Mac Baren St. Bruno Ready Rubbed

I tried this 14 months ago, when I came back to pipe-smoking after a long break, and wasn't very impressed then. I'm now trying it again, and find it very good. It's dry and smoky, with a hint of liquorice - which usually comes from Latakia, though this doesn't contain any. It seems to get stronger as the bowl progresses, though that may be because I'm smoking it as I type in a freestyle Dublin, and some people claim that Dublins, with their conical bowls, concentrate the flavour more and more as the smoke progresses. Some people have compared it to Condor Long Cut, and there is a similarity, though this is decidedly drier in taste. Very good - will become a regular OTC for me, along with Condor, though I'll stick with my online-bought favourites most of the time. Henwrench's review sums up my thoughts exactly - it's one to buy if I run out of online stuff.

[Edit] This stuff gets better with every smoke - I'm smoking it as I type in a meer, and I'd swear, if I didn't know, that it was a Latakia blend, and a pretty strong one at that. I'm a big Lat fan, so that's fine with me. It has definitely replaced Condor as my favourite OTC.

This is widely available over the counter tobacco at most supermarkets across the UK. Ready rubbed and Flake can be purchased (although Flake is not available everywhere). Whilst writing this I am smoking the ready rubbed. St. BRUNO is a cool to smoke and slow burning. It has a deep raisen woody taste. I would describe this as an all day tobacco (although I smoke in the late afternoon and evenings). Perhaps it's me (?) but the taste of this tobacco has changed slightly. It is not as flagrant or floral tasting, more deeper in taste but still wholesome and tasty. It is still a comfortable smoke. The ready rubbed needs to be rubbed a bit more, as I have noticed the shreds are somewhat thicker in cut lately. Being a tea drinking Londoner, this goes very well with a nice mug a builder's tea. Or "English Breakfast" as fellow Americans like to name our tea. Yorkshire tea is my favoured tea btw. Anyway I digress! This does have virginian but it is not a sweet tobacco. Some folk like the room note. I am not sure if you would strictly class this as an aromatic tobacco though, but it does have a distinctive taste and aroma. Most Brits who smoke a pipe know this well, as it has been selling for donkeys years! It is often sold next to its more stronger cousin Condor. Both I think were rivals back in the 70s. I recall though it was a popular smoke back then amongst teachers and older generations. Towards the end of the smoke, like most tobacco, the taste gets deeper and the nicotine becomes noticeable. I frequently love this smoke. I change up to Dunhill's Royal Yacht in my rotation, which to me is like a more a stronger and more refined St. B. I would recommend many to try this. It seems quite popular amongst the reviews here and I'm not surprised. St. B., here is a bit of an institution, like watching football on a Sunday, or the cricket! :0) Lots of memories are conjured up with this brand. Enjoy.

I’ve been wanting to get hold of a sturdy Kentucky blend for some time now and was angling towards MacBarens H&H Bold Kentucky when I happened upon this one. MacBaren usually puts out 3.5 oz tins in my area so I was surprised to see a pouch……I really like this stuff. It’s balanced well between the big Kentucky flavor and fruit sweetness with a slight bitterness on the sides of the tongue which neither lingers long so ya wanna keep puffing and that’s ok because it doesn’t get hot and doesn’t bite. The drawback is it’s a bit pricey. Here in Connecticut we pay huge consumption taxes for enjoying ourselves and that fact has caught up with pipe smokers……This may not be the best Kentucky out there, but MacBaren has done it again with a fine addition to their already diverse line of flake tobaccos.

Note: This was my first "Lakeland-style" blend.

I'm not sure what aroma the tin note is, but I love it. So much so that after I put the tobacco in the jar, I kept the pouch in my kitchen and would just pick it up and sniff it at various times throughout the next few weeks. If a woman wore this scent as a perfume, I would follow her around like a lost puppy.

