Mac Baren Solent Mixture

I had been staying away from Mac Baren tobaccos for no other reason than they were, paradoxically, easily available and, also paradoxically, cheaper than the competition. Equating availability and non-expensiveness with reduced quality, I was stocking up and smoking the more expensive and rarer blends (I had tried some Mac Barens before, but never for long).

This is quite silly, of course, and I realised my mistake very recently, when I ran out of my "favourite" tobaccos, and had to look into the local Mac Baren offerings. What a pleasant surprise!

In the Solent I found a buried treasure. On opening the tin, I was transported to another world, a world of rich, heavy, almost velvety textures. Like some of the reviewers before me, it is difficult to actually define whether this is an English or an aromatic, or both, or neither. I would personally favour the English label, though, since the Solent reminded me of Esoterica's Penzance in the way an English can be "cooked" in a way to bring out its more sugary contents. It also reminded me of Davidoff's English Mixture but in a stronger incarnation, and also of a crossing between Dunhill's Nightcap and 965.

The aroma and taste are surprisingly the same as what you expect after sniffing the tin's contents, and remain consistent almost to the very end of the bowl; the tobacco is easy to pack, easy to smoke, needing very few relights; the notorious Mac Baren tongue bite was totally absent, even on strong puffing, and the room aroma was very acceptable. No goo, and the ashes were, in English fashion, dry-white with little sticking content.

This is a tobacco which is very multi-dimensional, with intriguingly-rich undertones. Very satiating but at the same time so "tasty" you find yourself disappointed when it is over and run screaming for more!

I consider myself a bit of a MacBarens fancier, having trod through the world of tongue bite and learned how to deal with the strict method and discipline that one needs to maintain if one is to enjoy these excellent tobaccos. Peering over at my "tobacco nook", at this moment I can spy a can of Club B;end, One of Dark Twist,Symphony, Roll Cake, Latakia blend and, of course, Plumcake. If I dig around I'm sure I have a couple of there sweeter aromatics laying around which arent a part of my rotation, as are all of the rest.

So I picked up my father the other day and took the old man for a ride to a newly opened tobacco shop a few towns over which I had spied, closed, on a nightime search for an elusive Sushi Buffet which my girlfriend had heard about. We arrived at the storefront and walked in, and were immediately impressed; large store, quite a few nice pipes in glass cases, a couple of baskets and a nice selection of Kaywoodie and Medico pipes on cards (I know, I know...but I like smoking cheap pipes- Yes I have a couple of "good" pipes including a massive antique meershaum that I couldn't replace for under $300, and I tend not to smoke them). They had a decent selection of tinned tobacco, but all were horribly overpriced (like almost $20 for a 100g tin of Virginia No.1) Their other offerings were similarly priced, and honestly, although they had the usual Gawith and Hoggard, Mcclelland, Petersen and Dunhill stuff, that was about it. Not even a can of Dark Twist, which is what I was hoping to pick up, having gotten slightly low over the past few weeks. My father ruminated through the tobaccos, later making his way to the humidor, I perused through the cheap pipes, eventually finding a nice natural finish Medico Varsity in a Prince shape. I bought it for less than $20, he picked up a fistful of Romeo and Julieta Reserva Reals and we departed...off to our favorite tobacconist which was only about ten miles fown the road.

These guys do it right. They have a modest collection of cigars ensconsed in wall mounted humidors, but the whole back of the narrow shop is dedicated to pipe tobacco. They don't even have a great selection of pipes, and thats fine by me, but their tobacco stock is amazing. Amazing for the fact that they have almost everything that anyone would want to smoke from all of the respective "good brands" and their inventory is constantly ecpanding. I never leave there without at least finding two tind of stuff that I have heard/read about but have never seen before.

So, I walked over to find my Dark Twist and was confronted with a MacBarens tin that caught my eye- "The Solent Mixture". Hmmm...haven't I seen this name on tobaccoreviews.com? Possibly, but I can't quite remember what it is supposed to be like. "English Mixture", Interesting...Cavendish, Virginia and Latakia...sounds a little like Plumkcake (which I love). Ok then...

So I brought it home...along with a packet of "Brindleys Mixture" (which I haven't tried). Had to work overnight the next day and wound up letting the tin sit unopened on my dining room table. Returned from an rough overnight and popped the tin open while sitting at the table.

Wow! What an aroma! Similar to the wonderful aroma one gets from a tin of plumcake but better...citrus and spice mixed with the assertive yet mellow smokiness of latakia. Yellow flaked of tobacco mixed with farker flecks in a compacted ribbon cut lay compressed in the can. I take another a deep draught of the aroma. It smells great, and I am tempted to pack up a bowl and smoke some of it right then and there, but I tink twice about it, and I trundle off to bed to sleep off my previous 30 hour shift. Awakening later in the evening that day, I eat my meal and sit down and ponder the can.

