Mac Baren St. Bruno Ready Rubbed

Have a look on YouTube at TV adverts of pipe tobacco from the 1970s and 80s. Gold Block, Condor, St Bruno... They had big advertising budgets, all at a time when there was no internet, no freeview, no sky, not YouTube. Back then most people only had access to 3 tv channels to watch, only one of which was commercial and had TV adverts.... Limited watching so these big tobacco brand had the attention of every pipe smoker. Which brands do the supermarkets sell? They still only sell these few brands which had big advertising budgets to tempt the masses into smoking rubbish blends.

But now it’s 2020 and you are reading this, which means you have the internet. That means - you don’t need to buy any of the supermarket tobaccos! You can buy the best pipe tobaccos in the world from the internet.

I know it’s tempting to buy a packet of St Bruno next time you’re in Tescos, but don’t fool for it.

Soapy flavours are for washing hands and dishes. Why would you smoke something that has a vinegary, soapy flavour? Also this will steam burn you mouth like mad. It’s better if you seriously dry it. But then any tobacco flavour and the sweet edge is lost and only the soap remains.

There are so many premium tobaccos available online - please don’t be tempted with St Bruno. I know the TV adverts were good. I know it’s easy to buy a pouch in Tescos.

But you can do so much better, and for no more money.

I recently received my one and only 50g of St. Bruno Ready Rubbed. My review of St. Bruno Ready Rubbed is nearly identical to my comments regarding the flake. The only real difference that I found was regarding the ease of use. This, as with my comments on the flake is from the Ogden era, as I have NOT smoked the Mac Baren version, so this should only be considered for purchasing it already well-aged. There is an underlying sweetness that I found very similar to Dunhill's MM34596, but where that tobacco fails to deliver, St Bruno brings along some great tobacco flavor to boot! It packs well and burns to a white ash. There is plenty of Lady Nicotine in St Bruno as well. I truly enjoyed this historic blend. My only reason for 3 stars instead of four is simply because I found the flavor to be one dimensional. However, I would strongly suggest trying this grand blend.(if Ogdens can be found)!

Not as strong or tasty as the flake, but when the flake is not available, as it often is not unless you go to a real tobacconist, this will do the trick

Very good Virginia tobaccos, with floral aromas. The Virginias, however, are the dominant flavours, with the Kentucky asserting its character. It is strong, smokes real well and tastes just great. A must-try classic. Recommended.

As a young man, just leaving his teens, St. Bruno was the apex and quintessence of my first pipe smoking experiences. Together with Condor, Erinmore and Mellow Virginia, it was a staple of thousands across the land. And the TV adverts (yes, you could watch youthful men puffing away on their pipes accompanied by myriads of young ladies all admiring the unique aroma) only helped to reinforce the notion that a pipe was the way to go. Dutifully, I followed in its wake and S.B. was the first pipe tobacco I ever tried. 41 years later, it remains a joy to smoke, though latterly in flake form. Its unique taste, flavour and aroma still captivate me. The smell of unlit tobacco straight from the pouch, the feel of the shreds in the fingers and that heavy, sweet, fruity smell in my hands, still entice me on every occasion and I always get that wonderful anticipation that, each morning after waking up, I'm going to have a cracking first smoke of the day no matter what that day is going to bring. This might be described as a love affair with St. Bruno, and I think that you would probably be right. I smoke other tobaccos and there are some that I love mightily. I've had a tobacco renaissance of my own in the last twelve months and have bought and stored more blends than I ever did in the previous forty years of pipe smoking. But St. Bruno is the one I adore the most. Perhaps it is the memory of those youthful days as I remember fellow students or my tutors lighting up in college, the heavy, rich fug that descended in our seminar room when the tutor would fire up, great clouds of creamy smoke billowing like a volcano and as he deeply inhaled the stuff and with a flourish exhaled enthusiastically into the room. Nostalgia plays its part. For me, St. Bruno is comforting, dependable, engaging and utterly engrossing. Not until the cut shreds were increased in width in recent months did I contemplate giving up my beloved ready rubbed in favour of the flake. The smoke wasn't quite the same, the rubbing out (yes, I rubbed out the ready rubbed) proved to be hard work at keeping the tobacco in the bowl, lit and burning brightly and the taste just wasn't the same feel either. So, my years of plentiful delight have been tragically cut down and allegiances have been switched to the flake, an even better taste and enjoyment as I head for the fifth decade of my own particular pipe mania. There are many wonderful, encapsulating and quite enthralling tobaccos out there and I cannot wait to try some of them, but my simple, straightforward, adorable and faithful St. Bruno will be my daily companion throughout.

I smoke both this and the flake St Bruno, i will always ask for the flake 1st, but i dont mind if this is the one i end up with, of all the OTC blends in the Uk St Bruno tops it for me

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.

having now smoked st. bruno flake as well as ready rubbed back to back, i must say that though the difference is not huge, it's enough to make them two rather different tobaccos.

pouch aroma: "soap", and some smokyness from the fire cured. not much raisin or other typical fermented virginia smell. perhaps a hint of vanilla.

it packs and lights easily, as is to be expected from a rr tobacco. the taste is rather flat compared to the flake version. i really miss the berry-like sweetness of aged/stoved virginias which is quite evident in the flake version, and all i seem to be left with is the kentucky - plus, it seems, vanilla and some burley harshness. i cannot for the life of me find much trace of the red virginia reported by others, though i guess it must be there, somehow. this one actually comes a lot closer to an old sweedish classic, "greve hamiltons blandning".

not a bad tobacco, but nowhere near the complex beauty of the flake, really

can the two versions really be made from the same raw tobaccos? is the difference simply a result of the different cuts? personally, i'd doubt it.

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!