The flavor when smoked matches the tin note. Again, my dull palate and nose can't recognize exactly what it is (reviews of St. Bruno say things like rose, geranium, and tonquin--I have no idea what tonquin is, but I don't really get either rose or geranium). However, I love the flavor too. The solid Virginia is just under the "Lakeland." It smokes dry and clean. Has a pleasant room note and aftertaste. I love how the aroma lingers on my mustache for a couple of hours after smoking.

This is such a unique and distinctive smoke compared to what I'm used to that I find myself reaching for it again and again. This is a blend I am definitely going to keep on hand for when I need "something different."

I am giving this 3 1/2 rather than 4 stars for one pecadillo: towards the bottom of a bowl I get an ever-so-slight irritation in the back of my throat that I don't get from straight Virginias or the English blends I usually smoke, but often will get from aromatics. Although the amount of irritation is considerably less than I get from most aromatics, and only appears once I am nearly at the bottom of the bowl, it still warrants a half-star penalty.

I wish I had a richer vocabulary to describe the aroma and flavor of St. Bruno. "Floral/citrus" is probably the best I can do. For me it will probably just remain "St. Bruno" flavor.

Edit (January 11, 2023): After smoking through a second pouch of this, I'm dropping it down to 2 1/2 stars mainly because the floral essence I enjoy seems to dissipate very quickly even if jarred, leaving almost no "Lakeland" effect. This is replaced by a predominantly vinegar flavor which, while not altogether unpleasant, isn't the taste I initially enjoyed with this tobacco. This happened with both pouches I smoked.

Smells of ketchup from vinegar preserve. Tastes of Stewed plums and has sweetness with at times a hint of liquorice. Not harsh in the slightest and a slow burner and perfect with a coffee. Easily one of my favorite on the start of my pipe smoking journey.

Before it came in a silicone plastic envelope that better kept the tobacco seal. Now it comes in the typical plastic wrapped paper pouch. Go ahead, I am surprised by its “aromatic” rating, but since I take it for granted that experts know what they do, I have to say that it is one of the aromatic tobaccos that I have liked the most of all I have tried.

When you open the pouch, the typical Kentucky aroma and also vinegar arises, which is quite penetrating, but as has already been said in other reviews, the vinegar aroma does not translate to the flavor at the time of smoking. After lighting, with the first puffs, the well-known smoky flavor of Mac Baren's Kentucky appears, similar to that of Old Dark Fire from the same house, Three Nuns, Savinelli's Doblone d'Oro (made by Mac Baren), or also that of Lakeland Dark, in this case by Samuel Gawith. But unlike those other blends, in St. Bruno the Kentucky is pleasantly softened and complemented by those lakeland or soapy notes some reviewers mention and also by other subtly floral notes of something akin to tea. And those notes not only don't hurt you, they make you very pleasant.

I would love to smoke the flake version.

As everyone seems to like this tobacco, and given it has quite a name to it, I picked it up when I saw a pouch at a tobacco shop. When opening the pouch you get a vinegary smell, but I'm told this is because it is used as a natural preservative. When lighting the taste I get is like barbecue sauce (which isn't a bad thing at all). It smokes nice and cool, burns well, doesn't really require relights. The reason it's not a regular for me and why I won't buy it again is the Nicotine hit. I smoke various tobaccos, some are arguably quite strong, but for some reason St.Bruno really hits me hard. So hard, that it kind of ruins the experience for me. From smoking one bowl I feel very whoozy, but not in a good way. If I smoke it on an empty stomach I might even get some cold sweat. However, this may just be me. I've heard that some have the same experience with it, while others don't get that effect. So if the N-hit isn't that strong for you, definitely a nice smoke.