Surely I would have bought this if I had seen it, indeed, I have plowed through most of the macbarens lineup over the years and have honestly enjoyed them al (except for the disgusting ones). The can opens again, once again, that fantastic aroma. The yellow tobacco that was so noticable when I first broke the seal had oxidized slightly during the preceeding twelve hours, and was now more of an ochre color. I loaded up a nicely broken in Half bent and lit up.

Hmmm, a bit like plumcake but much more Latakia. A bit of citrus and a noticable lack of burleyish nuttiness.Some rummy,figgy, honeyish casing, again like Plumcake, but stonger and somehow deeper. Cavendish, but that nice discreet danish cavendish, almost like a Sail Green with its slight licorice and freshly cut oak notes.As the bowl gets goingm I start tasting the grassy, lemony virginias coming through and my tongue tingles slightly, but then again, I'm puffing away. I slow down (not much) and the whole bown shifts gears like clunking a car into fifth gear on the highway. The players come together like singers in a choir in shrieking harmony, like a great chord has been struck. The three tobaccos hit different parts of your mouth simultaneously and the casing wafts softly through the nose in a wonderful way. For about 20 minutes I;m in heaven, keeping up a good puffing cadence, almost completely ignoring the television program I was watching, instead concentrating on this hitherto neverbefore experienced sensation of experienceing an ultimate blend. Slowly, the cavendish and lataka burnt out, leaving only the virginia, now somewhat stoved and peculiarly winey in character for another ten minutes before it ended. I tapped the pipe out leaving a black flecked grey ash and the tiniest bit of blackened dottle in the ahstray. I pondered the can once again, marvelling.

This is by far the best of the MacBaren blends, in my opinion. I love their roll cake tobaccos, but this is better due to it's totality, this is what I always imagine Plumcake is when I haven't smoked it for a while. Hell, this is what Plumcake should be. I can't believe I haven't tried this sooner.

I happen to be one who doesn't believe in the concept of limiting ones self to having one tobacco as an "all day smoke', but over the past few days I have had no urge to smoke anything else.

This is wonderful...I just can't wait until the tine I just ordered arrive.

Highest recommendation.

UPDATE 1/15/09: Still real good, but to be honest, it loses quite a bit of it's charm after being opened for a few weeks once all of the flavor sublimates out into the air. I smoked through almost two tins of this almost exclusively and then switched over to something else...when I returned to the partial tin a month or so later it was a different thing altogether (or maybe I had changed?)

Still is more flavorful than plumcake even after the dry out. Probably best to open a tin and share generously to smoke quickly so that you will always have a fresh tin around. I wonder if the bulk stuff packed into small sealed jars would work to preserve it. Still enjoyable,and definately one of my top three or four MacBarens, but definately not a daily smoke for me at the moment. Probably will not downgrade based on the experience of the fresh tin, but subtract a star if older than 6-8 weeks.

I could sum this one up in one word really...delicious! I think I have found my favorite English blend in this one. I recieved a tin of this in a trade as i had never smoked it and i tend to like Mac Baren tobaccos. When I got it and opened it, I knew this one was going to be special. It has a spicy sweet sour pungant but wonderful aroma. It is a ribbon cut with mostly a light VA base mottled with some medium colored cavendish and the dark flakes of Latakia. It seemed the perfect moisture content to go ahead and light up a bowl witout letting it sit and dry out, and I was right. Upon lighting my pipe, I was rewarded with a sweet, woodsy, toasty flavor unlike I have ever had before. The mixture of the three tobaccos is perfect and one can even smell the aroma and room note in the air. I find the room note to be fantastic. The Latakia is the main player but not an overwhelming one, the sweet Va comes through well and the cavendish gives it some body and it's own sweet flavor that compliments the Latakia very well. This blend also does not bite, much more gentle than a lot of MB blends. It produces a creamy, medium full tasting smoke and one lit, it practically smokes itself, my pipe never has gone out until the bottom of the pipe stops it. It produces a light grey ash that is powder like when dumped. No moisture in my pipe at all and almost no dottle. Once in awhile we get lucky in finding such a blend that becomes a regular smoke, this will for sure be one for me. I am on my seventh bowl in less than two days and Ican't get enough of it. I highly recommend this blend for both Engliah and aro crossovers.

