Mac Baren HH Mature Virginia

The Virginias offer tart and tangy citrus, tart lemon and a touch or orange as well as grass, wood, earth, bread, tangy dried dark fruit, and a few sour vinegar and spice notes. The black cavendish adds a hint of brown sugar as a condiment. The Oriental/Turkish provides a whisper of buttery sweetness, wood, smoke, earth, herbs, vegetation, light spice, and a hint of sourness. It is a condiment at best. The description mentions that the woody, earthy burley is a minor component, and I get a light nuttiness from it. The balsamic red wine binder is slightly sweet. The strength is a couple of steps past the center of mild to medium. The taste level is medium. The nic-hit is a slot behind the strength threshold. Won't bite or get harsh, but sports a few small rough edges. Burns clean, cool, and smooth at a moderate pace with a very consistent taste. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires an average number of relights. Has a lightly lingering, pleasant after taste and room note. An all day smoke with a mild complexity of flavors.

-JimInks

I really looked forward to receiving my tin of this newest of Mac Baren's blends from a friend who got it for me at the recently completed Chicago Show. I just finished another tin that I recently picked up at the Kansas City Pipe Show and believe that the tobacco from this batch is a notch or two stronger in the strength department than the first batch I tried.

This is a nice, medium and slightly sweet Virginia that has an ever so slight Oriental presentation as well. The unflavored burley Cavendish is really not noticeable other than the feeling of fullness with each puff that one would not get without it. Unusual in that the flavor presentation is pretty much the same from the top to the bottom of the bowl (kind of unusual for Virginia forward tobaccos which usually changes RPM's while being consumed). It loaded and stayed lit well. It is also a mid-grade in the strength department and I cannot recommend this blend to those of you with a carpet of chest hair. I don't have a carpet of chest hair and the hair on my head is in retreat.... So, I liked this Virginia blend a lot.

Again, if you enjoy medium flavored and slightly sweet Virginia leaf that offers no bad surprises while smoking, then here you go.

HH Mature Virginia is a remarkable blend of Virginia tobaccos. It is unusual, but it is also delicious. It has been part of my rotation of pipe tobaccos for almost two years.

Basics: This is a blend of over twenty different Virginia tobaccos, which are then allowed to marry and mature together. It is by MacBarrren; the “HH” stands for the original blender (Henrik Halberg). It comes in 100 gram (3.5 ounce) tins and in 1 pound sacks. The tins cost between $12 and $17 (shop around for the best deal); the one pound sacks cost around $39-44. It is cut into ribbons, and it is mildly moist. I usually need to give a bowl of it at least one relight. There is no casing or topping. The strength of the smoke, taste, and nicotine is medium to strong.

Good: The flavor is remarkable and unusual because of the combination of many Virginia tobaccos. There is a complexity to the taste which is hard to describe. Bright and sweet tobaccos are mixed with dark and rich tobaccos, of various strengths. The result is not a single note of flavor; it is more like a melody of Virginia flavors. It is rarely dull, as each puff brings new combinations of flavors.

Bad: Some fans of Virginias might not enjoy the combination of many flavors, which is unusual; for them, this smoke might become annoying or distracting.

Conclusion: I give HH Mature Virginia 4 stars out of 4. It is unusual, remarkable, complex, and delicious. If you enjoy Virginias, it is definitely worth trying.

