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.

Wasn't expecting a lot from an over the counter brand but the reviews were good. I must admit a factor was the ease with which this can be found at any UK grocer, coupled with its popularity. I got nothing but cigarette taste from this - couldn't even tell I was smoking an aromatic. Granted it seemed moist but I'm not confident drying would have helped. Back to English's for me.

2 months pipe smoker here. Tried various "nice" brands before. Mostly GH and SG flakes. Found pipe smoking very nice. Got to order my tobacco online as there is no decent shops around. Recently found myself unable to order online in time, so went to local asda shop and picked up a packet of St Bruno. After reading previous reviews I was expecting something quite reasonable. People been comparing it to Ennerdale and thats one of my favorities. Got a packet and it smells same as blue drum rolling tobacco. (remember that from my rollie days) Smoking - just a big nicotine hit and a foul smell in the mouth. Plus some sore spots in my mouth too. Not nice at all. Picked up my jacket next day after a evening with a pipe (i smoke on a patio outside) and it stank of old ashtray full of cigarette butts. With everything I tried before its never been like that. Maybe i haven’t tried a truly horrible stuff before.

I like to have a bit of nicotine hit with my morning coffee and pipe, but come on, it supposed to be a pleasure, not a disgusting time.

I thought may be something wrong with my falcon pipe, my smell sense or something, went to the big city today and purchased a tin of MacBaren vanilla flake, loaded up the pipe, fired up, very nice as expected.

remaining St bruno will stay in an emergency jar to be touched only when nothing else is available....

Have to be honest, I didn't really care for this one. It reminded me of a mild version of condor, but with a bit more bite. Even sipping this guy gave me troubles with tongue bite, it smoked terribly hot. I'd like to try the flake, I tend to like flakes better than these sort of ready rubbed blends. If you like Condor, give it a shot. Not really for me. I only smoked a few bowls before passing this one along.

This was the second OTC tobacco I tried. My house mate was the first person I'd seen smoke St. Bruno while I was playing around with various Kendal blends. His pouch was old, dry, and stank. This put me off trying it for a good many years. Sundays, however, have a trend of being the day I try new OTC tobaccos due to my local tobacconist being closed that day. My normal at the time OTC, Condor Original, was out of stock and only 50g pouches of St. Bruno remained on the shelf. I decided it was better to have something than walk away empty handed, so I took a chance and tried it.

I'm glad I did. I remember waiting for the punch in the face I'd come to expect from a new pouch of Condor Ready Rubbed, but it never came. Instead, I was led by the hand to a calm river in a small forest whereupon I was invited to relax for a while. This, of course, being a metaphor. There was no harshness, no bite, no rancid flavour, the tobacco wasn't too moist or too dry, and it certainly didn't try to attack me. Instead, it just filled my face with a polite, yet exceedingly pleasant, flavour that almost felt like it didn't want to be overbearing but at the same time it wanted me to experience -something-. I wasn't entirely sure what the something was, though. It certainly wasn't soap, and I was grateful for that. It's the only new tobacco I have enjoyed so much that I had a second bowl only a few minutes after finishing the first (with a different pipe, of course). St. Bruno is certainly a multi-pipe tobacco and unlike Condor Original Ready Rubbed, there should be no ghost of St. Bruno left in the pipe afterwards.

I still don't know what that special something is. I doubt I ever will. The journey to discover it is an enjoyable one, though, as St. Bruno has now become my any-time-every-day tobacco. There's enough strength to keep me satisfied, and pleasing enough to allow me to smoke it around half-a-dozen times a day at least, often more. Even my non-smoking house mates aren't offended by it, although the one who smoked it originally now rather smugly claims me got me in to it in the first place. I would recommend St. Bruno to others. Maybe not as a first tobacco, but certainly as an enjoyable regular smoke once you've found your feet or a fall-back if a favoured tobacco is not available.

