Mac Baren Harmony

I found this to be rather unimpressive given I've tried the other Mac Baren Burleys (namely Golden Blend and HH Burley Flake), which - to my palate - have much more to offer. "Beer" describes this tobacco very well (the 2nd highest rated 'helpful' review).. it has some sugary and mildly chocolaty topping to it, whilst also a slight nutty note, akin to that of Golden Blend's nuttiness is present.

They say there is only little Cavendish in the mix, yet it tastes quite sweet and the burleys are missing some body/richness for me, they just feel a bit "thin". Yet keep in mind I prefer stronger Burley blends, so this one could be suitable to those, interested in a mild Burley blend. There is too little spiciness and too much "Danish-ness" for my taste.

All in all this is an average blend, worth puffing, but won't make it as a regular for me. Golden Blend outshines this one easily, so does the HH Burley Flake. In my humble opinion it should be categorized as 'Aromatic', although I grant it it's bordering the aromatic category and can very well be called 'semi-aromatic', for what that elusive term is worth. 2 stars!

If memory serves me correctly (and the older I get the less I depend on memory) this tobacco blend has some very similar taste sensations to Mac Baren's Virginia #1. It has a honey like odor in the tin and on the tongue, yet not so much as to demand butter and bread along with it. I actually noted I was smoking tobacco, and that of course, is a good thing!

A sweet, light Burley/Virginia with little power but satisfying in small doses.

A friend donated me a 100gr tin wich was aged for 10 years.when i opened the tin a strong sweet and sour smell came out.a total black blend with some moisture,really aged was tempting me to try it!lights easy and some relights are needed.while smoking the burleys are dominant and offer mostly spices and some cocoa notes.in the backround sweet honey notes,citruses and grass notes come out in a balanced way.burns slow and hot with some moisture being created to total ash.the nicotine level is almost medium and the room note is a bit tense.sometimes tongue bite appears if you puff hard.it is an all day blend.in conclusion this is a pleasant blend but not something unique that can make your day

From Mac Baren, not too bad on the tongue bite. This blend stayed quite mellow throughout.

The taste wasn't too horrible. That average Mac Baren taste. The room note was pleasant from both wife point of view and pipe smoker point of view.

I give this a solid two, more than I usually expect from a Mac blend.

Overall not too bad. It has some nice light nuttiness from the burley and a little tang from the virginia. The cavendish just seems to add a dull, bland, background to the blend. Didn't get any tongue bite from it which surprises me. Overall, its a very light, very mild, plain smoke.

This is not a heavy tobacco, the flavors can be best described as delicate. Nothing jumps up and grabs your attention.

The flavor is pleasant, kind of nutty with a sweetness. The description says it has tender notes of chocolate. Well, I guess it could be chocolate.

You have to pay attention to this one. If you look for it, the flavors are there.

I've tried three of the Mac Baren blends so far - Club Blend, Golden Extra, and now Symphony. Of the three I like this one the least. It seems fairly one dimensional in taste and has a bit of a bite, though the tobacco was a bit dry when I recieved it, so that may be a factor. It burns well right down to the bottom, but the taste starts out just OK and gets worse toward the end. There are other blends that that I have found that I think are more satisfying.

I found this blend to be fairly bland in taste, but what makes this a 1-star blend for my tastes is that I am unable to smoke it without getting what is probably the worst tongue bite of any blend I've tried so far. MacB blends are known for their bite in general, but with this particular blend I could draw once or twice and then had to let it go out for a while before continuing, to avoid getting bitten.

Drying it out considerably and rubbing it out to almost powder helped significantly, but it was still too full of bite for me to really enjoy it, particularly given the flat taste it offered.

EDIT MAY 2010: Tried a tin from my cellar. Had to dry it for a long, long time to keep the bite from killing my tongue, but was still severe. Once dried out to almost brittle, the taste was much more appreciated than the last time I tried a tin. I still don't know how people can say this doesn't bite, but with a well aged tin left open for a long time, the flavor comes out and can be appreciated. Smoke with a cold drink nearby.

For a long time I had a sort of love/hate relationship with this tobacco, it began with it being the only pouch left at my local tobacconist, so I figured I'd get it for the lack of something better.

Each bowl I had, up until quite recently actually, left me frustrated and unsatisfied, and in the beginning - with a severly scorched tongue. This is not the kind of tobacco you want to puff carelessly on, believe me. But inbetween the vicious tonguebite I managed to find hints of what it had to offer, so I persevered. As I had just packed the pipe with the final bowlful from the pouch and was throwing it in the trash and wishing it good riddance... something unexplainable happened; maybe the planets aligned or aliens interfered and packed the pipe just right for me and wiped my memory afterwards - who knows? All I know is that all of the sudden that cool, sweet (honey), nutty (almond) and chocolately flavors that the pouch had promised hit me. What a nice surprise it was to finally discover that it wasn't a total waste of money after all (better late than never).

It is however far from perfect. It has a tendency of smoking wet towards the end of the bowl, and it doesn't handle relights very well. After a relight it has a tendency to get quite harsh in taste and soapy.

If it had stayed consistent and as tasty as the first two thirds of the bowl it might have been worth three stars. To its credit I suppose there's a little bit more punch to this one compared to other Mac Baren's, but for me this is more trouble than it's worth. And I rarely managed to reproduce its pleasant sides in subsequent pouches without a maddening patience, so I don't know, this is just not for me I guess. But people looking for a burley based semi-aromatic might find what they need here.