Mac Baren Amphora Black Cavendish Special Reserve

With much respect to those who like this stuff (pipe smoking is all and truly about one's taste and that's why we love it so much), I think this might be the worst of Amphora products I puffed. Tough the smell on opening the pouch is really sweet and licorice/vanilla pleasantly full, that aroma doesn't transfer to the bowl. This might be a good thing for me, 'cause I'm not an ARO freak but I cannot even taste all the complexity there should be after reading the amount of different leafs listed on the pouch, from Burley to Oriental.

Plus that licorice/black tea aroma makes me crave for tea-time and butter cookies instead of having me puffing. Not that difficult to keep lit, not that sweet as it may seem from pouch aroma. Never finished my pouch and think I'll never buy it again; I'll cellar a couple of teabags and vanilla cookies instead.

I was looking for an aromatic blend for a change to my usual EM o VaPers. Wrong choice, IMO. One of the flattest and most insignificant smokes ever had. Period.

Did not like this blend at all. While it has fine tin and room notes, the taste is acrid and utterly unpleasant. No "amber tones" or "spicy bouquet" mentioned in the description are present. The slow burn is there, but what's the use if one does not find the taste enjoyable?

First off I'm not an aromatic fellow with only two dedicated briars in the stable.

The pluses: economical and fairly easy to find, packs and combusts well, mildly sweet and easy going, room note is pleasant so I've been told (don't really care), surprisingly it has some natural tobacco flavours and presence in the mouth with a bit of finish mildly complex, moderate Nic noticeable but not over the top, works well both indoors and in the woods too.

The minuses: borderline pH alkalinity it does bite a bit, slight bitterness not a good bitter either akin to over steeped tea, ashtray and bad cigarette aftertaste on the tongue and back of the throat.

Not recommended, bites with a lousy aftertaste. I'll be giving the rest away to a briar friend who likes aromatics otherwise it'll be jarred for many years and eventually dumped. Personally I'd rather pack Sir Walter Raleigh Aromatic, Lane BCA, Boswells Piper's Pleasure, or Hearth and Home Trout Stream.

The most intense aromatizants are liquorice (first of all) and pepper (just second), but there are also something sweety, like liquor and ripe fruits. For me, the aromatizants are too strong, and I can find only a very mild similarity with the tobacco's taste (this mixture is something like a pleasant 'parfum': recommended if you like flavored mixtures, but not so if you like natural tobaccos - however, try it, if you want).

This is the only Amphpra blend I can't recommend. It smells and smokes like fermented socks.

This is like smoking shredded tires and peppercorns. It will make your family disown you and your animals pray for your demise.

Avoid it, if possible, run quickly in the opposite direction, if not possible.