Absolute classic. One of the handful of old school OTC tobaccos that are probably better now than it had been for a while. I stopped smoking it a few years back, because every time you got a pouch you never knew what you were getting, would it be dried out, raggedy fibers? or poorly cut chunks? maybe it had some of the Lakeland essence or maybe you got some recycled cigarette butts... this was obviously after the Ogden's period but before whoever is making it now. This is a nice change of pace from the inevitable "it's not as good as it used to be" we pipe smokers seem to be prone to (and as a side note, I do think the newer Peterson's Royal Yacht is better than it had been for a while, a lighter hand on the plum sauce, and a better quality of tobaccos...)

St Bruno smells exactly like A1 steak sauce in the pouch, which on reflection might actually make a tasty tobacco.... however, the A1 aroma does not translate to the smoke. A perfect balance between that clean soapy Lakeland flavor and the decent quality Virginia and Kentucky tobaccos. I don't understand how more companies can't get that balance of flavors together; so many overwhelm the tobacco flavor, or have the top note fade out before the bottom of the bowl. Best if rubbed out a little further, and spread out to dry for a couple of minutes. Requires a little attention to the packing, and may need a few relights. St Bruno can gurgle a bit, and leave a little dampness in the bottom of the bowl... I reserve a Savinelli (sans balsa filter) for Saint Bruno's and other aromatics. This is an ideal smoke for those that may be allowed to smoke a pipe in decent company, as it has an pleasant room note, and by God, there's actually some nicotine in it!

Recently had a Skype call with a old friend who lives in Manchester, and we shared a smoke separated by an ocean, him with a Peterson full of Condor, and me with a Pete full of St Bruno. We determined there are two kinds of people in the world: those that like Condor and those that like St Bruno... like those that prefer bourbon and those that prefer single malt scotch... never the twain shall meet! Can't really get Condor over here in the US, and personally, I've always found Condor to be just a little too strong for my tastes. St Bruno is not an everyday smoke for me, but like Laphroaig Scotch, I always keep some on hand, for when the inevitable craving for that exact flavor comes up. Plus the old commercials on YouTube for Saint Bruno are pretty priceless.

St Bruno was originally made by Ogdens of Liverpool and was available in two-ounce tins, also one could always buy this loose in rather long ribbon of slices, all the latter is now just a distant memory.

St Bruno conjures up memories of old men smoking this in Falcon Pipes and playing Crown Green bowls at the rear of many a pub, their pipes smoked and eagerly refilled in a continual kind of eternal flame. The distinctive, delightful room note was the backdrop smell of many a taproom and snap cabins in the steel mills of Sheffield and beyond. I hadn't smoked this blend for over twenty years but returned to it by sheer chance in that it was the only tobacco that I could source whilst out and about. Anyway such is the moreish delight of this very delightful blend, I soon smoked up the packet. I was delighted to find that St Bruno had not changed much and it was a very much savoured in my new pipe, a Sir Douglas pipe from Mike at Blakemar Briars. The smoke was sweet, cool and slow-burning, the room note was exactly as I remembered it. I devoured this iconic blend with a kind of relish and it delivered a long-lasting smoke, that burnt down to the last shred of tobacco. The nicotine hit is moderate, but the tasting is full and satisfying. I can see now why the old boys of my youth greedily consumed bowl after bowlful, such is the sheer smoking pleasure of even this latest variant of St Bruno. On opening the pouch one is overcome by the floral tobacco nose, that you cannot load your pipe quick enough, to sample its mythical casings. This an aromatic tobacco that is worth smoking slowly, but even when puffed at the rate of the express train the Mallard, no tongue bite do you get. All that said, it's worth running the odd pipe cleaner through whilst smoking as it tends to be overly moist, leaving the dreaded gurgle. When I smoke this I always pre-pack the pipe an hour before as when bought fresh it always seems overly damp, but the tobacco reward is worth the hassle. All things considered, St Bruno is still the legendary smoke of yesteryear and a must-try for any one seeking the contemplative pleasures of pipe smoking. I highly recommend this tobacco to other pipe smoking aficionados and I do not think you will be disappointed, you may even become addicted to this traditional English blend, such is St Brunos hypnotic lure.