Mac Baren Cube

I just don't know about this stuff.....

The first time I tried it I couldn't finish the bowl. God, it has a lot of flavoring added! I never was much for cherry/berry flavoring to begin with, but this was overload.

2nd time I finished the bowl but didn't really enjoy it - just tolerated it. I really try to like the tobaccos I buy. I figure Henrik put effort into creating this mixture so I should do my best to give it a shot.

3rd time a charm? No. Hey, I do get it......lots of different tobacco flavors coming at you.... get you to think about the eclectic mix......but alas, I don't like it. I really wish I could.

I will give it another try and see what happens

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To be continued

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Actually, this isn't bad. Very sweet, and fruity indeed. I'm picking up on (what reminds me of) gummy bears and some coconut and toffee notes in between, not very satisfying, but for casual leisure puffing it's alright. I bet regular smokers of aromatics will enjoy this. I got this as a sample when I last stocked up on tobacco, not sure I'll buy a box in the future, but I certainly don't regret sampling it.

Good burn, easy on the tongue, easy to pack and leaves the pipe reasonably clean when done.

2/4

This along with other tobaccos is getting 2 stars to start because of my limited testing time with this one.

Great tin aroma, good packing, good lighting.

This is a room pleaser no doubt about it. For me, not usually being able to detect the room note when I am smoking, and especially in the smoke shop smoking, this one punched through all the aromas in the shop.

Taste.... well, what to say about that. It is sweet almost to the point of being noxious, but not bad. I enjoyed the smoke... and for something so obviously heavily cased... no tounge bite if you smoke slow.

I will try again, but being in the stage of wanting to stray from aromatics and find tobaccos with more body and depth, this will not become a regular. Overall, if you like sweet, you will like this. Would probably make a great apertif, and good choice for holiday "people" smoking.

It should be compared with others, of similar type. Cube of MAC Baren, is for the lovers of aromatic Virginia. I am not sure but it must contain a bit of Latakia.

Cube, is a combination of Burley/Virginia which contains black Cavendish. Surely, it is the best packing that I have ever seen. By smoking it, it remained on and dry in the minimum point of the bowl. It has to get a bit dry though, before you smoke it. It is a tobacco that does not bother; I would rather say that it is preferred by strange women.

I certainly do not agree with those who support that MAC Baren had some leftovers of tobaccos and has thrown them all inside a Cube.

Although I normally don't like aromatics, I was favorably impressed with this at first, so much so that I bought a couple of extra tins. Over time, however, my appreciation of the flavor was smothered by poor burning qualities and tongue bite. This is probably nirvana for those who smoke aromatics on a regular basis, but I can't see much to recommend this. The tobacco does appear to be of decent quality, though, and I wonder what this blend might be like if the blender cut the amount of flavoring in half.

Blue Note, Petersons Sunset Breeze and now comes MacBarren's Cube. I find it very similar to the two Amaretto-flavored blends that preceeded it. But, I do like the cube cut and after careful consideration I think it has a better tobacco base than the other two. Right now, it is my favorite aromatic. But, as a disqualifier, and of course it is a big disqualifier, I mostly smoke Balkan blends.

Well then. I come to the Cube at last. Although I don't think this tobacco is hotly debated, the opinions on it do swing wildly. I am a non-aromatic smoker. I do have some aromatics, but they never leave my cabinet really. My favorites would be mellow Mack, best of show, and talk of the Town. All of those produced by the late McClelland tobacco company. I guess I do have some of their holiday blends too which are also aromatics. But I bought quite a bit of their aromatics because I was afraid they might go out of business, and they did. However for many years I've read about the cube. How it was the most heavily cased tobacco out there, it had a ridiculous combination of flavors added to it. How the flavoring was overpowering. It sounded like something I would be embarrassed of but I had read the description by Mac Baron, and they reassured me that it was a serious blend for the connoisseur. I always hope to find some at a reasonable price, but I couldn't find small containers. And that was that. Time passes. Many years later (now), I started to read some reviews here, about the cube. Reviews from members I tend to agree with. And I was convinced. I had to try the cube. I had forgotten about it for many years but now I found that I couldn't find it anywhere. Some places even said it was out of production. So I wrote a lengthy email to Mac Baron, chronicling my search and desire to try the cube. They sent me a response. They told me it could be found at smokingpipes.com. They had it, sure enough. But you had to buy a whole pound! And it was about $70. I splurged. Life is short and all that. Today my package arrived in the mail. I must confess I was sitting on the porch in the lawn chair waiting for the mailman. The box was heavy. I had bought a lot of other stuff too, strong tobaccos from Gall with Hogarth. But it also contained an entire pound of the cube. First off the smell when I opened the bag was rather incredible. Unlike any tobacco I've ever smelled. All at once I could absolutely define tropical fruit, chocolate, fresh hay, and something else. Something smooth but I don't know what. Maybe liquor. It packs very easily into a bowl. It lights easily and it stays lit quite well. It can burn your tongue. You definitely want to sip this and have the mouthpiece shooting the smoke at the roof of your mouth if possible at least for the first half of the bowl. It doesn't taste exactly like it smells. That's pretty normal. But it's flavor is eye-opening. Yes there is definitely tobacco flavor, decent Virginia. But avery pronounced fruity note also maybe mango. I believe there is also a coconut flavor hidden in there with the Coco. It sounds weird, I know. But it works. All those flavors mixed together into something that is kind of a treat. The casing lasts throughout the entire smoke. However it does diminish at a rate I would say was equivalent to the amount of tobacco left in the bowl The first half of the bowl was a little more harsh on the tongue, but the second half everything came together. It really turned into a very mellow smooth delicious smoke. The room note is spectacular. Very different from what most would expect in an aromatic pipe. This tobacco has been a real unicorn for me, I'm so pleased it is still in production. I am thankful that I read some good reviews here about it first. I am thankful to Mac Baren for continuing to produce it and helping me find it. I plan on having another bowl later on tonight. Maybe it's a good thing they only sell it in 1 lb packages. Scratch this one off the bucket list.

Definitely three stars. I don't think I could ever give any aromatic four stars. And this is probably one of the finest aromatics I've ever smoked.

Una vera schifezza. Tutta la serie Cube è una vera schifezza. Non saprei come altro definirli: dolcissimi, nauseanti, non sanno nemmeno di tabacco e sembra di fumare dei Big Babol. Per carità statene alla larga a meno che non vi piacciano i panettoni tipo Skandinavik. Dio mio che schifo.

Having moved on to pipe smoking after 10 or more years on cigars this was suggested by the tobacconist as a suitable blend for beginners. I would agree with that. On opening the packet the aroma is overwhelming. To me it smells of oats and fruit, similar to muesli and there's a temptation to put it in a bowl and pour milk over it. When smoked I find it has a background note of oats which seems to be common to a number of Mac Baren blends.

As I've smoked more tobaccos perhaps my palette had developed. I initially enjoyed Cube but subsequently half a bowl leaves my teeth and tongue coated with something. Perhaps it has just too much casing and humificant?

An interesting blend to try but I don't think I'll be going back there.