Mac Baren St. Bruno Ready Rubbed

Este es un tabaco que me da un cambio de ritmo, como un descanso a mi rutina de tabacos mas profundos, de mas fuerza, o con mas caracter. Es un compañero para una fumada relajante. No es un mal tabaco, es un tabaco agradecido, decente. Nada mas abrir el paquete, me llega un aroma agrio, levemente achocolatado, afrutado, citrico. Estaba en un punto de humedad muy correcto. La fumada es placentera, relajante, un regusto agrio pero no molesto El aroma que desprende al fumar es un leve aroma floral, dulce, afrutado, algo citrico, higos, amaderado. Un humo en boca dulce, espeso. La nota de habitacion es agradable, lo suficiente para que las personas que esten cerca, no rechacen la presencia de este dulce humo. Quema muy bien, pocos encendidos, una ceniza fina. Deja algo de humedad. Facil de adquirir en el estanco de barrio y a un precio que invita a comprar grandes cantidades. Un fiel amigo para mi rutina diaria. El nivel de nicotina es muy bajo para mi gusto, pero no me molesta en absoluto. Otro tabaco que dormira en mi bodega.

I met St. Bruno in Madrid, where an Italian (or any European except Swiss) can find the piper’s heaven, meaning a bunch of excellent tobaccos for a much lower price. Seldom I go there for a weekend and buy 1kg of best brands and.. ok I bring my wife which is 1kg more 😉

So that particular time I went to Spain to test the mythical Saint. I’ll spoil the end of the story: all my personal kilo at the border was 2x500g packs of it 🙂

Tin (bag) is something unique: so grassy, soft, super aromatic (soapy, may I say as an hater of flavours and toppings), leathery... an old fashioned and elegant man, smelling like too much of his morning toilette.. but still eager, victorian..

Packing is very easy but watch out for too much density in the bowl, which is easy to err: the baccy is super-wet and still is in my cellar after 3 years! Thus it’s easy to press a bit too much.

First lighting delivers all the perfumes you expected from the bag, and the first puffs declare them very straightly.

As soon as you sip it —SLOWLY— the leather and the nutty come out, the strength increases and you get all the dark leaf: treat it badly and it will bite.

I love the burley base of it, it’s that hint of oily leather which sometimes is lost in the fired kentucky’s.

Always nice to smoke, not excellent on the room side.

Always in rotation, it is the easiest tobacco to hand for when you’re rushing out because it will never dry out!

I sampled both versions, one from Imperial Tobacco and the other one from Mac Baren. The IT one is mustier and more vinegary and the topping is better applied in the sense that it interferes less with the tobacco flavors. The Mac Baren version has a sweeter and more pronounced topping.

The Virginias are grassy, citrusy and lightly figgy. The Kentucky is woody and earthy and carries the blend in the strength department.

Virginia lover

For a pouch "over the counter" type tobacco ( more European style than American) ,this has got to be one of the best. It's got a slight "Winey" flavor that works very well as it doesn't overpower. The tobacco itself is a Virginia/ Kentucky combo ( and maybe some Mac Baren's Cavendish ?), that packs a punch, and is well done. Now, will I reorder this , well probably not , just doesn't have the complexity. But I will throw this in the cars glove box with the old pouch of Carter hall and Sir Walter for emergencies .

Opening the pouch gives a very tangy smell of molasses and vinegar. Strong Kentucky presence. Heavily sauced.

The cut is actually coarse cut and not RR as it is mentionned. The stuff comes wet, and could benefit from a good drying session.

Upon charring, I am overwhelmed with a perfect combination (seriously) of Va/Ken, with exquisite floral overtones and smoky velvety undertones.

3 stars for me, as I really enjoy Lakeland tobaccos but on an irregular basis.

I recently picked up a sealed pouch of this blend while on vacation in Spain. I was really excited to see it. I used to smoke the tinned flake version of this back in the early 90's. Remarkably, the taste is exactly as I remembered, it was like being thrown back in time. I can't believe this is no longer available in the USA, it should be, it's the single best OTC tobacco out there right now. Honestly, I'd wish they'd sell this in a tin like they used to, maybe the blend would get more respect. The taste is very unique—flowery is how I'd put it. It borders on being too strong for me, the nicotine content is on the high end, and I usually shy away from strong blends, but, this is one I'd like to keep around, if I could. It's a great smoke if you're looking for a change of pace. Recommended.

