Mac Baren Honey & Chocolate

Here is one that scared me back into sedation. I mean, as an aromatic choice, even for Mac Baren, this is a potent concoction.

Like any Mac B smoke, I stuck my nose into it first and it was kinda scary. Good scary if you like aromatics.

I like some weird stuff, smelly and strong stuff too, but this is a bird altogether. There is a straight flat chocolate front to this tobacco, as goes the smell.

It pretty much tastes that way, too. Flat, dark strong, kinda chocolate, non tobacco. I can see the allusion to 1792 here, really, but this a bit like 1792 lite. Not lite flavor-wise, but lite in the tobacco department. Also lite in the Tonka, too, but the idea is similar.

Me, I couldn't finish half a bowl and I won't try another. But I can see how a guy could like it. I won't disagree with the best things said about (no Honey) & Chocolate but I'm not jumping into the mix either.

A true Mac Baren quality aromatic.

Error. Error. Error.

I don't know. I feel about like Pipe4ever on this one. I love Mac Baren. Favorite brand, etc etc. But this one is just too much.

Tin note is incense-like - yes, chocolate and honey. Sweet and heavy like Grandma's perfume.

In the pipe, this isn't hot or bitey - a very easy smoke. But the taste is too much like smoking chocolate milk for my tastes.

The one redeeming feature is that it leaves a really delicious smell in the moustache.

Not for me - a delicacy I do not appreciate.

Now, where's my Club Blend...

It has that tang that all Dutch tobaccos seem to have in it. Each time I smoke it, and from the same tin, I find it different. Not complex different, but some times I find more honey and buttery flavor other times more dark chocolate and mushroom flavors. Starting to drift into English tobacco as I enjoy the spicy flavors and more complex smoke this remains a nice flavored alternative. I find that the chocolate is most pronounced post smoke when you're sinus and mouth are experiencing the residuals. Will enjoy my allotment of this product but will probably pass on it in the future.

So this is my first review and i've been smoking pipes no longer than a couple of years (not regularly mind you). So i've been trying tobacco left and right to really find one that "sweeps me off my feet". I came across this not too long ago and from the few reviews it had, it looked like it could be the one.

Upon initial light (charring step), I got a pretty full taste of tobacco w/ hints of chocolate. I didn't taste the honey much at all and the absence of the honey flavor continued through the entire bowl.

About mid way through I was beginning to taste the chocolate more and more. I wouldn't describe it as "smoking" chocolate, because to me it was more like hints of chocolate that i could pick out.... very very dark chocolate. To me, this was a surprise due to the STRAIGHT chocolate smell that came from the tin. I'm aware that tin aroma rarely replicates the taste of the tobacco, but I was still expecting more. My taste buds are picky.

Toward the end of the bowl, i found that if i pushed this blend i could get it to taste like a cigar (good?). Again, very full dark chocolate flavor w/ a heavy tone. By this time i was getting a buzz. Now, i don't inhale nor did i inhale this blend... so I don't know why this one made my head spin, aside from the fact i hadn't eaten in several hours.

So overall, this was an alright blend. Nothing special, nothing terrible. I just couldn't get that outstanding chocolate taste I've heard everyone raving about. And to me the honey had taken a rain check on the taste bus where it only lingered in the lovely room note. Again, i dunno if it's because i'm still a new smoker and i don't have a "trained" tongue yet or what, but all tobaccos have that same universal taste and it is tough for me to distinguish the small nuances among all them. This blend I would recommend as a sampler but for me it is too rich to come back to all the time. Just make sure you do not smoke this on an empty stomach.

I have long been a fan of many of Mac Baren's offerings so I wanted to try their newest blend "Honey & Chocolate". This is a black cavendish blend that is heavily topped with cocoa, honey, licorice and sugar.

The cut is your standard Danish loose cut with short ribbons of dark brown and black leaf. The moisture content is rather high but not quite "wet". The smell from the tin is a heavy musty scent with a slight resemblance to chocolate.

Packing is pretty easy and I went a little light on the pressure. The initial match brought forth a very dark and heavy flavor similar to the tonquin topping of Sam Gawith's "1792 Flake", although the Mac Baren is not as sophisticated as the Lakeland flake.

When pushed, this blend will bite quite hard. The flavor becomes one-dimensional and tastes not unlike old coffee grounds. If puffed with a lot of respect the tobacco burns slow and cool and requires few relights. A slow cadence rewards the smoker with a subtle sweet dark chocolate flavor and exhaling through the nose only enhances this effect. The general flavor is different from any other blend I have smoked before and it would be correct to say that one might need to acquire a taste for this.

For a moist tobacco it smokes dry and leaves the pipe walls clean of any sticky residue. It does, however, color the flavor of the bowl after one smoke so you may want to avoid using a favorite pipe to try this one.