This si such a great blend in many ways . I really think it's one of the most under rated or under mentioned as well . It has got to be the greatest latakia " introduction " blend to introduce a new smoker to latakia , especially if he's been smoking light and flavored blends . Basically , it has a soft mouth feel and the blend isnt off putting in any way and it has that touch of Latakia that makes itself know up front but not up front in teh flavor . The blend is exceptionally clean and the aroma is exquisite . Burns cool and dry and is mild enough to be smoked ll damn day . Mac Baren sells it in a tin and in 1 lb bags . Really , this is one to try

I don't taste the toppings and/or casings that are listed in its description but I do get a very rich and full flavor. It is sweet but not in the cloying way that obliterates the natural taste of the tobacco. It smokes dry and cool without bite or aftertaste. The more I smoke it the better I like it. It might even replace Plumcake and/or Latakia Mixture as my favorite MacBaren blend. Good stuff.

I opened my first tin of this a couple months ago, and the only thing I can offer that's not been said already is that it compares with HH Vintage Syrian, but has some topping along with Burley. It makes for a magic that works. Like the HH Syrian, the Latakia is subtle. Complex, with just the right amount of sweetness, and I too think of it as an aromatic crossover. Compliments red wine as well as liquor. My only problem is that its damp out of the tin. It can be smoked that way without sustaining tongue bite, but it won't stay lit. In my part of the Pacific Northwest, its very dry in the summer, while winters are very moist, and when you try to dry tobacco out in the winter, it just doesn't work if you don't have central heat. I was able to dry The Solent for an afternoon at a place with central heat, but I swear I've lost some of the flavor in the process, and I did not overdry. Four stars.

This is what Plumcake always wanted to be. It is so much more balanced, smoother, and tastier. I have found my all day English style blend. I agree this is similar to Escotericas And So To Bed, but only halfway there. ASTB has more body, and more topping such as Anise. Excellent blend, but can leave the typical Latakia ashtray taste in the mouth after a while. Not so Solent Mixture. The MB original cavendish goes incredibly well with the Latakia in this blend adding to the smokiness lending the perfect supporting role. The Virginias are quality and are just the right sweetness and the whole leaves a nice lightly sweet aftertaste once a bowl is finished. The rum gives a nice light perfumey note to the taste. It helps meld the tobaccos together. Nice moisture in the tin. More on the dry side than wet. Really perfect. Nice ribbon cut easy to fill a bowl. Lights once and burns even all the way down to a powder. First rate. No tongue bite here. I don't know why it took me so long to try this. Maybe I didn't trust Mac B to produce a good light English. I was wrong. Their full blown HH Vintage Syrian is excellent.

Well, I think I don't need to add anything to what the fellow reviewers Strongirish and The German have very much accurately put in words, very much better than I could do.

The Solent is the most perfect crossover blend for EM and Danish natural aromatics, and perfect for the summer season.

The citrusy-smoky flavour, complemented by the perfect touch of rhum is something very inviting and refreshing. I can recognize the particular quality of the Latakia Mac Baren, the same of the HH Vintage Syrian. It smokes absolutely cool and unbiting, no matter how enthusiasticly you draw, but reveals all the best of its range by the slowest sipping.

Something one-of-a-kind, and to me a perfect masterpiece.

Definitely one of my favourite tobaccos. Had been going through several Mac Baren's and no one would really stand out, in any good way that is. Well their Stockton is fine but very unnuanced.

Well when I opened the tin of The Solent I was blown away! Also sceptical, because more often than not, the tin aroma and taste just don't match. This one did.

The Solent is extremely easy to smoke. Don't even have to think about how...just puff away! It will leave a very small and dry dottle at the bottom. So not only is it an amazingly tasting smoke, it is also by far the best smoking tabac in the whole Mac Baren range.

The taste? How does gold taste like? Well because of the Syrian Latakia, the amount of 15% is just right. It is a little fuller than it's Cyprian counterpart, but not as dry tasting. Apparently 9 diferent Virginias make up 75% of the mix, and leaves the rest to Cavendish and Burley. The interesting thing here is the Burley used, which I believe must be the Godfather of Burleys - very full and dry! Again, amazing!

To end it all, tobacco is presumeably sprayed with some kind of rum after blending. And that's what's gonna satisfy the sweet tooth of all sailors. Note: Not sweet as in aromatic baccy sweet - this IS a tobacco for the manly man of men.

Ohoy! There's not a downside to this tobacco, although ones mouth and palate must be trained for Syrian and heavy Burley, before this can be enjoyed. Or else it will dehydrate you within the first twenty minutes of smoking.

I smoke one bowl of The Solent a day, and I always crave it at bedtime. This is my nightcap, for sure.