What a weird tin aroma! Are we sure that this is only Virginia? No, it isn't: according to Mac Baren this blend contains 15 different kinds of Virginia (some brights, some reds, and a heavy dose of dark aged ones), but also a touch of Cavendish, of Orientals, and even a pinch of Burley. Anyway, while the name is a bit misleading since this isn't a pure Virginia, I still can't understand what was used to flavor this blend... because the smell from the tin is completely offbeat. McClelland's infamous vinegar/ketchup is nothing compared to this: here we can smell a burning barbecue, a heap of well-grilled sausages with plenty of spices. Yes, I am not joking: it's smoky, spicy, charred, with notes of heavy balsamic vinegar, and even a touch of licorice. We all know that Mac Baren uses casings to flavor their blends, and I usually like their style: anyway, here they don't use their usual sugar/maple/honey, but go for a dark approach instead. Luckily, the flavoring translates very little into the smoking experience. Sure, some licorice and spice remain, but it tastes fairly natural. A weird tobacco indeed: in the taste, the dark stoved Virginias dominate, for a very smooth but also slightly bitter, spicy, fermented, and very smoky experience. Don't go looking for sweetness, fruitiness, for citrus flavors, for grassiness. This is aged leaf, and it shows. It tends to pack a bit too tight, so use a light hand, but then it burns fine as most Mac Barens do. Overall, I like this tobacco but it does not overwhelm me. It remains a bit too light in taste and body, although it has a nice complexity. Good to smoke once in a while, but for regular smoking I prefer the roll cakes from this same brand.

Update: the second tin of this blend seems even blander and more boring than the first. Not bad or offensive, but doesn't make me want to smoke it... I guess I won't buy it again.

Opened up a bag of this yesterday at my B&M. Smoked it with the shop owner and thanked the gods for fall. This is called Mature Va. It is not a traditional VA tobacco. The cut is wonderful. It loads in the pipe with a very meaty feel. You know you have tobbaco here. Smell is strong. Fresh and leaves a higher calling when lit. Makes my Rotation all fall and winter. I have a very hard time letting this go for spring. Let the tobacco dry out a little before packing. Will light and smoke great.

I recently opened a tin of HH Mature Virginia and, like many others have noted, was greeted with a pungent aroma similar to a barbeque sauce. The tobacco was fairly moist and ribbon cut for ease of packing. I decided to use a light touch in packing due to the tobacco moistness.

When I packed and lighted a bowl of this tobacco, there wasn't any hint of the pungent aroma but instead a there was a spicy bite with a hint of sweetness. Unlike the aromatics I've smoked before, there was not a strong heady flavour but a more subtle honey-like taste intermingled with the smoke. The tobacco was fairly well behaved as tongue bite was virtually non-existent.

Despite the recent spate of mediocre reviews, I would definitely recommend HH Mature Virginia. I smoke Full Virgina Flake as well and find that HH Mature Virginia is sweeter but not as spicy or strong. For a fuller smoke, FVF is the better choice. For those times I want something lighter, HHMV is preferred.

Hand's down one of my favorite Mac Baren blends and one of my favorites overall, I tried this blend out on a whim and am extremely pleased I did. It smokes clean, it's easy to maintain throughout the smoke regardless of which of my pipes I put it in - though it seems to shine brightest in my calabash - and always leaves me feeling content on the finish. I personally have never experienced tongue bite from this blend, nor many others unless I power through recklessly so perhaps I am one of the lucky few, but I find this blend to provide an exceptionally cool and smooth smoke.

Since I feel I 'graduated' from the more strongly scented and cased aromatics when I first tried this one, I would highly recommend this to anyone else looking to move into a wider range of tobaccos but is unsure of where to start. The tin note upon first popping the lid might seem odd at first, especially if you're used to the overpowering smell of sweeter aromatics, but you will be rewarded in full for giving it a shot and if you're like me will always look forward to your next bowl. It enjoys a permanent place in my rotation.

On a side note: I can thank this blend for giving me a sense of confidence in moving into the territory of more traditional Virginia and English blends.

The quality of these flakes is very similar to Peter Stokkebye's Luxury Navy Flakes, but the topping is barely noticeable, so they would not fall into the Danish category or range of tobacco. Also, the profile seems to be quite consistent throughout, so they don't loose their character and will evolve quite nicely the more you progress with your smoke. This tobacco is probably one of Mac Baren's best tobaccos in the HH line. They will meet all expectations in terms of what is expected from it (earthy and hay like notes, subdued sweetness, etc.) and they are very forgiving and easy on your palate. The aging potential is huge and I believe they will perform better in small/medium size bowls as a morning blend. These flakes want to be sipped at a very slow pace and will gain in depth and flavour as you reach the last quarter of our bowl, speaking of which, would be my favourite bit. I think a rating of 4 stars is warranted.