St Bruno.....my second over the counter blend.

I bought a 25g pouch from tesco supermarket as it was one of the first pipe baccys I had seen over the counter. On opening, you are greeted with a flowery scent and a good batch of I would say medium broken flakes. Moisture was just right and it packs well.

The taste is very nice if a little strong for my likening. There is a hint of floral and a buttery taste as well as the sweetness of the VA but not that sweet. It was soapy as well but not too much (Condor was soapier!) It lights well and rarely needed to be relit but it is a wet smoke as other have said. I also found that it was a fast smoke too.

Not one I will go to first but I will always keep a pouch handy. It does give a Vitamin N kick though and I recommend a full belly for this one. It also burned the bejeezus out of my nose when I exhaled, regardless of technique.

a 2 star tobacco for me with an added star for availability

St Bruno ready-rubbed's been around for a very long time. It's a classic example of an English pipe tobacco from before "English" meant "Latakia/Balkan". It's main competitor used to be (green pouched) Condor, and it seemed a general rule that if you liked one you really didn't like the other.

Now blended/produced by Orlik (I think) for Imperial Tobacco it seems to have survived the move to Scandanavia pretty well, with the basic blend, flavour and quality of the leaf used left alone.

It's clearly a Virginia/Kentucky blend, but the tobaccos are well cured and almost black. It's cut thicker than it used to be thanks to EU regulations, and as presented may need a bit of rubbing out (the old thinner cut rarely did). The burn rate may be a bit slower as a result, but it's still very forgiving about moisture level and doesn't seem loaded with humectants.

"Forgiving" might be the best overall description of St Bruno. There's hardly any bite, though it can burn a bit wet. It's not harsh and requires few relights. Perhaps worth mentioning that it's meant to be smoked old-fashioned British style without much if any drying out. Dried out too much it has less flavour, burns hotter and starts to bite.

In the pipe,as far as I can tell it tastes pretty much as it always did - medium in flavour, but with a quite sweet initially meaty fullness to it and a hint of spiciness. There's a hint of plummy fruitiness on first light, that disipates fairly quickly. Further down the bowl the Kentucky begins to make itself felt with a finish that's quite dry in tase and a little nutty.

There is a bit of flavouring, but it's a gentle, natural British style one intended to compliment the tobacco, rather than overwhelm the tobacco with something quite different like US or Danish-style aromatics. The topping/casing is nothing like the perfumey Lakeland "soap" floral one either, it's more a gentle deep fruity plum/raisin kind of thing. Doesn't ghost pipes either, at least as far as I can tell. It's the classic smell of British pipe smoking.

Overall, it's still a good tobacco and recommended, especially as it's often available at supermarkets in the UK. A classic of it's kind. Oh, and it's Tony Benn's regular tobacco and has been for many years which must say something.

By the way, the flake is very similar, but perhaps a bit stronger and with a bit more depth to it, but that might just be down to the different preparation. Certainly they were supposed to be the same tobacco, with the ready rubbed simply being pre-rubbed out for convenience.

Some people say you either like St. Bruno or Condor as a strong and robust Over The Counter blend, I personally like both of them, the smell of the opened pouch is similar to that of Condor but less perfumy and floral, instead it had a hint of citrusy and fruity scents but it is still soapy, it seems to feel as if it has been cut finer as well, when I packed my pipe to the brim, I lit and then tamped and lit again, at first tasting, it had a lovely aroma and taste, sandalwood, hints of blueberry and lavender.

When I was done, I was left wanting more, kind of like the Condor, I'm not by any means a long time pipe smoker, but starting out with these two strong and heavy hitting tobaccos remind me of when I was 4 years old, sat at my Great Uncle's house, he used to love both St. Bruno and Condor and the smell of the tobaccos being smoked reminds me of that, he did used to smoke Dunhill's Nightcap and that is one I must soon try!

Overall, I like St. Bruno for that typical meaty English tobacco flavour, maybe St. Bruno is the patron saint of Pipe smokers haha!