Mac Baren St. Bruno Ready Rubbed

I purchased a pouch of this out of pure interest after my father who has been a pipe smoker for many years told me it was one of his favourite tipples. It's a pleasant smoke: not too cool not too hot with a rather nice room note.

It comes in rather attractive curly strands and fills a bowl nicely, lighting took a while to really get going but after that it requires very few relights (if any)

I find this tobacco a nice alternative to some of my usual blends and it's very convenient due to the fact many places stock it. While not being something I'd go out of my way to buy and keep a reserve of, more something I'd buy when the mood takes me or I want something that smokes slow, coolish and convenient.

Overall: not too shabby.

St.Bruno Ready Rubbed is at the moment the strangest pipe tobacco I ever smoked. I purchased it whrn I finished my ParkLane7, and I was very curious due to its unnumbered good reviews along the years. It's a pop classic like the green Condor and Clan Aromatic.

Well, it's cheap and quite easy to find, so let's go with it.

It's extremely easy to burn, and very very regular. It looks made to give you the Master pipe smoker satisfaction of not following up your chamber, it goes by itself until the end. No moisture.

It's strange because apart from the fact it's a "soapy", which is vinegar in this case, and clearly present in the taste as well (I don't know how others can say you are not going to feel it in your mouth...), it's super balanced through its base of Kentucky and Virginia. So, I don't know how, it's a soft-hyper balanced rollercoaster of smells and tastes: for 2 puffs I say "mh... that's good but I am not going to purchase it again", but then for 2 other puffs (more flavoured and parfumed) I say "I will defintely buy it again somehwere/sometimes".

It's base is the usual MAcBaren benchmark across Virginia and Burley, in my opinion, even if the Burley is not mentioned as ingredient. and over the top there's this strange benchmark of vinegar and some kind of citric fruit aroma to balance the vinegar itching.

The room note is sober and not intrusive, does not skid your pipe.

The cut is a generous ribbon with pieces of broken flake as well. Really nice to load your pipe chamber.

So I would give it 2 stars for the puffs I don't understand, and 3 for the ones I love. Outcome=3 stars.

enjoy!

Fresh tobacco smells freshy, springy after grass and plain with sweetnes . There was certainly floral toping in it. My package needed a hour to be dried, but even without preparation burns well. (of course with proper moisture in bowl) Taste was sweet, grassy gentle citrusy. Nic hit is accurate, rather mild than medium. Sntenced to aromatic with floral essence, I would rather describe it as pure VA. Kentucky was not tasted at all. Light all day smoke. Something was missing to four stars.

Fantastic blend - I've just bought a pouch for the first time in months and it was like being reunited with an old friend. This is a noticeably old tasting blend, and in a very good way. Dried fruits, toasted sourdough bread, old books and even a pinch of butter on the aforementioned sourdough toast. Especially as one goes further down the bowl, the dark, toasty flavour of the kentucky pops through.

In fact, that the sense of development within this blend is the main selling-point of this blend. The first quarter is arguably uninspiring, where the light floral toppings and bright, musty virginias seem to dominate. However, as soon as that dark fired kentucky starts to materialize... wow. It just gets better and better until the last 10% of the bowl, the best part I'd argue.

Would recommend to any UK (or elsewhere) smoker who is looking to taste the 'good old days'. I am 23, and yet every time I have smoked this (and Condor) I am taken back to a time I never lived in... unless of course I smoked this in a past life, but we won't talk about that as who the heck knows. The first time I smoked this was in an old English village graveyard, behind a medieval church, in the bleak midwinter. It worked perfectly, this blend is timeless, and can cause one to ponder time.

I prefer condor as that is stronger in nicotine and flavour, but this blend is perfect for warm summer evenings. Also, watch the old adverts on youtube, they're some of the best.

Mac Baren- St. Bruno Ready Rubbed

This OTC has been around for a long time for a good reason, it’s delicious and something I have been surprised and happy to find. This is one of my morning on the drive to work smokes.

Floral essence with some citrus Virginia’s, the Kentucky is woodsy, deep rich nutty and just enough spice.

This is a chunky ready rubbed, the vinegar note is actually well done I must admit compared to the sutliff red Virginia crumbe cake which smells like someone soaked the tobacco in it for days.

Smokes cool, 1-2 relights, dry bowl.

My only complaint for this blend is the price, if only it was cheaper this would likely be a daily smoke for me. I really do enjoy the citrus and rose flavor of this mixed with the wonderful kentucky smokiness with a bit of char.

St Bruno’s is all about the sweet bright Virginia leaf and its combination with a mild topping of rose geranium. The addition of a tad bit of dark fired adds a pleasant dimension to the smoke without overpowering the Virginia leaf. Overall, it is a nice diversion from the straight Virginia flakes in my normal rotation.

*This review is based on a small sample and limited life experience.

This is one of the better supermarket tobacco. It does have a definite vinegar smell this is quite unpleasant. The smoke is nice and heavy with a good fruity flavour and nice amount of vitamin N. Love the smashed up flakes. At around £16.50 there seems to be no real saving to smoking a pipe nowadays as there once was. They whittle down the otc's..then bump the prices up . Be nice to get a tin instead of a pouch too. But hey ho

Here was a surprise. What I thought I had bought was St, Bruno's flake, but on closer inspection and (obviously) on pouch opening I discovered this was ready rubbed.

I wasn't disappointed, either. It's a great blend, and only a tobacco strand away from the mighty flake. Indeed, I found bits of what looked like flake in here. I also found some bits of what looked like a thin strip of wood (yes, really). It happens sometimes even in the best and most expensive blends (Davidoff's you dogs take note) you can get a lump or a stick in with the mixture.

In ye olde days, of course, you'd have sent this back to the manufacturer and received a chest of tobacco and a grovelling letter of apology. Alas, not any more.

There are only subtle differences between this and it's flake brother (sister?). One is that the flavour, that deep malty taste and aroma isn't quite as profound here as the flake and the taste tends to tail off towards the end of the bowl. Apart from that this is, as I said, a great blend, a little more convenient than the flake (especially if you are banished outside). A consistent and satisfying smoke for a Saturday night when there's only crap on the TV.

St. Bruno remains the best OTC blend that you can still get from UK shops (in my area anyway) and even those are disappearing like a extinct animal from those nasty little metal-doored cabinets they hide their tobacco away in these days. Even good ol' Morrisons big supermarket doesn't sell ANY pipe tobacco at all now.

So, if you see this or the flake just grab it and cellar it if you must. I have a nasty feeling the death bell is being rung on OTC's UK.

I might be out to lunch; but St Bruno RR seems to have a different casing than the Flake does. It's more floral and comes as being less generously applied as where the Flake is more citrus/sweet and more discernable to the nose and taste. Also, it seems like the RR version packs more nicotine than the Flake does. Not that much but enough to make it clearly noticeable. In any case I confess I have a preference for the Flake.