I just finished a sample of this that I received after MB stopped producing it. I don't know whether to thank my benefactor or slap him. This is one fantastic Virginia. I don't know how mature the Virginia was, but it seems that it was at the perfect time. I have seen this time argued on many forums. It seems that a lot of people shoot for 10 years, but I have had the pleasure of tasting Virginias with up to 20 years age on them and they were splendid.

This is the closest thing I have ever tasted fresh that compares to those aged smokes. The Virginia is sweet and all edginess is completely worn off. I wish I would have bought all I could when this was available.

I highly recommend this one and will be keeping an eye out for it in all those out of the way B & M's that may have some tins squirreled away unnoticed.

I've learned that life is too short to smoke bad tobacco and I have thrown a lot of good money at a lot of bad tobacco. I was relatively settled in my rotation of fermented tobaccos with a couple of English and Balkan blends for a change of pace so I was slow on the uptake of the HH series for fear of more good money wasted on tobacco I wouldn't be able to smoke.

I found a vendor that sold it in bulk and when I removed the plastic rimmed lid of those familiar glass tobacco jars for a whiff of H.H. Matured Virginia, I was greeted by the oddest smell... Tabasco sauce... This from a blender famous for their napalm on a stick blends - how poetic is that? I was assured that it didn't smoke like it smelled, (they rarely do), and purchased a single ounce knowing that it was probably a circular file blend. I was wrong...

Purists will argue for a number of reasons that such a small quantity is probably not enough to fully gauge the quality of a particular blend but putting match to leaf on this one was a complete revelation and I would argue that a fraction of this amount was more than enough for me. In fact, I didn't finish the first bowl before I ordered 2lbs. of the stuff! An absolute sublime experience...

I received my bulk order and found the aroma in the 1lb. bag is much more palatable, more like apricot than spicy, which carried over to the smoking experience as well… wow, even more impressive... I won't say that this is the best tobacco on the planet but as far as I'm concerned and for my taste, it's one of my desert island smokes and a further testament that tobacco sitting in a bulk jar is not always representative of the original intent.

The charring light presented me with quality, slightly sweet aged Virginia's expertly tamed and showed me that the MacBaren blenders brought their considerable knowledge and blending experience to bear on this tobacco. The aroma was figgy, fruity and musty with citrus notes that force you to stop whatever it was you were doing and pay attention to this wonderful smoke. As the bowl progresses it settles into a solid deepening Virginia experience accented by an Oriental component with spicy top notes mingling with that fragrant bouquet that remains until the end of the bowl where you will find a fine grey ash with very little unspent sprigs leftover. The subsequent pipe cleaner was damp but not wet, the buzz while not overpowering was quietly evident. As The German said below, it makes me smile.

Virginia purists will find this enjoyable but may find it lacking in complexity and overall strength, English and Balkan enthusiasts will find a delightful change of pace sans Latakia and much like my beloved Presbyterian and Plumcake, hard to classify in any one genre. The description from MacBaren say's "without bite" but I disagree and if pushed will nip you, nowhere as severe as Plumcake or Virginia #1 mind you, In fact, this blend has brought life back to some of my non "P Lip" pipes.

With all the qualities that H.H. Matured Virginia posses I tried to make it my all day smoke without success simply because once lit I can't think of anything but the smoke, hence, nothing gets done. But once the day is over and it's time to relax with a well deserved cup of tea and a pipe full... just go away and leave me alone for an hour and a half and let me enjoy my smoke... Taking the exceptional price point for the 1lb. bag and its availability into consideration it's now at the tippy top of my go to blends and Highly Recommended!