Mac Baren Solent Mixture

If there has to be Latakia, let it be in huge quantities. I love strong Balkans and English Mixtures, and at the same time I love the biscuity refined taste of many Mac Baren tobaccos.

But, this Solent Mixture doesn't know what it wants to be. It tastes like a classic Mac Baren with a hint of English... and it disappoints slightly as both.

Latakia content is very noticeable and enough to tease your appetite, but not enough to sarisfy it. And where are the Orientals?

It is sweet, nutty, slightly smoky. But also slightly ashy, and undistiguished. Granted, the leaf quality is great as usual, and it burns wonderfully, cool and slow.

So, it is a pleasant tobacco, without specific faults or unpleasant traits. If I were given tins of it for free, I'd be glad to smoke them. Not having the advantage of smoking for free, and having to pay for my tobacco, I prefer to keep two separate kinds of tobaccos: some great Mac Barens without Latakia (Navy Mixture, Mixture Flake, Stockton... and even some of their great aromatics like Cube) AND some other more distinctive English-style tobaccos (like many of GLPease's wonderful offerings, or Butera's Pelican). Personally I enjoy the variations much more, rather than smoking only a single tobacco like Solent which tries to encompass all styles.

But, I'll repeat it again, it's far from a bad blend: actually, if you like only a touch of Latakia, it's hard to find something better than this.

This is a nice hybrid blend (aromatized English, if you excuse the oxymoron). The rum/plum topping is light enough not to mask the underlying tobaccos, and it slowly fades through the first third of the bowl (much like Presbyterian Mixture, but there are no noticeable Orientals here).

Upon opening the tin and aproaching my nose, I have a dejà vu: it smells like Haddo's Delight! In fact, it smells like Haddo's would with a pinch of Latakia. Once lit the comparison is over, since the base tobaccos have nothing in common, but the toppings are definitely similar.

As with most MacBarens, tongue bite is an issue for the careless puffer. This, along with the low Latakia content, will probably make TSM more appealing to the Virginia lover than to the English fan.

This is a wonderful introduction to Latakia mixtures. It has a wonderful colour with contrasting deep orange virginia and black cavendish. It smell on opening the packet is a wonderful sweet wood smoke Latakia with just a hint of aromatic topping. It packs very well and burns very easily (but be careful that it doesn?t get too hot!). The smoke is both mild yet very satisfying with solid woody tones and a delicate sweetness which does no not over whelm the inexperienced smoker wile still providing an interesting smoke for the confirmed Latakia fan! It does however have a slight tendency to smoke wet and so it probably best smoked in a filter or Peterson system pipe.

A Virginia/Burley blend, with a mild rum topping and hints of latakia. Earthy, spicy-sweet, mellow.

Very nice tin note, of sour-fruity, slightly alcoholic rum topping and underlying spice of the tobaccos. The flavoring is rather mildly applied! Definetly not too far from both the Navy Flake and Plumcake rum-flavors, but less sweet than the Navy one, and less fruity than the Plumcake one is.

The smoke is smooth and mild. Earthy and woodsy tobacco notes, resulting from the Burley and Original Cavendish (which is processed from Burley leaf) dominates, along with some zesty and sweet notes from the Virginias. The latakia is applied exceptionally mild, if not to say hes almost unnoticeable! By times I feel a hint of ethereal, spicy latakia hit.

2,5-stars from me, nothing fancy, but a solid smoke for hours of relaxation and pleasure! Don't let the latakia scare you if you don't like it, it's practically not there! Great smoke!

Solent mixture seems to be an aromatic with multiple flavors, according to Mac Baren's description, but it is actually an atypical English blend. I don't taste much of the flavoring when I smoke it besides the lingering campfire latakia and unsweetened cavendish. No tongue bite at all and suitable for all day smoke.

Nice citrusy notes, but burns hot if puffed too hard.