Mac Baren Symphony

I was so excited to purchase a 16 oz bag of this blend though I had never tried it before. The tin (bag) note is a wonderful pure tobacco nose and no flavoring comes across in the smoking, an unflavored burley to be sure. I presume this tobacco will require some drying and I certainly hope this helps. My bag was an original 16 oz Mac Baren bag,, not a shop bag, so I suppose it was particularly fresh,,,,, and hence damp in the bag. This resulted in one of the hottest wettest smokes I have had in almost 30 years of pipe smoking.. Now the flavor was nice and a classic burley note,, a testament to how high the quality is since after the incredible hot wet experience, I didn't toss the entire bag. I have hope.. and a lot of drying to do,, and thence will add to and update the review. I sincerely hope it helps and expect it will. All overly damp tobaccos smoke hot and wet and seem to improve greatly with age and drying - a great tip to any newbies here,,, don't toss an unpleasant blend, try some drying and aging, sealed and unsealed containers,, occasionally you can work magic on a seemingly difficult blend.

Cheers,,, Glorfindel

Many tins in the MB line seem to taste similar to me, and they smoke in the same fashion as well. They taste bland...are HOT/Tongue-Biters...and smell like potpourri. I cannot recommend this product.

Smoke in peace, brothers and sisters of the leaf.

This sounds like a nice blend but unfortunately the bite is to much to enjoy. I could not distinguish any of the flavors in this because the bite was so bad. Also had a bit of a chemical taste to it. I tried this and scottish mixture at the same time and it seems as though they are basically the same blends with the same tobaccos. They tasted exactly the same to me with the same bite and chemical taste. Do not think I will be buying any more Mac Baren products.

I have now smoked several Mac Baren offerings and will not review them any further since they are extremely not to my liking. If interested in my thoughts about their line of tobaccos then just see my review on Burley London, it pretty much sums up this vapid weed give or take a slight aromatic difference (vanilla, cherry etc...).

Tongue burn in a can. What flavor? Over the years I have smoked several tins of this stuff and it always comes up the same way ... pain. I find this to be true with most (but not all) MacBaren blends. Pass on this especially if you are a beginner. I don't know how this company says in business .... unless I a girlie man.

I purchased this in bulk about 5onths ago . At the time I had only ben piping about 5 months. It torched my tongue and I left it in a mason jar until I got up the nerve to try it again. I tried it in a peterson 307 that I had recently cleaned and sweetened.I got this nice flavor play when I first lit up and about 1/4 down the bowl this horrible chemical taste took over. I couldn't go on and dumped it. I blamed the alcohol that I used to clean it although I swabed the bowl and stem after the cleaning with 151 Rum and never had a problem before. So I packed a mer lined hilson. lit up same nice start and then halfway down tha bowl a terrible soap taste took over to the point that I dumped that bowl. I don't know maybe I got a bad batch or a contaminated mason jar but I won't be smoking it again unless someone gives me some maybe from a tin. It smells fine in the jar. I Don't have a clue but I don't like it

There's a tin of this under the seat of my car. I keep it there always. I know it's there. Should I ever find myself away from home and having forgotten one of my preferred blends, Symphony is there under my seat. This 'reserve' Symphony never gets smoked because I never forget my preferred blends. Should some strange chain of events cause me to leave my rotationals (sic) at home, I still wouldn't smoke Symphony. It burns too damn hot and really doesn't carry a lot of flavor. This can be said for the majority of Mac Baren's blends, or at least every one I have tried. At half the price per gram compared to quality English and Balkans, you can be assured, you get what you pay for. The one thing I do enjoy about Mac Baren is that they still paint their tins- this being their only redeeming factor. These Mac Baren offerings never really develop. In fact, they never really offer a thing. I hate to be this negative about anything in pipe culture, considering our dwindling clout. I am always more than willing to band with anything pipe-wise in the name of carrying on our ancient tradition. As long it isn't Mac Baren.

Hottest+Flattest Tobacco in MacBaren's Quiver...The"Nock"has fallen-off this Arrow...I'm Sorry...Too Bad 'cause I'm a HUGE MacBaren Fan :-{