Edit: Jan 2016: Something has changed and utterly made me rethink the previous score and review. I don't know if my tastes have changed, or if there was a change in how St. Bruno has been produced but recently it has become a very bitter, hot, and unpleasant smoke. The rub has been hardly rubbed at all, with some pouches almost being flake-like. This mostly affected the 25g pouch, but the 50g pouches weren't spared the same fate in terms of taste. It has gone from my main tobacco I smoked daily to me actively avoiding it. It still has a nice room note, however. So, sadly, I have had to reduce the review to a single star of non-recommendation.

Note my cuppa tea as I am still on aromatics. Smell was odd for me, not a lot of taste. First OTC tobacco. Wasn't for me, prefer ones bought from specialist tobacconists.

I don't know if there was something wrong with the pouch I received, but it was very dry and harsh.

Preparation & Burn: 3/10 Ugly chunks of flakes. How can anyone pack this garbage? Harsh and hard to keep lit.

Taste: 5/20 This managed to taste strong while simultaneously taste like nothing at all.

Mildness: 3/10 My idea of a good smoke is a relaxing, low nicotine session. Therefore, the milder the better. Too much nicotine for me.

Total: 11/40

I read very "interesting" reviews for this particular blend. Unfortunately, I was expecting a "traditional" English blend tobacco. The taste reminded me of some sort of old style cologne.

As I write this, I am smoking a bowl of the Ready Rubbed version in a MM 'Legend' corn cob. It comes quite wet, but is smokable [keep in mind I've had a wet smoke and a dry one from this], but I've dried this out quite a bit, which makes little difference in taste, just easier to keep lit. Like many who live in the UK, I did not pick this up out of necessity, but out of sheer curiosity, and since I had already tried Condor [which one can only compare, as per OTC blends], I felt I've need to give the other OTC tobacco a shot. St Bruno is to old leather as Condor is to soap; unfortunately, both of those remain dominantly potent in either tobacco, respectively.

This tobacco, I find very strong, and I have a lot of Dunhill and Samuel Gawith English blends, but this is stronger than either. I don't know if it's a good thing, but it's pouch note is certainly akin to its smoke more so than any other tobacco I've tried. Whilst the old leather taste/aroma is present, it becomes rather mellow and allows for a spicy smokey oak to come through [but far too rarely], once you get over the strength. Even after drying out, I did have a little trouble keeping it lit.

There were moments in my bowl, where I did *come close* to enjoying a nice mellow, oaky smoke, but the overwhelming peppery spice came through far too much. That pepperyness is too harsh. Half way through the bowl, I actually thought it was finished and I was smoking ash! Recommended you scrape off layers of ash just to get back to tolerable smoke so you can finish a bowl. Any bowlful of tobacco that makes me think it's far too uncomfortable to smoke without a filter does not get a thumbsup from me -- especially when it's always been advertised as mellow -- for those younger like me, check out the old St Bruno adverts on YouTube!

Like Condor [sorry to keep mentioning it so much], I can see _why_ people enjoy this, and I think it's certainly worth trying, as it's very distinctive [not necessarily a positive]. I think the blend is quite simple, no complexity at all.

I would not recommend this tobacco, as I personally did not enjoy it. However, I would recommend at least trying to due to its availability if you are curious. Perhaps you're able to find the better of the flavours I mentioned I rarely experienced. Talking of experience, this is a blend I'd say is more likely to be enjoyed by the experienced pipe smokers... such as ex-MP Tony Benn, who probably smoke nothing else.

It claims to be a virginia-based tobacco. I'd like to know more, but I don't think its contents really account for anything over experience/taste.

It's interesting how I see a lot of people using St Bruno as a blending tobacco e.g. "Ogden's Blend": 50/50 St Bruno/Gold Block. Perhaps there is a foundation of something to build on here. Perhaps there's flavours you could build upon, or try and simmer the potency. Or perhaps people are trying to put to use 50g of something they'd rather not put in the bin!

I'd suggest using it to blend yourself some Kinnikinnick -- a Native American smoking product, typically made of mixture of various leaves or barks with other plant materials.