and take the lead for me. They have some tangy citrus notes and are very sweet. The Perique is earthy, with notes of plum, raisins, and figs. The KY spice is also there, slightly different from the Perique. It is earthy and woody but only slightly smoky with a mild herbal note. This blend can be summed up as sweet and spicy. There is a very mild top note, I think it is honey adding to the sweetness of the blend. The strength is at the upper end of med. The taste is just past that at med full. The finish is a little short but is quite sweet, slightly spicy, and quite nice. The room note is good to me but others were not fond of it. A very good blend that is recommended but does not fall into the remarkable category for me. In the interest of a complete review, my tin was 1338 of 6500 and aged for 1 year before opening.